Found Deceased CA - Kolby Story, 32, last seen Venice Beach, car found in Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles, 7 Dec 2020

[PommyMommy]

LAPD Searching For Missing 32-Year-Old Last Seen In Mar Vista | Venice, CA Patch

Los Angeles police are asking the public's help to find a missing 32-year-old woman last seen in the Mar Vista area, officials said Monday.

• Kolby Story was last seen Dec. 7 in the 12300 block of Pacific Ave, near Venice Blvd. 12300 Pacific Ave - Google Maps
• She is 5'4" tall and weighs approximately 115 pounds.
• She has brown hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information regarding Kolby's whereabouts was asked to contact Contact Missing Persons, Detective Shannon Kramer at (213) 996-1800. During non-business hours or on weekends, calls can be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247).

Kolby Story | Facebook

 

[slowpoke]

I think her name is reversed in the other article. This one says her name is Kolby Story. More detail at this link, but still mysterious.
And “According to the family, her disappearance has been upgraded to critical by the Los Angeles Police Department.”
https://www.venicecurrent.com/news/...cle_e48fdc3a-42ef-11eb-b87b-ebbad741b63d.html
Missing woman last seen on Venice Beach. Family asking community for help

 

[PommyMommy]

I think her name is reversed in the other article. This one says her name is Kolby Story. More detail at this link, but still mysterious.
And “According to the family, her disappearance has been upgraded to critical by the Los Angeles Police Department.”
Missing woman last seen on Venice Beach. Family asking community for help

Oh my gosh. I'll alert a mod to correct that. Thank you!

I am very concerned about her. This article has some disturbing (and also conflicting) information.

Noting:

• Kolby was reported missing by her roommate and a friend on Dec. 9.
• She was last seen on Dec. 6, at about 10:30 p.m. on Venice Beach near the skate park.
• According to her brother, JS, the night Kolby went missing, she told her roommate she was going to Venice Beach around 9:30 p.m.
• At around 10:30 p.m., Kolby made a call to a friend to help her find her keys. Her car, at the time, was parked near Big Daddy's Pizza.
• During the search, a third person came in to help. The family said they have questions about this person and their involvement in Kolby's disappearance.
• Kolby was able to locate her keys and, according to JS, left the area.
• JS said her friend made four unanswered calls to Kolby after she left. Those calls were logged at 2:00 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 8:00 a.m. and 8:45 a.m.
• According to JS, Kolby's car was later found in the Marina del Rey police impound lot. It had been towed from a parking lot across from Ralphs in Marina del Rey.
• JS said his family was not notified of his sister's disappearance until Dec. 16.

 

[humblegroundxx]

Not a fan of this timeline at all...

I'm not good with attaching the maps here, but Big Daddy's Pizza and Ralph's (Assuming I've selected the right ones on google) show to be less than a 15 minute drive away, so it wouldn't be impossible for her to go from one to the other. The questions is what was Kolby doing. Also why did the notification and report take so long?!

 

[PommyMommy]

Not a fan of this timeline at all...

I'm not good with attaching the maps here, but Big Daddy's Pizza and Ralph's (Assuming I've selected the right ones on google) show to be less than a 15 minute drive away, so it wouldn't be impossible for her to go from one to the other. The questions is what was Kolby doing. Also why did the notification and report take so long?!

Yeah, we don't know for sure which Ralph's it was but I used the one on Lincoln Blvd. Is that the one you were looking at?

12300 Blk of Pacific Ave / Venice Skate Park / Big Daddy’s Pizza / Ralph’s Grocery

It would make sense that she parked at Big Daddy's since there doesn't appear to be any parking at the skate park. I wonder if her car was towed from Bootleg Tacos? I don't see much of anything else with a lot across from Ralphs. MOO

ETA: Street View of Ralph's

 

[humblegroundxx]

Yeah, we don't know for sure which Ralph's it was but I used the one on Lincoln Blvd. Is that the one you were looking at?

12300 Blk of Pacific Ave / Venice Skate Park / Big Daddy’s Pizza / Ralph’s Grocery

It would make sense that she parked at Big Daddy's since there doesn't appear to be any parking at the skate park. I wonder if her car was towed from Bootleg Tacos? I don't see much of anything else with a lot across from Ralphs. MOO

I think I looked at 4700 Admiralty Way. I think this one had a Trader Joe's kind of diagonally from it according to the map. I just kind of wish we had a connection to any of the locations from Kolby.

 

[PommyMommy]

I think I looked at 4700 Admiralty Way. I think this one had a Trader Joe's kind of diagonally from it according to the map. I just kind of wish we had a connection to any of the locations from Kolby.

Okay, I revised it and yes, I see the Trader Joe's. Hmmm... We need more information. MOO

12300 Blk of Pacific Ave / Venice Skate Park / Big Daddy’s Pizza / Ralph’s on Admiralty Way

 

[humblegroundxx]

Will definitely be following and on the lookout for news that may help...

 

[PommyMommy]

Her Facebook shows that she is an Esthetician at Benefit Cosmetics. They have a retailer (Sephora) in the shopping mall next to Ralph's on Admiralty Way.

Search Marina Del Rey here: Find a Store | Benefit Cosmetics

4766 Admiralty Way - Google Maps

 

[10ofRods]

Not a fan of this timeline at all...

I'm not good with attaching the maps here, but Big Daddy's Pizza and Ralph's (Assuming I've selected the right ones on google) show to be less than a 15 minute drive away, so it wouldn't be impossible for her to go from one to the other. The questions is what was Kolby doing. Also why did the notification and report take so long?!

I am really confused as to how the family didn't notice she was missing. Why did the roommate not call the family within, say, 1-2 days?

Seems like the friend she was with that night (the one who came to help?) didn't get in touch with the family right away, after not being able to talk to Kolby. She makes 4 phone calls to Kolby over a few hours and then doesn't call the family or Kolby's phone again? Weird.

I agree that the timeline is very confusing. It's odd she left her apartment at 9:30 to go to Mar Vista (which, IMO, is not considered quite as seedy at night as nearby Venice).

It seems the family wasn't notified until after the towing and it's implied the police pulled info on the car, then found her home address, contacted family (no way of knowing that for sure). Usually, a store notices an abandoned car after 1 overnight, sometimes 2. So it was probably towed 12-48 hours after it landed at the parking lot. Then it would be a anywhere from a week or longer for LE to process the car.

Sounds like the friend was very concerned and was up almost all night, perhaps worried about Kolby.

 

[slowpoke]

I am really confused as to how the family didn't notice she was missing. Why did the roommate not call the family within, say, 1-2 days?

Seems like the friend she was with that night (the one who came to help?) didn't get in touch with the family right away, after not being able to talk to Kolby. She makes 4 phone calls to Kolby over a few hours and then doesn't call the family or Kolby's phone again? Weird.

I agree that the timeline is very confusing. It's odd she left her apartment at 9:30 to go to Mar Vista (which, IMO, is not considered quite as seedy at night as nearby Venice).

It seems the family wasn't notified until after the towing and it's implied the police pulled info on the car, then found her home address, contacted family (no way of knowing that for sure). Usually, a store notices an abandoned car after 1 overnight, sometimes 2. So it was probably towed 12-48 hours after it landed at the parking lot. Then it would be a anywhere from a week or longer for LE to process the car.

Sounds like the friend was very concerned and was up almost all night, perhaps worried about Kolby.

Maybe the friend and the roommate didn’t know Kolby’s family nor have their phone number?

I was just thinking about my own family. I have a fiercely independent daughter. I didn’t even know she had a roommate until way later! If it were my daughter who disappeared, I wonder if her roommate would know how to reach me.

@10ofRods Go to Mar Vista? I think she lived in Mar Vista. Or am I mixed up. The article says “she told her roommate she was going to Venice Beach around 9:30 p.m.”

That Venice Current article seemed to have a lot of info, but yet left a lot of unanswered questions. I hope more media picks up Kolby’s disappearance. We need more information. If she hasn’t been found yet, it’s been over 2 weeks.

 

[Fisher777]

"During the search, a third person came in to help. The family said they have questions about this person and their involvement in Kolby's disappearance."

It's interesting this is all we are told about the third person.
Who is it?
What's the relationship?
Did the third person leave with Kolby?

Venice Beach is or can be sketchy. At 10:30PM I would not visit that area by myself or even with a friend. Maybe I'm overly cautious. I grew-up locally and I am very familiar with MDR, Venice, Mar Vista and Santa Monica. Venice, Santa Monica and Mar Vista, currently have a huge transient and drug problem.

 

[10ofRods]

"During the search, a third person came in to help. The family said they have questions about this person and their involvement in Kolby's disappearance."

It's interesting this is all we are told about the third person.
Who is it?
What's the relationship?
Did the third person leave with Kolby?

Venice Beach is or can be sketchy. At 10:30PM I would not visit that area by myself or even with a friend. Maybe I'm overly cautious. I grew-up locally and I am very familiar with MDR, Venice, Mar Vista and Santa Monica. Venice, Santa Monica and Mar Vista, currently have a huge transient and drug problem.

Yeah, I wouldn't go any of those places at night, alone or with others. Maybe some parts of Santa Monica.

It's been bad for years, IMO. One of the first true crime cases I got involved with online involved a murder right on the border between Santa Monica and Venice, I've never forgotten it.

If the friend and the roommate didn't have her phone number or any idea of how to contact anyone who knew her better, that's concerning to me too. I'm a mom of two adult daughters and I always wanted to make sure their roommates had my cell phone - just in case.

Somehow the brother, JS, figures out how to get in contact with them? Perhaps by stopping by?

 

[Lusitana]

Was she on a date or something like that?

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 25, 2020
The AWARE Foundation, Inc.

 

[10ofRods]

It's very concerning that she had two unusual mishaps in the same evening (locked out of car then something happening in the Ralph's parking lot).

I sense a distressed and therefore vulnerable young woman. The friend surely drove there on his/her own. Where did this "third person" show up from? Did the friend leave while that third person was still there?

 

[LadyL]

she's got a lot of conspiracy theory type posts on her FB
kind of alarming

Kolby Story

 

[annemc2]

she's got a lot of conspiracy theory type posts on her FB
kind of alarming

Kolby Story

Ooooh yes. I wonder if this was her usual style of thinking or if it's something out of the ordinary for her. It looks like her posts were mostly of her family and very sporadic until this fall, when she started posting more frequently and about political/religious/conspiracy theory content.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 28, 2020
Brother hoping for answers in disappearance of sister Kolby Story who went missing in early December after heading home from Venice Beach (nbcnews.com)
[...]

Kolby’s older brother, JS, told Dateline that Kolby had been at Venice Beach near the skate park with her boyfriend and another friend earlier in the afternoon on December 6. They were back at her place by 7 p.m. A few hours later, around 9:30 p.m., JS said Kolby grabbed her sleeping bag, backpack and a ukulele and told her roommate that she was going back down to the beach to hang out. He added that she also spoke to their father that night and told him the same thing. About an hour later, at 10:30 p.m. Kolby called a friend to help find her car keys that she had lost on the beach.

“It didn’t take long to find the keys, maybe 20 minutes,” JS explained to Dateline, recalling what he was told by Kolby’s friend. “But they stayed there for a while. He was trying to get her to leave… told her it wasn’t safe. It was dark and getting cold. But she told him to go home and that she would be fine.”

The two continued to text while Kolby stayed on the beach and her friend waited in his car nearby. It was about 2 a.m. that Kolby decided to leave and get into her car, which was parked near Big Daddy’s Pizza. JS told Dateline that Kolby’s friend followed her sister part of the way until she turned off in the direction of her home.

[...]

... JS told Dateline that her car was later found in the Marina del Rey police impound lot. It had a flat tire and had been towed from a parking lot across from the Ralphs grocery back in Marina del Rey.

“It would make sense that she got a flat and then called someone to come get her,” JS said. “But there were no outgoing calls on her phone records - so who came to get her? And that’s where it ends. We have nothing after that. And it’s alarming. We’re just very worried about her.”

[...]

 

[slowpoke]

Thanks, @PommyMommy! I just saw this, too.

I’m still confused. When she went back to the beach at 9:30, did she again go there with her boyfriend and the other friend? Then she calls some male friend when she lost her keys—who is that? That person seemed very concerned for her welfare, according to this article. Then we learn her car had a flat tire! The more we learn, the more concerning it is.