Community comes together in continuing search for missing Myers Flat mother

This story was made in collaboration with KMUD.

In Southern Humboldt, a community is looking for one of their own. Zoe Penrod disappeared on New Year’s Eve.

The 39-year-old mother was last seen wearing a floral turquoise dress and green leather shoes.

She left behind her wallet, phone, and five-month-old baby. The child’s father, Penrod’s fiancé, reported her missing from Myers Flat.

But when a week went by and community member Misty Carrico saw no effort to search for Penrod, she decided to organize her own search.

“I just wanted to put as many eyes onto the situation as possible,” Carrico said.

Carrico was driven to lead the search after her daughters Leia and Caroline disappeared back in 2019.

“My two daughters walked away from our home in Benbow in March in 30 degree weather and rain in one of the largest manhunts I’ve ever heard of and had search and rescue in the best possible outcome and my daughters were found.”

The daughters survived three days in the wilderness.

That experience led Carrico to reach out to the Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue Team and local fire services, including Briceland Volunteer Fire’s training battalion chief Diana Totten.

“People were concerned that there was not actually a search party officially done for Zoe here in Myers Flat. People’s hearts go out to a mother with a four month old, five month old baby,” Totten said. “There were a lot of people that showed that they wanted to come as well as some drone operators.”

Thirty volunteers showed up but they’ve found no sign of Penrod.

“The best news is that we didn’t find a body. Each day when I drive around, I see people out of their mind and struggling with reality. Probably one of the best case scenarios is that people have seen her and just realized she is one of the people that lost her mind a bit. She could be right under our noses.”

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is currently asking anyone with information on Penrod’s whereabouts to call them.

If anyone has any information on the whereabout of Zoe Penrod, please call 707-445-7251.