Possible sighting of missing woman was false alarm

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – An Alzheimer’s disease patient who apparently wandered off in the East County highlands earlier this month remained missing Tuesday, a day after a possible sighting in Scripps Ranch turned out to be someone else, authorities said.

Around 3:45 p.m. Monday, a person reported the possible sighting of Sally Estabrook, 75, in the area of Spring Canyon Road and Semillon Boulevard, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Dozens of volunteers searched the area with help from a sheriff’s helicopter crew but did not locate the missing Fallbrook woman. Hours into the search, they located the woman who was apparently the person wrongly believed to be Estabrook, authorities said.

Over the weekend, volunteer search-and-rescue team members fanned out again around Pinezanita RV Park and Campground, where Estabrook went missing on the afternoon of Oct. 4, apparently wandering off while her husband was taking a shower.

Her son-in-law, Dave Mustaine, frontman of the rock `n’ roll band Megadeth, spoke at a news conference Friday, urging the public to keep an eye out for her and asking hospital, shelter and hospice employees to make sure Estabrook had not ended up at one of the facilities as an unidentified patient.

Estabrook is white, 5 feet 4 and about 145 pounds, with shoulder-length blond hair. She may be wearing a teal top and white Capri pants.

She tends to be uncommunicative but may respond to her name, according to sheriff’s officials. Anyone who sees a woman matching her description is asked to call 911 immediately.