Weekend search set for IRS agent

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Dec 8, 2007 | by Mark Abramson

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- Family and friends of former South San Francisco resident Veronica "Nikki" Ruiz plan to continue searching for her this weekend on Mt. Tamalpais.

Ruiz, 25, of Mill Valley, was last heard from and seen Monday. A search that began Tuesday for the 2000 graduate of El Camino High School involved helicopters, dogs, people on horseback and an army of volunteers, IRS investigators and Ruiz's friends and family, said Brina Amata, a close friend of Ruiz.

Ruiz is an IRS criminal investigator out of the agency's San Rafael office.

"All of her friends have taken off of work (to search Mt. Tamalpais). I think we are all trying to be optimistic. It's just devastating," Amata said.

Ruiz liked to run along the trails at Mt. Tamalpais, Amatasaid.

According to the family, the official search for Ruiz by authorities has been suspended.

Mill Valley police and Marin County sheriff's officials could not be reached for comment.

"Saturday and Sunday, there will be hundreds of volunteers out there," said Maricris Ruiz, the missing woman's sister. "We will be starting at daybreak. I think we will find her."

Family and friends are creating a Web site and have an e-mail address, helpfindveronicaruiz@yahoo.com, for people to e-mail tips and questions to. Fliers were also posted around Mill Valley and elsewhere in Marin County.

Maricris Ruiz, 33, of Daly City said they don't intend to stop searching until they find her sister, and she does not believe her disappearance is related to a recent break-up with her live-in boyfriend.

Although the Mill Valley Police Department is handling the case, federal and state agencies assisted in the search.

"We were called in on Tuesday to assist the search-and-rescue folks," said Scott O'Briant, the special agent in charge for the IRS Criminal Investigation Oakland Field Office and Veronica Ruiz's supervisor. "We had initially on Tuesday about 50 agents up there and, on Wednesday, we had 65 agents up there."

The FBI also helped by trying to track down Ruiz's cell phone signal and monitoring her credit card activity, O'Briant said. A California Department of Justice helicopter has scoured the area as well.

Possible sightings of Ruiz at 11 a.m. Monday at the Blithedale Trail entrance and an hour later at the nearby West Point Inn also were investigated, Amata said.

Officials also checked San Francisco International and Oakland International airports for any log entries that would indicate she went through security with her sidearm, O'Briant said, adding she probably had her handgun when she went hiking because agents must have access to their firearms at all times. It's unlikely she would have left the Bay Area through San Jose International Airport, he said.

"My gut feeling is she is up there on that mountain somewhere. My concern is with the weather," O'Briant said.

Ruiz is 5 feet 5 inches tall, 120 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes and a light brown complexion. She is Filipino and may have been wearing a black fleece vest and a gray and orange Camelbak.

Anyone with more information is asked to call the Mill Valley Police Department at 415-389-4100 or Maricris Ruiz at 650-222-9578.

E-mail Mark Abramson at mabramson@dailynewsgroup.com.