Missing Santa Rosa woman may have gotten ride

A Napa County sheriff’s official Wednesday said a tip from a witness indicated a still-missing Santa Rosa woman may be out of the area after getting a ride from a Highway 29 driver.

The witness contacted Santa Rosa police after a Press Democrat story late last week reported the disappearance of Eva Diaz, 48.

The witness reported seeing a woman matching Diaz’s description talking to a driver along the Napa County highway, where she’d last been seen and possibly soon after she’d gotten out of her husband’s car, Napa County sheriff’s Lt. Oscar Ortiz said.

Diaz disappeared Aug. 17, according to family members. She reportedly had been arguing with her husband as they drove on Highway 29. While stopped along the rural highway near Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, she got out of the car and he drove away, her husband said.

Miguel Diaz told police he’d quickly doubled back to get her and she was gone.

Napa County search-and-?rescue volunteers combed both sides of the highway in both directions for about one-third of a mile in case she’d been hit by a car and knocked off the roadway, Ortiz said. They found no sign of the woman.

The possible sighting caused Santa Rosa police to turn the investigation over to Napa County sheriff’s deputies. The current theory is that Diaz may have gotten a ride from the driver, Ortiz said.

“There’s no evidence of foul play. We just want to know if she’s OK,” he said.