Who are Melissa Whitsitt and Svetlana Ustimenko? Families worried after 2 women vanish from Colorado town days apart
WINTER PARK, COLORADO: The disappearances of two women, Melissa Whitsitt, 34, and Svetlana Ustimenko, 55, who vanished from a small Colorado resort town days apart, are shrouded in mystery.
Melissa Whitsitt was last seen in the 100 block of Woodspur Lane in Winter Park on August 13 and did not arrive at her place of employment that day.
An unidentified individual called her phone multiple times in the Denver area on the same day, but it has since been turned off.
A search for Svetlana Ustimenko, 55, started a few days earlier, on August 11, just a few miles away in the Deadhorse Trailhead area off of Grand County Road 73 in the Arapaho National Forest.
Are the cases of Melissa Whitsitt and Svetlana Ustimenko connected?
Melissa Whitsitt and Svetlana Ustimenko vanished in Winter Park, Colorado, days apart. Authorities informed that the two cases are unrelated and do not pose a threat to the neighborhood, as per Daily Mail.
Where are Melissa Whitsitt and Svetlana Ustimenko?
Whitsitt had relocated to Colorado in May to start a job at Winter Park Resort. The Grand County Sheriff's Office said she went missing on August 13 after failing to show up for work.
Her phone had been used that day to communicate to persons in Denver, according to investigators probing into her whereabouts.
Melissa Whitsitt's family in anguish
Cindy and Jerry Whitsitt, Melissa Whitsitt's parents, drove from West Tennessee to Winter Park to look for their daughter within a five-mile radius around Union Station.
Flyers have been distributed, and they have been enquiring as to whether anyone has seen her.
"Like a needle in a haystack," Cindy told CBS News. "Some of the law enforcement have been very eager to help us but they are understandably outnumbered, there are literally two detectives in the department here in Denver and we found that unacceptable."
The Tennessee-born family claimed that Whitsitt was overjoyed to begin her new life in Winter Park. Her mother Cindy added, "She is a livewire. Always has been, she is very loud; you would see her or hear her if she is anywhere out there."
Whitsitt hasn't recently used her debit card and hasn't spoken to her friends or relatives. Cindy posted two earlier pictures of Whitsitt with blonde hair on Facebook and commented, "There are reasons for the three different pics."
Svetlana Ustimenko is a Florida native
The other incident involved Ustimenko's rented car, which was discovered parked near the Deadhorse Trailhead in late July.
According to the authorities, the vehicle was meant to be returned on August 10 but was left abandoned "for an extended period of time" with no sign of her.
Ustimenko, a Florida native who was just diagnosed with a fatal disease, was found to be "struggling as she tried to cope and [was] attracted to the Colorado mountains," according to the probe.
A team of local law enforcement officials, search and rescue crews, and cadaver dogs have been searching the region since August 11.
Despite the assistance of off-trail ground rescuers, drones, horses, and 750 volunteer hours, authorities were unable to find Ustimenko.
She is not in the main area, according to the sheriff's office, and the search was paused on Tuesday pending more information.