From Missing Girl To Happy Family Reunion On Ocean Front Walk

**Note** Just before Justine’s mom and sister landed, a radio call came out for a female in her 20′s who had overdosed on drugs in the bathrooms on Brooks and Ocean Front Walk. She matched Justine’s description, and although she was breathing, they were not able to revive the girl at the scene. She was taken by paramedics to the hospital and was apparently sold a very dangerous cocktail of drugs on the boardwalk. It took about a half an hour to confirm that it was not Justine. For that hour, knowing that her mother and sister were on their way to find Justine… I was devastated at the thought of possibly having to tell her family to go to the hospital because she had overdosed. Thankfully it was not Justine, but it was some poor girl. The reality on the boardwalk is not pretty folks. What to do?

It doesn’t happen often enough, but today a girl reported missing by her worried family was happily found by her mother and sister who were concerned for her welfare. The picture of Justine Baumgartner was circulated last week, a 22 yr old girl missing from Minnesota after joining the Occupy rally. Her family knew that she had decided to travel west to California, and then Justine stopped contacting them. Within her rights as an adult, but unlike her according to her family - Justine disappeared, not even contacting them over the Thanksgiving holiday. Through the wonder of the internet, people had reported seeing her at Venice Beach and word traveled fast with confirmations that she was along the boardwalk, sometimes living in her car. After relaying a confirmed sighting back to her family, her mother and sister decided to make the journey to Venice Beach today. Around noon I was on Westminster and Ocean Front Walk and I saw her. I snapped a few photos and texted them to her mom, who called during a layover overwhelmed with tears to see the daughter that she hadn’t seen in months looking healthy. She was in tears.

When mom and sister arrived in Venice, we started walking down the boardwalk. It seemed like a very unfriendly place to them. The amount of homeless in make-shift forts and sleeping bags was astounding. Groups of kids huffing on pipes and smoking narcotics without a care about concealment in the world. It seemed like another planet. I told the officers on duty that Justine’s mom and sister were coming to look for her, and two officers that had given her a ticket in November said they had seen her on the grass in front of the Phoenix House…. which was about 3 blocks away. We walked that way when Justine’s mom saw her from about 20 yards. All I know is the next thing I saw was her with her arms around her daughter, who was sitting in a group smoking, coughing and playing guitar.

The three gals are having dinner and spending the evening together. Nothing can appease a mother like seeing and hearing that her child is ok with her own eyes. Tonight Jusitne’s mom can rest with that relief, although I am sure the worry of seeing the environment that Justine is in will not fade as quickly. Given the number of 20 somethings out on Ocean Front Walk tonight… I am sure there are many parents out there with worry and wonder, clueless that their kids have chosen to be lost on Venice Beach.