California mom, 39, vanishes and her dog is found wandering alone on the 28th floor of a high rise
Police in Los Angeles are appealing for information after a 39-year-old financial controller disappeared without trace, with her dog found alone on the 28th floor of an apartment building 12 miles from home.
Heidi Planck was seen leaving her home in the Reynier Village district of Los Angeles on October 17.
Surveillance camera footage captured the mother-of-one climbing into her gray Range Rover outside her modern home, and beckoning her dog Seven to jump in.
The pair then drove off.
She met her ex-husband, Jim Wayne, at a sports ground in the Downey district of LA to watch their 10-year-old son play football.
Planck said she needed to leave at half time, and has not been seen since.
Heidi Planck, 39, was last seen at her 10-year-old son’s football game in Downey, Los Angeles, on October 17. She was reported missing on October 20
‘She may have been a little bit edgy. I don’t know,’ Wayne told ABC 7.
‘I just know that was the last time that we spoke to her.’
Planck was due to pick the boy up on October 20 from school in Westwood, near Beverly Hills, but failed to show up.
LAPD are appealing for information to help find Planck, described as a devoted mother
‘I’ve got a 10-year-old boy who’s just beside himself,’ said Wayne, with whom she shares custody of their son.
He called police to alert them to her disappearance.
‘She doesn’t let a day go by without either a text message or a phone call, even if she was really busy,’ Wayne said.
Wayne said Planck is devoted to their son.
‘She’s a good mom. She’s really a good mom,’ he said.
‘She wouldn’t let a day go by without talking to her son, there’s no way.’
Planck was seen on October 17 leaving her home, with her dog Seven. She climbs into the Range Rover and drives off
The footage, captured on surveillance camera, is being used to appeal for help in finding her
Jim Wayne, Planck’s ex-husband, said that he knew something was wrong when she failed to collect their son from school
She is described as having blond hair and blue eyes, standing five feet, three inches tall and weighing about 120 pounds.
When she was last seen, she was wearing jeans and a gray sweater and was driving a gray 2017 Range Rover with California license plate U840X0.
Planck’s dog, Seven, was found in downtown Los Angeles on the 28th floor of a building, and was traced to Wayne thanks to his microchip.
‘People are very, very attached to their pets, and their pets do not just go missing,’ said Jarrod Burguan, a retired San Bernardino police chief.
He told ABC 7: ‘There clearly is something out of place here.’
Friends and family said that Planck was not known to have any connection to the building.
Seven, Planck’s dog, was found wandering the corridors of an apartment building in downtown Los Angeles on October 17
Seven was found wandering the corridors of this apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles
Federal agents on Friday evening raided Planck’s home in Reynier Village, Mid-City Los Angeles
On Friday evening, federal agents and robbery homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department went into Planck’s home with guns drawn.
CBS 2 reported that officers were under the impression that they might have been walking into a crime scene.
Planck’s house was raided on Friday night and evidence removed from the property
Photographers for LAPD were present at the house, as well as nearly a dozen other agents, who CBS reported went through every room, the garbage and planters around the home.
Investigators were probing whether Planck’s disappearance could be connected to her job, as her employer is under a federal securities investigation for possible fraud charges, CBS 2 reported.
Planck’s LinkedIn says she works as a controller at Camden Capital – a role which sees her overseeing all employees involved in the accounting process, including accounts receivable, accounts payable, payroll, inventory and compliance.
Jason Sugarman, a managing partner at Camden Capital, was charged in June 2019 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his role in a scheme to steal $43 million of client funds they purported to invest in Native American tribal bonds.
Sugarman is a minority owner of Los Angeles Football Club and son-in-law of Hollywood mogul Peter Guber, CEO of Mandalay Entertainment and owner of the Golden State Warriors NBA team.
Jason Sugarman, Planck’s boss, has been charged by the SEC with participating in a $43 million fraud scheme
Jason Sugarman, Elizaberh Guber-Sugarman and their son are seen in May 2014. Sugarman is the managing partner of Camden Capital, where Planck works
Adding to the intrigue, the apartment complex where Seven was found, in downtown LA, is refusing to cooperate with investigators, according to a report.
The owners have denied requests to search the building’s parking structure and security footage without warrant, CBS 2 reported.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at 213-996-1800.
During non-business hours or on weekends, tipsters can call 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247).
