LAPD Sergeant to Help with Search

Sergeant Mike Goldberg out of the Van Nuys division of the LAPD interviewed me today and is going to put some effort, along with some colleagues, into finding Nancy.  He has already visited an area in North Hollywood that has a significant homeless population and is bringing Nancy's story to the attention of the police that are most familiar with that community.

This is a tremendous development and we look forward to all that Sgt. Goldberg can accomplish.

Here is Piercey Dalton's post from the Chocolate Facebook page: Click Here to go to the Facebook site for Chocolate...

Two Months after the completion of "Chocolate", posters of Nancy Paulikas appeared around LA. At 55 years old, with Early On-Set Alzheimers, Nancy had wandered away from her husband while visiting LACMA and was now nowhere to be found.

This uncanny parallel to Eve's story revealed the deafening realities within our fiction and encouraged the "Chocolate" team to join the search for Nancy, with a passion.

Nancy has now been missing for over 6 months. Her husband, Kirk Moody, attends our screenings with stacks of Nancy flyers in hand and ample support for artists who are helping to increase social awareness.

We ask you to help us find Nancy by simply sharing her images found at Nancy is Missing so that she can be recognized wherever she is.

#LetsFindNancy #MissingPersonLA #Alzheimers Alzheimer's Greater Los Angeles #share #repost #supportindiefilm #firstglancefilmfestival#bestdrama Andre Chesini Marcos Daniel Ferreira Dâmaris Pinheiro Joao Bounassar Bruna Nogueira

Click Here to go to Facebook site for Chocolate...

Photo from the screening of Chocolate

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Here is photo from the screening of Chocolate at the FirstGlance Film Festival.at which Chocolate won for "Best Drama." From left: Amy Argyle, actress, Thiago Dadalt, writer/director, Piercey Dalton, who won for "Best Actress", and Kirk Moody, husband of Nancy Paulikas.

Short Film "Chocolate" Wins Best Drama and Piercey Dalton Wins Best Actress Award at 17th Annual FirstGlance Film Festival!

We just learned that Piercey Dalton won the "Best Actress" award for her leading role as Eve in the short movie "Chocolate" and the movie won in the "Best Drama" category!!!

This is wonderful news for Writer/Director Thiago Dadalt, for producer Dru Miller, and for the whole team that worked to make such a beautiful film (described in more detail in the previous post).

Again... it is just remarkable that this movie about a woman with early onset Alzheimer's that wanders off and is lost on the streets of Los Angeles was shot last summer and completed not long before Nancy went missing on October 15th.

Chocolate will be part of a film festival in NYC next week an then will go on to be screened at Cannes.

We wish the team all the best and thank them, again, for their efforts to help shed light on the plight of an increasing number of people around the world, and to their support in helping find Nancy Paulikas...

              CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for Chocolate

              CLICK HERE for the Facebook page for the movie Chocolate

Screening on Saturday of a Remarkable Short Movie, "Chocolate... Not All Who Wander are Lost"

Kirk and a small group attended the public screening of the short movie "Chocolate" at the 17th Annual FirstGlance Film Festival Los Angeles.

The movie was written, directed, and edited by the very talented Thiago Dadalt and is about Eve, a woman with early onset Alzheimer's, who wanders from home, ending up in the homeless community in Los Angeles.  Eve is played with amazing sensitivity by Piercey Dalton and there are also very strong performances by Joao Bounassar, Amy Argyle and Talia Bacha.

Remarkably, this movie was shot last summer and completed not long before Nancy went missing on October 15th.

The movie was nominated in four categories for the London International Film Festival, and Amy Argyle won for best supporting actress.

Watching this movie was, frankly, very emotionally difficult as it reflected many aspects of losing Nancy.

But it is also an uplifting movie; it carries the message of the realities of Alzheimer's Disease in our society and how we can help prevent future wanderings and losses of loved ones.

Chocolate will be part of film festival in NYC next week, and then will go on to be screened at Cannes.

The hope on the parts of the producer and team is that they can turn this into a full-length movie, and Thiago is working on the script.

              CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for Chocolate

              CLICK HERE for the Facebook page for the movie Chocolate

Meeting with Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi's Office

Today we met with Jenn Hardy, the Office Assistant for our California State Assemblyman, Al Muratsuchi.

We were looking for two things, either of which might result in better ways to help find missing people, especially those, like Nancy, who are suffering from a debilitating disease.

1. We asked if we could have some insight into how the database of Medi-Cal applications is structured.  If we can get a toe in the door here, we can potentially find an efficient way to search for applications that may be indicators of missing persons.  We volunteered free technical support to look into this problem.
2. We also related our frustrations with getting answers from (some) hospitals, due to either some misguided sense of personal privacy laws (HIPAA), or simply an inability to answer our questions.  Given this, it was suggested that some legislation might be appropriate that would compel hospitals, in certain circumstances, to report unidentified patients to the police; in order for the Missing Persons Bureau of the police would have that information pushed to them, rather than having them pull it out.  (Informing the police seems to be sort of a standard practice in Orange County, but rare in LA County - just our observation).  Ms. Hardy informed us that the deadline for proposing new legislation for 2017 has already passed, but was willing to have their office look into something for 2018.

We are quite appreciative of the time that Ms. Hardy gave us and look forward to any progress she can make on either of these areas.

Updated Fliers and Manhattan Beach Police Letter and Flyer

We updated the fliers that are accessible in the right frame of this blog, about half-way down.

New Article: "Missing Manhattan Beach Woman: Family Hoping For 'Miracle' 6 Months In"

"Missing Manhattan Beach Woman: Family Hoping For 'Miracle' 6 Months In"

Nancy Paulikas has been missing for six months and her family is still holding out hope of finding her.

Click here for Patch.Com Article on Nancy and "Easter Miracle"

Summary of Efforts to Find Nancy

 We have put together a summary of the efforts undertaken to find Nancy.  You can find it in .pdf form, and it is repeated below.

Pdf version of Efforts to Find Nancy

Introduction Nancy Paulikas, a 56 year old Alzheimer’s patient, walked away from a family visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) mid-afternoon on Saturday, October 15, 2016. Family, friends, police and many volunteers have been searching for her since her disappearance without success.

Because so many new friends and observers have expressed an interest in helping we are providing the following account of the activities that have been undertaken to find Nancy. The list is by no means exhaustive, but it does highlight the principal efforts.

Law Enforcement Activity

• Saturday, October 15th, the day that Nancy went missing at about 3PM
• Los Angeles police arrived on the scene very soon after she was reported missing by Museum security o
• LAPD deployed a helicopter to search the area o
• LAPD (Wilshire Precinct) did a block-to-block search starting around 8 PM
• Unfortunately, dogs were not available to aid in the search
• Responsibility for search moved to LAPD Missing Persons on Sunday and transferred to the Manhattan Beach PD (Nancy’s residence) on Monday
• On Monday the California Highway Patrol issued a Silver Alert (like an Amber Alert for seniors)
• Subsequently a Reddinet (hospital “Be on the Lookout” BOLO) notice was issued
• Both MBPD and LAPD have continued to be supportive
• Nancy’s information has been entered into the National Missing Person’s Database (NAMUS)

Private Investigator

• Nancy’s family brought in a well credentialed private investigator to assist with initial organizational efforts and search
• His company’s services were used for several weeks

Community Awareness Efforts

• Family and friends began handing out and posting flyers on Sunday, October 16th, the day after Nancy went missing
• Volunteer search group grew dramatically and additional flyers were systematically distributed and posted in the area around LACMA and in an increasing ring of surrounding neighborhoods
• The flyer area was expanded to include North Hollywood and Venice via a service that delivered it door-to-door to every residence
• Businesses willing to post flyers did so for miles around LACMA. This included food carts.
• Team members worked to make sure Libraries, Schools, Parks, Police Stations and Fire Stations were all visited/informed
• Flyers were distributed to drivers with companies such as Uber, Lyft, private taxi companies, FedEx, USPS, and Metro Transportation
• Held a widely covered Commemorative Vigil at LACMA site one month after Nancy went missing

Tip Tracking

• A network of community volunteers worked out who could quickly respond to “Chase tips” of potential sightings on a moment’s notice since they were coming in from all over the LA area
• Response teams and team members followed up on dozens of tips, and continue to respond to tips to this day

Video Collection and Review

• Teams of volunteers were deployed to ask businesses around LACMA (and around where tips were received) for security camera videos
• Business videos were collected and reviewed by teams of volunteers- hundreds of hours were collected, assigned/distributed and carefully reviewed
• Analysis showed Nancy’s path on Oct. 15th for only a few minutes, walking west on Wilshire to McCarthy Vista then turning and walking southwest on the east side of McCarthy Vista. This is the last confirmed sighting of Nancy and was about 15 minutes after she went missing from LACMA.

Homeless Communities

• Search volunteers talked to many homeless people when flyers were being posted; many homeless people joined in the effort
• Search volunteers visited a number of homeless camps, met with members, and distributed flyers. Almost universally, members of the homeless community were supportive and said that they would use their social networks to help distribute the word to look for Nancy.
• Search volunteers went to every homeless shelter in the LA metropolitan area, talked to staff and passed out/posted flyers
• Flyers were delivered and distributed to all known homeless food distribution sites
• Agencies serving the homeless in LA and Orange counties (and to a lesser extent, Ventura and San Bernardino counties) were contacted and received flyers for dissemination

Media

• Nancy’s story was featured on all local TV stations’ prime-time newscasts, in some instances multiple times. A media team identified opportunities to keep Nancy in the public eye by bringing TV and press attention to events like the “Vigil” and asking players of an updated Pokemon Go game to look for Nancy while they walk streets and parks playing the game.
• Kirk Moody, Nancy’s husband, did a brief appeal at the end of the nationally televised “The Doctors” on January 9, 2017
• Articles appeared in numerous local papers, including a Steve Lopez feature in the LA Times and articles in La Opinion and the Jewish press
• Full and Partial page ads ran prominently in the LA Times for over a month
• Thiago Dadalt wrote and directed a short movie called “Chocolate” about a woman with dementia who wanders in Los Angeles and is assimilated into the homeless community. The lead actress (Piercey Dalton) reached out to Kirk regarding the movie after seeing Nancy’s story.

They initially received feedback that their story was “impossible- people are found in a couple of days”; so Nancy’s story really validated their story line. Thiago Dadalt is creating a video specifically about Nancy. He is creating two versions, a very brief one for social media, and a longer version that we can share with news outlets and other places.

• Information has been distributed on numerous social media platforms including: NancyIsMissing Blog, Facebook page, Twitter, Reddit, NextDoor and Imgur. The NIM blog and Facebook pages continue to be updated.

Hospitals

• In the first week search volunteers visited all hospitals within a 10 mile radius of LACMA to distribute/post flyers in Emergency Rooms
• Volunteers have made phone contacts with all hospitals (173) in LA and Orange County; Emergency Rooms were contacted daily for the first 6 weeks
• Volunteers are following up with 45 area hospitals on a regular basis and making new follow-up calls on full list of 173 hospitals

Residential Care Facilities

• A mass mailing using the US Postal Service sent a cover letter and poster to 5,000 licensed Residential Care Facilities in LA and Orange counties
• Volunteers made follow-up calls to over 1,000 Care Facilities
• Volunteers made personal visits to over 300 Care Facilities

Government Support

• Search efforts were aided by several government officials, including State Senator Ben Allen, LA Supervisor Janice Hahn and Congressman Ted Lieu
• Kirk Moody, Nancy’s husband, testified at a Board of Supervisors meeting (February 28, 2017) in support of Janice Hahn/Sheila Kuehl’s proposal for a study on tracking devices for people with conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and Autism
• Contacts have been made with appropriate County Departments in LA and surrounding county offices (e.g. Mental Health, Depts. of Conservatorship, Adult Protective Services, Nursing Home Ombudsmen, Aging, Behavioral Health, etc.)
• Specific contacts have been made with each County’s Public Guardian and Adult Protective Services throughout California
• The California Department of Social Services has searched its data base for information on applications for emergency Medi-Cal (California’s Medi-Caid) which can be given to patients who are unidentified
• The LA Coroner’s office is acutely aware of Nancy’s story and is diligent in checking unidentified bodies

Other Organizational Support

• Alzheimer’s Greater Los Angeles and Alzheimer’s Orange County have been active in spreading the word, including speaking at the Vigil and allowing our team members to speak at Alzheimer’s events
• Various units of the Salvation Army and a large number of other nonprofit organizations have assisted in spreading the message that Nancy is missing

BOTTOM LINE-Despite all of these efforts, Nancy is still missing.

If you have ideas about other areas or ways to search for her, we are open to them.

If you would like to help us search for Nancy by making phone calls or distributing flyers to residential care facilities and/or hospitals, or doing something else, please contact us at

NancyIsMissing@gmail.com

And I would again like to thank ALL of the hundreds of people and organizations that have supported my effort to find my wife over these months since she went missing. The outpouring of resources, volunteer time, and support has been staggering and SO greatly appreciated by me and my team members.

Sincerely,

Kirk Moody, Nancy’s Husband

Ed Floven in the Beverly Press has another nice article

Beverly Press Article

"How's the search for Nancy going? and "What's the family’s state of mind?"... The two things that come up most frequently from visitors to this blog

Two of the things that come up most frequently from visitors to this blog involve the current status of the search for Nancy and the family’s state of mind. 

Unfortunately, while we are actively continuing the search and have reached out in many, many different directions, we have still not turned up a single clue to her whereabouts.  Thanks to the ongoing commitment of the lead officers of the Manhattan Beach Police Department and the many dedicated volunteers who have given so much energy and so many hours, the search continues with visits and calls to the literally hundreds (thousands?) of facilities in Southern California where she might be being cared for under a Jane Doe or misidentified designation.

Kirk and Nancy’s parents want everyone to know how much they appreciate the outpouring of care and concern that has surrounded this impossible situation.  While frustrated and anxious, they remain fully engaged in the search process.  They are mindful of the need to take care of their own health during this stressful time and are working hard to do all of the appropriate things to make that possible.

With 6 months having passed since Nancy went missing we want to again ask all of you to help keep our search in the eye of the media, in the minds of care-givers throughout southern California, and in your hearts.

Jeanne Fratello Has a Nice Article in Dig MB

Dig MB Article

Media push

We have contacted the media outlets that have covered Nancy in the past and pointed out that Saturday will mark the six month mark.  In addition, we have upped the reward for information to $30,000.  Looking for an "Easter Miracle" that will help us find Nancy.

Another Very Nice Article in the Daily Breeze by Megan Barnes

Daily Breeze Article by Megan Barnes

March 2017: Elderly homeless woman in Santa Barbara reunited with children after a decade on the streets...

Here is an amazing, recent story from Santa Barbara about an elderly homeless woman being reunited with her three children after disappearing more than a decade ago.

"Kayannette Gabrielle went missing from her home in Valencia in 2006.  Her son, Brett Hanlon reported her disappearance to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Her information was entered into a statewide database and detectives followed leads for years."

CLICK HERE for article on finding woman missing for 10 yrs