Search Underway For Missing Woman: Mountain Center

HEMET, CA — A search is on for a 73-year-old woman who has been missing since Tuesday from Hemet, and whose abandoned car was found Thursday in Mountain Center.

Family members told sheriff's deputies late Tuesday afternoon that Rosario Garcia left home in the 26000 block of Katherine Street to visit family in Hesperia. She was driving her gray 2016 Nissan Altima (California license plate number 8JNV980).

Garcia has not been heard from since.

On Thursday, around 11:46 a.m. deputies from the Palm Desert Station found Garcia’s abandoned Altima near the 70100 block of state Route 74 in Mountain Center. Volunteers from the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit and the Desert Search and Rescue Unit responded to the scene, and bloodhound and aviation teams are searching the area.

Garcia was last seen wearing a brown shirt, blue jeans, bracelets and gold rings. She is described as 5-feet, two-inches tall, weighing about 165 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Family members said she is possibly suffering from Alzheimer’s and/or dementia.

A Silver Alert has been issued by the California Highway Patrol.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Negrete at the Hemet Sheriff’s Station: 951-791-3400. The San Jacinto Sheriff’s Station can also be contacted at 951-766-2400.

Criminal activity can also be reported through the We-Tip Crime Reporting Hotline: 909-987-5005 or wetip.com.