Local Man Missing in Mendocino County

This article was reported and written by Liz Spear.

A local woman is trying to organize a ground search for her husband, who is missing in Mendocino County.

Erik Lamberg, 51, who has been living in Redondo Beach with relatives, was driving to Oregon when he went missing on a dirt road in Northern California between Fort Bragg and Willits, his wife, Samantha Lamberg of Hermosa Beach, told Patch on Wednesday. His van was found stuck in mud and unlocked Saturday by people riding ATVs, she said. Bark had been placed near the wheels in an apparently attempt to get out of the mud.

His keys, wallet and cellphone were not in the van but other belongings were, she said.

The Mendocino County Sheriff's Office said the 2004 Honda Odyssey was found on Sherwood Road about 20 miles west of Willits. Deputies searched the area to no avail. Lamberg's van was towed.

Samantha Lamberg, who has two children with Erik, last heard from her husband on May 26 when he called on his cellphone. He told her he was having car problems.

She believes he may be lost in the heavily wooded forest where his van was found since his credit card has not been used since May 26. The card was last used for two nights of lodging in Laytonville, where he waited for an auto repair shop to open the Tuesday after Memorial Day.

Lamberg, who is bipolar, is 6 foot 5 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds. He has sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He has never shown violent tendencies, she said, but may be suspicious of law enforcement and other authorities.

She said Budget Inn staff told her he seemed fine when they interacted with him.

"He knows that the kids and I love him," she said when discussing Erik. She wants to do everything she can to find him and believes a ground search is needed; however, she said she needs "to be with the kids."

"If they could have a volunteer effort to provide manpower and walk a radius out," she told Patch, adding that the sheriff's department is leanly staffed. "I don't know if he's injured... He's never had a great sense of direction."

"He's a lovely person," she said of the USC graduate, adding he's always been "a softie, sensitive and very nurturing."

Anyone with information or who may have seen Lamberg is asked to call the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at 707-463-4086.