Mendocino County woman, 76, missing since Friday

Dozens of search and rescue volunteers Monday combed the hills in northwest Mendocino County, looking for a 76-year-old woman missing since Friday.

Monday marked the third full day of searching for Margit Pritchard in the rural, hilly areas around her Piercy home, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Lt. Shannon Barney said.

The woman was last seen about 4:30 p.m. Friday near the 1300 block of Pepperwood Springs Road. Her husband called the sheriff’s office after looking for her for about three hours.

The 5-feet tall, 110-pound woman, an avid walker, has gray hair and blue eyes. She may be suffering from dementia and could be confused, Barney said.

Piercy, north of Leggett, is near Richardson Grove State Park and the Eel River’s south fork. Deputies looked for the woman Friday night. On Saturday the sheriff’s search and rescue team combed the wooded, rural area around her home. Additional trained searchers from other counties joined the effort Sunday and Monday.

Barney estimated 70 people were on the search.

He asked anyone with information to call sheriff’s dispatchers at 707-463-4086.

Randi Rossmann