Friends, family of missing LA man begin searching Palm Desert
UPDATE: Friends and family are planning a search party Wednesday January 14th beginning at 11 a.m.
If you’d like to attend, meet at 11 a.m. at the Ralph’s parking lot in Palm Desert (Cook St. and Country Club)
More information can be found on the Find Omar Meza Facebook page.
Story:
The search continues for a missing Los Angeles man in the Coachella Valley. Omar Meza, 33, disappeared Jan. 8 in Palm Desert.
Suited in scuba gear, Riverside County Sheriff’s search and rescue divers checked the ponds at the JW Marriott Desert Springs in Palm Desert on Monday, looking for any clues that could lead them to Meza.
Diane Meza said police found her husband’s jacket neatly folded on the JW’s golf course over the weekend, that’s where they also found his wallet. Bloodhounds and divers scoured the area Sunday, but other than fliers with a picture of the missing man, there was no sign of Meza on Monday.
Sheriff’s deputies told us people last saw Meza at the resort at 11 p.m. last Thursday.
“This was the area he was last seen so we want to make sure we cover the whole property. We want to make sure he’s not still here,” said Deputy Armando Munoz, of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
In town for a work conference, co-workers told us they last saw Meza leaving an Indian Wells restaurant. He told an Uber car service driver he wanted to go to the Marriott on Cook Street.
“We spoke on the phone he was going to be heading to his hotel room,” said Omar Meza’s wife Diane.
He was actually staying at a smaller Marriott Residence Inn on Cook, but he got dropped off at the wrong hotel.
“Video of him coming into the JW the lobby, then it’s patchy on where he exited and left in the direction of a parking lot.”
Meza works for AIG Insurance Company. His wife said he travels to the Coachella Valley every other month for work and knows the area well, but that he may be suffering from long-term effects of a serious car crash in 2014.
As they continue their search, police said they aren’t ruling anything in or out.
“If anyone saw him or believes they saw him, contact your local police department.”
Omar Meza is 5 feet 10 inches and weighs 160 pounds. He was last seen wearing grey pants and a white shirt.
Anyone with more information is urged to call deputies at the Palm Desert station at 760-836-1600, or the non-emergency dispatch number, 760-836-3215.
