Snowdon Family, Friends, Angry at Clue Foul-Up : Disappearance: Irvine investigator takes responsibility for 24-hour delay in follow-up of witness who spotted car.

Family and friends of a missing aerospace executive reacted with anger and disappointment Wednesday to a police mix-up which nearly cost them information that could lead to him.

The California Highway Patrol on Monday turned away a woman who tried to report that she had seen a car bearing Rowland Snowdon’s license plate number, because the number did not appear in the CHP computer system as missing or stolen. The next day, the persistent witness called Los Angeles police with her story, and was put in contact with Irvine police investigator Larry Montgomery, in charge of the Snowdon case.

“We all are a little disappointed with what’s happened,” family friend Cheryl Norton said. “We all feel it’s a miracle . . . that we even have this lead. Any other person would have given up.”

Montgomery took responsibility for the bureaucratic confusion, saying he had never worked on a case where a person was missing for more than a month and so did not realize that he needed to update the record every 30 days.

He said he did not know if the 24-hour delay has hurt the investigation.

Snowdon, a 48-year-old Huntington Beach resident, and the description of the car he was driving were fed into a CHP computer system after he disappeared Sept. 1.

But the system purges itself every 30 days unless the law enforcement agency in charge of the investigation updates the information, CHP Officer Michael Lundquist said.

The witness, a 41-year-old woman who declined to be named, had heard about Snowdon’s disappearance on the news and had written down the license plate number of his 1989 Buick Park Avenue, said son Rick Snowdon, who talked with her Tuesday night.

Monday evening, she was southbound on Interstate 15 in Victorville when she spotted a similar Buick. The woman dug out the license number she had written down from the news, and it matched. The Buick was on a four-wheel trailer, towed by a beige pickup truck with a camper shell, she told police.

The woman, a law student, followed the truck onto southbound Interstate 215 until she was in danger of running out of gas near Barton Road, Snowdon said.

She then pulled over to call the CHP. But it was not until she contacted Los Angeles police Tuesday that her hunch was confirmed.

Fortunately, the missing persons office in Los Angeles had received the flyers and letters that Rick Snowdon had sent police chiefs throughout the Southwest, pleading for their help. About 50 of the chiefs have either called or written back with suggestions or promises to keep a look out, Rick Snowdon said.

“On the one hand, I’m so disappointed with the one-month mess and the computer system problem, but on the other hand, I’m very grateful for this outpouring of help,” said Snowdon, who will turn 26 Friday.

The witness told him that she had written down the license plate number because she drives a lot and wanted to be ready if she saw a car resembling the Buick, he said.

Rowland Snowdon, an executive at Parker Hannifin in Irvine, was last seen making a cash deposit the morning of Sept. 1 at a Union Bank branch at 2001 Michelson Drive in Irvine, authorities said.

The witness told police that neither the pickup truck nor the trailer carrying the Buick had visible license plates. The front two wheels of the trailer rode off the ground as it was pulled behind the truck.

There were three people in the truck’s cab: a long-haired driver in his 40s, a blonde woman about 25 years old and another man between them, she said.

The Snowdon family is offering $10,000 for information leading to the discovery of the Buick, which has the license plate number 2MCUO79.

Irvine police asked anyone with information to call (714) 724-7173.