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