By Mary O’KEEFE

On Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, Susan Park received a text from her daughter Elaine at 9 p.m. but when Susan attempted to text her back the next morning there was no response. That was Saturday. On Sunday there was still no response from Elaine so on Monday she contacted Glendale police to file a missing person report.

From that moment on, there have been questions: where could Elaine be and what could have happened to her? As the one-year anniversary of Elaine’s disappearance draws near, there are as many questions now as there were the day she was reported missing.

When Elaine, a Crescenta Valley High School graduate, went missing, she was 20 years old (she is 21 now). Her car was discovered on Feb. 2, 2017 parked on Pacific Coast Highway near the intersection of Corral Canyon. It is not an isolated area; there are businesses nearby and houses with big windows just feet from where her car was found. Her keys were found in the ignition and Elaine’s personal items were still in the vehicle, including her cellphone.

She had been at her on-again/off-again boyfriend’s home when she reportedly left early Friday morning. According to a friend, she had a “panic attack” and left. Surveillance footage showed her walking to her vehicle and her vehicle driving away from the location. The path from the home she left early that Friday morning to the location her car was found is a very dark and windy road.

The family and friends have asked for any photos or information concerning Elaine’s disappearance. Her mother hired a private detective but still no information has come to light.

GPD has received several tips and, according to Sgt. Daniel Suttles, it has followed up on all of them.

“One example is a tip we received from an [out-of-state] man,” he said. The man who contacted him was not an investigator by trade but found the case interesting and had a theory that involved mountain lions. Elaine’s car was parked across from a large open mountainous area. The tipster thought she may have hiked up in the area and had been attacked by a mountain lion. Even though this may sound like an unlikely scenario, Suttles said, investigators took the tip seriously.

They reached out to a local scientist who specialized in mountain lions in the Malibu area and was familiar with tracking them. The investigation found no evidence that supported the tip.

“But you never know where a piece of information is going to lead,” Suttles said.

Although police do not get tips on a daily basis, they still get quite a few tips that they continue to investigate, he added.

It is frustrating for family and friends as the days and months go by without any new information. Park does have a lot of support from the community.

“One year ago, after learning of Elaine’s disappearance, I reached out to Susan Park, Elaine’s mom, an acquaintance from the dance studio our daughters shared, offering my help. I started the ‘Help Find Elaine Park’ Facebook page to create awareness with the hope of finding a beautiful young girl who disappeared without so much as a trace of solid evidence. It’s very difficult to reconcile how this came to be,” said Rosemarie Wheeler. “I find it difficult to speak of Elaine in past tense. She’s not my daughter, but all the same, [she is] close to my heart. Knowing what it’s like raising three girls of my own and sharing their dreams then to think Elaine never got the chance is heartbreaking. There are so many hypotheticals and no answers.”

Friends share the frustration regarding the lack of information about Elaine’s disappearance, especially with so much technology available that seems to track a person’s every move.

“I firmly believe foul play was involved,” Wheeler said. “With the amount of social media awareness, Find My Friends and all the other ways to track a person, how did she slip though the cracks? It’s agonizing to think someone knows something. God only knows how a person with a conscience can carry on in his or her daily life knowing what happened. I will never give up hope that we will one day have an answer and justice for Elaine.”

There is a reward of $55,000 for information on Elaine’s disappearance. The family is especially looking for photos or videos from Jan. 28-29, 2017 that show Elaine or her vehicle. Photos can be submitted to www.elainepark.tips. A tipline has been set up at (800) 551-3080. Anyone with information can contact GPD at (818) 548-4911. People can also visit the Facebook page Help Find Elaine Park and on Twitter at #findelainepark.

  Mary Okeefe