Fishing for Air

By Correys Dad

Correy helped me for over 4 years on a Search & Rescue Team in the Sierras. August 8, 2005, Nita Mayo went missing:

NITA MAYO’S DISAPPEARANCE:

Nita Mayo left her home in Hawthorne, Nev., the morning of Aug. 8. The 5 foot tall 140 pound 64-year-old nurse planned to take a day trip over the steep and winding Sonora Pass in California, possibly to go shopping in small villages along the highway. Nita Mayo never made it home. Nita’s car was found about 2½ hours from her home at the Donnell Vista Overlook which is on Hwy 108 about 12 miles east of Strawberry, CA. The keys were locked inside, but she could have opened the door with a keypad. Nita's purse, wallet and cell phone also were in the car. She had her camera and was wearing prescription sunglasses.

Members of the general public who may have been in the local area of Strawberry California on August 8^th 2005 or have possible information on the case are urged to call Deputy Ed Warnock, of the Tuolumne County Investigations group at (209)533-5815

Friday, July 28, 2006 at 08:49 PM in Nita Mayo | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

We spent countless days/hours searching for her, we were even on Americas Most Wanted show, just a brief shot of us. Correy never complained of the long, hot hours we put in, the area where her car was found has steep 900 foot cliffs which rise above Donnel Reservoir below. One of our search weekends we rappelled & climbed back up the cliff faces numerous times searching for any clues that may be in crevices of the cliffs face. The prior Winter some brainless person stole ALL of the guard railing at this Vista site, so the Vista was deemed unsafe & closed to the general public. We were given permission & a key to the gate at the Vista by the U.S. Forest Service so our search teams could access the cliffs. At the end of a 4 day search we were pretty tired & run down, we decided to set up some funny pics of us sitting at the Vista fishing in the reservoir below. Now if you haven't been there the reservoir is 900 feet below the Vista platform & about 1000 yards from the cliffs face, so basically, unless your super human & have a trunk full of fishing line you can't fish from where we were. Correy & I set up pics of us sitting in a chair holding a fishing pole. I can't tell you the looks we got from people who wandered into the closed area & seen us. No telling what they must of thought. A few asked if we caught any fish & we replyed we almost had our limit, they left shaking their heads thinking we were a few strings shy of a spool.The new railing is now up & this is open once again to the public. Every time I go up in the Sierras I stop in there & remember that time we were "FISHING FOR AIR." To this day, going on five years later, Nita Mayo is still missing, we will continue our search this Summer for her again! I know Correy will still be right there with us searching!