Missing Pacoima Woman Last Seen at Video Store

Ten days ago, 25-year-old Darlene Michelle Edwards left her Pacoima home to walk to a nearby video store. Her family hasn’t seen or heard from her since.

They said Edwards, who has the mental capacity of an 8- to 10-year-old, had disappeared for a day or two in the past but never for this long, and they are starting to fear the worst.

“We can hardly sleep because we are so worried,” said relative Evert Jones.

Edwards, who lives with her aunt, Pearl Clayton, was last seen Aug. 31 about noon at the Video Expo store in the 11000 block of Glenoaks Boulevard in Pacoima, Los Angeles police said.

The woman, who had identification with her, knows her name but would have difficulty giving her home address, according to a police statement.

“She can’t use a phone because she can’t remember the number here,” said Jones, adding that family members tried for a week to get her to remember the number but she had no success.

Edwards is African American, 5 feet 5, about 150 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair is in braids pulled back from her face, and she has very small teeth, police said.

When she left, she was wearing a red tank top, blue capri pants, a white belt and black shoes.

Jones, a distant cousin of the missing woman, said Edwards is “full of energy, loved rap music and, once she got going, could talk in huge run-on sentences.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Lydia Dillard of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Person Unit at (213) 485-5381.