HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Authorities are continuing the effort to locate a local veterinarian who has not been seen for nearly a week.
Dr. Helen Sharp, 45, of Hidden Valley Lake was last seen on Wednesday and reported missing later in the week by her boyfriend, the Lake County Sheriff's Office told Lake County News.
On Monday, Lake County Sheriff's detectives continued to search for leads as to her whereabouts, and were attempting to find out if she had used her credit cards in the last several days, according to Lt. Steve Brooks.
In addition to working to get financial records, Brooks said detectives have followed up with Sharp's coworkers and relatives, and checked places where she had been spotted prior to her disappearance.
For their part, Sharp's friends and family are sharing fliers with her photo and information both online and in the community, and posting updates to a newly created Facebook page, Bring Helen Home .
Sharp was last seen in the Middletown area driving her Toyota 4Runner, with the California license plate 5DTY013, the sheriff's office reported.
The vehicle has front-end damage from a wreck Sharp was in on Saturday, June 6, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP Officer Joe Wind told Lake County News that the single-vehicle crash occurred at 8:40 a.m. that day as Sharp was driving northbound on Highway 29 at the intersection with Hartmann Road.
He said she had stopped at the three-way stop sign and was just crossing the intersection when her attention was momentarily diverted while she tried to plug in her cell phone.
Sharp's vehicle veered across the intersection and hit a stop sign, leaving the driver's side front-end with moderate damage, Wind said.
He said Sharp – who was alone in the vehicle – was not injured in the low-speed crash, and there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol being involved.
“It was just a real simple crash,” said Wind. “Nothing major, nothing suspicious.”
Her Toyota was towed into Hidden Valley Auto Body on Monday, according to the shop's manager, Jesse Jones.
Then on Wednesday, Sharp texted Dr. Debi Sally – owner of Clearlake Veterinary Clinic, where Sharp has been on staff for a decade – asking that all of her appointments be canceled, Sally told Lake County News.
“She was very upset about a variety of things. Hopefully she is OK,” Sally said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sharp – who had gotten a rental car at Hidden Valley Auto Body – showed up alone to the shop, turned in the rental car and picked up her damaged Toyota, which hadn't yet been repaired, Jones said.
“She was upset, I didn't ask her why,” said Jones, adding that he had believed it was because of the wrecked vehicle.
Sharp's boyfriend told authorities that he didn't believe the Toyota was drivable, Brooks said.
However, while the vehicle had damage, Jones said Sharp still managed to drive it away.
From there, the trail has gone “stone cold,” according to Sharp's longtime friend, Trish Beltrami.
“It's just as if she vanished into thin air,” Beltrami said.
Brooks said a member of Sharp's family told authorities she had an appointment in Calistoga that day that she didn't make.
Beltrami said that, as far as she or anyone else in Sharp's circle of family and friends knows, Sharp did not take any clothing with her.
Also baffling to Beltrami is that so far no one has reported seeing the obviously damaged Toyota 4Runner driving around.
Making the case more challenging is that Sharp left her cell phone at home, so it can't be used to track her, Brooks said. There also is no communications system – such as OnStar – in the Toyota that could help locate it.
Brooks said the investigation has revealed that Sharp was upset about a recent argument with her boyfriend and has a history of depression. She had made statements hinting at her depression to friends and coworkers, and was having difficulties focusing on her work.
According to her Clearlake Veterinary Clinic profile, she has two young children – a boy and a girl. Beltrami said Sharp is “utterly devoted” to her children.
Sharp's boyfriend told detectives that Sharp is “driven” and wouldn't readily deny her responsibilities, Brooks said.
On the new Facebook page dedicated to the effort to find her, Sharp's friends have stated that Sharp and her boyfriend have broken up.
Brooks said information about Sharp and her vehicle, along with her picture, were broadcast over the Missing and Unidentified Persons System – MUPS for short – with a be on the lookout also issued.
Not only do the alerts go everywhere in the state, Brooks said, but if any law enforcement anywhere in the United States were to contact Sharp, the alert would come up.
Besides the MUPS and BOLO alerts, Brooks said detectives also entered Sharp's information into a system that sends fliers of missing persons to all law enforcement agencies.
Beltrami said Sharp went to high school and college in Texas. She's lives many places – including Southern California, Hawaii, Texas and Utah – and is self-sufficient.
In 2005 Sharp came to Lake County and began working for Clearlake Veterinary Clinic. Since her disappearance, there have been numerous posts by community members who lauded her care of their pets, a number of them calling her their favorite veterinarian.
The struggle for family and friends like Beltrami is not knowing if Sharp had an accident, harmed herself, if she was victimized or if there is another explanation.
There exists the possibility that, like the majority of missing persons cases, Sharp may have left on her own and intentionally not returned.
As Brooks points out, when it comes to adults voluntarily walking away, “There's no law against it.”
Nationwide, the caseload of missing persons cases is very large, with the US Department of Justice's National Missing and Unidentified Persons System reporting that there are as many as 90,000 active missing person cases at any given time.
The California Attorney General's Office reported that between 2011 and 2013 – the years for which the most recent statistics are available – there were more than 111,000 missing persons cases involving adults in the state, and of those the majority, nearly 93,000, were cases where the person had left voluntarily.
Sharp is 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 190 pounds, has brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about Sharp is asked to call the Lake County Sheriff's Office at 707-263-2690.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
