Missing Person Case Draws Accusations

Fingers are pointing in several different directions after a 33 year-old woman went missing from Maple Valley (Wash.), and her husband says law enforcement agencies wouldn’t begin a search for her until several days had passed. Tanya Rider was found in her car at the bottom of a ravine, nearly dead from dehydration. She is now recovering, but Seattle PD, Bellevue PD, the State Patrol and King County Sheriff’s officials are all defending their actions in the case. Bellevue PD took an initial report, but when surveillance video revealed that Tanya had driven away from her work place, that King County had jurisdiction. Tom said, “The first operator I talked to on the first day I tried to report it flat denied to start a missing persons report because she didn’t meet the criteria.” According to the sheriff’s department, to trigger a search there must be evidence of foul play or unusual vulnerability such as age, mental condition or lack of critical medications. “Not showing up at home is not illegal,” a spokesman said. “We don’t take every missing person report on adults. … If we did, we’d be doing nothing but going after missing person reports,” the spokesman said. Tanya later said she dialed 911, but Seattle PD says they have no record of the call, and surmise that it never went through. Read more here.