Police Intensify Search for Missing Filmmaker

Police intensified their search Tuesday for a Hollywood filmmaker who disappeared a week ago after failing to show up at a friend’s birthday celebration.

Wendy Bott, 38, who recently finished shooting “Robbie’s Brother,” a film she co-directed and wrote, was last seen by a friend in West Hollywood about 8 p.m. June 12. Bott had said she was on her way to Miceli’s Italian Restaurant in Hollywood for another friend’s birthday party, but she never made it. Family reported her missing to police June 13.

“There is no logical explanation for Wendy’s disappearance,” said Joe Hanauer, Bott’s stepfather. “She’s very responsible. She wouldn’t just leave without telling anyone.”

Bott’s family found her 1999 red Honda CRV abandoned about 15 miles from her home near a Culver City apartment complex Thursday. Hanauer said they received calls from witnesses nearby who found papers with Bott’s emergency contact information in the street about a block away from the car. Her cellular phone and purse were found inside the locked vehicle, police said.

Officer Rosa Perez, with the Police Department’s Adult Missing Persons Division, said the car had been tested for fingerprints, but nothing, such as blood, was found to indicate a struggle had taken place.

“She doesn’t know anyone in the Culver City area,” Hanauer said of Bott. “Why would she be there? It doesn’t make sense.”

Hanauer said clothing and other personal items at Bott’s apartment appeared to be in place.

Police Det. Leon Washington said LAPD helicopters searched the Culver City area Friday night. Detectives held a meeting Tuesday to determine the next step, he said.

“We are doing everything we can possibly think of to figure out where Wendy might be,” he said. “We’re just waiting on clues.”

The Adult Missing Persons Division handles about 3,000 cases a year and has a 93% clearance rate, Washington said.

Bott, a freelance writer, moved from New York about 10 years ago and lived with her sister in a West Hollywood apartment. She had just finished shooting her first feature film and was editing the final version, Hanauer said. Bott planned to submit it to the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

She is 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighs about 115 pounds and has blond hair. Family said she may have been wearing a light-colored T-shirt and dark blue jeans the night she disappeared.

Anyone with information about Bott is asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department’s Adult Missing Persons Division at (213) 485-5381.