Woman missing since May
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on October 26, 2007 1:45 PM
Kathy Holt Alfaro fears the worst about her sister, who police say has not turned up since Ms. Alfaro reported her missing in August.
Ms. Alfaro said sister Patricia Herring, 43, hasn't been seen by friends or acquaintances in more than four months.
Troublesome rumors that her sister met an untimely demise that month caused her to file a missing person report with Mount Olive police on Aug. 12, she said.
"I just want to know that my sister is alive," Mrs. Alfaro said. "I don't necessarily need to know where she is, I just want to know that she's OK."
Mount Olive Police Chief Ralph Schroeder said that police have no evidence that Ms. Herring was a victim of a crime.
"Right now, there's nothing that we can determine that shows that there's any foul play involved," Schroeder said.
"She's been entered in NCIC (the National Crime Information Center)," Schroeder said. "If she's stopped anywhere for anything, or her name is run through the computer ... it will kick it out as a missing person."
The chief said that according to Ms. Alfaro, she was last person to see Ms. Herring was her former live-in boyfriend.
The chief said that missing persons cases can take a long time to resolve.
"We had one missing person ... report, we actually had one that was in there for 13 years, and that person turned up," Schroeder said.
Ms. Alfaro said her sister took it badly when their mother died a few years ago.
"My aunt told me about this guy she was with ... he said he hadn't seen Pat in the last three months," Ms. Alfaro said. "I knew something was wrong."