Family of Missing Woman Still Hopeful : Investigation: Police continue to seek clues to what happened to a 23-year-old from Newport Beach, who vanished a year ago.

The message on Dennis and Ione Huber’s telephone answering machine has remained the same for a year: “We will accept a collect call from Denise Huber.”

The call has not come.

A year ago today, the Hubers’ 23-year-old daughter, Denise Annette, vanished on her way home to Newport Beach after attending a concert in Inglewood. A police investigation, a private detective’s efforts, a host of psychics, an extensive ground search by family and friends, television coverage, flyers and even a bumper sticker campaign have failed to produce any solid leads.

But as they mark the one-year anniversary of her disappearance, her parents and friends remain hopeful that the vivacious young woman is alive.

“You want to keep that hope, although I feel realistically the chances are pretty slim,” Ione Huber said Tuesday afternoon as she returned home from her substitute teaching job.

“I still feel the pain just as deep now, because, I don’t know. . . . It hasn’t been resolved. Every day’s a hard day. I can’t say today’s any worse.”

Annerose Beech, general manager at the Cannery restaurant in Newport Beach, where Denise Huber was a popular waitress, said: “As long as you don’t know, you can’t say that a person is dead. Who knows what’s happened? But it’s like giving up if we say Denise isn’t alive.”

Costa Mesa police detectives have scheduled a press conference today to announce they’re still seeking clues and tips.

“We want to deliver a message that we’re still working on the case,” Sgt. Ron Smith said. “If the person responsible, in some fashion, would just tell us where Denise is.”

A 1990 UC Irvine graduate, Denise Huber disappeared early June 3, 1991, after attending a rock concert at the Forum in Inglewood with a friend. She dropped her friend off at his Huntington Beach residence shortly after 2 a.m. and was on her way to her family’s Eastbluff Drive home when she disappeared.

Her blue 1988 Honda Accord, one of its rear tires blown out, was found abandoned the next day on a shoulder of the Corona del Mar Freeway just south of the Bear Street exit.

Family and friends have plastered the area with flyers bearing a photograph of the smiling, attractive young woman and the question, “Have you seen Denise Huber?” A large banner asking for information has been hung from an apartment complex off Bear Street.

Police cars in both Newport Beach and Costa Mesa sport bumper stickers that solicit tips. The case has been publicized nationwide on the television shows “Inside Edition” and “America’s Most Wanted.”

The publicity triggered dozens of tips from individuals, police sources and psychics from all over the country, but no concrete leads. Costa Mesa police detectives have followed up on every possible sighting, including reports of women matching her description in Northern California and on the East Coast.

The likelihood that Denise Huber is still alive fades with every day, but the lack of evidence of a homicide “is very unusual,” Smith said. Costa Mesa police have been notified of every female corpse found in the region and even have sent Denise Huber’s dental charts out of state, but with no results.

The Hubers also hired private investigator Logan Clark, who came up with a theory that the young brunette was abducted, and probably killed, by acquaintances in the rock music industry. But police detectives said there was no hard evidence to support the theory and Clark also later abandoned it.

Detectives continue to investigate the handful of leads they receive on a weekly basis. “It wasn’t a drug deal gone bad, or prostitution, or anything like that,” Smith said. “Everyone pretty much sees her as an innocent victim in this. There’s a high emotional involvement on the part of detectives.”

And hopeful friends continue their publicity campaign.

“Summer’s here and a lot of people come from out of state,” Beech said. “We’ll try to get them to take some flyers back with them.”