Eight days after she was reported missing, family and friends of an Oakland IT business owner said on Friday that the search for her was over and sadly, that police presumed she was dead.
In a statement, a family spokesperson said that no further details would be released about Erica Maskaleris, 31, who was last seen March 7 near 34th Street and Telegraph Avenue.
On behalf of the family, Mary Lim-Lampe of an interfaith organization released this statement: “We thank the community of First Congregational Church of Oakland for all their love and support. We thank all the volunteers for their help in the search for Erica. Finally, we thank the Oakland Police Department for being so diligent in their service to our family.”
Maskaleris was last spotted by a surveillance camera at a corner bakery, A Taste of Denmark, at 3401 Telegraph Ave.
NBC Bay Area obtained a copy of that video, which shows Maskaleris power walking by the shop at 8:09 a.m. She is wearing gray leggings and a black headband.
To see the surveillance footage, click here.
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Gloria Torres, Maskaleris' mother, has traveled from Fresno to help with the search. She said her daughter owns an Information Technology company and did a computer search recently on San Francisco parks. What's also odd is that Maskaleris was supposed to have flown to Texas on March 7 to visit a brother, which she never did. He came to Oakland instead.
In a previous interview, Gloria Torres had said that her daughter had been through a lot.
“Erica lost her husband suddenly to cancer last year,” Gloria Torres said. “She has endured quite a lot for a young woman.”
