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Police Widen Search for Woman, 51 : Missing: Redondo Beach resident vanished Friday on shopping trip.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Police on Monday widened their search for a woman who left home to shop at a nearby mall Friday evening and never returned.

Madolyn Smink, 51, told her husband that she was driving to Galleria at South Bay--less than a mile from their house--at about 8 p.m. Friday.

“She didn’t come home,” her husband Jeff Smink said through tears Monday.

Redondo Beach Police Lt. Mike Minard said that although several people have called with possible sightings of the woman and her Toyota Camry, none of the calls have panned out and police have no leads. The statewide search was made nationwide Monday.

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Minard hesitated to speculate on the case. “I don’t want it to be foul play,” he said. “But all indications are that it’s very much out of the ordinary for her to not be in contact with her family. She normally lets them know where she is.”

Madolyn Smink’s two daughters have been passing out thousands of fliers, canvassing neighborhoods in the South Bay as well as Compton and Watts.

“I want my mom home,” said daughter Karla Hebbard, 22.

On Friday, Madolyn Smink, an executive secretary at TRW Space and Electronics Group in Redondo Beach, said she was going to Robinsons-May at the Galleria mall. She said she might also go to the Robinsons-May at Del Amo Mall, Hebbard said.

“She always would call you and tell you if she was going to be late,” Hebbard said of her mother.

Smink, described as 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds with brown eyes, was last seen wearing a tunic and gray leggings. She was carrying a large black purse and wore her brown hair in a ponytail, Hebbard said.

She was driving a 1988 light-blue, four-door Toyota Camry, California license plate 2HXY 804.

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Family members said there was nothing unusual in Smink’s demeanor Friday night.

“She was in the utmost highest of spirits,” Hebbard said. “She was in a playful mood.”

Jeff Smink called police late Friday night and area hospitals.

Police searched both shopping malls and their parking lots.

Hebbard said Smink left with only her purse and must have had a specific purchase in mind. There has been no activity on her credit cards or bank accounts since she disappeared, Hebbard said.

Smink also might have gone shopping for her husband’s birthday, Dec. 21, she added.

“She was in excellent health, was not taking medication and had no psychological problems,” Hebbard said.

Over the weekend, family members and friends passed out more than 3,000 fliers asking if anyone has seen the missing woman or the car.

Hebbard said images of Hermosa Beach model Linda Sobek--missing several days before her slain body was found in Angeles National Forest--haunt the family.

“That’s the one thing we were picturing immediately,” Hebbard said. “OK, who’s going to start searching Angeles National Forest?”

Smink, who has lived in Redondo Beach for about four years, has worked at TRW about 30 years, Hebbard said. Her husband also works at the aerospace group, as the contracts manager for the space and technology division.

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Jeff Smink has been waiting for word at the couple’s house, which his wife has filled with Santa Claus figures that she collects every Christmas, Hebbard said.

“I would like to believe that she had a psychological breakdown and is [safe] somewhere and doesn’t know what’s going on,” Hebbard said.

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