Folk singer Linda Perhacs, 82, has been found alive after eight months missing, with the LAPD Missing Persons Unit telling The Daily Mail on Wednesday that she was “found today” and noting “She’s safe.”
Perhacs went missing after she left the residential care facility where she had reportedly been living as she dealt with dementia.
She had been put under the supervision of a legal guardian, who was the last person to see her, though the identity of the guardian is unclear.
Friends and collaborators have not been able to get in contact with the singer-songwriter since eight months ago, when she was discharged from the assisted living facility in San Fernando Valley, California, where she had resided for eight years, under the supervision of her legal guardian.
Laurel Stearns, who managed Perhacs from 2013 to 2016 and worked on the release of her 2014 sophomore album The Soul of All Natural Things, filed a missing persons report with the Los Angeles Police Department on June 6.
On July 27, Stearns posted on Perhacs’s Instagram page, asking fans for help locating the musician.
In an Instagram post alongside a photo of the singer, Stearns wrote, “LINDA PERHACS FANS, WE NEED YOUR HELP. LINDA HAS GONE MISSING.”
Stearns told The New York Times that “repeated attempts to communicate with her guardian” had gone unanswered, prompting concern among friends and loved ones.
Several friends and longtime collaborators, including musician Julia Holter, DubLab co-founder Mark “Frosty” McNeill, and Perhacs’ former manager Laurel Stearns, published a statement appealing to the public for help.
The statement stated that at “this time, those issuing this statement are not alleging wrongdoing,” adding, “rather, they are seeking confirmation that Linda is safe, well, and receiving appropriate care, while expressing concern over the prolonged absence of communication with a beloved public figure.”
Stearns provided her email, [email protected], for any verified information that can help locate Perhacs, stating “The intention is not to intrude upon her privacy,” but “simply to ensure that she is safe and to reestablish communication with someone whose artistic contributions continue to resonate across generations.”
Longtime collaborator and co-producer Fernando Perdomo publicly appealed for information about her whereabouts, later hiring a private investigator and contacting the Los Angeles Police Department in an effort to locate the singer.
Perdomo confirmed in an Instagram update on Monday that Perhacs’ next of kin has refused to answer calls, saying he believes that those contacting Perhacs’ next of kin have blocked all numbers trying to reach them.
The apparent disappearance of Perhacs has prompted both an Adult Protective Services case and a police report, according to the folk icon’s friends.
In the viral moment this past week, friends of the 82-year-old psychedelic folk legend began sounding alarms about the absence of communication with Perhacs since her discharge from a San Fernando Valley care facility eight months prior.
Perhacs, whose 1970 album Parallelograms was rediscovered in the 2000s and widely celebrated as a lost classic, was last seen by friends at the residential care facility where she had reportedly been living since the late 2010s.
Perhacs, who lives with dementia, had been discharged from the facility eight months ago into the care of an unnamed legal guardian, and no one has been able to reach her since then.
The LAPD reportedly investigated the matter earlier, but were not able to share Perhacs’s status with Stearns or any other friends without legal ties to the musician.
Stearns and collaborators escalated their public appeal on Sunday and Monday.
Stearns wrote, “LINDA PERHACS FANS, WE NEED YOUR HELP. LINDA HAS GONE MISSING.”
A joint post made on Instagram by Stearns, Holter, and McNeill said: “Please help us locate Linda to ensure her wellbeing.”
Anyone with any information on Perhacs’s whereabouts was urged to email Stearns at [email protected].
The appeal galvanized action, with Perdomo’s involvement proving crucial as a key member of Perhacs’ creative team.
With Perhacs found and confirmed safe by Los Angeles authorities on Wednesday, the eight-month search has ended, though details remain limited.