Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Mom of three drives off, never returns. Tot son wants mommy. WHERE IS HEATHER GUMINA?

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

A California mother has been missing nearly a month. The last time she is seen, she is driving away in her car. That car has been found... Heather Gumina Waters has not. Joining Nancy Grace to discuss the facts surround her disappearance: Judge and Trial Attorney Ashley Wilcott , Forensics Expert Joe Scott Morgan Former NYPD John Cardiollo, Psychoanalyst Dr Bethany Marshall and reporter Doug Johnson with Fox 40 News in Sacramento. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. No one has heard from her, to my knowledge. No one has heard from her. Joanna Russell is talking about her daughter, 33-year-old Heather Gamia Waters, a Placerville woman who has not been seen since Tuesday. I'm sleep deprived. I'm sad. I'm scared. Russell, who didn't want her face shown, says her daughter had just broke her collarbone last Monday and complained about being in pain after being released from the hospital. She spent that night at her Pleasant Valley area house, but by Wednesday, both Heather and her car, a 2005 Black THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE. THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE SAYS SHE WAS NOT ABLE TO GET ANYTHING FROM THE POLICE DEPARTMENT.

SHE SPENT THE NIGHT AT HER PLEASANT VALLEY AREA HOUSE. BUT BY WEDNESDAY, BOTH HEATHER AND HER CAR, A 2005 BLACK INFINITY COOP, HAD VANISHED. IT IS VERY UNLIKE HER TO NOT CONTACT ANYONE.

THAT'S WHY THERE'S A CONCERN FOR HER SAFETY RIGHT NOW AND A CONCERN THAT SHE HAD A BROKEN COLLAR BONE. SO I'M PRAYING THAT SOMEONE WILL HEAR THIS OR HAVE SEEN SOMETHING OR MIGHT KNOW SOMETHING AND PLEASE REPORT

IT TO THE SHERIFF'S. THE EL DORADO COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE CONFIRMS IT IS ALSO A PROBLEM FOR THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE. THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE SAYS THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE IS will hear this or have seen something or might know something and please report it to the sheriffs. The El Dorado County Sheriff's Office confirms it is also searching for Heather in her car, sharing photos on social media. Russell says the Black Infinity Coupe has distinctive pink markings that are hard to forget, such as two pink ribbon stickers on the back window and a pink gas cap lid that says his queen. So there was a lot of pink in the car, little areas on the back window and a pink gas cap lid that says his queen. So there was a lot of pink

in the car, little areas on the car. You're hearing our friends at Fox 40 News. That was Doug Johnson. Fears rising for a gorgeous young California mother. She has been missing for nearly a month and now her car has been found abandoned not too far from where she was last seen. Where is Heather Gamena? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. She had just been released from the hospital for treatment for a broken collarbone. Her family and friends all agree on one thing heather would never just up and leave her three little children um taking a look at her right now she she just looks like an all-american girl scrubbed in sunshine long blonde hair pretty smile gorgeous children last seen in the pleasant valley area that's about 50 miles east of sacramento she had a black 2005 infinity g35 that's been found in el dorado county

they're processing it right now before i go any further straight out to joseph scott morgan professor forensics jacksonville state university author author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. When we hear a car is being forensically processed, that is a very, very intricate endeavor. I know we hear about it all the time, but if you don't do it right, you will lose potentially life-saving evidence. Explain what happens when you process the vehicle. Yeah, commonly, Nancy, when they identified this vehicle, hopefully the police kept everybody away. Hopefully the police kept everybody away from this vehicle so that no one contaminated it any further. Let's keep in mind, the police would have

to immediately look inside of it and probably look in the trunk. As an investigator, you have to suspect that maybe she's still in the vehicle. But beyond that, put the thing on the back of a flatbed truck, take it to the crime lab, and put it in a sequestered area. That way it can be processed. You can look for, obviously, the first thing that's going to be on everybody's mind is going to be DNA, which is very, very fragile. And we want to look to see if there's perhaps blood evidence contained therein. And if there's any signs of struggle inside of the vehicle, but you have to, it is imperative that you limit the number of people that actually have access to this vehicle because the slightest misstep can ruin everything down the road.

Well, you're absolutely right about that. Guys, we're talking about a missing mother of three. Take a listen to our friend at Fox 40, Doug Johnson. Amina Waters disappeared along with her car on July 16th. Her mother tells Fox 40 she had just returned from the hospital with a woman who was in the car was found in the car. On July 16th. Her mother tells Fox 40 she had just returned from the hospital with a broken

collarbone. Her car, a 2005 black infinity coop has a pink gas cap lid that says his queen unique feature her friends hope is easy to spot. If you find something, if you see something, stop. Stop and call. Bring them in. We don't

need to touch anything. We just need to bring them in. Smith and Schneider say one search group was already out today in an undisclosed area acting on a tip. They don't want to release too many details on just yet, but it is a tip that comes from a very reputable person in the community. So we're positive about that. And while they're hoping more people who know this part of El Dorado County will volunteer, already horseback riding and four-wheeling clubs have offered help. You know, and it is a big area. It's a huge area. Speaking of Doug Johnson at Fox 40 News Sacramento, Doug joining me right now. Doug Johnson, let's start at the beginning. What happened? area just outside just south of plasterville if anybody knows the el dorado county area in california uh she had just broken her collarbone the monday before which is basically the night before she went missing and was complaining about pain hold on just a moment doug i just gotta ask how did she break her collarbone well and that's something that we're still not getting a lot of details on uh again a a family. I don't like it. I don't like it, Doug.

Joe Scott Morgan, forensics expert, she goes missing. I find out she's broken her collarbone, and nobody seems to explain why. Why would you not say, oh, she was jumping on her kid's trampoline and broke her collarbone? Oh, she was running and tripped and hit the curb. Oh, she was in a little fender bender. Why is nobody able to say how she broke her collarbone? I don't like that right there. No, I don't, because this goes into the narrative of what happened prior to her disappearance. Even if it's a benign finding, all right,

it's still going to play in. It's going to give me. Why do you talk like that? I'm just curious because you do it all the time. Joseph Scott Morgan with me, professor of forensic, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet. A benign finding. You mean an innocent accident? Is that what you're trying to say in your forensic expert way? Yeah, Nancy, that's what I'm trying to say, that there are no accidents when you're looking at an investigation. All angles have to be considered. I want to know, if I hear this, my mind automatically flees to the negative. I'm going to think that maybe she was involved in some kind of conflict with someone. I want to know about the intimates in her circle that know this. You know, the reporter was just saying that they don't really have a lot of information.

Well, maybe the police are not releasing anything relative to the incident, relative to her collarbone being broken, because it would, I don't know, alert somebody that might be involved with her disappearance potentially. Take a listen to our friends at Fox 40 News. The 33-year-old mother of three was last seen in the Pleasant Valley area July 16th. She was dealing with pain from a broken collarbone at the time of her disappearance. According to family, just one of many things that doesn't make sense about what's happened to Waters. The biggest, that the married mom of three has had no contact with her beloved children, the youngest of whom was just four.

They were too emotional to be in this group tonight. Their grandmother spoke some of their shared pain. Always loving her mom and always there and I just miss her. El Dorado County Sheriff's deputies have searched her home looking for clues, but that effort hasn't produced any releasable information on her whereabouts. We are working really hard to find her, that everybody is joined together in prayer. Bring her home. Come on. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

The search for 33-year-old Heather Gamina Waters is getting organized and focused. We're going to really target the Grizzly Flat area, Somerset, Oma Ranch Valley Pleasant friends Kathy Schneider a a search team facebook pa jumped to more than 400 m days. There's so many peo right now that want to he their help. Both admit th volunteers as heather's waiting for weeks desperate for answers.

If you can just imagine how distraught a mother could be looking for her missing child. It's unimaginable. She's from the Pleasant Valley area right here. You're hearing our friends at Fox 40 News. That was Doug Johnson. Guys were talking about a missing mother of three. You know, to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst, joining me out of L.A. Now, Dr. Bethany, I want you to get in the real world with the rest of us. Dr. Bethany, I don't like it.

Now, Doug Johnson, Fox 40 News Sacramento, you're a hard news guy. This is what you call a wild goose chase. This is what you call going down the rabbit hole because you just told me you didn't know how she had the broken collarbone, and here we go. But, Dr. Bethany, I don't like it. I don't like when she goes missing just after being treated for a broken collarbone and nobody can tell me how she broke it. See, if somebody doesn't answer me, I think it's for a nefarious reason. For all I know, Doug Johnson is trying to cover up the evidence, but I'll get back to that in a minute. But I don't like it.

I don't either, Nancy. And you know, when a woman goes missing, the first thing we do is we look at her romantic and intimate relationships. And the reason we do that is that the feelings that lead somebody to abduct, to commit homicide, to hurt another individual often take place in the context of our most intimate relationships. I mean, think about it. Where do you have the strongest feelings, even in your life, in my life? It's with our spouses. Resentment, anger, buildup of feelings that maybe are even outside of awareness. And if you have somebody who is actually homicidal, they are unable to regulate those feelings. They're going to lash out at their most intimate partner. So who was the father of her three children? Was she a single mom?

Was she dating? Was there somebody she had just met who was stalking her? What was the nature of those intimate relationships? Were they happy? Were they unhappy? Did she have a conflict with somebody? It raises those questions, of course, because we hear broken collarbone and we think of domestic abuse because what happens during domestic abuse? A man will grab the woman

by the neck or by the shoulders. So that's a very telling injury if she's at risk because of an intimate relationship in her life. See, Doug Johnson, you're a hard news guy out of Fox 40 in Sacramento. See, you just said one thing. You said, you know, you're not clear about how she had the broken collarbone, and we just all went wild, led by me. I just led us all down that garden path. So, Doug Johnson, what do you know in the face of all these questions we're asking? Well, I do know that, you know, I've been speaking with Heather's mother a lot, and she has said some things kind of off the record, some information she doesn't always want to put out there, but she did tell us on the record that the last person to have seen Heather alive, she believes, was her husband. She was married. She does have three kids, ages 4, 10, and 14. I'm not exactly

sure who the father of those children are. And I do know that the police also withholding a lot of information. One thing they won't say at this point in time is exactly where her car was located. They just say it was discovered somewhere within El Dorado County. Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer. You can find her at ashywilcott.com. Why are cops not releasing information? I mean, I guess a lot of people, when they hear a news reporter, they read it. They don't think much about missing pieces of the puzzle. That's what jumps out at me the most. The minute Doug Johnson from Fox 40

said about the broken collarbone and that we don't know how she broke it. And Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, where is the husband? Is he out there searching? Who is the father of these children? I mean, there's so many pieces of the puzzle that are missing. Nancy, the simplest answer is this. Anthony Gamena, the husband of Heather Gamena Waters, is actually not in the picture right now in taking care of these children, but they are not his biological children. We don't know about the biological father of the children. We know that there is nobody there that is acting like a real man and helping to care for these children. I mean, their mother is missing, and there's not one man involved that has the

guts to stand up and take care of them. We've got Anthony Gamena, who they've been involved in a relationship to the point where they got married in March. You would assume he had some type of love and affection for the children, but he's not being involved. He's not helping to care for their emotional and physical needs. That's being left to her mother, who's devastated right now, and the extended family. Ashley Wilcott, judge and trial lawyer. You can find her at ashywilcott.com. Why would police withhold those key pieces of the puzzle? Key to me, I mean, they may not turn up to be key ultimately, but right now I feel like they're pieces of the puzzle I want the answer to. Oh, I agree with you. But Nancy, I respect that it's an ongoing investigation. And typically what I see is when they're not releasing that

information, there's a reason they don't want to tip someone off. I think the police know more. Obviously, you've just pointed out we have questions. They know answers. They know more. Obviously, you've just pointed out we have questions. They know answers. They know more than we know and than we think. And I think that's good. I think that means maybe they have some leads. Maybe they're considering some people and they don't want those people to have knowledge of the evidence they have so that they can do the right kind of investigation and figure out where this missing woman is. That's my prayer. The other piece I have to mention that was interesting to me, I read something that family commented on because of the collarbone injury, she is in pain and they're really concerned about her as a result of the pain she's in. So I also just wonder how that threads in and how she was dealing with the pain and

handling the pain. And did she reach out to someone that was sinister and criminal in nature versus the people she might typically reach out to in her family? I don't know. It just adds more questions. I am thinking about these three children. There's three of them, ages 4, 10, and 14. And we understand through family members that her son is taking it really badly. Quote, we can't even really tell him.

He keeps looking for his mom, and he wants to go over there, and he can't. Each day that goes by, the hopes of finding her okay get a little more scary. And the reality is to John Cardillo, former NYPD, the longer a case drags out a missing person's case, the more likely is the person is dead or will be. Yeah. I mean, sadly, that is the case, right? It's the old cliche, and you want to try to at least have your case. But normally, there's overwhelming evidence. When an abduction case, a missing case happens, there's typically overwhelming evidence that a person is still

alive. Unfortunately, when you don't have that, when you have a standard fact pattern, more often than not, it ends badly. It typically turns into a recovery operation, not a rescue operation. You're looking for the body, not the live victim. And we can take the choice capacity to do good to others, or we can take the choice capacity to use, abuse, and exploit other people. Those choices can inflict pain. They're the kind of words they never thought they'd have to confront. THEIR CHOICES CAN INFLICT PAIN. THEY'RE THE KIND OF WORDS THEY NEVER THOUGHT THEY'D HAVE TO CONFRONT. TAKE WHAT OTHERS MEAN FOR BAD AND BRING ULTIMATE GOOD OUT OF

IT. BUT AFTER MORE THAN TWO WEEKS IN AND MISSING HEATHER GAMINA WATERS, LOVED ONES GATHERED TONIGHT TO FACE THEIR FRUSTRATION AND HARNESS THEIR HOPE. JOANNA RUSSELL DIDN'T THINK

SHE'D HAVE THE STRENGTH TO ATTEND A PRAYER VIGIL FOR HER VANISHED CHILD. BUT SHE MADE IT. God just moved me to come to the church and to be a part of this. I'm so grateful for the

support that he's given me. I'm so grateful for the support that he's given me. I'm so grateful for the support that but she made it. God just moved me to come tonight because he said I have to be strong. I have to be strong for her. So I'm here. I'm here because I love my daughter. Hi, guys. Nancy Grace here. This Saturday, August 24, 6 p.m. Eastern, 5 Central, Injustice with Nancy Grace on Oxygen. We explore the mystery surrounding the death of a beautiful mother of two.

I refer to her as a Reese Witherspoon lookalike. That's what she looked like. Found dead in her own bathtub in her apartment. More disturbingly, found dead by her little girl, Anna. A lot of confusion surrounding Shelly's death, and it's amazing to me how close that case came to never being solved. Please join us Saturday, August 24, 6 o'clock Eastern, 5 Central, on Oxygen, Injustice with Nancy Grace. Thanks, guys. I'll see you Saturday. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Fears rising for a gorgeous young California mother.

She has been missing for nearly a month, and now her car has been found abandoned not too far from where she was last seen. Where is Heather Gamina? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You know, another question to Fox 40 News Sacramento, Doug Johnson. Cops are not releasing where her car was found. I find that interesting. They're just saying it was in El Dorado County. But what about the condition of the car? Was it empty?

Was it empty of gas? Was there a flat tire? Had there been a fender bender? Had she crashed into a tree? Were the doors open? Had she been carjacked? Do we know anything at all about the condition or the location of where her car was found? We know practically nothing. From the sheriff's office, pretty much all we've gotten from them is they found the car. It is being processed for evidence at this point in time. The condition, what was in it, was it crashed, was it out in the country, was it parked in a more urban setting?

We don't know any of those details. You know, when I look at her, you know what she looks like? Ashley Wilcott, she looks like a young Suzanne Somers to me without the side pony. Okay. That's what she looks like. For everybody to get a mental picture of this missing mom, Heather Gumino-Waters. Ashley, what do you think about the state of their relationship? I have not seen.

Let me ask Doug Johnson. Has the husband been out there searching at the forefront, making public pleas? Because everything I've heard has been her mother speaking, Doug. Yeah, and at this point, I personally have not spoken to the husband. I know we had a colleague of mine, Rowena Shaddix, went to the home where he lived, tried to knock on the door. He wasn't there at this point in time. He's not reached out to us, and I would describe the relationship between the

husband and mother as strained as far as I can tell. Okay Ashley Wilcott judge trial lawyer way in. Yeah so that's significant a very important piece of the puzzle because Nancy you've pointed out in the past we have kids you have kids I have kids mothers generally as a general rule do not leave their children they have three children together nancy and typically you are not going to see a mother of three children simply disappear off the face of the earth and so i suspect that the police are absolutely considering that husband especially hearing there's an estranged relationship. Something's up. To you, Doug Johnson, Fox 40, what can you tell me about the husband? Is it correct that he has a criminal history?

Yeah, I think we've done some background on him that suggests he does have a record, but beyond that, there's not much more I can say. Again, I personally haven't spoken to him, haven't really gotten his side of the story. Well, if it's the right person, I can state that there is someone by his name, but you have to really match up by DOB and fingerprint. There's a 2016 incident where Gumena was busted for having six guns, one of which was stolen, several

high-velocity magazines, and meth. 2017, he was sentenced to five years probation for burglary and witness intimidation. We believe he has a 2002 and 2003

conviction for methamphetamine possession. Okay, that's not good. What about that, Ashley? Oh my gosh, when I hear that, I really panic for this young lady because methamphetamine is the scourge. It is all drugs are bad. Don't get me wrong. But this is one that's highly addictive. They say if you take it once, it's then addictive. And it causes so many changes in the human state, the human mind, and the resulting crimes can be horrific.

So that terrifies me. Again, I know we don't know that he did it, but it concerns me that he's involved for this beautiful young lady. So what about it, Dr. Bethany Marshall? If I had heard almost anything other than meth and guns, I mean, if I had a shoplifting or a burglary back in 1998 or a stolen vehicle, death by receiving, I might feel a little bit differently, but this is very disturbing for me. Well, Nancy, a love of guns and collecting guns is one of the risk factors for violence, right? We all know that. There's a school shooting or domestic homicide or an armed burglary that goes wrong

where somebody's killed. You often see that the person, the perpetrator has a cache of guns and has a long history of fascination with guns. So the amount of weapons he has, the different types of weapons really concern me. Secondly, when I hear meth, the term that comes to my mind is overkill. You know, these crimes you have covered over the years where somebody is tied up more than they need to be tied up or bludgeoned multiple times or stabbed multiple times where there is an overkill aspect

to the crime, usually the perpetrator is doing methamphetamine. So guns, meth, it's a terrible combination, Nancy. It makes me very concerned for this mom of three. To John Cardillo, a former NYPD, weigh in, John. Sorry, Bethany, I do have to disagree with Bethany because I worked a gun and robbery unit that often led to homicides. And I'm a gun collector. I'm a gun aficionado. I'm not a homicidal maniac. We often found some of the most vicious people had one or two guns bought off the street. So I don't think guns in and of themselves are a factor.

You have to look at the domestic relationship. And in terms of whether or not this case whoa whoa wait wait wait john cardillo now i am no gun expert although i did have to train for 10 years as a da assistant da right but i mean are you actually arguing with dr bethany that it's more likely there's going to be gun violence when you have guns stored in the home where you're a gun collector. I mean, look at all the school shootings. That didn't just happen because a gun fell down the chimney. It's a false narrative.

Statistically, it is not borne out. There are 30-some-odd thousand gun deaths a year in the United States. Sixty percent of them are suicides, as opposed to, oh, about 80 million gun owners. And so I'm a guy who's wait a minute whoa whoa wait wait wait wait a minute look at let's look at what you just said okay even with suicides right with all death by gun overwhelmingly that happens when guns have been stored or collected in the home. Not necessarily. Period.

What I'm saying is, of the 12,000, there were 12,400 firearm homicides, according to the FBI. The latest FBI numbers are the 2017 UC ucr the 2018 will be out next month according to those numbers most of these were crime on crime street level perpetrators drugs or domestics typically police might find one illegally owned firearm in far less i didn't say illegal or legal well well and the fact that they have a gun at home in only a decimillion percentage far less than one percent was illegal legally purchased firearm used bad guys have always gotten guns the gun is is is the is the symptom it's not the cause a bad guy wants to kill somebody. A guy wants to do something bad to his wife.

He's going to find a way to do that. Scott Peterson killed Lacey Peterson and the baby without using a firearm. We know that people are strangled. In fact, if you look at the FBI, UCR, far more people are killed in the United States yearly, body to body, being strangled, being punched, being kicked. Okay, we're not even talking about that. Well, what I'm saying is... And see, someone has to step back and use a plan B argument because plan A argument

ain't working. That tells me there's a problem with their plan A argument. Well, not necessarily. I'm saying we're looking at the wrong symptom here. We're saying the guy was a gun client you got to look beyond that you got to look at why first of all was he was he involved with meth was he involved with an organized criminal enterprise were they having domestic problems was he involved with some kind of criminal enterprise that she found out about got fed up and wanted to then blow the whistle on and call the police i think we've gotten to a place where we too easily demonize an object and we don't look at all of the other

factors we focus on it okay well you know what john cardillo no offense but you keep your head in the sand and your butt in the air about uh home gun collections and how gun violence or gun accidents are more likely to happen when you have guns at home. I mean, to me, that's just so simple to understand. I'm going to get back to the case at hand and the disappearance of Heather Gamena Waters, and we can continue our gun violence argument later. In fact, just have it with Dr. Bethany on your own time. The search goes on for a missing mother of three, Heather Gamena Waters. If you have information, tip line 530-621-6600.

Repeat, 530-621-6600. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Where is Heather Gamena? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Right now to Dave Mack, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. I want to get back to this husband. Now, what, if anything, do you know about any convictions or arrests?

Well, Nancy, Anthony Gamina does have a criminal history. Heather Gamina married Anthony Gamina the first week of march this year but two weeks before that wedding they got in involved in a knockdown drag out fight where she had to call the police after he he was beating her up and he headbutted her now he claimed that it was a misunderstanding and that she called the cops in a deliberate attempt to have him sent back to jail okay the daily mail has done a phenomenal job with this story and they were able to find out that at 44 years old he's currently serving a five-year probation term after being convicted of burglary and witness intimidation in fe of 2017. Now, there were other arrests and things before that,

including an arrest with his own father back in 2016, where they were arrested on firearms and drug charges, including having possession of meth. Doug Johnson, what can you tell me about the husband helping or not helping in the search or making any public pleas for his wife, Heather? Well, I do know that they did organize some public searches for Heather before they found the car.

Who is they? I'm sorry, friends and family. The husband did? No, her mother. So then I'm asking you specifically about the husband. I am not sure if the husband took any part in the search. Nancy, Nancy. Jump in.

Hey, Nancy, according to the Daily Mail, they had an exclusive interview with Anthony Gamena. He claims he's helping in the search. He claims he's helping in every way that he can. A direct quote from him is he said that the sheriff's deputies were here, talking about his house, for like 30 hours doing an investigation. They took my car. They walked every piece of land. that the sheriff's deputies were here, talking about his house, for like 30 hours doing an investigation. They took my car. They walked every piece of land. So I'm cleaning up again and again and again,

and I'm dealing with my wife. I don't deserve this. He also said, look, this marriage is not going to work out, but I would never do anything like this, talking about harming her. Well, Kathy Snyder is a family friend, and she said, look, we don't hear from him much. We don't hear from him. He's not helping with the search efforts, and he's not in our search group. Doug Johnson at Fox 40 News Sacramento, what can you tell me about the searches? Well, I know that they were having difficulty because they could only really search on public land in the area.

And there are a lot of private lots. It's not run by the Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service. And what they were telling me is that they couldn't search on those properties without permission from the owners. Some owners were cooperating. Some weren't. Some they couldn't get a hold of. And really doing an organized search was taking weeks because, again, they weren't exactly getting assistance from the sheriff's office in those searches. This was something that was kind of a volunteer workforce, people hearing about Heather missing that wanted to go out into the woods and start searching for her. Dave Mack, Moyen. You know, Nancy, one of the common things that we see in the family interviews is how emotionally distraught they are.

The family, Heather's mom is just devastated. You can hear it in her voice. You can hear it in her extended family. They are crushed. They actually, you know, they've been prayer vigils and things like that. And, you know, they actually are crushed. I mean, where is this mother of three? Those kids have been left without a mom.

They've got family and friends that are taking care of them. But these three kids, the family, devastated right now, wondering, where's mom? Where's my daughter? And the rest of us are thinking the same thing. Listen. In the meantime, Russell says she and Heather's three kids are starting to fear the worst. Her four-year-old grandson is especially worried. Like, we can't even really tell him.

Like, he keeps looking for his his mom and he wants to go over there and he can't each day that goes by I the hopes of finding her okay or get a little bit more scary in addition to prayer we asked that you give us strength watch over Heather many of those gathered here have done their own searches for waters in the Placerville-Pleasant Valley area and are desperate for deputies to do the same. But the department's answer to that question is a question. Where? There's been no theory solid enough to give them a reliable location to commit resources to for a search.

I just feel sick to my stomach. I miss Heather. We all miss Heather. The weight of worry, too much for loved ones to bear, one minute longer. They want her home, safe. Her children miss her terribly, and it's been a very, very painful thing for my family every day. We wait as justice unfolds as the search goes on for a missing mother of three, Heather Gamena Waters. If you have information, tip line 530-621-6600. Repeat, 530-621-6600.

Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.