VANCOUVER, Wash. — UPDATE: A Ridgefield, Washington mother has been reunited with her family after she went missing after leaving her home on Aug. 15.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Family and friends of Jessica Rogers Fern, 33, were out searching for her on Thursday. Fern left her home Tuesday night and didn't return.
She's the mother of two young children, who were missing her since Tuesday night. Her husband, Daniel Fern, said the couple recently celebrated 10 years of marriage. But Rogers Fern was struggling in some ways.
"She's dealing with a lot of stress and big life changes and so I feel that she's having a mental health crisis, she may be a little bit manic," Fern said.
On Thursday, people came out to join him in a search for his wife and to hand out fliers. Most were friends, but one woman totally unconnected to the family came out to help after seeing the story on social media.
Asked by KGW why she came out, Kelsey Brazeau of Vancouver said, "I don't know, love. I mean, that's what we're here for."
The fliers provided information about what Jessica was wearing, a long-sleeve flannel shirt and black shorts, and her car, a 2015 Gray Ford Edge. She has brown hair and brown eyes and is 5-foot-4 and 110 pounds.
On Thursday afternoon, her car was found in Clackamas, off the Sunnyside Road exit of I-205, in the Claim Jumper restaurant parking lot. But Jessica was last seen along the Columbia River in Vancouver. Fern said some people recognized his wife as having been in the area just hours before.
Before that, the last sighting was Surprise Beach, along the Columbia River in Vancouver early Wednesday morning.
Fern said when his wife didn't return late Tuesday night, he went down to the beach where her phone was located, via an air tag device. But she was gone.
On Wednesday, Fern said he spoke with some people who saw her last early Wednesday morning. He mentioned his wife had been homeless as a young person, so she was comfortable in that setting.
"At about 2 a.m., she met with some homeless individuals camping at the beach who spoke with her," Fern said. "She was confused. She didn't know where her car was, she didn't know how to get home, and that was the last that they saw of her."
The hope was that the fliers would reach someone who knew where she was and her family can get her whatever help she may need.
"I don't know that she even remembers that she has kids right now," Fern said, "but we just love you and we want you to come home."
Fern said he filed a missing person report with Ridgefield police, where they live. At the time, KGW reached out to the police chief but heard nothing back.