Missing Dana Point Woman Found in Compton

Written by City News Service, posted by Roy Rivenburg

A 69-year-old Dana Point woman who authorities feared had been kidnapped was found safe Thursday morning at a gas station in Compton. But her purse was gone and authorities were looking for a "suspicious" tattooed man who was seen with her earlier.

Cheryl Jean Moser was located by Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies around 3:45 a.m., said Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

Missing, however, were Moser's two purses, credit cards and her phone, as well as a 5-foot-8 tattooed dude seen with her on a surveillance video.

"We'd like to talk to him, but we don't know who he is," Amormino said.

Investigators were giving Moser a chance to rest before interviewing her, Amormino said: "She's been away two days and she was extremely exhausted, tired and confused. ... With her state of confusion, we may never know what happened. She appears to be unharmed, but we're looking into the financial transactions."

Moser left her home on Palo Alto around 8 a.m. Tuesday to visit a Verizon store to see if her wet iPhone could be saved, but she never came back, he said.

It was "strictly out of character for her not to come home," Amormino said.

Investigators learned one of Moser's credit cards was used several times after Tuesday morning and they feared someone forced her to make charges against her will in Pomona, the San Fernando Valley and Orange County, Amormino said.

About 8 a.m. Wednesday, a video camera at a Mobil station at 104 N. Coast Highway in Laguna Beach captured images of Moser with a man Amormino called suspicious-looking.

No one in Moser's family recognized the tattooed man and his identity remained a mystery Thursday, Amormino said.