CA CA - Shirlee Weaver, 84 (fnd dec) & Candy Sturgill, 75, Litchfield, 25 Oct 2020

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Lassen County Sheriff's Office seeks public's assistance locating missing women - Lassen News

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Shirlee Weaver and Candy Sturgill were last seen on Oct. 25 leaving the Litchfield, California area with a destination of Wendel, California. They are known to frequent the remote areas between Wendel and Pyramid Lake.

If you have any information on their whereabouts, call the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office at (530) 257-6121.

Shirlee Weaver
White Female
Age: 84
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5’04”
Weight: 155 Pounds
Clothing: Dark pants, tan shirt, and black shoes

Candy Sturgill
White Female
Age: 75
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5’06”
Weight: 145 Pounds
Clothing: Unknown

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The car they are associated with is a tan 2002 Toyota RAV 4, with California license plate 6NWD44. The pictured vehicle is not the actual vehicle. The actual vehicle is missing the spare tire cover.

Lassen County Sheriff's Office
 
This is not too far from me. We have been having pleasant weather with daytime highs in the 70s but winter is expected on Friday including snow and serious cold at night. Looks like a weeklong storm at least, and within a few days temps far below freezing at night. Hope these ladies are found by tomorrow night before the storm hits!

Also fyi their missing flyer is being posted on local facebook community bulletin boards around the region.
 
Family asks public to be on the lookout for missing women - Lassen News

Dated today, and correcting some apparently false information in the earlier article.

We have now had a little snow in my area and presumably in the area where these ladies were thought to be. Also well below freezing at night.
Noting:
  • Candy Sturgill's granddaughter said that their destination was unknown, but some acquaintances said they could have been heading to Colorado to visit her.
  • She said it’s unknown if they have luggage with them and they do not have a cell phone.
  • Also, that the original information released by the Sheriff’s Office was inaccurate — for example the vehicle was silver, not tan — and they supplied an updated missing person’s flier. (Shown below.)
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Note: The flier describes the vehicle as "Gun Metal Gray."
 
From their starting point to the initial area of concern, near Gerlach, NV, would probably be on dirt back roads. From Gerlach on they would be on pavement, though still pretty empty roads.

IF they turned south at Gerlach, in about an hour they would hit Interstate 80 a bit east of Reno, and presumably stay on the freeway if they were heading to Colorado.

But if they turned north at Gerlach they would stay on dirt roads, heading up toward southern Oregon.

And until a day or so ago the roads should have been clear and dry, possibly very dusty. Now there's been a little snow, but not enough to cause problems.
 
A few more thoughts. Pyramid Lake and the towns around it -- Nixon and Sutcliffe -- are tribal land. But the highways going through are state highways.

Some areas off the highway have rules -- such as road access or fishing along the lakeshore -- that are tribal-related and might take a visitor by surprise. Usually well-signed, in my experience of having driven past many times.

But the flyer says they frequent the Pyramid Lake area so they are probably familiar with the road and the towns and any differences in rules there vs elsewhere.
 
From their starting point to the initial area of concern, near Gerlach, NV, would probably be on dirt back roads. From Gerlach on they would be on pavement, though still pretty empty roads.

IF they turned south at Gerlach, in about an hour they would hit Interstate 80 a bit east of Reno, and presumably stay on the freeway if they were heading to Colorado.

But if they turned north at Gerlach they would stay on dirt roads, heading up toward southern Oregon.

And until a day or so ago the roads should have been clear and dry, possibly very dusty. Now there's been a little snow, but not enough to cause problems.
You lost me, Auntie! LOL :p

Litchfield to Wendel is about 1o miles SE. Pyramid Lake is another hour SE. But, Gerlach NV is another hour and a half NORTH. I'm not understanding why they would be in Gerlach whatever their destination was - Wendel, Pyramid Lake, or Colorado. ?

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

I also find it a little odd that they'd take off for Colorado, an approximate 19-hour drive, without advising whomever they were visiting there. How would they even know whether anyone would be home? o_O MOO
 
Wow, I was sure the initial flyer mentioned Gerlach -- but now I don't see it. Maybe I just imagined that? :p

Litchfield and Wendel are close to each other, yes, and both in California. I see now that there is a road they could have taken east from Wendel that goes straight to the west side of Pyramid Lake. I have not been on those roads, only along the east side on the main highway.

There are more back roads out there than I realized!

I agree with you that it would be odd for them to set out for a multi-day trip without the folks on the other end knowing their plans!

You lost me, Auntie! LOL :p

Litchfield to Wendel is about 1o miles SE. Pyramid Lake is another hour SE. But, Gerlach NV is another hour and a half NORTH. I'm not understanding why they would be in Gerlach whatever their destination was - Wendel, Pyramid Lake, or Colorado. ?

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

I also find it a little odd that they'd take off for Colorado, an approximate 19-hour drive, without advising whomever they were visiting there. How would they even know whether anyone would be home? o_O MOO
 
Wow, I was sure the initial flyer mentioned Gerlach -- but now I don't see it. Maybe I just imagined that? :p

Litchfield and Wendel are close to each other, yes, and both in California. I see now that there is a road they could have taken east from Wendel that goes straight to the west side of Pyramid Lake. I have not been on those roads, only along the east side on the main highway.

There are more back roads out there than I realized!

I agree with you that it would be odd for them to set out for a multi-day trip without the folks on the other end knowing their plans!
Okay, so now I'm wondering - since Wendel is so close, and Pyramid Lake is just another hour - was this supposed to be a day trip or were they going to spend the night somewhere? If so, wouldn't they have needed reservations?

This one is just so strange.

Also, there is a concerning comment here by TU (in response to MH): Lassen County Sheriff's Office
 
Yes, I see that comment. No purses? Seems more like they just meant to stay in the local area then, like drive a few miles and then take a walk, or just drive around for a change of scenery.

Or...

There are other options, but no reason to think them at this point.

You'd think if they had a vehicle accident or breakdown that the searches would have spotted the car. Pretty empty country out there, peoplewise.

I hope folks have gone to Sutcliffe and Pyramid to ask around -- not sure how much internet access there is in those locations.
 
Looks like the vehicle was found disabled and one of the women deceased inside (possibly of natural causes) and the other woman still missing.

Body Of Woman Found During Search For Missing Lassen County Women
"The Toyota RAV4 had a flat tire, a raised hood and the word 'help' spelled out on the ground with items from inside the car."
Damn it, worst case scenario but I think everyone expected it. Sounds like the car crashed or had mechanical problems and one of the ladies stayed behind (due to injuries or just being elderly?) while the other one went to look for help. I hope they can find the other ladies body soon.
 
Okay...majorly confused about the directions given in that above article. Apparently the car was found off Mixie Flat Road, but thats not even remotely close to the route between Litchfield and Wendel, and is actually over the CA/NV border? I wonder if they got the name of the road wrong.
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It sounds to me like they were just exploring.

I don't think they got lost going from Litchfield to Wendel, that's only a few miles on relatively major roads.

I think they started "from the Litchfield-Wendel area", and either were trying to take a back route to connect up with a Nevada road (if they were ultimately heading toward Pyramid Lake, or even then farther east as one person suggested), or they were just "going for a drive". I will guess it was the latter.

A flat tire even without a preceding accident could have stranded them if they had no phone or cell service. Sad situation.

MOO of course
 
It sounds to me like they were just exploring.

I don't think they got lost going from Litchfield to Wendel, that's only a few miles on relatively major roads.

I think they started "from the Litchfield-Wendel area", and either were trying to take a back route to connect up with a Nevada road (if they were ultimately heading toward Pyramid Lake, or even then farther east as one person suggested), or they were just "going for a drive". I will guess it was the latter.

A flat tire even without a preceding accident could have stranded them if they had no phone or cell service. Sad situation.

MOO of course
thanks, im a dumb dumb and didn't even check where Pyramid Lake was :p that makes more sense. Still pretty out of the way though, so I'm not surprised that searchers never found the car if they were searching around the Wendel/Pyramid area. Mixie Flat looks super rural, thank god for those hunters stumbling across the car or else I don't know when they would have found it.
upload_2020-11-12_22-18-35.png
 
It looks to me like "help" would be west towards highway 395. As one approaches 395 there might be a ranch or two a bit before reaching the highway itself, depending on what road is being followed.

Yes, it's very empty country. But they were familiar with that, living in the vicinity.

I do wonder why they didn't have their purses or a phone.

So sad for their families.
 
NOV 13, 2020
Washoe County Sheriff’s Office finds remains of one missing Lassen County woman; search for second continues - Lassen News
[...]

Volunteer teams from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, including Washoe County Search and Rescue, Raven, the Specialized Vehicle Unit, WOOF search dog teams, Washoe County Sheriff’s Hasty Team and the Incident Management Team continue to assist the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office in searching for the other woman.

[...]

Washoe County teams spent in total Tuesday-Wednesday to access the site and search for the second woman:
  • 6,600 travel miles;
  • 132 linear search miles in ground search; and
  • 338 man hours (not including Raven).
Teams continue searching for the second missing woman. The California Highway Patrol also provided a helicopter to aid in the search efforts.

Press Release: Washoe County Search and Rescue crews find missing Lassen County woman
 

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