Katharina Buczek
“FRIENDS: Female seeking friends to share activities, who enjoy music, photography, working out, walks, coffee, or simply the beach, exploring the Bay area! Interested, call me,” the ad read.
This piece of potential evidence was brought to authorities, and detectives subsequently tried to determine who had taken out the ad in the paper. Unfortunately, though, the Bay Guardian had already deleted that information– reportedly in a routine housekeeping operation.
So, authorities still do not know if Kristen actually placed the ad, if she responded to it, or if she was simply interested and decided to highlight it.
In terms of ground searches, investigators also used bloodhounds in an attempt to retrace Kristen’s steps on the day she disappeared.
After the dogs located the 18-year-old’s trail, they led investigators to Geary Street– heading toward Land’s End Beach. Then, the scent trail ended.
“We got down to the beach area and came to a point where the trail seemed to have stopped,” Officer Mahanay detailed.
“That’s a very treacherous part of the San Francisco waterline. Numerous people each year are washed off the rocks and are never seen again, so it was a distinct possibility that she had, in fact, fallen into the ocean.”
Although Kristen’s father, Bob, highly doubted this theory.
“We really don’t believe that’s what happened to Kristen,” Bob revealed.
“It’s a very tourist-oriented area, so there are always people around. If she had fallen into the water, somebody would have seen something.”
Then, 17 days after the 18-year-old vanished, a man phoned the news outlet KGO-TV with an alarming tip.
