Police received new leads Thursday about the disappearance of a St. Paul woman under suspicious circumstances, but they have not found Memory Pachowicz.
Pachowicz, 33, was last seen Sunday. Hers originally was considered a missing person case roughly 1,000 adults are reported missing in St. Paul each year but the stakes were raised when St. Paul police found her car, where they saw signs of a struggle, and determined her cellular phone hadn't been used since her disappearance.
Police assigned the case to the homicide unit because its investigators look at serious crimes, including kidnapping, said officer Paul Schnell, department spokesman.
"We have no evidence that absolutely makes it a foul-play situation," Schnell said. He wouldn't describe the evidence in the car that made investigators suspicious, but he said it wasn't blood.
"Obviously, the longer it takes to find her, the more concerned we become, but because we don't have witnesses we don't know what all these things mean yet," Schnell said.
Pachowicz, the mother of a 1-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl, got divorced in June, according to Ramsey County District Court records. Originally from South Dakota, she has lived in St. Paul for several years and attended an area technical college, Schnell said.
She was last seen in the parking lot of a North End apartment complex early Sunday and did not return to her East Side home, where her older daughter was baby-sitting the younger one. Family members reported Pachowicz missing later Sunday.
Friends said Pachowicz was planning to meet someone, believed to be a man, after she left the parking lot, Schnell said. Police have no suspects in connection with the disappearance, he said.
Pachowicz's children were staying with family members Thursday.
Her car was found Tuesday near Western and Cottage avenues, about a block from where she was last seen with friends. Her cell phone was missing.
Police face difficulty in searching for adults when they are reported missing because they are free to "disappear" or walk away if they choose to, Schnell said.
He said police do cursory checks, such as looking at area hospitals and interviewing family and friends, but once a determination of suspicious circumstances is made they go further.
Investigators re-interview the people last seen with the missing person, take a closer look at the person's network of friends, do paper searches (such as studying financial transactions) and seek evidence in other ways, Schnell said.
One benefit of asking for the public's help, which police did Wednesday, is the new information that comes forward, Schnell said.
"You start identifying other circles of associates," he said. "People have called today, and those things have been very helpful."
ST. PAUL WOMAN DISAPPEARS
Memory Pachowicz, 33, is described as an olive-skinned white woman, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 140 pounds, with long, straight, dark hair. She has a rose bracelet tattoo on her wrist.
When Pachowicz was last seen she had a puppy with her. It is described as a 9-week-old, brown or tan miniature dachshund.
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