FAIRVIEW - It was Monday afternoon when Cindy Gisholt got a call from her 31-year-old daughter’s boss. Jayme Austin hadn’t shown up for her shift.

“I thought she was late to work because she got into a car accident,” Gisholt said. “She drives like a bat out of hell.”

But, upon returning to her Fairview home, she found Austin’s car parked safely in the driveway.

Inside, a heater continued to blow hot air, towels waited in a dryer, and Gisholt found Austin’s new Droid cell phone, abandoned.

“She wouldn’t go anywhere without it.”

Gisholt knew something was seriously wrong.



“As soon as I made the decision to call police, I knew someone took her,” she said.

Cars lined Gisholt’s driveway Wednesday afternoon. Standing on her front porch, surrounded by friends and family, she waited for any news of her missing daughter.

Since Monday, more than two dozen searchers have scoured mountainsides, river bottoms and the dense woodlands surrounding Fairview for any trace of the mother of two girls, ages 5 and 12.

“I just want my daughter home,” Gisholt said. “They just want their mom.”

Investigators have no idea what happened to Austin, Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier said.

“I hope she’s alive. I always hope for the best in these things, but plan for the worst,” he said.

Police have not announced any leads, but they are treating Austin’s disappearance as a crime.

The investigation

The Coos County Major Crime Team arrived at Gisholt’s house Monday afternoon within 30 minutes of her call. Since then, the Coos County Search and Rescue Team, tracking dogs, the Coos County Mounted Posse, police, friends and family have searched the area.

Some have arrived at sunrise and searched past sunset.

The North Bend Dive team examined a nearby river and a pond on the Gisholt property. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter also flew over the area. As of this morning, they had found no trace of Austin, a Coos County District Attorney’s Office press release said.

Today, investigators are focused on talking to witnesses, and they’re asking the public to call with any information.

Austin’s ex-boyfriend, Jesse Rooke, is not a person of interest in the disappearance, Frasier said. Acquaintances told police the man has been on a fishing boat out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, since at least Nov. 8. No one has been able to contact Rooke’s boat, Frasier said, but the man’s involvement seems unlikely.

 “If he’s on that boat, then he doesn’t have anything to do with this,” the DA said.

The World’s archives say police arrested Rooke on a domestic assault charge in Fairview in November 2005.

“There have been domestic violence incidents between the two in the past,” Frasier said.

There are also reports that Austin had a stalker, who a few months ago hacked into her e-mail, voice mail and MySpace account. But the problem seemed to go away after Austin changed her numbers and personal account information, Gisholt said.

Disappearing is out of character for Austin, who has held a job with Oregon Satellite for two years, the DA said.

Her family told investigators that she occasionally disappeared for a day or two in the past, when she was using methamphetamine. But Austin overcame her addiction a couple of years ago, Frasier said.

“It’s hard to come back from drug problems, but she did,” Gisholt said.

Dedicated worker

Sandi Woodworth, Oregon Satellite’s Coos Bay store manager, described Austin as her right-hand person.

“If I needed anything done, she was right there to do it for  me,” Woodworth said. “She’s just a friendly, outgoing person.”

On Monday, Austin called Woodworth, the last person to speak with her, to say she was having well troubles and would be late to work. She planned to shower at her mom’s house, two doors down.

“She’d been having trouble with her water prior,” Woodworth said.

Woodworth said she’s been sick to her stomach since then. She can’t eat and can barely sleep.

“I’m checking and double checking the locks because it’s so out of the blue,” Woodworth said.

As search crews combed through the woods Wednesday, friends and family comforted and hugged Gisholt. Visiting children swung on a play set in front yard. Gisholt kept a straight face and an even voice as she discussed her daughter’s disappearance.

“We have hope,” Gisholt said. “We are holding on to our hope. We will find her.”