Fears were heightened for California woman Heather Gumina, (pictured), who is missing for almost month after her car was found
Fears were heightened for a California mother-of-three who has been missing for almost month after her car was found.
Heather Gumina, 33, was last seen on July 16 in the Pleasant Valley area about 50 miles east of Sacramento, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.
Her black 2005 Infinity G35 was found in El Dorado County on Friday and is being forensically processed for evidence by police.
Gumina, who is married, was driving the car when she vanished, and it is not known where she went or who she was with.
Gumina, who is also known as Heather Waters, had been released from the hospital on July 15 after being treated for a broken collarbone before she vanished.
Police also searched her home after she went missing but found on trace of where she may have gone and do not know her whereabouts immediately before she went missing.
She spoke to her mother after spending the night at the hospital and she was concerned that she was released too soon.
She then spent that night at her Pleasant Valley area house. But by the next day, both Heather and her car, a 2005 black Infiniti coupe, had vanished.
Her mother Joanna Russell told Fox News earlier this month: ‘It is very unlike her to not contact anyone, that’s why there’s a concern for her safety right now and a concern that she had a broken collarbone.
Heather Gumina’s car, a black 2005 Infinity G35, (pictured), was located in in El Dorado County on Friday, almost one month after she first disappeared
‘So, I’m praying that someone will hear this or have seen something or might know something and please report it to the sheriff’s,’ Russell said.
‘Every minute of the day, I feel like dying inside. I do because I didn’t protect her. I didn’t protect her.’
She said her daughter would never leave her children, a son, 4, and daughter, 13, without word of where she was going, claiming her daughter is the ‘most beautiful person I know.’
She added: ‘Her children miss her terribly and it’s been a very, very painful thing for my family every day,’ she said.
‘Every day is hard. It’s hard to breathe right now. I’m praying for your safe return.’
Russell told the station that the woman’s disappearance is particularly hard on her three children, especially Gumina’s son.
‘Like we can’t even really tell him. He keeps looking for his mom and he wants to go over there and he can’t. Each day that goes by, the hopes of finding her okay get a little bit more scary.
Gumina, a married mother-of-three, was driving the car when she vanished, and it is not known where she went or who she was with
Gumina’s mother Joanna Russell said she would never unknowingly leave her children
‘No one has heard from her to my knowledge. No one has heard from her. I’m sleep deprived, I’m sad, I’m scared.’
Russell also called on social media users to help in the search for her as local community rally around to try and find her.
‘We are pleading with the community. If anyone seen anything anything at all call the Sheriff Dispatch!!,’ she wrote in a Facebook post. ‘I Love and miss you Heather Rai my beautiful daughter my heart is so broken!!!!.’
The El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office claimed that her vehicle had distinctive, pink accents and the lid of the gas cap said: ‘His Queen.’
Gumina’s mother said she had just been released from the hospital after being treated for a broken collarbone before she vanished
In a statement on July 19, the sheriff’s office claimed there were ‘many comments requesting updates to this case, but they were still actively searching for her.
A GoFundMe account for Gumina described her as a mother of a 4-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl, who ‘miss their mom tremendously.’
Family friends have organized searches of the area in the hope that they can locate her.
Kathy Schneider told Fox News on Friday: ‘We are targeting the Sommerset area, Omar Ranch, Pleasant Valley.
Holly Smith added: ‘There are so many people right now in the community that want to help and we need their help.
‘She’s from the Pleasant Valley area. If you find something, if you see something, stop and call.’
‘If you can just imagine how distraught a mother could be looking for her missing child, it’s unimaginable.’
Anyone with information about where she may be is asked to contact dispatch at (530) 621-6600, or cal Detective J. Sargent at (530) 642-4714.