‘Devoted’ Mother Mysteriously Vanishes After Attending Son's Football Game; Police Search Landfill

Authorities in California are searching for a woman who disappeared after suddenly leaving her 11-year-old son’s football game before it ended.

On Oct. 17, Heidi Planck, 39, was watching her boy play football in Downey, but she appeared to be on edge and took off at halftime. “She was a little bit antsy, yes. I don't know why,” Planck’s ex-husband, Jim Wayne, 63, told Dateline. “All I know is that was the last time I saw her or talked to her.”

On Oct. 20, three days after the game, Wayne reported Planck missing because she failed to pick up their child at school. “She's a devoted mother who would never, ever leave her son,” he said. “We have a 10-year-old boy at home that's looking for his mom and we just need to find her.”

The day she went missing, home surveillance footage shows Planck getting into her 2017 Range Rover with her dog, Seven, and driving away. A couple later found the pet wandering alone around a high-rise apartment building in downtown LA.

Surveillance video confirms Planck had been in the area.

“In the video, it looks like she was taking her dog for a quick walk. She doesn’t have her purse on her, she doesn’t have keys in her hand,” a friend told KTLA. “There’s no connection [to the area] that I’m aware of. So, I feel like that’s another one of the mysteries. What is she doing there? Who did she know there?”

A second friend said she and others confirmed some staff at the apartment building recognized and knew Planck and her dog.

According to Fox News, Wayne allegedly suspects foul play and believes his ex-wife’s disappearance could somehow be connected to her work as a controller and executive assistant at a wealth management firm.

Wayne said he received a call from an official at the Securities and Exchange Commission one day after he reported Planck missing. “I don't know how she got my name and I don't know how she got my number, but she called me and started asking me questions about [Planck’s boss],” he told Fox News. “Something's dirty here.”

As the search continues, Wayne said his son is suffering. “The poor kid, man,” Wayne said. “He just needs to know what the hell happened to his mom. And he's going to have to have some kind of closure somewhere.”

Heidi Planck is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs around 120 lbs., with blond hair and blue eyes. Anyone with any information regarding her whereabouts should contact the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at 213-996-1800. Anonymous tips can be submitted to the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online.