ABC7 News reporter Vic Lee will have the latest details on this developing story on ABC7 News at 4 p.m.
Dive teams and dogs are now involved in the search for a missing Oakland woman who vanished Sunday night. Search teams Friday looked in a three-mile area around Lake Chabot in Vallejo behind Six Flags Discovery Kingdom before moving to Vacaville. The shift in search locations from the East Bay to the North Bay comes as a new person of interest is brought to light in the disappearance of Sandra Coke.
The Solano County sheriff's office scoured Lake Chabot in Vallejo for any evidence of Coke, saying the murky, dense vegetation would make the search difficult.
"Any kind of clothing that she may have been wearing, we do have a clothing description, shoes clothing, anything that looks like it could potentially be a crime scene," said Solano County Sheriff's Office Dep. Daryl Snedeker.
They're using dogs, all-terrain vehicles and ground searchers to find the 50-year-old criminal defense investigator who vanished Sunday night. Her car was found two days later in a parking lot not far from her home in Oakland. Two of her cell phones were found, one in Emeryville, the other, tossed off an I-80 exit ramp in Richmond. Authorities are tight-lipped about why their focus shifted from Alameda County to Solano County last night, but said something discovered during the Oakland police department's investigation led them there.
"We still have other investigative steps and areas that we're looking into, but, right now, we're searching and focusing on this specific area," said Oakland Police Officer Johnna Watson.
Police say Coke was last seen with 56-year-old Randy Alana. The two dated 20 years ago. According to a state run sex offender registry, Alana is considered a high risk offender who's been convicted of rape and kidnapping. The Oakland Tribune reports that in 1983 he was acquitted for the murder of an Oakland woman he had known since elementary school. But in 1988 he pleaded no contest to the jailhouse killing of a fellow inmate. He's currently being held for a parole violation.
"He is a person of interest. He is currently in custody for an unrelated offense and, at this time, the investigation, he is only a person of interest because they were known to each other," said Watson.
Anyone who may have seen Coke is asked to call the Oakland Police Department's missing persons unit at (510)-238-3641, Crime Stoppers of Oakland at (510)-777-8672, tip line at (510)-777-2805, toll-free tip hotline at (855)-TIPS-247, family and friends tip line at (415)-385-5190, or email tips to FindSandraCoke@gmail.com.
