Sad End to Search for San Pedro Teen

Ever since Sara Gephart disappeared after a church event on a May night last year, friends and family in the San Pedro area have distributed thousands of fliers as far away as Ohio and launched their own quest to find the 17-year-old.

That search ended Tuesday, when the Los Angeles County coroner’s office identified the skeletal remains found last week on a remote cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes as those of the San Pedro High School junior.

But the mystery of her disappearance remains. Coroner’s officials said they don’t know exactly how she died. Until more tests are completed, officials have listed her death as a possible homicide.

The Sheriff’s Department, however, has no evidence pointing to anything other than an accident, said Det. Linda Muse of the sheriff’s homicide bureau, which is handling the investigation.

“It looks like she might have been walking or hiking,” Muse said. “It was pitch black out there at night. If you’re not familiar with the terrain, you don’t know where you’re stepping.”

Two hikers found the remains Feb. 5 in a remote area 90 feet below a cliff near the Point Vicente Lighthouse, sheriff’s officials said.

Gephart was last seen May 29 at a youth sports event at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Crestridge Road in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Her stepfather, Steve Adam, said he attended the May church event with Sara. He said he had understood that she was going out with friends afterward. Her parents called authorities when she did not return home later that night.

Since then, family and friends have spent countless days posting fliers throughout the South Bay, even asking friends and relatives to take fliers with them on their out-of-state vacations.

Gephart’s photo and vital statistics were posted on several Web sites, including the Polly Klaas Foundation’s.

Her parents also enlisted the help of friends and neighbors in searching the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the areas where Gephart was last seen.

Besides searches, Los Angeles police investigators followed several leads, including a report of a sighting at a music store in Rancho Palos Verdes. Those tips led nowhere, Muse said.

All the while, Steve and Shelly Adam tried to maintain some sense of normality for their five sons, who range from 3 to 11 years old.

But alone, the couple struggled with worst-case scenarios that raced through their minds. “We thought maybe someone snatched her,” said Steve Adam, 44, a plumbing contractor.

They said their daughter was taking medication for a bipolar disorder but said she would not run away from home -- even at her lowest point. They described her as a caring person who loved hanging out with friends and listening to music.

Then, watching the news last week, they learned about the discovery of the remains. They felt immediately that the remains were those of their daughter.

Although they had been preparing for the loss, they had held out hope that Sara would walk through the door of their San Pedro apartment.

“I’ll always miss her,” Shelly Adam said. “I gave birth to her. I know, my family knows, where she’s at. She’s at a better place.”

And last week, after the remains were found, the parents finally took down the fliers posted on their car windows.