A virtual birthday party is being held to honor a Homer woman who has been missing since last year.
Friends and family of Anesha “Duffy” Murnane will host a virtual celebration on Aug. 12 throughout the day. Aug. 12 is Murnane’s 39th birthday. She has been missing since Oct. 17, 2019.
Friends can visit the Bring Duffy Home Facebook page for details on the virtual party. They are invited to share photos, stories and birthday wishes throughout the day.
“Duffy loved celebrating her birthday,” family spokesperson Christina Whiting wrote in an email. “Let’s honor her and remember that she is still missing and that her family and friends are still looking for her.”
For more information, contact Whiting at 907-435-7969.
Murnane, 38, went missing after she was last seen in a security camera image leaving her Main Street apartment. Murnane’s mother is Sara Berg and her step-father is Ed Berg.
She disappeared after leaving her Main Street apartment for an appointment at the SVT Health & Wellness clinic on East End Road. The last confirmed sighting is a security camera photo showing her leaving the Maintree Apartments, a supported housing complex, about 12:15 p.m. that day. Murnane had a 1 p.m. appointment at SVT Health and Wellness Center, about a 1-mile walk from her home. She did not show up for that appointment.
Homer Police and Alaska State Troopers issued a Silver Alert for Murnane on Oct. 19, 2019, after she was reported missing that day. Anyone with information on her whereabouts can call Homer Police at 907-235-3150 or the Silver Alert hotline at 855-SILVR99 or 855-745-8799. A Silver Alert is for an adult considered a vulnerable person.
Murnane was wearing a blue jacket, light-blue shirt and blue jeans the last time she was seen. She is almost 6 feet tall, weighs about 160 pounds and has shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes. She carried a pink-and-black plaid purse with a shoulder strap and carried her wallet, cell phone and identification. Police said she does not drive or own a vehicle and got around by walking.
The weekend after Murnane went missing, search and rescue dog teams from Anchorage tracked her in the downtown area, picking up scents from Main Street to Lee Drive, Svedlund Street, Pioneer Avenue and Kachemak Way. Search dogs followed strong scents to Pioneer Avenue area near Cosmic Kitchen, in front of Homer’s Jeans and the Kachemak Bay Campus. There the dogs acted as if there had been what search dog handlers call a “car pick up.”
The Bergs have said they believed their daughter has been abducted.
Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.
