Found Deceased CA - Erika Lloyd, 37, car found vandalized near Twentynine Palms & Joshua Tree NP, 14 June 2020

[tarabull]

Wonder Valley News, July 3: Keep your eye out for woman who may be lost in desert

Snipped...
...The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the Walnut Creek Police Department are asking for Wonder Valley’s help in locating a missing woman.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Wonder Valley News, July 3: Keep your eye out for woman who may be lost in desert

Snipped...
...The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and the Walnut Creek Police Department are asking for Wonder Valley’s help in locating a missing woman.

Oh dear...I guess we'll find out soon.

 

[Limecat]

Given the heat, elements, animal predation, etc., if it was Erika would her remains be skeletonized this quickly? I’m thinking extreme dry heat + insect/animal impact? I hate typing all of that. Prayers for whomever this poor soul is.

 

[JMapes]

Family still searching for answers a month into Erika Lloyd’s disappearance – KESQ

Still searching and it unfortunately looks like no new updates since the last post here about a week ago. Her story is definitely making the rounds in Bay Area new coverage now.

Will be keeping an eye on developments. I lived very near WC and loved to make the drive (albeit long!) down to JTNP annually for a 3-night camping trip, until moving further north. If you've never been, its so hard to describe how enchanting and other-worldly the landscape is. Its inexplicably beautiful, but yes, *hot* and you will likely need a satellite phone for any communications!!

Outside of the developed campgrounds, you can definitely find hooligans, partiers and folks just there to drink and drive dirt bikes through the desert at high rates of speed and generally get into mischief into the wee hours.

We usually go in April and it does get up around 90 degrees during the day around that time of the year. I'm too fair to go in June-August, but it's going to be be *hot* in summer and there are not many places to cool off/seek shelter. From other JTNP missing stories I've followed in the past, heat exhaustion/availability of water has always been a major consideration. I have a feeling whatever she ended up doing, it was in search of these two vital necessities. MOO

 

[JnRyan]

Family still searching for answers a month into Erika Lloyd’s disappearance – KESQ

Still searching and it unfortunately looks like no new updates since the last post here about a week ago. Her story is definitely making the rounds in Bay Area new coverage now.

Will be keeping an eye on developments. I lived very near WC and loved to make the drive (albeit long!) down to JTNP annually for a 3-night camping trip, until moving further north. If you've never been, its so hard to describe how enchanting and other-worldly the landscape is. Its inexplicably beautiful, but yes, *hot* and you will likely need a satellite phone for any communications!!

Outside of the developed campgrounds, you can definitely find hooligans, partiers and folks just there to drink and drive dirt bikes through the desert at high rates of speed and generally get into mischief into the wee hours.

We usually go in April and it does get up around 90 degrees during the day around that time of the year. I'm too fair to go in June-August, but it's going to be be *hot* in summer and there are not many places to cool off/seek shelter. From other JTNP missing stories I've followed in the past, heat exhaustion/availability of water has always been a major consideration. I have a feeling whatever she ended up doing, it was in search of these two vital necessities. MOO

I've driven through JTNP, but never stopped there. I have, however, sat outside at 29 Palms MC base at night and was amazed at the night sky away from the city. I was there in the Jan-Mar time frame and the temps really dropped at night. The Marines told me it wouldn't be like that in the summer, though.

 

[RumorMonger]

Family still searching for answers a month into Erika Lloyd’s disappearance – KESQ

Still searching and it unfortunately looks like no new updates since the last post here about a week ago. Her story is definitely making the rounds in Bay Area new coverage now.

SBM
No mention of Big Sur in this article. I guess that aspect of the story has been completely abandoned and she is now considered to have always been headed for JTNP although completely unprepared. Odd IMO.

 

[swedeheart]

Police search for California mom, 37, who vanished after setting out on a 'pandemic road trip' | Daily Mail Online

 

[Herat]

She was last heard from 8 1/2 weeks ago.

Her vehicle was at least vandalized, then after Joshua Tree Park Rangers left a notice for a tow truck,was rather suddenly moved to a different location outside the park by persons unknown.

That, by itself, implies a need to conceal the vehicle or the identity of persons who might have been associated with it, and that implies the person who moved it knew it was associated with her, and not just a random act of vandalism on a car in a park campground.

Sadly, it sounds as if she met with some person(s) of bad intent and bad character.

I can envision a drug overdose and someone wanting to conceal her body and remove her car. Or maybe an abduction.

Sadly, I just don't think she will be found alive. And I think it may be a long time until she is found. It's blazing blazing hot there and not many people are out on the trails during the days to come across evidence.

 

[rainynights]

Just catching up, and found this quote from her mom interesting (BBM). I may have missed it, but when the vehicle was found, did they find a deployed airbag? MOO

Police search for California mom, 37, who vanished after setting out on a 'pandemic road trip' | Daily Mail Online

The front and back windscreens of Lloyd's black Honda Accord were smashed out, but police did not see any signs of foul play.

Lloyd's parents - Wayne and Ruth - believe it's possible she was involved in a car accident and ended up injured.

'We don't know if she had some memory loss when she got hit by the airbag. Maybe she doesn't know who she is, we don't know, we aren't sure about her mental stage,' mom Ruth told KESQ on Tuesday.

 

[Herat]

Just catching up, and found this quote from her mom interesting (BBM). I may have missed it, but when the vehicle was found, did they find a deployed airbag? MOO

The front and back windscreens of Lloyd's black Honda Accord were smashed out, but police did not see any signs of foul play.

Lloyd's parents - Wayne and Ruth - believe it's possible she was involved in a car accident and ended up injured.

'We don't know if she had some memory loss when she got hit by the airbag. Maybe she doesn't know who she is, we don't know, we aren't sure about her mental stage,' mom Ruth told KESQ on Tuesday.

I can understand an accident shattering the front window and deploying the airbag. Even causing some dashboard damage, as was indicated in the LE report (which I believe was the JNP Park Ranger report when the found the vehicle at Indian Campground). But I don't understand the back window shattering with front end damage.

And I don't recall LE mentioning airbag deployment and there was no report of blood found in the car as if she was injured.

She could easily have been going too fast on the dirt roads and maybe hit a large rock or something. But it still doesn't explain the back window damage and why the vehicle was found later ~ 20 miles from the original site at Indian Campground. Was it even driveable?

 

[rainynights]

Mom mysteriously vanishes after leaving for pandemic road trip. Her damaged car is found abandoned on highway: Reports

Lloyd’s father told the news station that his daughter was stressed because she was out of work due to the pandemic. That, coupled with homeschooling her 12-year-old son, reportedly led Lloyd to take the road trip.

Lloyd’s mother claimed the last time she spoke with her daughter on the phone, she was talking very fast.

“She sounded like she was driving…It was just hard to make out exactly what she was saying,” the missing woman’s mother told KRON.

[...]

“There was damage to the front end along with the windshield and back window. So it looked like it might have been involved in a traffic collision. There were items still in the vehicle. It didn’t look like any items were taken out of the vehicle,” California Highway Patrol Officer Casey Simmons said, according to KRON.

Despite the damage to Lloyd’s vehicle, Simmons said investigators didn’t recover any evidence on the highway consistent with a car accident.

 

[Herat]

Mom mysteriously vanishes after leaving for pandemic road trip. Her damaged car is found abandoned on highway: Reports

Lloyd’s father told the news station that his daughter was stressed because she was out of work due to the pandemic. That, coupled with homeschooling her 12-year-old son, reportedly led Lloyd to take the road trip.

Lloyd’s mother claimed the last time she spoke with her daughter on the phone, she was talking very fast.

“She sounded like she was driving…It was just hard to make out exactly what she was saying,” the missing woman’s mother told KRON.

[...]

“There was damage to the front end along with the windshield and back window. So it looked like it might have been involved in a traffic collision. There were items still in the vehicle. It didn’t look like any items were taken out of the vehicle,” California Highway Patrol Officer Casey Simmons said, according to KRON.

Despite the damage to Lloyd’s vehicle, Simmons said investigators didn’t recover any evidence on the highway consistent with a car accident.

Interesting that her mother thought she was driving (and speaking very fast) less than 24 hours before her damaged vehicle was found. From the story about her wanting to camp in JTNP, it is entirely reasonable Indian Cove Campground was her destination and Highway 62 was the route she was taking from her home near Walnut Creek.

The damage reports we have are pretty sketchy, but I note they don't seem to specify front end carriage damage ( bumper, panels) or tire/rim damage. Only windshield, dashboard, back window damage. It doesn't mean they weren't there, but it's odd not to mention front-end damage.

My original impression was that she had impacted something large and stationary in the road, like a pole or a sign or another vehicle even, but clearly there would have been some sort of body damage.

If there was no front-end damage, I'd wonder about something going through the windshield to shatter it and maybe even impact the dashboard, but it would have to be something like a large rock. And would that be enough to deploy an airbag? And if there was nothing on the road to indicate an accident, was there shattered glass around the parked vehicle, indicating the damage had occurred where it was found in Indian Cove Campground?

If the vehicle had been damaged somewhere on the road to JTNP, she would have had opportunities along the way to stop and call 911 or CHP, or even home for assistance. So it doesn't sound like she did. Certainly by now LE would have had time to triangulate where her last phone call was from.

But it's key that her last voice contact was less than 24 hours before her disabled vehicle was found, without signs of a robbery or violent attack (no blood).

JTNP Rangers must have an idea of how many people were at the campground, if they saw her arrive, and what condition it was in when she arrived.

So many details need filling in, but so little released.

 

[Ajai Baktar]

Still no evidence she was even at JTNP. Just the vehicle.
Lack of any SAR tells me LE doesn’t believe she was at JTNP.
A vandalized vehicle at JTNP is not uncommon.
A stolen vehicle at JTNP is not uncommon.
She could just as easily be in Walnut Creek, or even Big Sur.
Haven’t heard from the father of the child.

 

[rainynights]

Erika Ashley Lloyd | State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General



MISSING SINCE: 06/14/2020
SEX: Female
DOB: 12/05/1982
RACE: White
HEIGHT: 5' 4"
EYES: Hazel
WEIGHT: 125 lbs.
HAIR: Brown
SCARS/MARKS/TATTOO: Unknown small tattoo on inner left wrist, circular design tattoo on back between shoulder blades
DENTAL X-RAYS AVAILABLE: No

Erika was last seen on June 14, 2020.

Contact
AGENCY: Walnut Creek Police Department
PHONE NUMBER: (925) 935-6400
CASE NUMBER: 20-15876

 

[Herat]

Still no evidence she was even at JTNP. Just the vehicle.
Lack of any SAR tells me LE doesn’t believe she was at JTNP.
A vandalized vehicle at JTNP is not uncommon.
A stolen vehicle at JTNP is not uncommon.
She could just as easily be in Walnut Creek, or even Big Sur.
Haven’t heard from the father of the child.

Oh gosh. You are right.

LE clearly should be able to trace where that last phone call was from.

So if she was never there and her vehicle was dumped there, there have to be at least 2 other people involved.

One to drive her vehicle and the other to pick up that driver.

Unless someone could shuttle the car down there in a car carrier.

Would smashing the dashboard be something one would do to get to the GPS or disable tracking of the vehicle?

Hmmmmm. Let's think a bit about this scenario.

What was the stuff about Big Sur???

And who in her sphere would have familiarity with JTNP or that region?

 

[Herat]

Erika Ashley Lloyd | State of California - Department of Justice - Office of the Attorney General

View attachment 258376

MISSING SINCE: 06/14/2020
SEX: Female
DOB: 12/05/1982
RACE: White
HEIGHT: 5' 4"
EYES: Hazel
WEIGHT: 125 lbs.
HAIR: Brown
SCARS/MARKS/TATTOO: Unknown small tattoo on inner left wrist, circular design tattoo on back between shoulder blades
DENTAL X-RAYS AVAILABLE: No

Erika was last seen on June 14, 2020.

Contact
AGENCY: Walnut Creek Police Department
PHONE NUMBER: (925) 935-6400
CASE NUMBER: 20-15876

No dental X-rays available. That's an odd statement and odd that someone doesn't have any dental films.

 

[Herat]

OR

Would she have tried to fake her own death?

Perhaps for insurance for a salon business that can't make it through COVID?

 

[whitelilac]

OR

Would she have tried to fake her own death?

Perhaps for insurance for a salon business that can't make it through COVID?

One of the odd things about this case is that Erika, who was very committed to her business, took off 3 or 4 days before salons were allowed to be open again.

 

[Janeumayer]

Wonder if there is an underlying mental health issue we don’t know about? Due to the fact her mother mentioned Erika’s pressured speech the last time she spoke on the phone to her? Or maybe the pandemic caused this issue? Maybe this caused Erika to get into an accident and become disoriented. Maybe she was the one that moved her car a second time and got lost in the desert? IDK MOO

 

[Herat]

Wonder if there is an underlying mental health issue we don’t know about? Due to the fact her mother mentioned Erika’s pressured speech the last time she spoke on the phone to her? Or maybe the pandemic caused this issue? Maybe this caused Erika to get into an accident and become disoriented. Maybe she was the one that moved her car a second time and got lost in the desert? IDK MOO

I think there are hints all over the intial missing person reports that she was "stressed" and, to me, there was an implication that substance abuser or even self-harm was possible.