Chris Hillyard is using drones to search hiking trails his wife Amy favored as the six-month mark of her disappearance passes without answers.
Amy Hillyard, 52, co-owner of Farley’s Coffee in San Francisco, vanished on March 25 while walking her dog near the 500 block of Radnor Road in Oakland. She left her cellphone at home, leaving investigators with few digital breadcrumbs to follow in the days after she went missing.
The case has stumped even seasoned professionals. “The private investigator who’s worked on missing persons cases across the country called Amy’s disappearance one of the most perplexing cases he’s ever worked on,” Chris Hillyard said in a video marking the six-month anniversary.
That investigator, Steve Fischer, recently conducted what he described as a “deep forensics dive” into Amy’s devices and apps. Over two days, Fischer and his team uncovered that the day before she disappeared, Amy had spent roughly 30 minutes using Chrome to examine eight different hiking routes running from the Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park area in Oakland toward Berkeley.
Investigators had already identified three of those routes and searched them. The digital analysis revealed five additional paths that had not been on anyone’s radar. “These are areas that were quite frankly not on our radar,” Fischer told SFGate.
The newly discovered trails all sit about 5 miles from Amy’s home. Fischer noted that she had hiked all but one of them before, and some stretch approximately 6 1/2 to 7 miles. Entries in Amy’s journal indicated that hiking served as one of her methods for managing anxiety, Fischer added.
A small team planned to begin searching those five newly identified routes on Sunday, employing aerial imagery to scan terrain that might be difficult to cover on foot. The drone-assisted search represents the latest tactic in a case that has yielded frustratingly little physical evidence.
Amy is described as 5-foot-4, about 120 pounds, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Authorities consider her at-risk due to a medical condition. The circumstances of her disappearance — a routine dog walk, no phone taken, no immediate signs of struggle — have left both family and law enforcement struggling to build a workable theory.
Chris Hillyard has remained visible throughout the half-year search, repeatedly appealing for information and expressing determination to keep his wife’s case in the public eye. “Still we all keep trying and every day we wake up with a glimmer of hope that today will the day that brings some piece of information that offers an answer to Amy’s whereabouts,” he said.
The family has put up a $25,000 reward for information leading to answers about Amy’s disappearance. They have also launched Bringamyhome.com, a website where supporters can track search efforts and find ways to contribute to the ongoing hunt for clues.
The case has drawn sustained attention in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Farley’s Coffee has operated for years and where Amy was known within the community. Friends, family, and volunteers have continued to organize searches and distribute flyers even as the months have stretched on without resolution.
