A Northern California mother who has been missing since the New Year was last seen walking along a highway in her bathrobe – and may have been suffering from a mental health crisis.
Zoe Penrod, 39, was reported missing by her fiancé on the morning of Jan. 1, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCOS) said.
The mother-of-one was last seen in the backyard of the couple’s Myers Flat home on New Year’s Eve morning, her fiancé Daniel Boyett, told the local outlet Redheaded Blackbelt.
She had been suffering from an apparent mental health crisis for about three weeks – ever since she stopped breastfeeding their five-month-old son, he added.
The HCSO subsequently released a surveillance image taken by a local business that appeared to show Penrod dressed in a bathrobe while walking down Highway 254, also known as Avenue of the Giants around 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 31.
An extensive search of the surrounding area – which included an aircraft from the California Office of Emergency Services as well as crews on foot – did not turn up any evidence, the HCSO said.
“We spent several days in the woods off of Highway 254 (the Avenue of the Giants) with our Search and Rescue teams without any signs of Zoe. We also have received reports of sightings in the southern Humboldt county area, however, none have turned fruitful,” Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told SFGATE.
The HCSO did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for an update on the case.
Boyett and other people in Penrod’s life believe she may have been suffering postpartum psychosis when she vanished, he told the Redheaded Blackbelt.
“[Zoe is] a sweet, sweet lady, and she’s the mother of my child, and she’s not herself, and she’s not well. It’s terrifying, to be honest with you,” he lamented.
A week before Christmas, Penrod claimed that she heard voices mimicking her own and those of her friends calling her to go outside, Boyett recalled.
She also stopped sleeping and eating, saying that she believed her food was poisoned.
With the help of law enforcement, Boyett committed Penrod to a local facility for a three-day hold and evaluation.
After a brief respite, however, she appeared to be spiraling again, he told the outlet.
The last time he saw her, Boyett said, she was standing in their backyard.
When he returned from tending to the baby, he explained, she was gone.
“It’s too cold and wet and rainy for the dress that she had on. She was wearing a pair of my shoes that did not fit her whatsoever. She didn’t have anything with her–she had no cell phone, she had no wallet, no money, no food, no nothing to my knowledge…,” Boyett told the outlet.
Zoe Penrod is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and about 140 pounds, according to authorities. She has auburn hair and green eyes.