Police investigating woman’s disappearance

Bill and Billie Jean James always know where each other are -- that's the way it is when you've been married for almost 40 years.

Whether it's a nap or a quick trip to the store, Bill James said he lets his wife know what he's doing, and she would do the same.

That's what makes Billie Jean's disappearance so strange.

The 67-year-old vanished Thursday afternoon from the couple's home near the M Resort in the southern part of the valley.

She left behind her purse, keys, driver's license and credit card. Her white Nissan truck is still parked in the driveway. Her extensive garden full of native plants grows in the front yard -- a culmination of 40 years worth of work in the only house she's ever shared with her husband.

"It's just not like her. It's not us," Bill James said. "She just disappeared. There's desert all around us; that makes it even more strange. Almost everywhere we go we have to drive."

He added that police searched for days with dogs, helicopters and infrared heat sensors.

"We just don't think she's close by," Bill James said.

Billie Jean is listed as 5-feet-8, 140 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. She is a white woman with a medium complexion. Her husband said she might have been wearing a light-colored sundress and possibly dark pants.

The two were headed to Molokai, Hawaii, on Friday morning for a weeklong volunteer service trip at Kalaupapa National Historic Park -- including monitoring endangered monk seals on the beach.

Everything was packed up, Bill James said.

"I was taking a nap, and I'm not positive what happened," he said. "Shortly after that I went to look for her, and I couldn't find her. She's not here. She's poof, gone. We've not heard a word about where she might be since."

About five months ago, Billie Jean suffered a transient ischemic attack, or mini stroke, that left her with temporary memory loss.

"She was confused for half a day, but the next morning she woke up and she was her own self," Bill James said. "We suspect that maybe something similar happened again, and this time she walked away from the house."

Police said they are optimistic that Billie Jean is simply listed as a "Jane Doe" in an area hospital and that paperwork and missing persons reports just haven't reached them yet.

"You start thinking of all the horrible things that might have happened," said Bill James, fighting back tears. "It's not getting any easier. It's getting harder."

Metro's Missing Persons unit continues to investigate. Anyone with information about the woman's whereabouts is asked to contact police at 702-828-3111.

Contact Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.