Find Connie Koch

DEFINITIVE Memorial Date

2009-04-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

We wanted to update you with some details about Connie's memorial service (that we have tentatively dubbed "Connie-palooza"). We got in contact with the Lake Stevens Highschool to use the auditorium and cafeteria. So clear your calendars for:

Saturday, May 9th
2pm - 5pm
Lake Stevens Highschool
2908 113th Ave NE
Lake Stevens, WA 98258

as we honor all the wonderful parts of Connie - her smile, her teaching style, her love of everyone around her... basically everything about her.

Once again, thanks everyone for all you have done.

Family and Friends

2009-04-19T11:31:00.000-07:00

We are so sorry to have to break the news that Connie's car was found, and that there was someone inside. We knew that this was a possibility, but we did all hope that it wouldn't be the case.

We would like to say thank you to everyone who offered prayers, support, shared stories, went out looking, put up fliers... and everything else that you did. You have brought us so much comfort and support, and we thank God for every one of you.

We will post information about a memorial here when we have made those decisions.

All our love,
Tim, Lexine, Hope and Sean

Update on no update

2009-04-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, and thank you for your well wishes and prayers. We wanted to update the blog to give everyone the update on our lack of updates. Unfortunately there has been no news since the last post. We just continue to hope that wherever Connie is, she is warm, and safe, and feeling loved.

Volunteer form

2009-04-03T15:57:00.001-07:00

We have created a form you can fill out to volunteer to help for searches, or anything else you can think of. This is purely for information gathering so that when/if we start organizing searches, we can easily access information. You can also email us, but we will primarily be using this to keep things straight!

Fill out our volunteer form.

Information from Detective Irwin

2009-04-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

We are working closely with the Lake Stevens police to find Connie as soon as possible, so here are some things that you should know about what is going on:

If you have a solid tip, like you think you have seen Connie or her car, or remember her telling you about going somewhere late last week that wasn't Texas - please call 911 or the Lake Stevens police department at (425) 334-9537
If you would like to volunteer your time to help find Connie in some way, please don't contact the police. We are setting up a webpage that you can enter your information into so that we can keep your contact info as organized as possible. In the meantime, email findconniemarie@gmail.com
If you want to share a story about Connie, Multiple Chemical Sensetivity, your experience with a missing person, you can leave a comment here, or email as well.

The detective assigned to the case has emailed us with this:

If I receive creditable information of Connie’s whereabouts or a precise location to search, I will contact the proper Law Enforcement Agency to handle that situation. If it then becomes necessary to utilize civilians to assist with the search, I will inquire with you about any of those person you have contact with.

I however at this time cannot officially sanction a search, and recommend that if you or any other person wish to conduct a search on your own that you consult with experts in searching this type of terrain and weather. Should you or others conduct your own search, I asked that you please supply a detailed description of the area checked. That information will then be added to the Lake Stevens Police case report.

We have been calling the last few parties going up "searches" when really we should have been saying "paperings" - passing around fliers and talking to people in shops and at rest stops, etc. We as a family cannot sanction full searches, people going into the brush, snowshoeing or snowmobiling, or any other potentially dangerous searches. The conditions on the pass are very poor for even experienced searchers at this time. We don't want to discourage anyone from looking, but until we have a more definite location to search, we are asking that nobody risk themselves to search. We would feel horrible, as would Connie, knowing that anyone had been harmed trying to find her.

We want to stress that none of this means that we are giving up in any way, but there has been a great many people saying that they want to get out in the snow to search, and we are discouraging that at this time.

So what can you do?

Print out a flier to pass around locally - The new fliers have two photos for better identification.
Talk to friends about the website - we are only passing along information that has been verified by the police. While we are extremely happy about the coverage on the news, sometimes things get precipitously reported.
Send good thoughts or prayers - we are all feeling the love from this community, and it is one of the few things that has kept us functioning this past week.

We care about everyone who is reading this blog, and who is interested in helping. We couldn't bear it if the search for our mom lead you to any harm. We thank you for your support and love, and we love you back.

-Tim and Lexine, Hope and Sean, Steve and Paula, Ron and Cathy

Bad Weather Calls Off Thursday Search

2009-04-02T11:12:00.001-07:00

Bad news for the search - the weather is extremely snowy on the pass, and the team called the Department of Transportation, who advised not going over the pass today. They have said they will try again on Friday, and hopefully weather conditions will improve. Here's a link to the ten-day weather forecast for Stevens Pass.

The searchers also wanted us to clear the air - none of the searchers saw Connie on their Tuesday search. If you think you do or have seen Connie, we are asking that you contact the Lake Stevens Police at (425) 334-9537.

Thursday Search

2009-04-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone. Our wonderful volunteer Danette McCroskey is organizing a meeting at Northlake Middle School at 7am. They are planning on leaving there by 7:30am. She is asking that anyone planning on joining the search please dress appropriately for the cold weather conditions as they plan on going all the way over the mountains this time.

We also want to take time to say thank you to everyone who has searched, or is planning on searching tomorrow. You are all so amazing!

North Lake Middle School
2202 123rd Ave NE
Lake Stevens, WA‎ 98258

View Larger Map

New Missing Poster

2009-04-01T13:45:00.001-07:00

We have created a new missing poster with two photos of Connie and the updated information on her last seen location. A lot of people have been interested in passing around fliers, and we want to make sure the poster has all the latest information.

Click here for the latest Missing Poster in PDF format.

Click here to get Adobe Acrobat reader (free).

Thursday Sighting

2009-03-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

We have some news from a Boy Scout search on the pass - Connie was seen getting a sandwich at a deli in Skykomish Thursday afternoon, when the pass was closed. This is the fist bit of news we have had in a while, so a BIG thank you to the Boy Scouts and Danette McCroskey for organizing that search and fliering!

We are hoping to hear back from the police today about a plane to fly over with some heat detection and the Civil Air Patrol about a volunteer aerial search. With all the searches we have done, it seems less and less likely that Connie is on Stevens Pass - although we are still concentrating on that area.

The police are investigating several different accounts that Connie may have been using.

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and support during these tough times. We are all so thankful for the outpouring of well wishes and prayers from the community.

KIRO FLIER

2009-03-30T17:33:00.001-07:00

KIRO was kind enough to stick our flier on their web page.

If you want to print it out go to KIRO's web page!

Update!

2009-03-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give every one a heads up on some of the things we've been doing. A lot of people have been suggesting things and we want to let you know we are taking your suggestions seriously.

AT&T was contacted with in the first few hours to see if we could triangulate her cell phone, we discovered it was off. We requested and received call logs for the last 24 hours and found out what cell towers her phone was last in contact with.

Her bank has been monitoring her account at the request of the Lake Stevens Police department since Friday. We are also pulling a credit report to look at recent activity.

We checked with her insurance company and they are actively monitoring hospitals in case she checks into one, any where in the nation.

Two private searches have been conducted on Stevens Pass (one on Friday and again on Sunday) Due to the cold weather condition a majority of the winter snow has not melted, this reduced our search ability but also eliminated locations where she could have turned off. The search on Sunday included 7 vehicles and a helicopter and we traveled as far as Leavenworth. The police and forest service have also been searching Stevens Pass since Saturday.

Holden Village, a favorite place of hers, was contacted on Friday along with Lady of the Lake Ferry service.

The police have a helicopter up in the Stevens Pass area today and are talking to the State Patrol about their fixed plane.

Seattle Times and AP coverage

2009-03-30T10:05:00.001-07:00

A big thanks to the Seattle Times and Associated Press for covering the story about Connie. We really really hope that all this press turns up some clue, or that she sees it and finally decides to call. We hope to write again later, to keep you all up to date with the search effort. Once again, thanks for all your prayers and good thoughts. It means so much to us!

2009-03-30T00:17:00.000-07:00

We've been getting a lot of emails since the airing of all the news shows! Thanks for the support and testimonials.

Fox news

2009-03-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Fox news stopped by and KIRO is on their way to gather information.

King 5 Story

2009-03-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

King 5 did a great story about our Connie. A big thank you to them!

Update: Komo news 4 posted a story on their website as well. Thanks, Komo!

King 5

2009-03-29T15:42:00.001-07:00

We have King 5 at mom's house here for the story, let people know its going to be on at 5 and 6:30

Sunday Search

2009-03-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! First of all, thank you ALL so much for all the prayers and encouragements and ideas, most of all! We are open to any and all ideas you may have for us.
Second, we have mounted a bit of a civilian search on Stevens Pass, to supplement the highway patrol and forest service search. We have several cars on both sides of the pass, looking for our dear Connie. If you are in the area and available, and want to ask around, again here is the basic information:
Connie Koch, 62, Blonde hair and Blue eyes. She drives a white 2005 Toyota Corolla with a Jack in the Box head on the antenna, in the back. The license plate is 971-VOL. She was carrying two oxygen tanks with her.
If you do see her, we ask that you first call the Lake Stevens police, Sergeant Brooks at (425) 334-9537. Then please email us at findconniemarie@gmail.com

Once again, we all really really appreciate your thoughts and prayers. We love you all!

Help us out!

2009-03-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

While at the police station this evening Officer Brooks mentioned something that can happen in missing person cases, she may have sent out letter to friends and family after leaving the house on Thursday.

If you know Connie please keep an eye out for letters or notes in your mail box.

Last known location

2009-03-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

We have an update on Connie's "last known location" - a cell tower on the Skykomish ridge line registered a text to her cell phone at 4:35pm on Thursday, which means she was on her way up Stevens Pass.

This isn't a huge leap in the time line but it gives us an idea of where she was going and when, and every little bit helps!

We also just gave an interview to Komo News 4 at the Lake Stevens police department. It is scheduled to run at 11, and they promised to include this blog on their link page. A big thank you to Joel Moreno and Komo News for talking to us!

Love,
Tim and Lex

First Post!

2009-03-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends and family of Connie Koch! This is a weblog to keep you up to date with the effort to find Connie. Today is Saturday, March 28. This is the information we have to date:

Thursday, March 26

Connie was last seen at around 2pm. Her brother, Steve, left on a few errands. When he returned at 4pm, Connie's car was gone, and she hadn't left a note. Thinking that she had ran some last minute errands for her trip to Texas the next day, he waited for her to return. When she did not return by 6:30, he called Tim who then called the police to file a missing person's report as a precaution.
At around 2:15 she spoke to her neighbor, Ruth about taking care of her house while she was in Texas, and also made a phone call to H&R Block's 800 number. At around 4:30 she sent a text to her sister-in-law Cathy in California. That was the last contact from her cell phone. Phone calls sent to it later were sent straight to voice mail, and currently her voice mail inbox is full. Ruth was unaware that she was missing when she arrived for the key to Connie's house later that evening.
Thursday night, Tim and Steve went searching the Mountain Loop highway for her car with Officer Jared from the Lake Stevens Police Dept.

Friday, March 27

Friday morning, Tim and Steve searched Stevens Pass, including turn-outs and local haunts, a favorite spot of Connie's, for her car - to Leavenworth and back. She didn't return for her luggage and missed her 11:45am flight to Texas. Her bank account and phone records were given to the police department for monitoring. We have been in contact with the local hospitals as well as people from Holden Village, friends from across the mountains, and the clinic in Texas she was bound for. At around 2pm the police efforts went to a more active search, meaning that the Lake Stevens police were searching the areas surrounding her house, and had contacted the areas surrounding Lake Stevens to begin searching as well.
By most accounts, her behavior on Wednesday and Thursday was cautiously optimistic about the trip to Texas and her recovery. She saw her counselor Wednesday at 5, who has provided information that she was doing well and pleased with her decision.
A photo has been given to the police for circulation, as well as pertinent information about the situation surrounding Connie for the past few months.

Today, March 28

Today we are organizing and circulating all information we have. We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and if you have any information please don't hesitate to call or email: findconniemarie@gmail.com.

Pertinent Information:
Name: Connie Marie Koch
Age: 63
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde and Gray
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 130lbs
Vehicle Description: 2005 White Toyota Corolla - Washington License Plate 971-VOL

Connie was dealing with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity - for more information go to http://www.multiplechemicalsensitivity.org/
Her destination in Texas was the Environmental Medicine Treatment Center in Dallas, TX. They have been alerted that she is missing. Her recent struggles with reactions to her environment were very trying, and the decision to leave her job and home to travel to Texas was a hard one. She had been feeling very isolated and lonely since January. Her mood prior to Thursday was by most accounts better that previously thought.