Hilton Head man criticizes police search efforts for wife missing more than a week

The husband of a 67-year-old woman who vanished from a Hilton Head Island beach a week ago says police haven’t done enough to find her.

“I’ve been fighting to get somebody to look for her,” Carlos Ortiz said.

He said he, his family and friends have been working to find Theresa Ortiz but have been disappointed in the effort they’ve seen from police and other law enforcement agencies searching for the missing woman.

But Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Bob Bromage said Wednesday extensive efforts have been made to find Theresa Ortiz since she was reported missing July 1.

The North Carolina native, who moved to Hilton Head in 2002, was reported missing by family after she didn’t return from a morning walk on Burkes Beach.

Her car was found in the beach parking lot the same day.

“We are doing everything we can to locate her,” Bromage said.

He said the Sheriff’s Office was first contacted on the afternoon of July 1.

Deputies started a search of the beach area, including sand dunes, and an alert was sent out to the public. Other nearby areas such as restaurants and bars also were checked, he said.

Weather prevented the use of a Sheriff’s Office helicopter to search the area that day, but it flew over the search area July 2.

That night, police got a tip that an empty pill bottle and flip flops belonging to the missing woman had been found near the high-tide mark the morning she went missing.

That discovery shifted the search to the water the next day, July 3, Bromage said.

That day, the sheriff’s office contacted the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, the Sheriff’s Office marine patrol and the U.S. Coast Guard to assist with the marine search, Bromage said.

David Lucas, DNR spokesman, said the agency was contacted on the evening of July 3. Agency officers in the area on regular patrols also kept an eye out for the woman, Lucas said.

Those patrols includes five vessels in the region, covering islands near the rivers and inlets in particular.

Other assets, such as a dive team, hadn’t been requested, Lucas said.

A second alert by the Sheriff’s Office was sent out on the morning of July 4.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said Monday the group has no record of being contacted to assist in the search.

“They haven’t asked for our assistance as of now,” PA3 Vincent Moreno said.

The Coast Guard did not respond to multiple phone calls and an email made Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdayseeking clarification after that initial conversation.

Bromage reiterated that the Coast Guard station based in Charleston was contacted. He said the federal agency also provided a drift simulation for search-planning purposes.

On Thursday, a marine and shoreline search continued, Bromage said, which included the use of drones from the Bluffton Township Fire District.

The Sheriff’s Office helicopter flew for a second day Saturday, but hasn’t flown since, Bromage said.

Carlos Ortiz believes the Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the search, isn’t doing as much as it has in other Hilton Head area searches.

In recent years, when others went missing — a man whose minivan was found abandoned on the Charles Fraser Bridge, a teen who drowned off Fripp Island, a diver who disappeared in Port Royal Sound — several agencies immediately joined those searches.

“I don’t see any helicopters,” Ortiz said of the search for his wife. “I don’t see any boats. It is hard to believe that they are looking for her.”

He said he believes the Sheriff’s Office isn’t showing the concern he thinks it should and have stopped answering his phone calls.

Carlos Ortiz wonders whether discrimination plays a role.

“I am an American citizen since 1980,” he said. “My children were born in the United States. We are all people who pay our taxes ... . I am just hurt they weren’t giving me the attention that I thought I was going to get.”

Bromage said the Sheriff’s Office has maintained communication with family members throughout the search.

He also said every search has different variables.

“We provide law enforcement services universally with no consideration given to race and ethnicity,” Bromage said. “All missing person cases have different circumstances surrounding them, which dictates the measures law enforcement take in the investigation.”

Christopher Boyer, executive director of the National Association for Search and Rescue, agreed Wednesday that each search can be different.

The first step in a missing person case is to find out what has been happening in the person’s life in recent days. This includes interviewing family.

“It will tell them a lot about how to profile what led her to go missing,” Boyer said. “Was it an accident or was it intention? What was it?”

The next step is to search the area, such as the beach.

When asked if the police should have immediately searched the water, he said that depends on the timing.

You might assume someone who went into the water five to eight hours earlier is unlikely alive, Boyer said.

“Should I be looking with resources where she might be passed away?” Boyer said. “Or should I be looking in places where she’s maybe injured? You want to use your resources where she is most salvageable first.”

Once a water search begins, searchers have to consider other factors, Boyer said. That includes the use of divers during recovery missions.

“It is sad for the family, but you don’t want to trade a life for a body,” Boyer said.

Ortiz knows that if his wife went into the water, she is unlikely still alive.

“On the first morning, we had hope she would be alive,” Ortiz said. “She knew how to swim, but nobody looked for her.”

They’ve lost hope over time.

“How long can she be in the water?” Ortiz asked. “We don’t expect now that she is still alive.”

Ortiz said he still wants to find her body.

“Who doesn’t want to find the body of the person they love?” Ortiz asked.

Bromage said the Sheriff’s Office hopes to be able to do that for the Ortiz family.

“At the end of this, we want to find her and bring her family some measure of closure.”