Police: Missing Oregon mom may be in Washington State
Cops investigating possible sighting in San Juan Islands
Authorities confirmed late Saturday that they are investigating a possible sighting of missing Oregon mother Jennifer Huston in Washington state's San Juan Islands.
Huston, 38, has been missing since July 24, when she told her husband she needed to run a quick errand that night. She has not returned home and has not been seen since.
San Juan (Wash.) Country Sheriff's deputies have told KPTV that a couple visiting the islands are convinced that they saw Huston on board a ferry traveling from the mainland town of Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island on the morning of July 31, exactly a week after she was reported missing.
San Juan Country Undersheriff Bruce Distler told the station that the couple said the woman was blonde, in her 30s, and driving a green SUV with a cracked windshield, similar to descriptions put out by police. Distler said that the tip was so descriptive that it prompted deputies to alert the police department in Newberg, Ore., where Huston was last seen. Deputies also say that they have contacted the Seattle-based firm in charge of the ferry company's security and have asked for surveillance camera footage from the ferry in question.
"If that was her on the ferry, she could be on Orcas Island right now, she could be on Lopez, she could be on Shaw, she could be anywhere using the ferry systems," Distler told the station.
“Hard to say; there’s been so many potential sightings of Jennifer," Jennifer's husband Kallen Huston said on "Fox and Friends" about the possibility of the sighting being legitimate. "Of course, I get excited each and every time.”
"We need a place we can zero in on to search," he said.
Huston said he began to break the news to his older son that his mother really is not on vacation and is missing.
“This is not something that Jennifer would ever do," her father, Bill Turner, said on "Fox and Friends."
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago of over 120 named rocks and islands approximately 65 miles north of Seattle. Only four of the islands are accessible by ferry.
Huston is 5'7" with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing black and pink Nike shoes and black yoga pants. She was driving a dark green 1999 Lexus LX 470 with Oregon plates WXH 011. The SUV had a U-shaped crack in the windshield on the passenger side and a Yakima ski rack mounted on the roof.
Sightings of Huston have been reported as far away as Michigan, but authorities say the specifics of the San Juan Islands tip has captured their attention.
"It's not something that's just another tip," said Distler. It's something that is serious enough that we're gonna take a look at it and make sure everything pans out."
Any tips or leads should be referred to the Newberg-Dundee Police Department by calling 503-537-1246.
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