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Search at Montara State Beach for man missing more than a month

Published  June 30, 2017 6:16pm PDT
News
KTVU FOX 2

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (KTVU) - Family friends spread out across Montara State Beach, raking over sand, and searching with metal detectors looking for clues that might lead them to 22-year-old Richard Moss of Moss Beach who has been missing for more than a month.

"I think it is positive that we search. Having closure is the best thing for everyone. There's a  lot of people emotionally involved in this," said Patrice Rice, a family friend.

Friends say they've seen security video of Moss driving his blue Hyundai Tiburon in the drive-through lane at a McDonald's restaurant off Highway One in the morning of May 25.

They say they've also seen video taken minutes later of Moss driving through the Devils Slide Tunnel, his usual way to work.

"It's him alone in his car. Traveling south. There's no one else in the car with him. Everything looks normal," said family friend Dan Stegink.

There had been no signs of Moss or his car since.

But Thursday,  someone walking along Montara Beach saw an AAA auto card half buried in the sand. It had the name Richard Moss on it.

That's why they are looking for more clues on the beach Friday.

Friends say life was going well for moss, that there was no apparent reason to run away.

"He worked as an electrician here. Pretty reliable kid. Didn't have any debts. Didn't have anything to run from. He was on his way to work. All the indicators are consistent with him being at work that day," said Stegink. 

"Searching. That's one thing we can do. Talking to the community," said Rice.

The San Mateo County Sheriff's Department has searched by air and on foot with no luck. Friends wonder whether moss drove off  windy highway one and over  the  steep cliffs.

"Lots of ravines, 20 foot vegetation, almost inacessible.The 200-foot cliffs and waters here aren't particularly friendly either," said Stegink.

The sheriff's department plans to be out on the water Saturday on boats with sonar equipment, looking to see if they can detect the shape of a car on the ocean floor.