A 23-year-old Sacramento State University student has gone missing in the Los Angeles area after some puzzling phone calls were made to her family.
Noelle Lynch, who lives in Northern California with her family, went to Southern California on April 1, and then vanished without a trace. A search effort is now underway with the support of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Mark Lynch, Noelle's father, said in an interview that he last saw Noelle that same day in what he described as a 'difficult state of mind'.
"All that matters is trying to get her back," he told SFGATE, urging the community to join in the search efforts.
"We didn't know where she was going," Mark said, "and the next thing we knew, she was in an accident in Los Angeles at 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Tuesday, April 2."
There were no known injuries, but Noelle's vehicle sustained significant damage. Her mother, upon learning of the car crash, arranged a hotel room, according to teh dad, near LAX airport, hoping to meet her daughter.
However, Noelle's mom received a call from her daughter from "a strange person's phone" around noon on April 3. Mark disclosed that the call was quite short and that Noelle was "mostly not making sense."
Later that same day, Noelle was reported to have walked away from an apartment building on the 900 block of East Redondo Boulevard in Inglewood later that day, according to the LAPD
Noelle's phone was then discovered at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter at LAX, but, Mark Lynch said, there is no definitive evidence suggesting she boarded a flight.
"She always calls," he said. "This is very out of character. She has had a tough time but she has always called."
Lynch said that he has not ruled out foul play as he doesn't think that she is "sitting in a coffee shop in Marina del Rey."
Noelle is 5-foot-8, approximately 125 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes, according to the LAPD.
She was last seen wearing a dark-colored T-shirt, green sweatpants adorned with a military logo, and white sneakers.
Anyone with any information is urged to call LAPD's missing persons department at 213-996-1800.
