Jean Marie Etherton, age 63, of Eureka, was located safe in Eureka around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Etherton has been reunited with her family and is currently receiving medical treatment at a local hospital.
A thorough Search and Rescue (SAR) operation was launched on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 8 after Etherton's family reported her as a missing person to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office (HCSO). Deputies, HSCO SAR volunteers and K-9s, California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) volunteers, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay Helicopter, as well as HCSO thermal drone and ATVs were deployed as resources during this search effort on the first day. More resources were called in the days following the initial search launch, and a mutual aid effort ultimately led to the successful location and rescue of Etherton.
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office would like to thank the following agencies for their participation in the successful and effective search and rescue operation:
- Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue
- Sonoma County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue
- Marin County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue
- Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue
- Alameda County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue
- California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA)
- California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)
- Humboldt County Sheriff's Office of Emergency Services
- Redwood Acres, for providing housing of volunteer personnel
- Ridgewood Heights Baptist Church, for allowing the Command Post to operate onsite
- United States Coast Guard
- Public citizens, for calling in tips and checking video surveillance
— PREVIOUS: POSTED SEPT. 9, 2024 —
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office needs the public’s help to locate missing person Jean Marie Etherton, age 63, of Eureka.
Etherton was reported missing by her family on Sunday, Sept. 8 at about 7 a.m. Etherton was believed to have walked away from her residence, located in the 6000 block of Walnut Dr., Cutten, in the early morning hours of Sept. 8. Etherton’s family advised law enforcement that she may have been having a mental health crisis, and they suspect that the wooded area near their home may likely be her location. Her family also reported that Etherton had walked away from her home one other time last week and was located in the McKay Tract. Etherton was last seen wearing leopard print leggings, pastel pink and purple slippers, and possibly a pastel tie-dyed hoodie.
We are asking our community to please be on the lookout for Etherton in the Cutten and Elk River areas as well as the McKay Tract Community Forest. We are also urging the public to please refrain from the wooded area north of Ridgewood Dr. and south of Lundbar Hills due to the ongoing Search and Rescue (SAR) K-9s tracking in that area.
The Sheriff’s Office is actively coordinating the SAR operation. Sheriff’s deputies are searching the trails on ATV, on foot and utilizing thermal drones. Deputies are also searching the public roadways. The Sheriff’s Office has called in the use of the U.S. Coast Guard to search from the air. HCSO has also called in the California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) volunteers; the Humboldt County Sheriff SAR volunteers are also assisting with the coordinated search.
Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding Jean Etherton’s possible whereabouts should call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251.
Jean Marie Etherton | Photo provided by family