Missing Oregon woman picked up hitchhiker says father who is still on her trail

GRANTS PASS, Ore.  – A distraught father continues to search for his daughter who was last seen in Grant Pass nearly 8 months ago after leaving her home in Dexter, Oregon to visit friends.

John Frey said he last heard from his 45-year-old daughter Fauna Frey on Sunday, June 28 when she called him from a hotel phone. He said she had taken the trip as a way to cope with her brother’s death and noted that he was surprised to hear that she had picked up a hitchhiker near Wilderville.

“She talked to me about angels, and then about the hitchhiker, it wasn’t really like her to pick up hitchhikers, so I knew she was disoriented, and very much in grief,” he said. “She was very upset and distraught about (the death).”

Frey said that he and the police interviewed the hitchhiker but did not receive any information about her whereabouts. He said his daughter left just 10 days after her older brother, Dallas Frey died. He said the two were very close as each other’s only sibling.

Frey said Fauna Frey is familiar with the Southern Oregon area because she lived there for many years prior to moving north. He also said she was accustomed to the outdoors and would hike on a regular basis.

He said since his daughter’s disappearance, he and her friends have used every resource possible to find her.

He explained her credit card activity has been traced and she had made a reservation at Weasku Inn in Grants Pass. However, said Fauna Frey never showed up for that reservation. After she booked her stay, her credit card was never used again.

On September 23, her 2000 four-door Jeep Cherokee was found in a rural area on Reuben Mountain Road a few miles past Grave Creek Boat Landing.

Frey said the county’s search and rescue team was deployed but found nothing in or around the car.

“It took about a month, we got Oregon State Police involved and they took DNA and fingerprints out of the jeep, but they have not processed those yet,” Frey said.

He explained state police informed him the evidence collected inside the car is put at the end of a long list because there is no evidence a crime has been committed.

“We’ve followed so many false leads, she was supposedly seen in Eugene, we spend some time looking up here, but we couldn’t find any tracing of her,” Frey said. “Then our direction was taken back to Grants Pass again.”

Frey explained since he began searching for his daughter, he has discovered several other women close to Fauna’s age and description who have also been reported missing in the area. He believes it’s a pattern.

Fauna Frey is described as a white woman, who has blue eyes, blonde hair, she is around 5’6” in height and has a tattoo on her lower back.

“There are more people that care than she will ever know, there is a whole bunch of people who love her, we just want to make sure she is safe, and she is okay,” Frey said. “We miss her.”

The family has set up an anonymous tip line 541-359-5638 and email address findfaunafrey@gmail.com for anyone who has any leads of Fauna’s whereabouts.