Donna Jou has been missing since June.
Volunteers are needed this weekend to search the Santa Monica Mountains for Donna Jou, a 20-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita resident who has been missing since June. Jou, a pre-med student at San Diego State University, was last seen at a party at the home of convicted sex offender John Steven Burgess. She met him through the Web site, Craigslist.
“This is not a target area,” said Lt. Dan Dwyer of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “But we would like to be able to rule it out.”
The Santa Monica Mountains is an area that has been frequented by Burgess, who is serving three years in state prison because he did not properly register as a sex offender. Burgess has not been charged in Jou’s disappearance, but he has said in the past through his lawyer that he has information about her. He refused to disclose the information unless his failure to register as a sex offender charges were dismissed, and this did not occur.
“The search will be in cars and by foot,” wrote attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing Jou’s parents, in a press release. “Donna’s family is desperate to find her, and we hope and pray that our search will provide some answers for her family.”
Volunteers will meet at Bluffs Park on Saturday at 9 a.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. Those interested in participating should go to www.trinitysearch.org to register. For more information about Jou, go to www.donnajou.com.