Search for Sharon Anderson

Friends, co-workers, relatives comb area for missing woman

By CATHY LOGG

Herald Writer

EVERETT — Dozens of searchers combed through woods, swamps and along I-5 Tuesday. They turned up a backpack, a purse, two shirts and a pair of women’s panties hanging on a bush — but none of those items led them to Sharon Anderson.

The missing Stanwood woman is so beloved by her co-workers at the state Department of Social and Health Services office in Everett that they used their vacation time to search for her Tuesday, joined by some of the woman’s young clients.

Dozens of people turned out, including some who had never met Anderson but heard about her disappearance and felt compelled to help.

"We’ve got to find her," said Donna Schroeder, one of Anderson’s sisters who came from Portland, Ore., to join the search.

Anderson, 50, disappeared Saturday after she left home in the morning to go shopping at the Everett Mall. She was expected home about 4 p.m., but never showed up. A friend found her truck outside Mervyn’s at the mall, but it was locked, and weekend searches by the family and police found no sign of Anderson.

"She is not someone who would have walked away, especially from those two," Schroeder said, nodding to Anderson’s two daughters, who were among the searchers. Niki Phillips, 29, lives in the Granite Falls area, and Jessica Sibon, 21, is a student at Central Washington University in Ellensburg.

In pairs or groups, they walked the Interurban Trail, roamed the woods and apartment complexes, peered into garbage cans and canvassed businesses on Everett Mall Way, showing fliers bearing Anderson’s picture.

McDonald’s restaurant in the mall donated meal tickets to feed the searchers.

Carolyn Dorsey of Snohomish, who has worked with Anderson for six years, joined the search because, she said, "I would hope everybody would be coming out for me or my family."

Her peers described Anderson as a hard worker, well-liked and someone who got along well with clients.

"When you have your own clients out looking for you, it means a lot," said Roxane Boroujerdi, an Everett co-worker. "It’s really unthinkable that something like this would happen. We’ve taken the messages off her phone and checked everything in her cubicle (for any clues). There’s nothing."

"It’s perplexing," said Rick Heinzen of Gold Bar, another co-worker. "We have to live in that kind of fear."

Searchers picked up several reports of possible sightings, some that didn’t mesh with Anderson’s life. Two reported sightings between 1 and 4 p.m. Monday of a woman who fit her description walking along a road led the group to the Arlington area Tuesday afternoon, where teams went door-to-door and searched until 6 p.m., said Anderson’s best friend, Mary Rehberg.

"We’re just hoping it’s her. She doesn’t know anyone in that area," Rehberg said.

Everett police have no indication that Anderson fell victim to foul play, Sgt. Boyd Bryant said. Her pickup was at the mall, but police say Anderson could have had car trouble and taken a bus or cab. She could have gone elsewhere to shop, or changed her plans.

Anderson is white, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 130 pounds, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her front teeth are capped, and she is left-handed. She was last seen wearing a green jacket, blue jeans and white tennis shoes.

She also wears a distinctive wedding ring — a white-gold band encircled in the middle with a band of black jade and a diamond solitaire in the middle.

Searchers planned to start at 9 today checking pawnshops to see if her ring has surfaced.

Everett police ask anyone who may have seen Anderson since Saturday to call the police tip line at 425-257-8450.