Police release new details on missing Riverside woman last seen in North Carolina

Police on Thursday released new details about a missing Riverside woman believed to be in “extreme emotional stress” after going missing in early March and later being spotted in North Carolina.

Before leaving home, 55-year-old Lisa Ann Vais converted $20,000 in cash into silver coins, Riverside police said in a statement.

Then, on March 11, Vais was taken by a friend to a hospital in Fletcher, North Carolina after she reported chest pains, police said. Medical personnel found no medical condition and she was discharged.

On March 13, she was found on video surveillance buying $3,100 in nonperishable food at a grocery store in Brevard, North Carolina, police said.

Riverside Police

Vais was reported missing by her husband on March 14, police said.

On March 15, after the media reported she was missing, a Georgia resident told police they spotted Vais walking in a road in Gainsville, Georgia, police said.

Before she left, Vais said she was headed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where her son lives, but she never arrived, police said. Her phone last pinged Sunday in Murphy, North Carolina.

“There is no doubt that Ms. Vais is in need of some assistance,” Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said in a statement. “Her family describes that she is in extreme emotional distress, and it is imperative that we find her as soon as possible.”

Vais is 5-foot-2 with blond hair and hazel eyes, police said. She drives a gray 2015 Mazda CX5 with an Illinois license plate number 1742048.

Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or Riverside police at 708-447-9191.