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http://www.foxreno.com/news/22382264/detail.html
Posted: 3:39 pm PST January 29, 2010
Posted: 3:39 pm PST January 29, 2010
ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Friends and family of Katherine Truitt, an Alameda woman who disappeared from Point Reyes National Seashore's McClure's Beach three weeks ago, will celebrate a mass Saturday for her safe return.
"This is not a memorial or a funeral. This is to bring her back. We're not ready to give up. It's to revitalize people and bring hope. This will be very upbeat," said Nancy Christie, the mother of Anna Christie, Truitt's close friend.
National Parks Service rangers saw Truitt's brown Ford Ranger in the beach's parking lot Jan. 8. When it was still there the next day, they began their investigation and search for the missing woman. She was last seen in Alameda on Jan. 7.
Truitt, 37, was the first woman to disappear this month from a Point Reyes National Seashore beach. Silvia Lange, 77, of Nicasio, was reported missing Jan. 24 from Point Reyes' North Beach about eight miles south of McClure's Beach. Lange is still missing.
Stormy weather in the Bay Area when the women disappeared has led to speculation they got too close to the shoreline and were swept away by a "sneaker" wave.
Christie said Truitt, like Lange, was savvy about the dangers sneaker waves present unwary beachgoers.
"She knew the ocean. She wasn't a tourist," Christie said.
Truitt suffers from a hereditary spinal injury and it would have been possible, but difficult for her to walk far to the shoreline, Christie said. She liked to meditate at the beach and used that time with alternative medical practices and art therapy for healing, Christie said.
Christie discounts speculation Truitt was sad or depressed and might have committed suicide.
"She was a very vibrant person," Christie said.
Truitt's family believes she was abducted and they are redistributing flyers with her photo, Christie said.
Alameda police checked Truitt's computer and Christie said "nothing negative or sketchy was found and no one had been harassing her."
None of her clothing or personal items were found on the beach although trash containers in that area were emptied before the search for Truitt began, Christie said.
The mass to celebrate Truitt's life and to pray for her safe return is at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph's Catholic Basilica, a 125-year-old Alameda church where her parents married. The church is located at 1109 Chestnut St.
"People may think we're grasping at straws, but these straws need to be grasped," Christie said.