Dive Finds No Trace of Woman

Using a cutting-edge sonar gun, divers continued their search Monday through the thick silt of the Laguna Lakes for a New Jersey woman who was tracked to the water’s edge by search dogs after disappearing a week ago.

For the third consecutive day, divers unsuccessfully searched the muddy depths of Orange County’s largest natural lake for some sign of Silvia Molina, a 28-year-old Somerset resident who vanished last Tuesday afternoon after leaving a relative’s Laguna Beach home for a walk.

Two trained search dogs followed the scent of the Penn State University doctoral student to the south corner of the largest of the three Laguna Lakes, and two other dogs specially trained for detecting bodies in water also gave signs that they found something.

But the murky lake, just 25 feet deep at its center, has so far defied divers’ efforts to verify those findings. The visibility in the water was less than a foot on Monday.

“It’s just frustrating,” Laguna Police spokeswoman Lt. Danell Adams said as she watched the divers from the shore. “I was tempted to put on my wet suit this morning and help out. I get antsy.”

Investigators say they have not ruled out any possibilities in the disappearance of Molina, who left her cousin’s home with plans to go for a walk and then visit the Laguna Hills Mall. The woman was despondent over the death of her mother several years ago, and no indications of foul play have turned up, Adams said.

Police plan to mount “a last-ditch effort” today, with 15 to 20 divers searching the lake, another scan by the “water dogs” and more sweeps using the DHS-100 sonar gun, a high-tech tool brought into the effort Monday by an Irvine-based company.

*

The hand-held device, which resembles the radar guns used by some police, uses sound waves to scan for objects below the surface, according to John Manley of RJE International, the sole distributor of the device.

The sensitive device can spot items up to a 120 yards away, and gives the diver information about density and depth through earphones with a variety of beeps and tones, Manley said. The sophisticated tool, donated for the day by RJE, was devised for military uses but has been used for search and rescue operations in the past year.

As cars whizzed by less than a 100 yards away on Laguna Canyon Road, the missing woman’s brother, Enrique Molina, solemnly watched divers take laps. The 26-year-old Texas resident searched for words when asked about his family.

“It’s tough, and my father is taking it hard,” he said. “Without closure its pretty hard for all of us to deal with.”

Enrique Molina said his sister was not suicidal and, despite feeling “some loneliness” because of her mother’s absence, had been increasingly positive and upbeat in recent months. Her studies were going well, and she was only a year away from a doctorate in clinical psychology, he said.

Silvia Molina was last seen about two miles from the lake, at the home of her cousin, Kathy Sebiane. Fire roads make for an easy hike to the water’s edge, and the missing woman enjoyed hikes, police said.

She is described as 5 feet, three inches and 100 pounds, with green eyes and dark, wavy hair to her shoulders. She usually wears round-frame glasses and was last seen wearing stone-washed blue jeans and a khaki-colored top. Anyone with information is asked to contact the family at (714) 707-9628.