Santa Rosa police share results of 2-month social media campaign to locate missing persons

A Santa Rosa police intern’s social media push to find missing persons whose trails went cold long ago ended with five adults being located, including one who had been missing since 2005, the department announced last month.

For Erica Meyer, who developed the campaign for the department, each resolved case was a source of great excitement.

“With a lot of these cases, I was looking into them for a year now, and seeing them resolved, I was giddy, running into the office telling everyone I could,” Meyer said. “It was a great joy when I could tell the family they’re OK.”

Between January and March, police put out a weekly call on Facebook and Instagram asking the public for leads in its 30 missing adult cold cases.

The program, which came to be called “Missing Person Monday,” highlighted five cases a week, some going as far back as 1984.

In addition to those found, police said they received strong leads on four more missing adults, which the department hopes to resolve in the near future.

Meyer, a Santa Rosa native who joined the department as an intern a year an a half ago, said she developed the campaign after running into dead ends in her investigations.

Meyer researched the cases, designed the bulletins, and helped coordinate the push on social media.

“I really felt if I could get their photos out I might get a call from a co-worker or friend who could lead me in the right direction,“ Meyer said.

The department plans to continue the cold case campaign twice a year.

“More interns are helping me now,” said Meyer. “We’re going to restart it in late summer, early fall.”

Meyer said she will tweak the strategy based on what she’s learned during the recent push, such as highlighting more information about the cases in each post.

Santa Rosa police Sgt. Patricia Seffens, who collaborated on the campaign, called Meyer and the department’s interns “invaluable.“

“The energy they bring into the department, and the creativity is essential to us,” Seffens said. “We want to try anything and everything we can to resolve cold cases.”

Santa Rosa police maintains active investigations on missing persons cases until a resolution is reached.

Anyone with tips or other information that may assist detectives in resolving the outstanding cases should call the Santa Rosa Police Department nonemergency line at 707-528-5222 or the Violent Crimes Investigations tip line at 707-543-3590.