Los Angeles mother Heidi Planck has been missing since October 17.- On Monday, police said they suspected Planck had died and turned their search to a landfill.
A 39-year-old Los Angeles woman who has been missing for more than six weeks is now believed to be dead, police said on Monday, as they turned their focus to a landfill in search of Heidi Planck's remains.
Planck's ex-husband, Jim Wayne, has spoken to the media, detailing how he believed her disappearance may have something to do with her work for a man the Securities and Exchange Commission accused of a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme.
Wayne was one of the last to see Planck alive, and he reported her missing to police. She attended their son's football game in Downey on October 17, but she left the game early, he said. Wayne told KTLA that Planck "didn't seem agitated" but "might have been a little bit antsy," when she came over and told him she was leaving early. She texted their son later to congratulate him on his win, he told KTLA.
The last known sighting of Planck was on security footage that showed her walking her dog outside a downtown Los Angeles apartment complex called Hope + Flower later that evening. About 30 minutes after that footage was recorded, Planck's dog was found wandering the 29th floor of one of the apartment buildings in the complex, with Planck nowhere to be seen, FOX 11 Los Angeles reported.
Two of Planck's friends told KTLA that they weren't sure why Planck was last seen outside Hope + Flower since they weren't aware of her having any connection to the apartment complex. But they said they've since spoken to staff at the complex who said they knew Planck and recognized her dog.
In a Monday press release, Los Angeles Police Department officials said they now believed Planck was dead, based on forensic evidence they located inside the building.
Detectives are now focusing their efforts on searching the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in Castaic,
Police had no information on a possible suspect or suspects as of Monday. An LAPD spokesperson told Insider on Tuesday that they had no update on the investigation.
Planck's ex-husband addressed the media on Monday. He said his son needed answers about what happened to Planck.
Her ex-husband speculated that her disappearance may have something to do with her work
In a previous interview with KTLA, Wayne speculated that Planck's disappearance may have something to do with her work at an investment firm, where she worked for Jason Sugarman, whom the SEC accused in 2019 of stealing $43 million in client funds.
One of Sugarman's victims was a Native American tribe, said the civil complaint viewed by Insider. The case is still pending in New York federal court, after Sugarman's motion to dismiss the case in January 2020 was denied, court records showed.
Wayne told KTLA that the
KTLA and CBS LA obtained surveillance footage that appeared to show Sugarman dropping pastries off outside Planck's home in the Palms neighborhood of West LA, a day or two after she disappeared.
Insider reached out to Wayne, Sugarman, and the SEC for comment on Tuesday, but did not immediately receive responses.
The LAPD is asking anyone who may have information about Planck's disappearance to contact the Robbery-Homicide Division at 213-486-6840.