Missing woman and child found safe Missing woman and child found safe (June 11, 2004)

Pair were not in contact for several days

By Corey Pride

A missing Mountain View mother and child were confirmed by police to be safe at a bus station last Friday afternoon after the pair had been out of touch with friends and family for three days.

Iwalani "Eva" Meiers, 18, phoned the Mountain View Police Department at about 2:30 p.m. on June 4 to explain that she and her 11-month-old daughter, Angela, were at the Sacramento Greyhound bus station, police spokesperson Jim Bennett said.

The Sacramento Police Department was contacted by Mountain View police and asked to corroborate the duo's whereabouts and that they were not hurt or in danger.

Bennett said Meiers told police she is considering leaving Mountain View and left to explore other places she might want to live with her daughter. She did not tell police why she didn't contact friends and relatives.

"It was her own personal decision to leave the area. She is an adult and she has all the right in the world to do what she did," Bennett said.

Meiers and her daughter disappeared May 31 after she went to a job interview at the San Antonio Shopping Center. She was hired immediately following the interview. Meiers and her child were expected to get on the No. 35 bus at the corner of California Street and Showers Drive and travel home to Villa Street.

When she did not arrive at the group home where she lived a day later, Meiers' parents called the police and filed missing persons reports.

Meiers' family and friends passed out fliers with the names and pictures of the pair on them, and the city of Mountain View announced their disappearance on its Web site. The San Jose chapter of the FBI also helped Mountain View police with the investigation.

On June 3, Iwalani Meiers' father, James Meiers, spoke on behalf of family and friends at a press conference, urging his daughter to call him.

"We love you. We miss you, and we all miss Angela," James Meiers said in front of television cameras and reporters outside the Mountain View Police Station.

That night, Iwalani Meiers left a voice mail message for her family saying she was with friends and was safe. Police, however, could not close the investigation until she contacted the department, and her and her child's safety were confirmed by law enforcement.

Bennett said now that she has contacted police, the case is officially closed.

E-mail Corey Pride at cpride@mv-voice.com

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