News

Volunteers to continue search for missing woman on Saturday

Group will canvass Redwood City for Wamaitha Kaboga-Miller

Family and friends of Wamaitha Kaboga-Miller are organizing a second search party for the missing Palo Alto woman this Saturday, Sept. 1, her daughter-in-law Sophia Kaboga-Miller said.

The search party will meet at 9 a.m. in the parking lot at Target, 2485 El Camino Real, Redwood City,

Kaboga-Miller, 66, has been missing since Aug. 17. She left her Crescent Park home at about 9:15 a.m. in her silver 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK with California license plate number DP241LU and has not contacted her family or friends since.

She is considered at risk as she takes medications, including for recent back surgery, and she has difficulty walking. She did not take her walker with her, which she needs, her family said. Kaboga-Miller is black; 5 feet, 1 inch tall; and about 120 pounds. She was wearing light-colored pajama bottoms, a white blouse and a puffy black vest. She might be wearing a back brace.

She was last seen purchasing cigarettes at the Country Time Market, 2200 University Ave., East Palo Alto. Surveillance video showed her car turn right toward the Dumbarton Bridge.

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Her family and friends have created a new website related to her and the search and previously released a video asking for the public's help.

Volunteers searched for her in East Palo Alto on Aug. 25 but did not find her or her car.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413 or the family at 650-814-1189, or to email [email protected] Anonymous tips can be emailed to the police at [email protected] or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Sue Dremann
 
Sue Dremann is a veteran journalist who joined the Palo Alto Weekly in 2001. She is a breaking news and general assignment reporter who also covers the regional environmental, health and crime beats. Read more >>

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Volunteers to continue search for missing woman on Saturday

Group will canvass Redwood City for Wamaitha Kaboga-Miller

by / Palo Alto Weekly

Uploaded: Fri, Aug 31, 2018, 3:20 pm

Family and friends of Wamaitha Kaboga-Miller are organizing a second search party for the missing Palo Alto woman this Saturday, Sept. 1, her daughter-in-law Sophia Kaboga-Miller said.

The search party will meet at 9 a.m. in the parking lot at Target, 2485 El Camino Real, Redwood City,

Kaboga-Miller, 66, has been missing since Aug. 17. She left her Crescent Park home at about 9:15 a.m. in her silver 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK with California license plate number DP241LU and has not contacted her family or friends since.

She is considered at risk as she takes medications, including for recent back surgery, and she has difficulty walking. She did not take her walker with her, which she needs, her family said. Kaboga-Miller is black; 5 feet, 1 inch tall; and about 120 pounds. She was wearing light-colored pajama bottoms, a white blouse and a puffy black vest. She might be wearing a back brace.

She was last seen purchasing cigarettes at the Country Time Market, 2200 University Ave., East Palo Alto. Surveillance video showed her car turn right toward the Dumbarton Bridge.

Her family and friends have created a new website related to her and the search and previously released a video asking for the public's help.

Volunteers searched for her in East Palo Alto on Aug. 25 but did not find her or her car.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413 or the family at 650-814-1189, or to email [email protected] Anonymous tips can be emailed to the police at [email protected] or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Related content:

Store owner: Missing woman seemed incapacitated

Family of missing woman to hold search party

Comments

Elizabeth
Downtown North
on Aug 31, 2018 at 5:00 pm
Elizabeth , Downtown North
on Aug 31, 2018 at 5:00 pm

Are the authorities combing the water of the Bay for a body? Not to be a negative Nancy here, but it's been over a week.


Resident
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Aug 31, 2018 at 9:54 pm
Resident, Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Aug 31, 2018 at 9:54 pm

I am not sure how the last search was conducted or the plans for this second search, but I really think divers should be looking for a car off the side of the roadway towards the Dumbarton Bridge. If the car can be found as it is larger in size than the lady herself, it may provide the necessary clues of location and condition to finding her.


Hmmm
East Palo Alto
on Sep 2, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Hmmm, East Palo Alto
on Sep 2, 2018 at 1:39 pm

I don't understand the emphasis the family places on her driving toward the bridge because when you exit the parking lot you can only turn right toward the bridge - unless the footage shows her driving beyond the first street where she could u-turn toward Palo Alto. If she was impaired - this women's should NOT have been driving - she may have missed the chance for the first u-turn, anyhow.

What else is being done to find her? Have neighbors reviewed their surveillance footage? Does the family have surveillance cameras? Can drones be used to search for her car? Why were they searching in Redwood City? What security features did her car have?


Forensic Examiner
Greenmeadow
on Sep 2, 2018 at 2:05 pm
Forensic Examiner, Greenmeadow
on Sep 2, 2018 at 2:05 pm

>> Are the authorities combing the water of the Bay for a body? ...it's been over a week.

A dead body will generally rise to the surface due to the various gases (i.e. methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide) being produced internally by intestinal bacteria. It can take as little as a few days or weeks depending on water temperature. The colder the water, the longer it takes.

The SF Bay water is relatively cold so you have brought up a valid point. The only obstacle...miles and miles of water to comb, depths and limited SCUBA time.


hope_for_best
Old Palo Alto
on Sep 2, 2018 at 4:59 pm
hope_for_best, Old Palo Alto
on Sep 2, 2018 at 4:59 pm

@Hmmm, you can exit the lot onto Bell and turn either way onto University.
Surveillance video copied to YouTube does not show her car coming or going.
Looked like 7 cameras active on the system.
Unclear how direction-of-travel was determined.

@Forensic, she was probably wearing a seatbelt/shoulder harness,
because a Mercedes will yell at you if you don't.


Frustrated in EPA
East Palo Alto
on Sep 2, 2018 at 5:13 pm
Frustrated in EPA, East Palo Alto
on Sep 2, 2018 at 5:13 pm

@Forensic, she was probably wearing a seatbelt/shoulder harness,
because a Mercedes will yell at you if you don't.

@hope_for-best

You are assuming that the woman went down with the car. Not necessarily (although the car hasn't been located to date).


Malia
Charleston Meadows
on Sep 10, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Malia, Charleston Meadows
on Sep 10, 2018 at 3:15 pm

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