Hello friends today we're going to talk about the
strange disappearance of Lauren Cho. A little after 5 30 p.m on Monday june
28th 2021 squad cars with loud echoing sirens
drove down a quiet road to arrive on a fittingly serene property in Yucca
Valley, California. A man named Cody Orell had reported his
former girlfriend and current travel partner missing.
Lauren Cho. Lauren referred to as 'L' by her loved
ones had met Cody through mutual friends at a get-together on memorial day and
became close right away. Cody had always dreamed of living out
west and Lauren sick of her job as a high school teacher spontaneously
decided to join him in his adventure. They'd driven all the way from New
Jersey to live in California in December of 2020 and the couple didn't waste any
time. They became fixtures in the small
community they were part of, Bombay Beach population 415.
Lauren was locally known for turning Cody's tour bus into a food truck
and she invited people for dinner nearly constantly, winning new friends nightly
with the creative recipes she had invented. Having a food truck was her dream and
cooking was her passion. Cho was as good at making friends as she
was at cooking and a new friend Tau Ruspoli invited her to work as a chef in
Yucca Valley for his collection of Airbnbs called the Whole.
Yucca Valley was an hour and a half from Bombay Beach and part of the deal was
getting to live on the property so Lauren gladly accepted the offer.
Cody joined her soon in Yucca Valley, they joined a sort of compound filled
with people who also wanted to live differently.
Lauren and Cody seemed to immediately fit in with the artists and musicians at
the whole so they stayed put. This decision unfortunately led to her
disappearance. Tau Ruspoli is a famous filmmaker,
he grew up on a commune in Rome and was trying to replicate some aspects of that
in the California desert with his compound the Whole.
He was formally married to actress Olivia Wilde.
Tau made a documentary you may be familiar with entitled 'Monogamish' from
2017 where he travels to the U.S, heartbroken after the divorce between he
and Olivia. Mr Ruspoli interviews people about sex,
love and marriage. One of the people he interviews just so
happens to be Neil Strauss, also known as the most outspoken public
advocate for the Elaine Park case and he hosts a podcast about her called
To Live and Die in L.A. The podcast is very popular and has
sparked tons of energy and conversation surrounding Elaine's 2017 disappearance.
Elaine park, by the way is still missing.
Tau Ruspoli despite being the person who invited Lauren to live at the Whole has
not publicly shared Lauren's flyers or participated in the multiple rounds of
search and rescue that have occurred for Lauren.
Perhaps Tau is working behind the scenes with Lauren's friends and family or,
perhaps not. On the day of Lauren's disappearance
Cody claims he walked into the bus and witnessed a very upset Lauren Cho,
she stormed out and has not been seen or heard from again.
He decided not to follow her. Cody was the last person known to see
Lauren Cho, which has put many eyes and suspicions on him.
Recently a couple of news sources have claimed
that Cody and Lauren actually got into an argument themselves then Lauren
stormed off. However, the original story stated that
Lauren was already angry and ready to leave when Cody arrived.
Hopefully, the truth will come out eventually.
When Lauren hadn't returned in a decent amount of time Cody claims he searched
for her, calling out her name as he wandered the property.
"There was a 10-minute window there and she evaporated".
Orell said in a phone interview with a High Desert Star on Thursday July 1st.
Cody called 9-1-1 a little after 5 p.m when there was no trace of Lauren
anywhere around the property, inside or out.
Lauren had been wearing a pair of Doc Martens at the time of her disappearance.
Doc Martens are a brand of boots with a very distinctive soul pattern that would
be easy to spot in the sand and dirt. When Cody granted an interview to the
local paper, the High Desert Star he said of the incident
"I searched all the hills and there were no tracks anywhere".
Cody also mentioned that Lauren had said on Sunday, the day before she disappeared
that she was going out to meet someone new but didn't say who.
Cody did not cry at the time and he says he regrets that now.
He's convinced Lauren got into a vehicle with someone, as he believes she would
have followed the trails if she did walk into the hills and thus the sign of her
would have been found rather quickly. The police shared similar sentiments as
did the multiple search and rescue teams that combed through the surrounding
desert for lauren all through the month of July.
According to the Sheriff's report, Cody Orell's call for help was placed at 5:13
p.m. Cho walked into the hills between Yucca
Valley and Morocco Valley Orell tried to find her and then called
her circle of friends for help and these friends scoured the hills as well.
He told the Sheriff's Office she didn't take her phone, water or food.
Multiple friends who called the Sheriff's station frantically explained
that Lauren had texted him expressing thoughts of self-harm and talked about
leaving everything behind. Within a couple of days of June 28th,
a couple of local residents contacted police to say they thought they saw
Lauren with a man at a restaurant in Yucca Valley, but nothing ever came of
this lead. To Lauren's friend RJ Okay
Lauren Cho is a motivated dreamer who is excited about the future,
definitely not someone who would willingly leave the life she was
beginning to build in California. We had dinner the night before he said
I thought for sure she'd be back for dinner again that night.
Another friend, Jeff Frost who lived with Cho at the Whole said that Lauren found
value in everyone else except for herself.
Despite Lauren's many talents and achievements like being a taekwondo
champion by the age of 12 and travelling Europe with an esteemed choir as a
teenager as a talented soprano she had a very hard time believing in her talents
and herself which led to bouts of depression that she confided in few
friends about. Regarding the massive search for his
friend Jeff said "We have gone thousands of miles and
tirelessly went to gas stations and pasted up flyers in the low desert and
the high desert. We went out to San Diego because she
said the week before she disappeared that she just wanted to go to the
beach." On July 2nd the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department officially
suspended his search and rescue operation, telling the High Desert Star
on July 6th, that Cho's case was classified as a missing person.
At this time there is a current investigation
but there is no particular person of interest and all avenues of leads are
being looked into says Sergeant Safford of the Morongo
Basin Station. He added that they did not expect to
resume a search effort unless new leads developed,
but then on July 24th, the search resumed when the department conducted aerial
searches of the mountain terrain near where Lauren had been staying.
On July 31st officers served a search warrant at the
Airbnb where Cho had been living, according to a press release issued by
the department on august 2nd, they used seven dogs to search the
property as well as other nearby areas for evidence.
At the time the department said in its release that more operations would be
conducted as further leads were developed.
It was more forthcoming about the reason for the search in a statement to the
High Desert Star, "We sought a search warrant due to the
property owner not being present and multiple people on site living at the
location". Sergeant Eric Smoot told the newspaper,
noting that it was the second search warrant served on the property.
He added that the weather in the area had been hampering search efforts for
Lauren. A very important development occurred on
September 21st 2021. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's
Department said in a press release, "Investigators with the San Bernardino County
Sheriff's Specialized Investigation Divisions are assisting the Morongo
Basin Station in the effort to locate Lauren Cho.
Investigators are looking into all leads and working with family and friends of
Miss Cho. Future search operations will occur as
further leads develop." The investigation had previously been
led by detectives from the Department's Morongo Basin station
Specialized Investigations Division includes the Homicide Detail
Crimes Against Children detail and the polygraph detail which all investigate
major crimes including homicides and suspicious deaths.
Anyone with any information about the whereabouts of Lauren Cho
is asked to please contact detective Edward Hernandez or Sergeant Justin
Giles Specialized Investigation Division at telephone number 909 909-387-3589,
callers wishing to remain anonymous are urged to call the We Tip hotline
at 1-800-78 crime
or 274-63 and or you may leave information
on the we tip hotline on the web at www.wetip.com.
Lauren Cho is an Asian female who is five foot four inches tall and 110
pounds, she has black hair and brown eyes.
She was last seen Monday June 28th 2021 in the Yucca Valley and Morongo Valley
area. Lauren was last seen wearing jean shorts
and a yellow top. Lauren has multiple tattoos and the ones
that are most noticeable when she's out and about include a mushroom on her
lower leg and ankle, a lamb on her shoulder,
no face on her inner arm above the elbow and a medusa on her thigh.
Well there you have it hopefully new leads will come in and
Miss Cho can be located. Again if you have any information
regarding Miss Cho's whereabouts or her disappearance
please contact the authorities. I look forward to your comments on this
but please keep it friendly and respectful,
many times the families of those involved watch these videos and read the
comment section so don't say anything you would want to
read if it was your family member friend or
loved one being talked about. Thanks for listening
in the meanwhile be good to yourselves and each other I'll see you just a
little farther on down the trail. I'm Steve Stockton and I'll talk to you
next time.