Deputies search for missing woman

They find the vehicle of the 41-year-old, who was suffering from postpartum depression, at a wilderness park.

By RYAN DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 15, 2001

NEW PORT RICHEY -- A 41-year-old Safety Harbor woman, said to be suffering from postpartum depression, disappeared Friday after missing a doctor's appointment.

On Saturday, Pasco County sheriff's deputies searched Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park on horseback and on bicycles, with dogs and by helicopter. They also distributed fliers.

The search followed the discovery of Janet Gifford's sport utility vehicle Friday night.

They found no trace of her.

They planned to continue searching today, Pasco Sgt. Jack Armstrong said.

"I'm just hoping she's holing up with a friend somewhere," said Steven Meyers, her husband.

Gifford gave birth to her family's second child last month and has been on maternity leave from her job in the Pinellas County Economic Development Department.

She was to have her first appointment 9 a.m. Friday with a doctor at Morton Plant Mease Health Care in Clearwater about her depression.

She never got there.

When she didn't come home, Meyers called the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which alerted other law enforcement agencies.

About 8:30 p.m. Friday, Pasco Deputy Fred Vetter checked the license plate of a 2000 Nissan Pathfinder parked in an otherwise empty lot at Starkey, an 8,069-acre, mostly wooded park just north of the Pasco-Pinellas County line.

Inside the Pathfinder, deputies found directions to the park, which Gifford had never been to before, her husband said.

On Friday morning, Gifford said she was going to go jogging after her appointment, Meyers said. Maybe she went to Starkey to jog, he said, but that isn't like his wife, who isn't particularly fond of the outdoors.

Meyers searched with his brother, Don, Friday in the woods at Starkey. He couldn't stand to just sit at home, he said.

"That's really the hard part," Meyers said. "We have no clue."

Gifford has brown hair and hazel eyes and is about 5 feet 2 and 145 pounds, said Pinellas sheriff's Sgt. Greg Tita.

She was last seen wearing a long-sleeved red shirt and a black skirt with flowered print.

Anyone with information is asked to call Pasco Detective James Medley at (727) 844-7711.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright