A family is desperately searching for a 66-year-old woman from Kenya who was last seen in Reseda earlier this month. Jane Yamamoto reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015.
A son desperate to find his mom is hoping for a Christmas miracle.
Juliah Karwitha, 66, was visiting her son from Kenya last month when she went missing from his Reseda home. Now, James Muthurri has hired a private investigator in a last-ditch effort to find his mom.
Thursday night he put up fliers around town, hoping someone will bring her home in time for Christmas.
Security cameras caught Karwitha walking southbound on Reseda Boulevard just two blocks from her son's apartment, where she was also seen leaving on surveillance footage Nov. 1 around 7:30 a.m.
Muthurri said she went on a routine morning walk but never returned, leaving behind medicine for high blood pressure, her cellphone and identification.
His mom, a former schoolteacher from Kenya, speaks English with a heavy Kenyan accent. She started forgetting things after arriving in August to visit her only son for the holidays.
“This would have been her first Christmas in LA,” her son said. “My only wish now just to find her. That would be best gift.”
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Now, instead of celebrating Christmas, maps cover walls in his apartment. He's marked off locations they've searched. One possible sighting at a Woodland Hills shopping center turned up empty.
“I think biggest possibility is she tried to get somewhere, got disoriented, tried to get back, just went further out,” said private investigator Bill Garcia.
Garcia said he's in contact with the LAPD detective handling the missing person case.
