Ryan Barrett and his girlfriend Viola Liu, left on Saturday to go camping with their three dogs and were scheduled to return home Monday.
Susan Itson is the lead missing person's investigator on the case with the Fremont Police. She says they have worked with the cell phone companies and determined both Ryan's and Vola's cell phones were manually turned off on Jan. 16 and there have been no outgoing calls.
Itson says she has also checked with banks and credit card companies and there has been no activity on their accounts. A credit card was last used on Saturday for a gas purchase in Lake County near Clear Lake.
"While the two are considered free spirits, Viola missed two work related commitments and that is highly unusual and out of character, so we are doing everything we can to get the word out," Itson said.
The family says the couple is also realiable and dependable. Viola had a job interview on Monday and Ryan was scheduled to watch his nephew, both commitments they would not have missed.
Ryan's family says he is an avid camper and he took a tent, sleeping bags, camping gear, food and water for the trip but they were supposed to be home on Monday. Part of the problem in looking for where Ryan and Viola may be is that they did not tell anyone their exact location and may not even have known themselves when they hit the road. Ryan's aunt, Patricia Jenkins says Ryan told his father that they were thinking about "going to the Sierra Nevada to play in the snow."
The concern is that wherever Ryan and Viola are, they may have been caught in the series of storms and run into trouble.
"We need people to look for that red pickup with the camper shell and three dogs and Viola and Ryan in it," Jenkins said.
Ryan Barrett is described as a 31-year-old white male, 5 feet 9 inches in height with blue eyes and brown hair.
Viola Liu is described as a 31-year-old slim Chinese-American woman, 5 feet 7 inches in height with brown eyes and dark brown hair with highlights.
The two were in a red 2005 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck with a camper, license plate number 7P61451. They were traveling with three dogs -- two huskies and a labrador. If anyone has any information, please contact the Fremont Police at 510-790-6800.
