UT UT - Lark Montague, 55, Salt Lake City, 22 Sept 2007

hoppyfrog

Retired WS Staff
Joined
Jun 3, 2005
Messages
8,660
Reaction score
223
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7052461

SL Sheriff seeks public help in finding missing woman
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 10/01/2007 09:49:46 AM MDT

The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Department has issued a plea to the public for help in finding a missing woman.
Lark Montague, 55, has been missing since she left a friend's home in Magna early Saturday morning.
Authorities say she was last seen driving in the area of 8400 West and 3500 South about 3 a.m.
Montague, 4-foot-11 and 105 pounds with light brown hair and brown eyes, was driving a silver Chevrolet Trailblazer with a license plate number of 215LTE.
Authorities say Montague suffers from diabetes and depression, but no foul play is feared at this time.
Anyone with information should call the sheriff's office at 801-468-3900.

pic

 
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7211009

10/18/2007

Relatives and friends of a missing Magna woman disagree with investigators who say there is no evidence of foul play.

"She has custody of three grandkids, diabetes and high blood pressure, and she has not tried to use any money," said Cheri Reilly, niece of Lark Montague, 55, who last was seen about 3 a.m. Sept. 22, driving near 8400 West and 3500 South, on her way home from a party.

Sheriff's deputies agree that the circumstances of Montague's disappearance are unusual, but there is no evidence of a crime.

"There could be any number of reasons people would leave," said Salt Lake County sheriff's spokesman Paul Jaroscak. "You'd be surprised, the number of people who just disappear."

There has been no trace of Montague or her vehicle - a pewter-colored 2002 Chevrolet TrailBlazer. There has been no bank or credit card activity. Her prescriptions have gone unfilled, and her mother - whom Montague spoke with almost every day, relatives reported - has received no calls, Jaroscak said. Montague had planned to visit her mother, who is ailing, in Texas this month, Reilly said.

Montague had struggled with depression for years, but "she never took off before . . . and she wasn't having any episodes where she couldn't function on a daily basis," Reilly said.

more at link

Personally, I wonder about her and her vehicle being off the road in a ravine or body of water. Sadly, there have been so many of those lately.

Hoppy
 
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7236199

10/20/2007

MAGNA - One month after Lark Montague's disappearance, search teams continued to scour this west side suburb Saturday for the grandmother whose sudden departure without diabetes medication, spare clothes or a parting word is steeped in mystery.

Friends fear foul play in the missing person's case although police say there is no evidence of that.

The search gained momentum this weekend with the help of the Destiny Search Project - the same group that discovered the body of Brigham Young University student Camille Cleverley in the already-searched canyons east of Provo.

Group founder Nick Herrera hoped to find a similar breakthrough Saturday in Montague's disappearance.

and

The 55-year-old Lark Montague vanished in late September, taking only her husband's pewter-colored 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer. Family members say she was depressed and struggled with the recent move-in of a daughter and her five children.

But the family has grown increasingly fearful. Not only did Montague leave without her prescription for type II diabetes, but she hasn't swiped a credit card or written a check since she vanished.

Even her cancer-stricken mother in Texas hasn't heard a word from her.

And so the family searches. Dennis Montague - Lark's husband of 23 years - said Saturday that he has consented to a polygraph test in connection with his wife's disappearance.

As of early afternoon, searchers had come no closer to finding the woman. They plan to canvass the community again next Saturday, with volunteers meeting at 8 a.m. in the park behind the Magna Recreation Center, 3270 S. 8400 West.

more at link
 
Hi Hopster, me too, particularly as Lark went missing around the time Christopher Robin Coan went missing from Utah, and they were driving very similar SUV type vehicles. I wondered at the time on Chris's thread here whether there might be some kind of car theft thing going on, thieves 'shopping' for the same SUVs, and so on...

I see on another forum that Lark was seen to pull into her driveway, then pull out again, colliding with a chain link fence and possibly causing some considerable damage to her vehicle, and she had been drinking - Sounds as if there might have been some sort of accident, still as yet undiscovered in that area?
 
It's possible. There are so many possibilities and the trail seems absolutely cold.
 
Just an update from Marki Davis via her Myspace Bulletin on the up and coming meeting of the Utah Missing Persons Organization group - Dave, Chris Coan's father will be working alongside the group, and Lark Montague's husband and sister have been invited along - Best of luck to them all:

"Thursday, January 08, 2009

Board Meeting (Friday January 9, 2009)


Utah Missing Persons Organization


From: Nick Herrera (President)

To: Board of Directors and Invitated Parties.


RE: Meeting Friday 09, 2009 6:00 PM


The Utah Missing Persons Organization is having a meeting at a private location and is closed to the public.



Board of Directors: (attending the meeting)


Nick Herrera (President). Marquita Davis (Vice President). Tiffany O'Hearon (Secretary). Veronica Berrest (Treasure). Dennis O. Williams. Kimberly Cooper.



Joining the Board of Directors is Dave Coan. Dave Coan will be the Director in charge of the Family Liaison Department.


Dave Coan is the father of missing person Christopher Coan (19) of Cedar, Utah.


Christopher has been missing since 09/03/2007.



Persons invited to attend the IHOP meeting.



Dennis Montague (attending the meeting)

Dennis Montague is the husband of "missing person" Lark Montague (55) of Magna, Utah. Montague has been missing since 09/21/2007.



Patty Vaughan (attending the meeting)

Patty Vaughan is with alert k9 search and rescue. She has been invited to meet with the Board of Directors of the Utah Missing Persons Organization.



Pat Mahony (attending the meeting)

Pat Mahony and the sister of Lark Montague will also be attending the IHOP meeting.




Also invited to attend the IHOP meeting.


Donald W. Meyers (The Salt Lake Tribune).










Nick M.
Herrera (President)

Email: Nick.Herrera@utmissingpersons.org

Website: www. utmissingpersons. org

Website: myspace. com/utahmissingpersonsorg"
 
Interesting description of her disappearance:

http://www.nampn.org/cases/images/montague_lark.html

"Lark went missing on 9-22-07 between 0230 hours and 0300 hours. She was followed home by an acquaintance between that time. The acquaintance watched her pull into the driveway and then pulled back out onto the street. As the acquaintance was headed home he watched a vehicle that appeared to be Lark's going through an intersection heading south on Highway U-111. The acquaintance noticed that the vehicle looked like hers, but said that he had watched her pull into the driveway. He did not think that she would leave her house, as she had been drinking. When lark had pulled into her driveway and backed out again she hit a chain link fence and did a large amount of damage to it. The vehicle should have damage to the driver's side rear end and possibly the entire driver's side of the vehicle"

Wonder who this aquaintance was?

Indirect link (the direct link has been disabled, it was to The Salt Lake Tribune) this link appears to be a copy and paste of the original article but be advised I have no way of knowing if it is word for word of the original:

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Alt/alt.true-crime/2007-10/msg01673.html
 
Interesting description of her disappearance:

http://www.nampn.org/cases/images/montague_lark.html

"Lark went missing on 9-22-07 between 0230 hours and 0300 hours. She was followed home by an acquaintance between that time. The acquaintance watched her pull into the driveway and then pulled back out onto the street. As the acquaintance was headed home he watched a vehicle that appeared to be Lark's going through an intersection heading south on Highway U-111. The acquaintance noticed that the vehicle looked like hers, but said that he had watched her pull into the driveway. He did not think that she would leave her house, as she had been drinking. When lark had pulled into her driveway and backed out again she hit a chain link fence and did a large amount of damage to it. The vehicle should have damage to the driver's side rear end and possibly the entire driver's side of the vehicle"

Wonder who this aquaintance was?

I believe it was a friend who she'd been out drinking with, if I'm remembering correctly. They left at the same time, and s/he followed Lark home to make sure she got there OK.

Indirect link (the direct link has been disabled, it was to The Salt Lake Tribune) this link appears to be a copy and paste of the original article but be advised I have no way of knowing if it is word for word of the original:

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Alt/alt.true-crime/2007-10/msg01673.html

That's the original story, as originally posted on usenet newsgroup alt.true-crime.
 
Hi Hopster, me too, particularly as Lark went missing around the time Christopher Robin Coan went missing from Utah, and they were driving very similar SUV type vehicles. I wondered at the time on Chris's thread here whether there might be some kind of car theft thing going on, thieves 'shopping' for the same SUVs, and so on...

The Coan case has been solved; but since it's mentioned here, an update is in order. Coan's remains were found inside his vehicle, which had gone off a steep mountain road in the area.

I see on another forum that Lark was seen to pull into her driveway, then pull out again, colliding with a chain link fence and possibly causing some considerable damage to her vehicle, and she had been drinking - Sounds as if there might have been some sort of accident, still as yet undiscovered in that area?

That SUV was reported as having been her husband's "pride and joy". I always wonder if the SUV was damaged when she pulled IN, rather than OUT.
 
Lark's case is one that has always stuck with me.

I believe the same thing that happened to Chris Coan happened to Lark: she was driving and drove off the road into an obscure place where she and the vehicle cannot be seen. I believe she is deceased and hope that she will eventually be found.

If she was drinking, her thinking may have been illogical. So, she could have driven anywhere and be anywhere that a tank of gas could have taken her.
 
One of our local stations filed an update last evening: Click here.

I've followed this case from the start and didn't believe I'd missed anything. But I learned a few things:
1 - A family friend reportedly saw her in Wendover, NV a week after she disappeared. Is sure it's her.
2 - A week after that, someone else saw her at a Mexican restaurant (3500 South and Bangerter Hwy) in West Valley City. Driving a different car.
3 - They showed the fence that she supposedly damaged driving in or back out of the driveway. It was merely a chain link fence, very minor damage.
4 - She was drinking at a friend's house, and a male friend followed her home. Saw her reverse tail lights flash on.
5 - She was spotted driving up on the curb near Cyprus Credit Union (8400 West, 3500 South) then driving south on U-111.
6 - Since she disappeared, her son has died and a new grandchild has been born.
7 - Husband has filed for divorce, citing abandonment.

My view:
--I'm taking the later sightings with a big grain of salt. Remember Mitrice Richardson's "sighting" in Vegas? Why would LM come back into town?

BUT, we evidently have that UID out by Wendover that's never been identified. That would fit the Wendover sighting. I'm sure they've checked it out by now. Might have been an illegal (lots of them work in Wendover casinos.)

--I think there's some unspoken things in this case.
It makes sense that IF she hit the fence while driving into the driveway, she'd back up a bit and then pull in. That would account for her friend seeing the back-up lights come on. Husband has always seemed oddly calm about the whole thing. (I've often wondered if he saw her pull in, hit the fence with his "pride and joy" truck and an argument ensued.)

Where's the car?

Drive off the road?
It sounds like she was *very* drunk. Problem is, there's no mountain passes near where she was last spotted. It's hilly, everything's visible. There's a some small bodies of water by Bingham Canyon Road, but there'd have been signs if she drove through fencing into one of those.

Why doesn't her husband try to get her declared as deceased, rather than divorcing her?

ETA:
I just checked NAMUS (very generally) and see only FIVE UIDs that are adult white females, in the entire USA, reported after September 2007. Odd.
Th
 
I hadn't mapped Lark's alleged route before.

She'd barely travelled 1/3 mile when she disappeared:
Click on this MAP where "A" is her home address and "B" is Cyprus Credit Union, near where the vehicle ran up on a curb and where it was (allegedly) last seen.

She'd have passed through the major intersection of 3500 South and 8400 West, just a block from her home.

ETA:
It would be interesting to know when Street View was produced.
Last night on TV, the reporter showed the damaged fence - and in this view, it's obviously not damaged. That SUV in the driveway sure looks like the now-missing 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer.
 
Drinking & Diabetes can be a bad mix & it sounds like she was already intoxicated when she pulled back out of her driveway & struck the chain link fence. I am inclined to think she lost control of the vehicle somewhere & it left the roadway & ended up in an area that is not easily visible. She could have died from the crash itself or later on from injuries and/or blood sugar problems.
 
Wow, I had not followed this case before today. Interesting case. Strange circumstances.
 
Salt Lake County has one of the best GIS sites I've seen, so I spent some time looking at water in a 10 mile radius.. I'll leave this in case anyone else wants to try searching farther, or maybe the mountains to the SW? Are there many cases of someone being found with their car after this long on land?

You can pop up an eagle view, set it to just after she went missing and it'll update as you go along, really neat!
larkmap.JPGlarkmap2.JPG
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
72
Guests online
757
Total visitors
829

Forum statistics

Threads
589,922
Messages
17,927,695
Members
228,002
Latest member
zipperoni
Back
Top