Volunteers turn out to help

More than 100 join parents in search for missing Hollywood woman

HOLLYWOOD — More than 100 volunteers joined a search Saturday for a 21-year-old Hollywood woman who disappeared Feb. 11.

Noemi Bolivar was last seen on security camera video on a Broward County Transit bus in the 7000 block of Sheridan Street headed for the Anne Kolb Nature Center along the Intracoastal Waterway in Hollywood. She got off of the bus alone in the 800 block of Sheridan Street, police said.

Parents Jose and Marycel Bolivar, friends, members of their church, and others have been searching ever since.

“It’s been crazy, very desperate,” Jose Bolivar said Saturday. “Every minute counts [with] this search.”

They believe she is still alive but may have been abducted because it is not like her to just leave without a trace, her mother said, crying.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” Marycel Bolivar said. “She would never, never, never do this without contacting me.”

Organizers mapped out grids where teams of volunteers were deployed to pass out fliers, go door-to-door to talk to residents and businesses, and even patrol the Intracoastal Waterway in kayaks.

“Our biggest goal was to get out into areas that are populated to spread Noemi’s name,” said

organizer Junior Netane. “We’re also going into areas where we’ve heard there are some possible leads, where she’s been sighted.”

Hollywood police have received tips as a result of the ongoing publicity.

“We have a couple of tips so we go out and searched those areas,” Jose Bolivar said. “I cannot tell you exactly where in particular [because of ] the investigation.”

The Bolivars have also retained a private investigator.

They greeted some of the volunteers at the staging area in the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 510 N. 35th Avenue on Saturday morning.

“A lot of these people know my daughter. They love her,” Marycel Bolivar said. “I know we are going to find her but we cannot find her alone.”

That ’s why Ileana Enriquez drove from West Palm Beach with her grandson to volunteer.

“We don’t know the family but as a member of the church we are family,” she said. “This is love. We’re here to help.”

“This is a parent’s worst nightmare,” added family friend Karem Ryker, who joined the search days ago.

Noemi Bolivar was last seen wearing a black and white striped T-shirt, denim shorts, teal sneakers, black sunglasses and a mask. Her cellphone pinged near the beach in Hollywood, police said, but a search turned up nothing.

Investigators are asking anyone with tips to contact Broward Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 954-493-8477 or online at browardcrimestoppers.org.

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL PHOTOS MIKE STOCKER/ Volunteers gather at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hollywood on Saturday to help coordinate and search for 21-year-old Noemi Bolivar, who has not been heard from since Feb. 11. Coordinators are assigning small search teams to specific locations where they have received possible sightings of Noemi.

Parents Jose and Marycel Bolivar say it is uncharacteristic of their daughter to just leave without a trace.

COURTESY Noemi Bolivar, 21, was last seen in this security camera video on a Broward County Transit bus.