THOUSAND OAKS : Search Abandoned for Missing Woman

Authorities have abandoned their search in Malibu Creek State Park for a missing Thousand Oaks woman who left few clues when she disappeared three weeks ago, a sheriff’s investigator said.

Nancy Huter, a 36-year-old sales representative, missed a Bible study session March 3 and her absence was reported a day later by her family. Her car was later found parked close to Mulholland Highway in Malibu Creek State Park, near where a park employee spotted the woman walking the day she disappeared.

A pair of boots belonging to Huter was found on the banks of Las Virgenes Creek near her car, but dive teams who repeatedly searched the creek found nothing, Sheriff’s Detective Ed Wyand said.

Divers have said that with the amount of flooding in the creek, a body could have been trapped by underwater debris and covered by silt, Wyand said.

Three days of searching park grounds from helicopters and foot patrols have not turned up any valuable new information. “I have never had a case with so many man-hours of effort turn up so little,� Wyand said.

Investigators have also searched the area by air, Wyand said, twice pursuing leads supplied by psychics. The psychics said Huter was being held by an abductor in a remote area, but subsequent searches failed to locate a hide-out, he said.

“The psychics haven’t thought of anything that the rest of us haven’t,� Wyand said.

While detectives will not order more searches until fresh evidence turns up, Huter’s parents continue to distribute flyers offering a $5,000 reward for information about their daughter’s disappearance.

More than 100 friends have helped the family post flyers in airports and train depots in major cities nationwide, said Marjorie Huter, the mother of the missing woman.