JUL 1, 2021
What happened to Lauren Cho? | Hi-Desert Star (hidesertstar.com)
Lauren Cho moved from New Jersey to the California desert eight months ago, looking for a life of freedom and new possibilities. ...
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Her friend CO is the last known person to have seen her. The two, who met in New Jersey and used to date, were staying on a friend’s property. On the afternoon of June 28, he went into the tour bus that they’d crossed the country in and she apparently walked away.
“There was a 10-minute window there and she evaporated,” CO said in a phone interview Thursday.
According to the sheriff’s report of CO’s call for help, placed at 5:13 p.m., Cho got upset and walked into the hills between Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley. CO tried to find her, then called their circle of friends for help. When they couldn't find her, they called in law enforcement. They told the sheriff’s station she didn’t take her phone, water or food with her.
“I searched all in the hills and no tracks, anywhere,” CO said.
When law enforcement searchers joined the effort, he said, “They found all of my tracks and my friends’ tracks, but none of hers.”
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CO thinks she got into a vehicle with someone. He’s going over and over what happened and what might have happened to the friend he crossed the country with.
“On Sunday she was going out to meet someone and wasn’t saying who. I didn’t pry into it then, but of course now I wish….” he trailed off.
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For RJ Okay, Lauren Cho is a woman with plans and a dream for the future — not someone who would walk away from everything.
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Cho was a talented soprano singer who toured with choirs in Europe ... She held a degree in music education from Westminster Choir College in New Jersey and taught music to high schoolers in Irvington Township. She was also a section leader in a New Jersey church choir.
Dissatisfied with her job, Cho moved out west with CO over the winter, driving across the U.S. in his tour bus. The two had met through mutual friends on Memorial Day and hit it off right away. He had always planned to come out west and she decided to join him.
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In December, they ended their journey in Bombay Beach, a tiny community of about 415 people at the Salton Sea. It’s become known in recent years for attracting artists, musicians and people seeking a freer, more creative life.
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Both men say Cho was beloved by her friends and well known in their circle for her cooking. “She makes this basil ice cream that’s vegan and everyone who tries it tells her she ought to be famous for it,” Okay said.
They were invited to stay at a friend’s house in Yucca Valley and Cho started working as a private chef for a friend’s Airbnb here.
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But she was also troubled.
“El’s a super-talented person. She’s a black belt in tae kwon do and was teaching tae kwon do at age 12. She’s one of those super-talented people who don’t think they are,” CO said. “It’s tragic. That sense of self-confidence isn’t there.”
Okay is convinced she had plans and wouldn’t have abandoned them. “She was in the middle of working on her bus,” he said. “The day she went missing she texted me earlier asking for some help on it.”
She also had a parakeet named Pork Chop that she didn’t like to leave. “She would be worried if she was going to be away from him for a day. So that’s another thing that’s worrying me,” he said.
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“She was apparently trying to take her car at the time but she didn’t have the keys. She had an intention to go somewhere and I know she was dating again. Maybe she doesn’t realize we’re searching.”
On Wednesday, Okay was driving into the low desert, following a vague lead. “Someone said they saw someone matching her description in Thousand Palms so I’m driving down there right now,” he said. “It’s not a very good lead but it’s something.”
Sheriff’s calls show others claimed to see her with a man at a restaurant in Yucca Valley.
In the meantime, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a body found in the area of Johnson Road and 15th Street north of Desert Hot Springs around 9:30 a.m. Thursday. A Riverside sheriff’s spokesman said Thursday afternoon that no details about the body, including sex, have been released.
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