Missing From: Newberry Springs, California
Missing: June 28, 2004
Age at Disappearance: 30
Height: 5′ 9″
Weight: 120-130
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Distinguishing Characteristics: Scars, Marks, Tattoos: Caucasian female. She has a scar on her elbow, a scar on her lip, a scar on the left side of her stomach, and a small round scar on the left side of her chest. Pitzer is missing several upper teeth and has dental implants to replace them. Her shoe size is 8. Pitzer suffers from bipolar disorder and needs medication to control the condition.
Details of Disappearance: Pitzer resided in Newberry Springs, California in 2004. She previously lived in Arkansas. Following her divorce, she moved to California. After the move, Pitzer had told her mother she was working as a waitress and caring for an elderly invalid. Shortly before she disappeared, a couple of months after she’d moved to California, she confessed she had been lying. Pitzer said she was not a waitress, she hadn’t been taking the medication for bipolar disorder, and she had been living on the street and in homeless shelters. Pitzer took a job as a caregiver near Newberry Springs to get back on her feet. She decided to take a bus home to Arkansas. She said she was excited about being able to see her children again and was thinking of reconciling with her ex-husband. Pitzer was last seen in the vicinity of the 30000 block of Caspian Way in Newberry Springs on June 28, 2004. An acquaintance gave her a ride to a bus station to ride to Arkansas. She never arrived in Arkansas and has never been heard from again.
Her mother contacted a friend of Pitzer’s in California who reported her missing on July 16. There were rumors that Pitzer had been murdered and thrown into a mine shaft. Police searched 25 mines but didn’t find anything. Eight months after her disappearance, an unidentified person in New Mexico attempted to get a cellular phone in Pitzer’s name. In late 2005, police found some of Pitzer’s belongings in mining areas in the Mohave Desert, about thirty miles from Newberry Springs. This is a very remote area. Pitzer’s suitcase and clothes were scattered at various locations over a three-mile radius. One of her nightgowns was hanging in a mining shack; it had been tied in a hangman’s noose and pieces of duct tape werepresent. Some of her other belongings were found in a mine shaft, including desert boots, a swimsuit and undergarments. A mattress and sheet were also found. They were stained with human blood and body fluids. The clothing had been exposed to the weather for a long time and was of little value. Investigators stated they had no suspects in Pitzer’s case and there is no hard evidence that she is deceased, although her mother believes foul play was involved in her case.
At least two of her associates, men connected to the investigation, have died since 2004. Pitzer’s mother thinks her daughter may have been murdered as a consequence of her previous work as an informer in a federal case; her evidence helped send an Arkansas man to prison for seven years. She met the man’s wife after she moved to California, and the wife knew the people Pitzer had traveled with.
Investigative Agency: San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department (760)256-4838 (909)387-3690
If you have any information on this case, please contact CUE Center for Missing Persons at (910) 343-1131 or call the CUE Center 24-hour tip line at (910) 232-1687. All information submitted to CUE Center for Missing Persons is confidential.