Chinese woman missing after US trip to meet net friend; embassy seeks police help
Jin Fang, John Root Fitzpatrick, and a blue Toyota Tacoma with a California license plate 24478S1 driven by Fitzpatrick.
A Chinese woman who traveled to Southern California to meet a friend she met online has gone missing, and the local police have initiated a search for her, said the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The missing woman, Jin Fang, is reportedly a 47-year-old from Guangdong, China, who flew into Los Angeles from China on July 14.
Jin then took a train from Los Angeles to the Palm Springs area, where she was picked up by John Root Fitzpatrick, a 52-year-old man from Morongo Valley, who was supposed to show her around the Morongo Basin.
Family and friends of 47-year-old Fang Jin shared this photo of her, which she sent while visiting Southern California before she went missing. They say the man with her is John Root Fitzgerald, a Morongo Valley man whom she met online. He too is missing.
However, authorities said that Jin was last heard from on July 22, and Fitzpatrick was also reported missing by a friend on July 30.
San Bernardino County police and Jin's family have issued a missing person's bulletin, appealing to internet users for information about the whereabouts of the two individuals.
The family has also initiated a fundraising effort on multiple websites to raise US$10,000 as a reward for informants who provide tips about Jin.
