Deputies find Kathleen Maki safe at Gilroy hotel; says she just
needed to ‘get away’
Gilroy – A missing San Juan Bautista woman was found safe at a Gilroy hotel Thursday morning – four days after friends and family, fearing for her safety, reported that she had vanished.
San Benito County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Leist spotted Kathleen Maki’s white 2005 Jeep Cherokee parked outside the Comfort Inn near Leavesley Road west of U.S. 101 in Gilroy Thursday morning. Sheriff’s Detective Bryan Penney, who coordinated the search for the 54-year-old property manager, said that Maki told him she had needed to “get away.” Maki was taken by deputies to Saint Louise Regional Hospital shortly after being found, but Sheriff’s officials declined to state the reason.
“I think she just got a little stressed out and needed a few days off,” he said. “She was very apologetic that we spent all this time looking for her.”
Finding Maki safe was the “best possible resolution” to this case, Penney said.
“We’re ecstatic that she’s safe,” he said. “She’s a really neat lady. She just had to get away.”
As of press time Thursday, deputies were still unsure of Maki’s whereabouts between the time of her disappearance on Monday evening and the time she checked into the hotel two days later.
Thursday morning, hotel staff saw three police cars pull into the parking lot, but had no idea that Maki was staying in one of the rooms. When shown a photograph of Maki, an employee said she checked into the hotel Wednesday afternoon and pointed to room 232.
A “Do not disturb” sign hung from the doorknob.
“She just said, ‘No service,’ from behind the door,” the employee said. “She only wanted towels.”
Family members reported Maki missing Monday evening and told investigators that they feared for her safety. Deputies searched for her vehicle along San Juan Canyon Road in Hollister and flew over the road in a California Highway Patrol plane to see if Maki had run off the road into a ravine. Later, the search was focused on Gilroy after it was discovered that Maki made a cell phone call in the city Monday, about six hours after the time she was last seen.
Penney said he did not know how many hours were spent searching for the woman or how much the investigation cost.
Despite repeated attempts, the Dispatch was unable to reach Maki, her family or her co-workers at Capital Management Group in Hollister.
San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill said it was “unlikely” that Maki would be charged with any crime.
