PAULA LOPEZ - age unk - Santa Barbara CA

Santa Barbara TV anchor missing, station says

February 27, 2013 | 4:38 pm

Authorities are investigating the disappearance of a longtime Santa Barbara television news anchor, her station announced Wednesday.

KEYT-TV Channel 3 said in a statement that it had learned Wednesday morning that Paula Lopez had "gone missing." Lopez, who spent six years at KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles, co-anchors the Santa Barbara station's 11 p.m. broadcast.

"We have been in touch with her family and know they, as well as local authorities, are doing everything possible to find her safe and sound," KEYT General Manager Mark Danielson said. "Our thoughts and prayers are extended to Paula as well as her family and those searching to find her.... We hope for her safe and speedy return."

Lopez has spent the better part of two decades at KEYT, first joining the Santa Barbara station as an intern in 1985, according to her biography on KEYT's website. She spent six years at KCAL in Los Angeles, but returned to KEYT in 1996 to spend more time with her family.

Lopez is married to Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa, her biography says. They have three children.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2013/02/tv-anchor-paula-lopez-missing.html

California Anchorwoman Paula Lopez Safe at Home After Missing Persons Scare


By MICHAEL S. JAMES and JIM VOJTECH
Feb. 27, 2013

Paula Lopez, a TV news anchorwoman for ABC News affiliate KEYT in Santa Barbara, Calif., was safe back at her home after a missing persons scare, officials said.

"At around 5:30 p.m. tonight, her family members called Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Public Safety Dispatch to report that she is home and safe," the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office wrote in a prepared statement. "When deputies responded to her residence they confirmed she was there and no longer missing."

Lopez's family earlier had called authorities to say the 48-year-old was missing just after 10 a.m., the sheriff's department said.

"Her last known location was at her home located near Cathedral Oaks Road and North San Marcos Road," the sheriff's department said in an earlier statement this evening. "The last time her family talked to her was at 9:30 a.m. She has not been seen or heard from since. No foul play is suspected but her family is concerned about her welfare."

It was not immediately clear why her family reported her missing so quickly after she last was seen.

"We are not commenting on the reasons surrounding why Ms. Lopez went missing due to the fact it is a private family matter," the sheriff's department said after Lopez was back with her family.

The earlier missing persons report prompted a search that was assisted by K-9 units and a Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit helicopter, the sheriff's department said.

It also prompted a written statement by Mark Danielson, general manager of KEYT, who called Lopez, an 11 p.m. news anchor, "a beloved member of the KEYT family."

"We have been in touch with her family and know they, as well as local authorities, are doing everything possible to find her safe and sound," the statement said. "It is clearly a difficult time for her family and our own family at KEYT. All of us at KEYT stand ready to assist in any way we can."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/california-anchorwoman-paula-lopez-ends-safe-home/story?id=18613901