‘We want to bring LJ home.’ Sacramento police detail search for missing Natomas man
Sacramento Police Department officials provided their most detailed briefing yet of their efforts to find Lovett “LJ” Moore, the blind 33-year-old man who vanished June 28 from a Natomas convenience store, calling Wednesday for the community’s help.
“The fact is, we don’t know where he is right now, and so if people do know where he is. ... LJ, if you’re hearing this, we would ask you to just contact the Police Department,” said department spokesperson Officer Anthony Gamble. “If you’re OK, call us. You’re not in any trouble. Just call us.”
Drones and heat-sensing helicopters have searched for from above, Gamble told reporters Wednesday afternoon at the department’s Freeport Boulevard headquarters. Detectives chasing numerous leads in Sacramento and the Bay Area scoured surveillance footage to trace the missing Natomas man’s last known steps with no luck.
“Our detectives and our officers have been following up on numerous leads, and we have gone to great lengths to try to locate LJ to this point,” he said.
“I can tell you that we have sent investigators to the Bay Area to follow up on a lead. I can tell you that we’ve used our helicopter after hours, using our infrared system, to try to locate LJ. We’ve deployed our uncrewed aerial systems a number of times in an effort to locate LJ,” said Gamble.
Moore is also listed in the state Department of Justice’s missing person database, alerting other agencies to his disappearance.
Gamble said investigators do not believe Moore has met with harm or is the victim of foul play.
“There’s no information to lead us to believe that there’s any criminal element to this case right now, this is a missing person case,” Gamble said. “It’s unique because LJ is blind, and so our detectives are continuing to follow up on leads. Our Police Department has really taken an interest in trying to locate LJ, and so that’s not going to change.”
Detectives continue to investigate Moore’s disappearance as a missing persons case and say footage from surveillance cameras and the city’s public safety camera network that potentially captured his whereabouts remains key.
“Surveillance actually did a great job of giving us a timeline of what happened on the 28th. We can identify that he was at this gas station. We can identify time stamps. Our detectives and our officers have followed up at different locations, looking at surveillance again. This is an active investigation that we’re continuing to follow up on leads,” Gamble said.
“Surveillance is huge,” Gamble continued. “And this goes back to the point that if you think you saw him, it’s important to contact us, tell us where you think you saw him, because there might be surveillance footage there.”
For more than a month, Moore’s been missing, confounding family and friends who have grown more worried by the day for their loved one’s safety.
In the weeks since his disappearance, Moore’s family, friends and advocates have marshaled search parties, passed out flyers, fanned out across the city and called for a more urgent response from Sacramento police and city leaders.
On Tuesday, they took their frustration to the department’s doorstep, raising voices and hand-drawn signs urging Sacramento police to do more to find the missing man.
Gamble on Wednesday emphasized that Sacramento police are committed to finding the at-risk, blind and disabled Natomas man and have talked with Moore’s family, telling reporters investigators are trying to strike a balance between providing information and false hope.
“I understand that people’s concern that they want information now, but it’s not logical for our investigators to contact family on every step, because one, we don’t want to give false hope,” Gamble said. “Two, our detectives and our investigators and our officers are following up on those leads, so their focus is out in the field.”
It’s where the search for Lovett Moore continued Thursday.
“We have a shared interest here, the media, the police department, the family, the community,” Gamble said. “We want to bring LJ home.”
Anyone with information is urged to call Sacramento Police Department dispatchers at 916-808-5471.
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