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Search continues on Mount Tamalpais for missing Menlo Park hiker [The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif. :: ]
[April 06, 2014]

Search continues on Mount Tamalpais for missing Menlo Park hiker [The Marin Independent Journal, Novato, Calif. :: ]


(Marin Independent Journal (CA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) April 06--While no new clues have surfaced on Mount Tamalpais during the massive search for a missing Menlo Park woman, authorities are probing a tip discovered on another trail frequented by the 33-year-old software developer-- her social media trail.



A caller reported Sunday morning that missing woman Magdalena Glinkoski had made an update to her LinkedIn profile since she was last seen Mar. 30 in a parking lot known as "Bootjack" near the Pantoll Campground, Marin County sheriff's Lt. Doug Pittman said. The 5'7", 120-pound woman was captured on video surveillance near where her car was later discovered, wearing a bright pink pullover top, light blue shorts and white and black running shoes.

The tip comes as the first potentially valid lead since the woman was last seen one week ago, and is consistent with recent changes in her career history. According to Pittman, the woman has been unemployed for only about two weeks.


"As we speak we are in communication with LinkedIn, who has been very cooperative, to confirm she has made a change to her profile," Pittman said.

"We're aware that a lot of people track their activity on various social websites, and we're trying to determine if her recent activity could be a clue in the case." Over 100 volunteers and eight search dogs from Marin, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties continued to search Mount Tamalpais Sunday for the second day in a row, and California Highway Patrol and Marin County Sheriff's Air Patrol Units kept searching by air, the sheriff's lieutenant said. He added that with the thousands of additional visitors frequenting the area on a sunny weekend, search and rescue crews are redirecting their teams to areas with fewer eyes on the ground, like gorges and ravines far off the beaten path.

"We've handed out pamphlets to all the park visitors," Pittman said. "Mt. Tam is thousands of square acres and heavily brushed -- now, it really is just looking for the needle in the haystack." The full-scale search for the missing software developer was launched after park rangers discovered her abandoned vehicle Friday, Pittman said. The woman had purchased a one-day ticket to park the white, four-door car, which she rents continuously from a rental car company.

Investigators went on to discover that the woman renewed her car rental during the first week of every month, and that the company had been surprised when she failed to do so in April, Pittman said. The woman, who lives alone, had also left her landlord a note March 30 stating that she was going hiking, but never returned to the property.

Glinkoski was not reported missing to Menlo Park police until her car was found by the park rangers, five days after she was last seen in the "Bootjack" parking lot, Pittman said. Acquaintances of the woman identified her as a "recluse" who mostly kept to herself, and said she was not socially active outside of her work.

In addition to the possible LinkedIn update, authorities found an assortment of unusual clues during a search of Glinkoski's home and car. The woman had surprisingly little computer equipment for a person continuously employed as a software developer.

Contact Janis Mara via email at [email protected]. Follow her at Twitter.com/jmara.

___ (c)2014 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) Visit The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.) at www.marinij.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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