HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – About 200 volunteers met at a church Saturday morning to mobilize with missing person flyers in the hopes someone may recognize a 21-year-old woman who has been missing for over a week.
It was a continuation of efforts where volunteers combed the Anne Kolb Nature Center to continue the search for Noemi Bolivar of Hollywood last Tuesday.
Bolivar hasn’t been heard from since the evening of Thursday, Feb. 11.
Bolivar is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Hollywood Hills and most of the volunteers were from the church and were joined by other members of the community.
Volunteers wore portable electronic billboards on their backs, which showed the missing person flyer and people drove around in vehicles where flyers were taped onto the sides and backs of cars.
On Saturday afternoon, Hollywood police sent out a press release with a photo that showed Bolivar on a Broward County bus. Police said she was seen getting on the bus in the 7000 block of Sheridan Street and got off the bus alone in the 800 block of Sheridan Street.
“She had purple sneakers, she had denim dungarees, she had a white and black striped shirt. She was taking photos,” volunteer Laureen Gamba said. Police said Bolivar was also wearing black sunglasses and a mask.
Bolivar’s friends believe she left her parent’s home in Hollywood around 4 p.m. Feb. 11 and walked to Sheridan Street to catch a bus east to go hiking at the nature center.
Although Hollywood police said there is no evidence of foul play, volunteers said they fear she may have been kidnapped. Loved ones said the woman’s autism makes her vulnerable because, while she’s high functioning and very bright, family friends say that her social maturity is that of a 15-year-old.
Hollywood police said they responded to a call regarding a missing person on Thursday and entered a report into the national NCIC database. According to police, law enforcement officers were able to pick up a signal from Bolivar’s cell phone near the beach in Hollywood. Police did search the area, but were unable to locate her at that location.
They also searched the area inside and around the Anne Kolb Nature Center on Wednesday with K9s, drones and helicopters.
“She’s just a nature girl. She loves birds. That’s her passion, go look at the birds and the plants and everything,” her mother, Marycel Bolivar, said.
Noemi Bolivar took a selfie at the observation tower inside the park and sent it to a friend on Snapchat. But she stopped sending or receiving messages and phone calls around 6:15 p.m. on Feb. 11.
“It’s been a nightmare,” her mother said. “My baby’s missing. My baby’s gone. I don’t know what happened to her. Is she all right? Is she hurt?”