OC Couple Reported Missing After Leaving Valley View Casino
LA QUINTA (CBSLA.com) — An Orange County couple visiting the Valley View Casino were headed to their son's La Quinta home for a Mother's Day get-together but never arrived.
Officials are now asking for the public's help locating Cecil Knutson and Dianna Bedwell, who never made it back to their Fullerton home either, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.
They left the casino around 2 p.m. and haven't been seen since. Knutson and Bedwell were traveling in a white 2014 Hyundai Sonata, California license plate 7EHE981.
"The kindest people, the kindest," daughter Debbie Apple said.
The couple's children are convinced the only thing that could have kept the two from their Mother's Day BBQ was a traffic accident or foul play.
"People don't just disappear out of thin air," son Robert Acosta said.
He last heard from them at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning, but said they were first going to play the nickel slots at the casino.
"I will not stop until I find my mom and my dad, I just won't," Acosta said. "They would never just not show up, they would never just not call."
Fullerton police are keeping an eye on the couple's mobile home overnight Monday in case the couple returns.
Acosta is worried for his parents' health. Both have diabetes: "If there is a traffic accident, and they're at the bottom of some canyon and no one can find them, they don't have insulin."
Acosta and Apple have helped detectives search roads for signs of wreckage and their parents' home for signs of credit card activity, there's only one thing they can do now: "to not give up hope."
The parent's cell phones last pinged a few miles north of the casino and then they were shut off. Their car is also outfitted with a tracking device, similar to OnStar, which was also shut off, either because it was removed or damaged.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the San Diego Sheriff's Department at (858) 565-5200.
