OAKLEY — A search for new evidence to locate the body of Alexis Gabe, a 24-year-old Oakley woman who went missing in January, turned up parts of a phone, as well as women’s underwear, that Gabe’s mother recognized as having belonged to her daughter.
“We found a lot of stuff,” said Alexis’s father, Gwyn Gabe, who organized the Saturday morning search. “We found the front part of a phone. We found a bunch of women’s undergarments, I was thinking this might be a homeless person but my wife called me and said, ‘These are Alexis’ underwear.’”
More than 50 people showed up for the “One day search for Alexis’ phone,” as it was titled on Facebook, which began at Lucky grocery store in the Oakley Town Center shopping complex. The family asked that people bring gloves and water and stressed not to touch anything until police can take a look. Gwyn Gabe suggested downloading the Google Earth app so he could share a map of the search route and where previous evidence was located.
Sharon Kuykendall, part of the search party, drove this route twice in last 24 hours. She lives in Oakley and has a daughter the same age as Alexis when she went missing.
“I’ve driven the terrain. If we find it, it’ll be a miracle,” Kuykendall said.”I can’t imagine what they’re going through. Whatever I can do to support this family and find this young lady. It’s just really messed up.”
When she disappeared, Alexis had recently broken up with her boyfriend of three years, Marshall Curtis Jones. He was seen that month on surveillance video abandoning her car in the vicinity of Live Oak Avenue in Oakley. Police found a shattered iPhone 11 Pro Max screen protector in the bushes near there and last month confirmed it held traces of Jones’ DNA.
One target of the hunt was the rest of the iPhone, which the father said could provide valuable information.
“The phone is going to have lots of information,” Gwyn Gabe said. “Emails, text messages, and she takes tons of pictures. If we find pictures of her in Pioneer, it will give us validation she was there.”
“We’re telling everyone the phone will look bare, it’s missing pieces. It’s just the guts.”
All evidence collected by family and volunteers was picked up by the Oakley Police Department, according to Gwyn Gabe.
After Alexis disappeared, Jones left for Washington State, where he has roots. Police shot and killed him near Seattle in June after he came at them with a knife while officers were trying to make an arrest.
Jones reportedly had told a friend he wanted to kill Alexis and discussed the best ways to hide a body, settling on a forest or a septic tank. Written and phone evidence suggests he traveled toward Pioneer, a hamlet more than 100 miles northeast of Oakley, though searchers have yet to find any trace of Alexis there.
On the search, people found a giant, bleached cow hip bone, a box of condoms, soda cups, old styrofoam and a whole, molding pie still in its box.
Danon Jenkins, who lives in Pittsburgh, came because of a strange feeling of connection with the missing woman. “Just something about her case is close to my heart,” she said. “I’m addicted to looking for updates about it. I’ve even had dreams about her. I’m not sure why it’s so heavy in my mind but it is.”
Gwyn Gabe recently said he didn’t know what to think about her whereabouts and wondered if Jones was trying to throw investigators off track with Pioneer. The family is considering contacting a celebrity psychic to see if that leads anywhere.
Alexandria Campbell, who lives in Discovery Bay, said she came to know Alexis when she transferred into her school, Liberty High School.
“She was the first person who talked to me and befriended me. She was the reason I had a normal high school experience here. She was the kind of human who even when she was going through the worst kind of mental health would prioritize the people she loved. Every day I wish I had followed up on all the plans we made together. You never think there’d be a day when you can’t.”
There’s a $100,000 reward for pertinent information after an anonymous donor chipped in $50,000. Anyone with tips about Alexis is asked to contact the Oakley Police Department at 925-625-7009 or email alexistips@ci.oakley.ca.us.
Source: www.mercurynews.com