The Washington State Patrol is not ruling out foul play after
determining that a Bellevue woman, initially believed to have gone
missing from a Bainbridge-bound ferry, may not have actually ridden
the ferry.
After reviewing surveillance footage, state troopers said they’re not certain Lynn Stafford-Yilmaz, 45, was the person who drove her Ford Windstar van onto the Puyallup ferry on Tuesday night, according to KOMO News story posted this morning.
Discovery of Stafford-Yilmaz’s van on the auto deck and some of her belongings on the passenger deck sparked a large-scale search shortly after the 10:55 p.m. ferry arrived in Eagle Harbor. The search involved state troopers, Bainbridge Island police, Seattle authorities and U.S. Coast Guard air and marine units.
The search was called off Wednesday afternoon.
“We have saturated the search area and have not located anyone,” said Coast Guard Cmdr. Michael Long in a Kitsap Sun story yesterday.
Stafford-Yilmaz is 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone who saw her or has information about her location is asked to call Washington State Patrol Detective Dave Killeen at (360) 405-6650.
