Search for Woman, 81, Intensifies

An elderly Riverside woman missing since Mother’s Day may have been the victim of foul play, police said Wednesday.

“Some things in the house led us to believe that there may have been some kind of struggle,” Det. Bill Barnes, a spokesman for the Riverside Police Department, said regarding the disappearance of Geraldine Atha Myers, 81.

Myers was last seen about 8:45 p.m. Sunday, Barnes said. One of her sons took her to church and to lunch at a local restaurant for Mother’s Day, he said, and another son took her to dinner, then dropped her off at her apartment.

Two days later, when she failed to make a promised call to a third son and missed an appointment, Barnes said, the family contacted police.

Son Doug Myers, 48, of Lake Forest said of his mother’s disappearance, “This is totally out of character. We believe she was kidnapped. . . . We don’t know where to turn.”

Myers said his mother is a longtime resident of Riverside who retired about 10 years ago as office manager for the health and safety department at UC Riverside.

Barnes said the woman’s car--a copper-colored 1983 Toyota Corolla with California license number 1HQC197--is also missing, apparently taken from her garage.

“We’re looking at it as a missing person, but we want to cover all the bases,” Barnes said. “This has all the signs that it could have been a crime against a person . . . so we’re definitely not going to rule that out.”

Riverside police ask that anyone with information about the case call them at (909) 320-8003 or contact local police officials.