Police search for 31-year-old Oak Harbor woman

Oak Harbor police are asking for the public's help in finding a 31-year-old woman who disappeared Nov. 25.

Detective Sgt. Teri Gardner said Melissa Christine Ellis left her Oak Harbor home sometime between 10 and 11 o'clock on Friday morning. She first told family members that she was headed to Coupeville and then said she was going to the beach.

Ellis, a mother of three, commonly rides on Island Transit buses and suffers from memory loss at times, the detective indicated. Her cell phone was found on a sidewalk outside her home and she doesn't have an ID on her.

"Her family would really like to find her very quickly," Gardner said.

Anybody who has information about Ellis' whereabouts should call contact police at 911 or by calling the ICOM dispatch center at 360-679-9567.

Ellis' friend and family have been frantically looking for her. They've searched her favorite beaches and have circulated a flyer in the city. "Melissa we love you. Please come home," the flyer states.

Ellis is described as a white woman with black hair and blue eyes. She is 5-foot-10 and of average weight. She was last seen wearing a gray sweater, blue jeans and a white knitted hat.

Ellis also has a couple of distinctive tattoos. She has a picture of her two oldest children tattooed on her left shoulder, a koi fish with a lotus flower tattooed on her right wrist and an alpha omega tattoo below her right ear.

Contact Whidbey News Times Assistant editor Jessie Stensland at jstensland@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360.675.6611 ext. 5056.

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