A really nice story in the LA Times today, by Steve Lopez... THANK YOU STEVE!

Hoping that this helps get the word out to look for Nancy and bring her home to Kirk...

Click here to read the story: Link to the LA Times story by Steve Lopez

Click here for the video from the story: Link to a video from the LA Times Article of 30 Nov

Thanksgiving, very difficult time...

Each of us felt the absence of Nancy around our Thanksgiving tables yesterday...  The empty seat and the hollow in our hearts.  None more deeply than Kirk and Nancy's parents, George and Joan.

Our best guess now is that Nancy is "in the system" here in LA County, based on the experiences of LAPD Missing Persons Detective Mercado.  Nancy could have been admitted to some care facility under an incorrect name as early as the same day as she went missing.  People reportedly "pop-out" of these facilities months or even years later when they are identified, according to Det. Mercado.

So we're continuing to:

• contact every hospital to find the facilities into which they might place a person like Nancy and contact them to see if they had any admissions matching Nancy during a specific date window
• find every facility in LA county that provides such care and contact them (thousands)
• work "top down" the LA County to find if they have taken on any indigent patients in the time window

We're also still actively tracking tips: Any credible tip is investigated to see if it is Nancy.  HUGE contributions from our team of  Tip Trackers.

So, we wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and ask you to continue to support our efforts with your time, your phone calls, and your prayers.

Together we'll bring Nancy home...

Below is a link to photos and videos from our "Light Up LA for Nancy" vigil at LACMA on Thu 17 Nov

LINK to photos and videos from our "Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy" Vigil at LACMA

Nancy the person - from a former co-worker

I met Nancy the day I started working at ITG in 1993. Actually, I met Nancy the week before the day I started working at ITG. Someone saw fit to invite me to the monthly lunch meeting for ITG's entire Los Angeles office. "All" 16 of them. It would be my first introduction into the very serious world of financial-industry software development. And the topic was… homebrewing. That's right, brewing and bottling your own beer at home. The presenter was Nancy.   

It took about 2 minutes to realize Nancy was incredibly bright. The detail at which she could describe the brewing process - the whys behind the whats and hows - was remarkable. She sounded like a professional brewer slash chemistry professor. But I think she liked to talk more about the failed attempts than the successes. Every success was a good batch of beer. But every failure was a funny story.

Along the way, Nancy was promoted to head of software development for ITG, a title she held for a few years before retiring early at age 40. That group of 16 software technologists exploded to over 200 during her time at the firm. No one worked harder or was more disciplined than Nancy. She owed the firm and her co-workers her best every single day, and she never let us down. As a leader she wanted to connect with everyone on the ever-expanding team. She took up the challenge of memorizing everyone's name and face so she was never unprepared in a meeting or hallway conversation.

THIS is what I think of when I think of Nancy and early-onset Alzheimer’s. At her peak, Nancy had the sharpest brain in the room. She had an ability to educate and entertain with her depth of knowledge, life experiences and storytelling ability. Alzheimer’s has taken a lot of that away, but Nancy is still strong in spirit. She’s not a quitter. Neither are her friends and family.

Wrap-Up to the Week and Plans for Week of November 21st

We had a busy and productive week, highlighted by our "Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy" vigil and procession event at LACMA on Thursday.  This event was championed by Nancy W. and wonderfully promoted by one of our talented, well-connected teammates, Allison M.  The event started with short messages from Kirk, Nancy's husband, Sgt Paul Ford from Manhattan Beach PD, Susan Galeas, President and CEO of Alzheimer's Greater Los Angeles, and Nancy's parents.  These words were followed by a candlelight procession following Nancy's path down Wilshire and then south on McCarthy Vista, culminating with a gathering at the location were we last saw Nancy. Richard B. led a "Moment of Hope" and we all blew out our candles and sent our hope out to the rest of the city.

Over 100 people attended and we received TV coverage from 4 local stations and multiple local newspapers.  Earlier we had radio stories about the event, as well.  We reportedly got significant local broadcast air-time on Thursday eve and again on Friday AM getting Nancy's picture out and our message of bringing Nancy home.   THIS is how we're going to find Nancy: by having more eyes looking for her.

For Thanksgiving week, (21 November) , we're re-orienting our efforts away from pushing information "into the streets" and using our teammates to seek her out in residential care facilities.   Based on a discussion with an LAPD detective from their "Missing Persons" unit we have reason to believe that she might be in a residential care facility but under a different name.  Earlier we were told that Nancy could not be in one of these facilities because they didn't accept "Jane Does", but she may have made it in via some other, mistaken name.  So we'll be contacting every one of these facilities in LA to ask them explicitly if they have a patient that matches Nancy's description.

This new theory that Nancy could be in a care facility provides another avenue to explore and new hope for our team.  However, we will continue to gather track any tips we receive via our teams of tip trackers.

Please keep Nancy in your thoughts and heart...

Another nice news story on our "Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy" vigil at LACMA last night

Nice work by Marc Cota-Robles of ABC

Click on this link for: ABC 7's Story on On Our Vigil

TV coverage of our vigil for Nancy last night: Another really nice job by Mary Beth McDade and her KTLA crew...

LINK to KTLA News Story on Our Vigil: "Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy"

A good article about our vigil in the Daily Breeze, with photos

A reporter and photographer from the Daily Breeze newspaper covered our vigil last night.

A very nice piece, with great photos from the event...  Thank you Megan Barnes and crew!

CLICK HERE to go the Daily Breeze article on our vigil...

Strong response for our "Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy" Vigil, Procession, and "Moment of Hope"

We've had a number of TV stations and newspapers tell us that they will cover our event tomorrow at LACMA!   Huge thanks to Allison Modiest for her efforts to spread the word and to Nancy Ward for pulling this event together!!!

PLEASE spread the word and hope to see you there!

"Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy": Please join us for a vigil and procession on Thursday, 17 November, at 6PM in front of LACMA

PLEASE JOIN US!  We're holding a vigil and short procession this Thursday, November 17th at 6:00 PM in front of LACMA, at Wilshire Blvd and Ogden Street, to Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy!

The purpose of the vigil is to ask the community’s continued assistance in finding Nancy Paulikas.  We hope she is on the streets, or in the system somewhere, perhaps a Jane Doe in a homeless shelter or mental institution. We are asking everyone be on the lookout for her and call into the hotline if they recognize her.  

More info about Nancy and the search effort can be found at http://nancyismissing.blogspot.com/  or on Instagram or Facebook at NancyisMissing.   The tip line is 310-650-7965.

Please RSVP via email to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com and share our vigil and procession on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Plan:

We'll meet on the sidewalk at LACMA's "Urban Light" art installation, pictured below.  We hope to gather many friends, family, and supporters, people from all areas of LA County who have been following the search efforts on social media and have joined the search as volunteers.   

We will seek to Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy, with the a short vigil followed by a short procession west on Wilshire to the southeast corner of Wilshire and Crescent Heights (which turns into McCarthy Vista briefly south of Wilshire).  This is the site of the last known sighting of Nancy: A security video from a nearby business captured her image shortly after she went missing on October 15.  

Speakers at the vigil will include Nancy’s husband Kirk Moody, her parents, Manhattan Beach Police Department Sgt. Paul Ford, and a representative from Alzheimer's Greater Los Angeles.

So please join us and help Light Up Los Angeles for Nancy!

Excellent article: "Before Alzheimer's: Who Was Nancy Paulikas?"

Here is an excellent article from the "Beach Reporter", 10 November 2016 written by Daniella Segura...

Excellent article: "Before Alzheimer's: Who Was Nancy Paulikas?"

Current Plans and Actions

Here are our latest plans and actions for this weekend and into next week.  If you would like to help with any of these tasks, please send an email to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com

1. We are continuing to call shelters.  Somewhat similar to hospitals, there seems to be little to no "institutional memory", so we have to continue to call and ask them to look for Nancy.
2. We are trying to have people at homeless food distribution points to hand out flyers and speak to some of the homeless.
3. We are continuing to call hospitals every day.
4. In addition to calling, we are visiting hospitals and making sure they have a hard copy of the flyer.  Typically we also try to interview the hospital social worker to see what they do if they have a Jane Doe.
5. We have received a specific tip in North Hollywood, and we are going through the police to see video from a couple of sources there (not sure if we will get to see that or if the police have to look at it).
6. Based on that tip and a few tips from the La Cienega area, we are going to have Walking Man hand delivering flyers door-to-door centered around NoHo and La Cienega / Venice Blvd.  These will be delivered Tuesday.  This is likely to create some tips that we have to chase down, so if you live around that area and are available to track down some tips from Tuesday through the end of the week, shoot us another email at NancyIsMissing@gmail.com so that we have an up-to-date list.
7. We have continued our advertisement in the LA Times and will be advertising in a couple of other outlets as well.

Thank you all for your continued interest and help.

Here's a video on YouTube to help spread the word that Nancy is Still Missing!

Please share!

Video on YouTube: Nancy is Still Missing

Another social media outlet

Here is the clickable link:  Imgur

If you sign up and "up vote" this page, it may appear on the front page.
(get your account, then do a search on "Missing Person in Los Angeles" ... go to the up arrow at the bottom and hit that).

thanks
km

Plans for Week of November 7th

Thank you for those of you who have canvassed additional areas and volunteered to be a “Tip Tracker”.  We have over 60 people signed-up in areas as diverse as Palm Desert and the City of Orange.  Send your name, cell number, and location if you want to join the “Tip Trackers” team to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com.

Some of you have asking for some guidance on areas to canvass.  Will Thomas is leading the canvassing activities, so email NancyIsMissing@gmail.com to ask for canvassing assignments and he’ll contact you.  Some areas that Will has recently assigned for canvassing include:

• 1)     Alvarado and 3^rd near McArthur Park
• 2)     Wilshire corridor east from Wilton
• 3)     Fairfax corridor south from Olympic

Current continuing activities include reviews of a small amount of surveillance video from businesses, visiting shelters and visiting police departments.  And our fabulous Phone Team is making daily phone calls to make sure that hospitals and clinics have no unidentified females fitting Nancy’s description.

Please continue to pass the flyers to your friends and community contacts.  We are hoping that we’ll soon get key information that will help us find Nancy…

Overview of our Efforts to Find Nancy

Thank you all for your continued concern and helpfulness in our effort to find Nancy.  In an effort to keep you apprised of the progress to date, we are summarizing efforts currently underway.  Our current operating theories include four primary scenarios:

      1.     She is lost “in the system”.  This could happen if she was given aid by police, paramedics, or other safety-related personnel, but had discarded her identification bracelet and is unable to communicate.

      2.     Similarly, if she is without identity and the ability to communicate effectively, she is lost in the homeless and/or homeless shelter community

      3.     Someone in the community has elected to "foster" or "adopt" her

      4.     Somehow she has managed to travel out of the area and is in a situation where her plight is not known

We are attempting to work with these scenarios through an array of strategies, some of which employ the efforts of a large number of volunteers.  Volunteers are making personal visits to a large number of area and regional hospitals and medical centers, distributing flyers, talking with ER nurses, social workers and others.  In addition, a separate group of volunteers is making daily rounds of calls to over 125 hospital ERs to learn if any Jane Does have been admitted.

Similarly, we have been and are continuing to survey a variety of homeless shelters and lunch/dinner sites.  Permanent sites have received flyers and many members of the homeless community have helped to distribute flyers and are on the alert for Nancy.  We are concerned that we do not have a complete picture of homeless outreach residential facilities, and help to identify and communicate with these would be greatly appreciated.

As many of you are aware, we have canvassed and surveyed the area surrounding LACMA very heavily over the past two weeks and will continue to refresh flyers on a regular basis.  At this time - because there has been so much coverage in that area – we think it is unlikely she is still there (somewhat despite the statistics that may say otherwise).  We have reached out officially through law enforcement channels to divisions of the LAPD, LA County Sheriff's Department and other local law enforcement agencies.  In addition, volunteers visited and distributed flyers to most of these groups.  Law enforcement is also checking regularly within jails and the County Coroner's Office.

In the event that Nancy was somehow transported outside the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, law enforcement has posted a multi-county BOLO (Be On the Lookout) notice.  We also have a file with information about Nancy registered with NAMUS (National Association of Missing and Unidentified Persons System).

With coverage through several media outlets, the Los Angeles Times and local print publications we thought that we would have received a heavy volume of tips.  While we are still receiving tips, they are tending to be from people who think that they "might have seen her a couple of days ago."  This makes it clear that we need to continue to refresh flyers and contacts with all the above entities to generate new tips.

If you are already volunteering, your continued help is greatly appreciated.  We want to harness the energy of all our volunteers, current and future, in the most productive ways possible. It is enormously helpful to have tip trackers located in many parts of the community to allow quick response when we do receive tips.  While we have pretty well saturated the LACMA area, the expanded distribution of flyers in areas outside the LACMA neighborhoods will help to spread the word to an even wider population (see notes on canvassing below).  We are constantly reviewing and adding to our plans, so please continue to monitor the blog for emerging assignments.  Most importantly, it is vitally important to keep passing on the message that Nancy is STILL missing until the moment that we are able to find her and bring her home.  Our thanks to all who have joined the search! 

How-to Canvas: What We Do to Spread the Word and Search for Nancy

What we call canvassing is a combination of actively searching for Nancy, spreading the word and educating people on how to help us search for Nancy, and leaving flyers with people and posted on public places so that others may see it later.

So here are some notes we have gathered on effective ways to canvas.

1     1.       Be sure to take with you the following:

a.       Personal items to keep you cool and protected from the elements (hat, sunscreen, weather gear as appropriate)

b.      Water

c.       A notepad on which you can record any “sightings”

d.      A communication device so you can “call home” if something critical comes up

e.      Flyers – we have both English and Spanish versions (and Korean for that matter)

       2.      Stop in at local businesses, speak to the people working there about whether or not they have seen her and ask if you can post a flyer in their window.

       3.       Look for people that “move around” – nannies, parking meter maids, postal workers, delivery men, etc.  See if they are willing to take more than one flyer to pass around to their co-workers.

       4.       To the extent you are comfortable doing so, engage with homeless people.  Most that we have encountered are eager to help and genuinely concerned for Nancy’s welfare.

       5.       Look for people that “stay in one place” but are likely to see a lot of people passing by, like parking lot security, food truck workers, sidewalk vendors, etc.

       6.       If you have someone who believes they have seen Nancy, please try to collect the following information with open ended questions (without “leading the witness”), i.e., “What color is her hair?” is a better question than “Is she blonde?”

a.       Their name and phone number (some way to contact them for follow-up)

b.      What time of day and on what day they saw her?

c.       What she was wearing?  Hair color?  Height?  Build?

d.      How much was she conversant?

e.      Was she confused or disoriented?

f.        Was she doing something that made them notice her?

g.       Was she with someone - or alone?  (and description of who she was with)

h.      Was she going somewhere?  What direction, or towards what?

i.         If you are thinking they are just trying to make you happy with their answers, throw in a red herring like “Was her arm in a sling?”  “Did she ask you for cigarettes?” or something like that.

Keeping me going during this very challenging time: Sharing why Nancy is so special...

One of the things that is keeping me going during this very challenging time is the opportunity to share some of the many things that make Nancy so special.   I knew from the first time I met her that she was exceptional.  It was my first day of work at TRW and I was feeling completely overwhelmed when I heard a strange set of sounds emanating from another work bay.  When I went to investigate, I found two women taking turns throwing, of all things, a toilet plunger.  Nancy quickly explained that they were practicing for the “Lab Olympics,” an annual event that included a variety of very creative competitions.  I knew immediately that this job was going to be a great fit and that this fun-loving lady would be someone I would gravitate toward—how prophetic that turned out to be!

Over the years, I discovered that Nancy’s sense of fun is matched only by her sense of adventure.  Over the years, we were able to travel to places as far flung as Thailand, Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Mexico.  We traveled extensively throughout the states as well, sometimes living the high-life and more frequently roughing it in a tent.  No matter what kind of circumstances we encountered, Nancy’s attitude was always based on the premise of “Let’s try it!  If it doesn’t work out, it will probably make a good story.”  As a result, we have a treasure trove of wonderful stories.  Nancy’s Alzheimer’s has robbed her of many of these memories, but every once in a while her eyes would light up at the sight of a favorite trinket. 

There simply aren’t words to express my gratitude to the literally hundreds of people who have joined in our search for Nancy.  I am convinced that with so many people on our team it is only a matter of time before she is safely at home.

Kirk Moody, Husband

Latest updated flyer (11/4/16)

Nancy the person, from a lifelong friend

The summer before 4th grade my family moved into the house next to the Paulikases.  So Nancy and I of course were friends and we were in the same class together since 4th grade. Below is a photo of us at one of her birthday parties (she's on the right, 2nd from the back. I'm the one behind her). We used to rush home from school together on Tuesdays to watch Dark Shadows, a vampire-themed soap opera which today would make you roll your eyes but to us as kids was thrilling and left us hanging each week.

It wasn't until we were adults that I realized how much Nancy loves gardens.  In 2008 we moved back to my old childhood home after being up north for many years, and she generously invited us over and introduced us to her and Kirk's many friends.  I'll always remember coming over for what seemed like a constant gathering of friends at her and Kirk's home.  As people were wrapping up and getting ready to leave she led us into the kitchen where there were 8 inch tall tomato plants she'd started from seed.  She gave them away to everyone to take home (in fact, I think the offspring of those plants are still growing at our old house).  

I took her out for her birthday and I remember her telling me, and these were her exact words, "For my birthday Kirk is giving me the gift of a garden".  She was so delighted that he was building raised beds for her and creating a space where she could really make it happen. Earlier this year we moved to Washington and I'm in anguish that I cannot be down there with you helping to look for her.  I am so grateful for all of you working such long and exhausting hours trying to find her.  We must find her -- and thanks to all of you there I know that we will.  Thank you, thank you. Please keep it up.  She's counting on us.  -- Diane Bassett

Tip Trackers Needed

Thanks to the many supporters who have agreed to be a "Tip Tracker".  If you can help as a "Tip Tracker", please send your name, cell number and geographic area to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com.

Here's what we envision this job to entail:

*  When we get a tip that we decide needs follow-up, we'll look at our list of Tip Trackers and see who lives closest to the Tip location.

*  If you're a Tip Tracker, we'll call your cell to see if you're available.  No problem if you are not free -- we'll just call someone else in your geographic area.  If it's after dark and you are unsure that you can be safe, please decline.

*  If you're available to track the tip. we'll give you the Tip information (e.g. location, time of sighting, clothing worn, etc).  We will also give you the Tipster contact info (if they give it to us), so you can talk to the Tipster.

*  When you reach the location and find the Tipster, talk briefly with them to help identify the person.  The Tipster might be able to also give you more information about her clothing and behavior.

*  If you find the person, take a photo of the person and text it to the Tip Line (310-650-7965).

*  If Kirk verifies that it is indeed her, we will call the police -- but feel free to call 911 (police know that we are looking for her).

*  If you can't find her, just let us know.  An extensive search of the area is not required.


Note that we've gotten tips across the southland (from Santa Monica to Upland to Anaheim).  So, if you're willing to be a Tip Tracker, no matter where you're located, we'd love to add you to our list (send your name, cell # and location to NancyIsMissing@gmail.com).

Nancy the Music Lover

I met our dear Nancy through one of my best and dearest friend, Arthur. We were all big fans of Mark Lanegan (formerly of QOTSA) and our mutual love of good music brought us together after a show at the Sunset Strip’s Roxy. The minute we met, I immediately felt a wonderful and beautiful human being, a deep and soulful woman, a loving and lovely lady, and one of the most passionate person I ever met in my life. The music was our connection and we instantly became good friends. 

Nancy was to me, like my “American mom.” She always took very good care of me when I visited. 

My favorite memories with Nancy are almost always linked to music. I could go on for hours about all the shows we went to: Bruce Springsteen in Los Angeles, Nine Inch Nails in Las Vegas, Pearl Jam and Gaslight Anthem in New Orleans, Social Distortion in Anaheim (I will never forget Nancy dancing in the mosh pit with all these insane Southern Californian crazy punk-rockers!), Duff McKagan and Walking Papers in San Diego. 

Nancy used to write me every day, sharing with me a lot of stuff, mostly about the latest shows she went to or the latest records she listened to, and also things about her everyday life. Every morning, I'd checked my inbox, but, little by little, she wrote me less and less, until the day there was nothing. It left me wondering if I had said or done something wrong. When I finally learned about her Alzheimer's and missing situation, I didn’t eat or sleep for days and nights.

She is surrounded by the most loyal husband, family and friends. She is brave, strong and courageous, and I know deep inside my heart that she is fine somewhere, waiting for Kirk.  I'm listening to the song, "Back in Your Arms," by Bruce Springsteen and hope it does bring you back and into Kirk's arms. 

Love.

From Paris, October, 30th, Nancy's friend,

Guillaume

Here is a nicely written article on our efforts to find Nancy by a reporter for a local paper, 'The Easy Reader'

Article to be published in the Easy Reader:

Easy Reader article