Authorities were looking for an Atlanta woman who disappeared in Houston on Monday.
Victoria Moon Erickson, 31, had been traveling alone and her personal belongings and pets were found abandoned.
Houston Police Department spokesman Victor Senties said investigators were looking into the case.
Erickson, a raw foods blogger, left Atlanta around the first of the year and went to San Francisco. After stopping in Kansas City and Dallas, she arrived in Houston on Jan. 16, her friend Rosa Fitch said. A Houston television station said she had been traveling the country, blogging about vegan cuisine and healthier lifestyles.
In Houston, Pat Greer, owner of Pat Greer’s Kitchen, gave her a job in the kitchen and allowed her to stay in a second-floor room above the restaurant, Greer, friends and family said. KHOU.com in Houston described Pat Greer’s as a well-known Houston source of fresh raw vegan cuisine. Greer said Erickson apparently had been living in her late model Chrysler LeBaron.
Police said Erickson was last seen Monday. The next day, it was apparent that Erickson was missing after her dog was found along with her car, cell phone and other belongings.
Friends and family told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they believe she was facing stress before she left Atlanta, which may have resulted in her disappearance.
Erickson was in Texas to meet someone she believed was her lost brother, according to her blog.
Fitch said she believed Erickson was realizing the person probably was not her brother.
On Jan. 13, Erickson wrote on her blog Permission to Heal, “I said I would be seeing Nicky this week, but once I got close to Fort Worth, TX. I felt something was off. I was not ready.”
William Erickson, Victoria’s father, said, “I don’t believe she was kidnapped. I think she is lost and doesn’t know who she is at the moment.”
And Greer, the Houston restaurant owner, also said the woman appeared to be under stress. “I think maybe she’s really opted to leave, to leave her life,” Greer told KHOU, adding that may have meant leaving her old life behind. She said the Atlanta woman showed signs of anxiety and stress.
Paul Samford, idenified as a foster brother, described Erickson as a loner but he told KHOU she would never leave everything behind.
“When she and I would talk about any of those kinds of things, I would let her know that I didn’t think that was the safest, greatest idea. But she’s fearless. She’s just fearless. She always has been,” Samford told the station.
Greer told KHOU she and restaurant staffers have inquired at local hospitals and at the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office but have found no trace of the woman.
Anyone with information on the case should call the Houston Police Department at 713-884-3131.
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