KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A search party found some clues in the disappearance of a metro woman on Wednesday, but what they found also brought up new questions.
According to someone on the search team, they found Marina Bischoff’s phone and keys.
A search team, made up of community members, police and a private investigator
Family hired private investigator John Underhill. He organized the search around Shoal Creek Patrol Division where she was last seen on May 28. Crews also searched the woods at the location where she was arrested.
Kansas City police said the night before she disappeared, an officer arrested Bischoff for DUI and leaving the scene of a crash.
“Her bumper was like right here,” Yolanda Armendariz said, pointing at her front porch.
Armendariz said Bischoff left tire tracks in her yard and two others. She was the one who called police. Armendariz spoke to Bischoff that night, and described her as being disoriented.
“She just said she was trying to get home,” Armendariz said. “She was lost.”
Officers say Bischoff told them she had been drinking. Family and co-workers say that is very unlike her. Bischoff struggles with depression and anxiety.
“It just seemed like something else was wrong, like something more than ‘I had a couple bottles of wine,’” Armendariz said.
Bischoff was arrested and released the next morning with only an envelope.
“Any paperwork that’s in that manila envelope with her name on it, or anything like that, finder needs to contact KCPD immediately,” Underhill said.
Four hours scouring the woods included officers on four wheelers and dozens of Bischoff’s co-workers on foot.
She’s a social worker at Children’s Mercy in the Northland.
“She’s always been the sweetest, most soft-spoken person,” co-worker and nurse practitioner Becca Eck said. “She’s always super helpful and really deeply cares and is compassionate towards her patients.”
“We know something serious is going on because this isn’t something that Marina would do, just disappear like this,” Children’s Mercy Hospital Social Work Manager Kay Hoffsommer said. “So, we’ve got to find her.”
Strangers even came out to search. Some brought their trained dogs; others came with heavy hearts wanting to help.
“I know how it feels to lose a loved one. I lost my son to murder in 2001,” Patricia Wells, a stranger who came out to help the search, said.
It’s clear this community cares and wants Bischoff home safe.
If you have any information about Marina Bischoff, contact police at (816) 474-TIPS.