Veronica Ruiz, 25 MISSING California IRS AGENT [REMAINS DISCOVERED] MSG Since 12-3-07

[Grande]

Northern California IRS Agent, Gun Missing
Searchers Find Pack That May Belong to Veronica Ruiz, Who Vanished a Week Ago



Volunteer searchers may have found a backpack belonging to a 25-year-old IRS agent who went missing one week ago after a difficult breakup with her boyfriend.

The possible discovery in a Northern California state park, confirmed to ABC News by the Mill Valley Police Department, would be the first clue uncovered since Veronica Ruiz told family and friends last Monday that she was going for a hike near Mount Tamalpias.

About 80 volunteers combed rugged California terrain Sunday for any signs of the missing woman. Authorities suspended the official search in the park for Ruiz Wednesday after finding no evidence that she was the victim of foul play.

"We've eliminated anything that might have been suspicious," Dean Loutas, a Mill Valley detective, told ABC News. "We're not talking about a kidnap victim or anything like that."

Loutas said that Ruiz's car was found parked at her house near the base of the mountain. The only things that were missing, Loutas said, were her work credentials, her government-issued firearm, a backpack and her running gear. The last time her cell phone was used was 2:09 p.m. last Monday.

Ruiz, a criminal investigator for the San Rafael office of the Internal Revenue Service, is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and worked at the tax and audit firm KPMG before joining the federal tax agency, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

Ruiz and her boyfriend of two years broke up last weekend. Last Monday, Ruiz, who goes by the nickname "Nikki," called in sick to work. She then declined an offer to have lunch that day with a friend who was concerned about her, the Chronicle reported.

During that telephone call, Ruiz told the friend that she was going to go for a hike in Mount Tamalpias State Park to clear her head. The woman was known by her family for hiking the local mountain and running the distance to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Despite the decision by authorities to suspend the official search for Ruiz, which included local police, sheriff's officers, park rangers, the FBI, IRS and tracking dogs, after two days, friends and family pushed ahead with volunteer searches this weekend and created a Web site to bring attention to her search.

Police investigating the case received reports from two citizens who claimed to see Ruiz the day she vanished, one at 11 a.m. at a trail head in the park and the second at noon at an inn on the mountain slope, the day she vanished, according to the Mill Valley Police Department. Neither sighting could be confirmed.

"If she was active and alive and detectable, we would have come across her by now," Loutas said. "We've exhausted all of our possibilities."

The woman, Filipino in descent, may have been wearing trail running shoes, black running pants and a gray and orange Camelback water supply pack, according to police. She is 5 feet, 5 inches tall, with brown hair and brown eyes.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3977470&page=1

[Pauli]

Friends, family refuse to give up hope for missing Marin IRS agent


Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, December 10, 2007



Friends and relatives of a 25-year-old Internal Revenue Service agent missing for a week from her Mill Valley home refused to give up hope Sunday and organized volunteers to scour the steep Mount Tamalpais trails where the woman may have ventured after a difficult breakup with her live-in boyfriend.

More than 80 volunteers fanned out on trails in the sprawling, densely forested state park, looking for signs of Veronica "Nikki" Ruiz. They shouted her name and picked up objects in hopes that they were connected to her - a shredded shoe, a soccer ball, a collection of meditation rocks.

Back at the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Mill Valley, residents and businesses dropped off food and refreshments for the volunteers, who used a donated conference room where they pored over maps to mark where they had already looked.

Ruiz's exhausted sister, Maricris Ruiz, sat on a couch and said there is still reason to be hopeful. The missing woman took her government-issued handgun with her, and the weapon has not been found.

"We know she's off the trail, because we've looked on every trail," said Maricris Ruiz, 33, of Daly City. "It's hard to say what happened. She could have easily gone off a trail and gotten hurt."

Ruiz said she has even accepted help from half a dozen psychics who called to say they believed her sister was near the ocean or a rock formation.

Veronica Ruiz was last seen early last Monday, two days after she and her boyfriend of two years broke up. The two had moved to Mill Valley from San Francisco six months earlier.

A mutual friend of the couple, Maricris Ruiz said, had slept at her sister's home on Throckmorton Avenue near downtown Mill Valley on Saturday night, to console her. The friend left for work before 8 a.m. Maricris Ruiz said her sister called in sick to her IRS job in San Rafael.

When the friend called about noon, Veronica Ruiz declined a lunch invitation, saying she was going on a hike. Two people later reported unconfirmed sightings of her at Mount Tamalpais locations: one at 11 a.m. at the Blithedale trail entrance not far from her home, the other an hour later at the West Point Inn, to the west.

Maricris Ruiz said it appears her sister sent text messages to family members and friends in the early afternoon, thanking them for their support. There has been no sign of her since, and Mill Valley police late Wednesday suspended their search.

The week has been difficult for Veronica Ruiz's family. Her father, who lives in the Philippines, had a massive stroke when he was told of the news over the telephone, and remains paralyzed on the right side of his body, according to Maricris Ruiz. Her mother went into shock and had to be hospitalized after learning the official search was suspended.

Mill Valley detectives are still investigating the case, police said Sunday.

Based on what was missing from Veronica Ruiz's home, her sister said, it appears she took her gun and badge as well as a black iPod Nano music player, a cellular phone with a wireless earpiece, and a gray and orange CamelBak hydration backpack. She is believed to have been wearing white tennis shoes, black capri pants, a burgundy tank top and a black jacket.

Veronica Ruiz was in good physical shape, having played soccer and run marathons. She grew up in Daly City, graduated from UC Berkeley and worked at KPMG, the audit and tax firm, before joining the IRS as an agent.

Her sister said she had no history of running away or trying to harm herself.

"I can't rule it out," Maricris Ruiz said of the chance of suicide. "Obviously, she wanted to get away and clear her mind. But most of us don't believe she could have done that.

"The search is going to go on, as long as people are willing to go out there."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...R8NB.DTL&tsp=1

[Grande]

MILL VALLEY
Volunteers search coastline for woman
Steve Rubenstein

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Two dozen volunteers are continuing a search in western Marin County for a missing 25-year-old Mill Valley woman, a week after police suspended their search.

The hunt for missing Internal Revenue Service agent Veronica Ruiz is concentrating on the coastline, said her sister, Maricris Ruiz, who is coordinating volunteers.

Veronica Ruiz was last heard from Dec. 3 after saying she was going for a hike on Mount Tamalpais. She had recently broken up with her boyfriend and was apparently carrying her IRS handgun, which tax enforcement agents are issued. The gun has not been found.

Maricris Ruiz said Tuesday that the breakup was "mutual and amiable" and that her sister was in a "normal" frame of mind.

Mill Valley police Sgt. Dean Loutas said the missing woman appeared to be despondent, according to her messages just before disappearing.

Her sister says Ruiz is believed to have been wearing white tennis shoes, black capri pants, a burgundy tank top and a black jacket when she disappeared.

The family is posting search updates at a Web site, www.helpfindveronicaruiz.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../BAVHTSJC6.DTL

[ferretplay]

Search For Missing Mill Valley Woman Now A Recovery Effort

MILL VALLEY -- The search for missing 25-year-old Mill Valley resident Veronica Ruiz is now a recovery effort, a family spokesperson said Monday.

Ruiz has been missing since leaving on Dec. 3 for a hike on Mt. Tamalpais.

Tough weather and terrain on the mountain and the length of time Ruiz has been gone have led the family to believe she is dead, said Jeff Baker, a psychic who has helped the family and a fleet of volunteers search for her.

An estimated 150 volunteers conducted searches the first weekend after Ruiz went missing, and there were 50 searching Sunday, Baker said.

Monday, only three men including Baker were searching the mountain. Cold weather, rain and the work week have turned away volunteers, Baker said.

The psychic says Ruiz has told him she is dead. Baker said he speaks with Ruiz during meditation and prayer sessions with the family. He said he "has feelings" on how she died, but Ruiz's family has asked him not to reveal the details of his conversations with her.

More at link
http://www.ktvu.com/news/14878250/detail.html

[Grande]

Volunteers Continue Search for Missing Filipina
Malou Aguilar/Asianjournal.com

MILL VALLEY, CA -- The search for Veronica "Nikki" Ruiz, a 25-year-old Filipina from Mill Valley, continued Wednesday with the help of more than 200 volunteers. Friends and family refused to give up hope and organized volunteer search parties to trek the steep Mount Tamalpais trails. Police suspended their search since Dec. 5.

Veronica, an Internal Revenue Service agent, was last in contact with a friend on Dec. 3, saying that she was going for a hike on Mount Tamalpais. There were two reported but unconfirmed sightings of her at Mount Tamalpais locations: one at 11 a.m. at the Blithedale trail entrance not far from her home. The other was an hour later at the West Point Inn, to the west.

In a very brief phone conversation with the Asian Journal, Ruiz’s sister, Maricris, sounded very tired yet remained hopeful. “We will never stop looking until we find her.”

Adding to the difficulty of the Ruiz family was the news that her father, who lives in the Philippines, had suffered a massive stroke when he learned about her daughter’s disappearance. Her mother also had to be hospitalized after going through shock when the official search was suspended.

Earlier reports said that Veronica had recently broken up with her boyfriend of two years and was apparently carrying her IRS handgun when she went on her hike. The weapon has not yet been found.

Veronica is 5’5 in height, 120 pounds, with brown eyes and dark brown hair. She may be possibly wearing white tennis shoes, black capri pants, burgundy tank top, thin long sleeved black jacket, possibly a black fleece vest, a gray and orange camelpack (or hydration backpack), and a black iPod (usually on her left wrist) with black earbuds.

For information or leads about the whereabouts of Veronica, please call the Mill Valley Police Department at (415) 389-4100, or Maricris Ruiz at (650) 222-9578. For updates and donations, please log on to www.helpfindveronicaruiz.com. (AJ)

http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=124&a=24981

[Audie]

Originally Posted by ferretplay

Search For Missing Mill Valley Woman Now A Recovery Effort

<Snip for space>

The psychic says Ruiz has told him she is dead. Baker said he speaks with Ruiz during meditation and prayer sessions with the family. He said he "has feelings" on how she died, but Ruiz's family has asked him not to reveal the details of his conversations with her.

More at link
http://www.ktvu.com/news/14878250/detail.html

I wonder why she won't tell him where she is.
JMO

[Grande]

Originally Posted by Audie

I wonder why she won't tell him where she is.
JMO

LOL!

[Texas53]

The psychic has the wrong number? Or his crystal ball is broken?

[Grande]

Search continues for Mill Valley woman
Saturday, January 12, 2008 | 3:28 PM
Bay City News

MILL VALLEY, CA -- Federal agents, volunteers and friends and family of Veronica Ruiz are hoping strength in numbers will help find the Mill Valley woman who has been missing more than a month, her boyfriend said today.

The 25-year-old woman was last seen leaving for a hike on Mt. Tamalpais on Dec. 3. Her boyfriend, Robert Voigt, said the number of volunteers dwindled in the search during the last few weeks but they will now continue on a larger scale.

"You've got to understand, we just got through the holiday season," Voigt said. "These people are volunteering their time for enormous searches, especially this weekend and next weekend."

Ruiz' family describes her as 5 feet 5 inches tall, 120 pounds, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, a light brown complexion and a scar on her right abdomen.

Police are encouraging anyone with information on Ruiz's whereabouts to contact Detective Sgt. Dean Loutas at (415) 389-4100.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...cal&id=5887469

[nightwatcher]

Originally Posted by Audie

I wonder why she won't tell him where she is.
JMO

If this person is truly psychic, then he would know where to find her. IMO :(