Daughter Vanishes; Mother’s Fears Grow

The last time anyone saw Lynsie Ekelund, she was standing a few feet from her house in a suburban Placentia neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning, at the end of a weekend trip to San Diego with friends.

That was two weeks ago. Now, detectives and her family say they are alarmed about the safety of the 20-year-old Fullerton College student and have launched an all-out campaign to find her.

Police dogs have scoured local parks for Ekelund’s scent. Police officers combed through the files on her personal computer and searched several homes and cars, hoping they might yield clues. Authorities have spent 100 hours on the case and still have no idea where the woman is.

“We really don’t know if foul play is involved, but we consider her in danger,” said Police Det. Corinne Loomis.

Investigators said they are especially worried because there has been no activity on her bank account or cellular phone. She neither drives nor holds a state identification card. She left home with little money in her purse.

“You can’t go on for long when you’re on 30 bucks,” Loomis said.

Meanwhile, family members are posting hundreds of fliers across north Orange County.

“It’s totally unlike her character,” said Nancy Ekelund, who stops at the Police Department daily during her lunch break and after work to get updates on the search for her daughter. “It’s devastating. I don’t cry anymore. I’m numbed.”

The last time Lynsie Ekelund talked to her mother was the afternoon of Feb. 16, when she called to say that she wouldn’t be back for dinner. She said she was going to spend the night at a girlfriend’s house in Anaheim. But she ended up going with several friends to San Diego.

Police are interviewing a friend who said he dropped her off in front her mother’s next-door neighbors’ home about 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 17. The friend, who is not a suspect, said she asked not to be dropped off at her doorstep to avoid angering her mother.

“No one was picking up their newspaper or mowing their lawn at 4:30 in the morning, so we don’t have any witnesses--nothing,” Loomis said.

Nancy Ekelund didn’t start to worry until the next evening, when she still hadn’t received word from her daughter. Lynsie has lived with her mother her entire life, and the two had never gone a day without at least chatting on the phone. They even worked together at the same office, car-pooling each morning.

The mother attributes their bond in part to a serious auto accident when Lynsie was a child. The crash partially disabled Lynsie’s left arm and hand.

“We do everything together,” Nancy Ekelund said. “We’ve been through ups and downs but we’ve always been there for each other.”

Her concern grew as the day went on with no word from her daughter. That night, she called police to report her daughter missing.

“When Lynsie didn’t call home Saturday evening, I was questioning it,” the mother said. “I began to get really worried because she is very responsible.”

Friends and neighbors have gathered to pray, offer support and help distribute the fliers around the neighborhood, at local fast-food restaurants, churches, parks and places where the missing woman often went. They have brought flowers, meals and fire logs to her mother.

“It’s a parent’s nightmare,” said neighbor Jeannie Lydic, who has known Lynsie for 16 years. “We’re just trying to do all we can during this tough time.”

Lynsie Ekelund is 5-feet-7, weighs 112 pounds, and has short, brown hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information about her can call Placentia police at (714) 993-8164.

“I’m not mad or angry. I just want a phone call from her telling me, ‘Mom, I’m OK,’ ” Nancy Ekelund said, trying to hold back tears as she stared at a poem that her daughter had written for her.

“It’s been two weeks but I’m not going to allow myself to think negatively.

“Doctors said Lynsie had little chance of living after the car accident but she did. She is a survivor.”