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Husband Keeps Searching For Wife 6 Months After She Vanishes, Then PI Finds Crucial Trail Clue
Six months after Amy Hillyard disappeared without a trace, her family is still searching for answers.
The California mother and coffee shop owner was last seen walking her dog in Oakland on March 25, and investigators have spent months trying to piece together what happened next.
A private investigator has now uncovered new information hidden in Amy’s devices.
Highlights
- Amy Hillyard disappeared after walking her dog in Oakland on March 25.
- A private investigator found eight hiking routes Amy viewed online the day before she vanished.
- Investigators are searching the new trails while reviewing surveillance footage and using drones for additional clues.
Investigators are also using drones and reviewing surveillance footage as her husband, Chris Hillyard, continues to hope one small clue could finally lead them to her.
RELATED:
Amy Hillyard vanished after going for a walk with her dog
The 52-year-old owns Farley’s Coffee in San Francisco with her husband, Chris. She was last seen around 2 p.m. on March 25 near the 500 block of Radnor Road in Oakland’s Cleveland Heights neighborhood.
A neighbor reportedly saw her walking her dog shortly before she disappeared. Amy was wearing a tan top and tan pants.
Her husband later said Amy left her cellphone at home. When he returned home around 3:15 p.m., he found her phone, keys, and other personal belongings on the kitchen counter. The back door was open, and her dog was found safe inside the house.
Amy is described as 5-foot-4 and around 120 pounds, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Police consider her to be at risk because of a medical condition.
Her disappearance has left her family and friends searching for answers for months.
The biggest development came after Amy’s family hired a private investigator
Amy’s family hired private investigator Steve Fischer, who has worked on missing-person cases across the country.
Fischer recently led what he described as a “deep forensics dive” into Amy’s devices and apps.
Investigators spent two days examining the information on her devices. During that search, they discovered that Amy had used Chrome the day before she disappeared to look at eight different hiking routes.
The routes ran from the Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park area toward Berkeley.
Investigators already knew about three of those routes and had searched them. The other five were new.
“These are areas that were quite frankly not on our radar,” Fischer told SFGate.
The routes are around five miles from Amy’s home. Fischer said Amy had previously hiked all but one of them.
Some of the trails are also long, stretching about 6 ½ to 7 miles.
A small search team planned to begin checking the newly discovered routes as the investigation continued.
The hiking searches are not based only on what investigators found in her browser history
Fischer said entries in Amy’s journal showed that hiking was one of the ways she dealt with anxiety.
That detail has given the newly discovered routes even more importance.
Amy had also been dealing with mental health struggles after experiencing several losses. Her husband said she had sought professional help for anxiety and depression and had been prescribed medication.
Chris previously said Amy had visited a therapist on the day she disappeared.
She returned home around 1:40 p.m. and texted him to say she was back. Surveillance footage later showed her taking the dog outside and speaking with a neighbor.
What happened after that remains unclear.
The private investigators are also using drones and searching for security footage
The private investigation has expanded beyond hiking trails.
Fischer and investigator Steve Gelinske have been looking for surveillance footage from homes and businesses near the area where Amy was last seen.
The team has asked residents and building owners to check security cameras and Ring footage from the afternoon of March 25.
They are particularly interested in footage from Cleveland Heights, the Park Boulevard corridor, the MacArthur Boulevard area, Trestle Glen, and Crocker Highlands.
Investigators want people to share footage even if they believe it contains nothing useful.
They are also reviewing footage that may have already been checked.
“With 100% certainty, I believe there is a piece of surveillance that contains a clue,” Fischer said.
The team has been using drones, visiting property owners, and tracing possible routes Amy could have taken.
Fischer said Amy’s friends and volunteers had already done extensive work creating maps, going door-to-door and searching park trails. The private team is now using that information to focus the search.
After six months, Amy’s family is still holding on to hope
Six months without an answer has been extremely difficult for Amy’s loved ones, but Chris said the family has not stopped looking.
“Still, we all keep trying, and every day we wake up with a glimmer of hope that today will be the day that brings some piece of information that offers an answer to Amy’s whereabouts,” he said in a video marking six months since she disappeared.
A $25,000 reward remains available for information that could help solve the mystery.
Amy’s friends and family have also created BringAmyHome.com, where people can follow developments and learn how they can help with the search.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Authorities have previously said there was no evidence pointing to foul play, abduction, or kidnapping at the time. That means investigators are still working to understand what happened after Amy left her home and where she went afterward.
“Sickoos out there,” wrote one netizen
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