Angelica Brophy, a 44-year-old emergency room nurse from Southern California, disappeared on July 6 after dropping her daughter off at summer camp in Oceanside. Brophy failed to return later that day to pick up her daughter, prompting a search that has now intensified in Palomar Mountain State Park.
Surveillance footage showed Brophy leaving the Harrah’s Resort Southern California casino near Escondido around 3:30 p.m. on the day she vanished. Approximately 50 minutes later, a parking slip indicated her presence at Palomar Mountain State Park, located about 15 miles northeast. Her vehicle was discovered several days later in the same park, a location she was known to frequent for hiking.
Brophy’s family contacted park rangers upon finding her car, initiating a large-scale search. Search teams, utilizing drones, dogs, and about 40 to 50 volunteers over the weekend, have combed more than 1,800 acres of the park without locating her. Divers are now concentrating their efforts on a pond within the park.
Investigators have attempted to ping Brophy’s cell phone, but it is either turned off or its battery is depleted. The Oceanside Police Department, leading the investigation, has not found evidence of foul play but is reportedly checking with the casino to determine if anyone was with Brophy or following her.
Brophy is described as being 5-foot-5 and weighing around 130 pounds. She was last seen wearing black leggings and a gray T-shirt. Her family has distributed missing-person flyers in the Palomar Mountain, Temecula, Rincon, and Pauma Valley areas. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Oceanside Police Department.