Video from the day Amy Hillyard disappeared has pushed police and volunteers toward Dimond Park as the case enters its second week.
OAKLAND, CA — Police and volunteers searched Oakland’s Dimond Park this week for Amy Hillyard, a missing coffee shop co-owner who was last seen March 25, after investigators said new video placed her in the park area later that same afternoon.
Hillyard’s disappearance has drawn a broad search response because police say the 52-year-old is considered at risk due to a medical condition, while family, friends and customers have turned the case into a citywide effort. The search now centers on a clearer timeline: Hillyard was first reported last seen near her home in the Cleveland Heights area, and police later said video put her near Dimond Park around 4:30 p.m. that day. That shift has changed where crews are looking and sharpened questions about where she went after leaving home.
Oakland police first asked for the public’s help on March 26, saying Hillyard had been seen around 2 p.m. the day before in the 500 block of Radnor Road. In that first public notice, police described her as 5-foot-4 and 120 pounds, with blonde hair and hazel eyes, and said she had been wearing a tan-colored top and tan pants. Days later, as the search grew, relatives and friends said some of that early information was wrong. By Tuesday, searchers were working from a revised account that Hillyard had been alone and was last wearing a white top, blue jeans and white sneakers with a black stripe. Police said the Dimond Park search began after recent video showed Hillyard there at about 4:30 p.m. on March 25. That gave investigators a later confirmed sighting than the one near her home and helped explain why officers, sheriff’s deputies and volunteers moved search lines into the park and nearby hills.
The Tuesday operation brought in a large mix of agencies and civilians. Police said local sheriff’s offices joined the effort, and television reports from the scene said about 60 people from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office took part, with mutual aid teams from Contra Costa and Marin counties also assisting. Friends and volunteers fanned out not only through Dimond Park but also in nearby hillside areas. Brian Molyneaux, a volunteer who told reporters he did not know Hillyard personally, said he joined the effort looking for small clues such as shoes or clothing that might have been left behind. Family spokesperson Susan Eandi said Hillyard had gone out for a walk and may have been disoriented. Police have not publicly described the medical condition behind the at-risk designation, and they have not publicly explained what happened between the time Hillyard left home and the moment video captured her in the park area. They also have not said whether any items belonging to her have been recovered.
What is clear is that Hillyard is a highly visible figure in Oakland and San Francisco, and that profile has widened the public response. She and her husband, Chris Hillyard, co-own Farley’s Coffee, a long-running Bay Area business with locations in Oakland and San Francisco. The original shop opened in Potrero Hill in 1989, and the couple later opened the Oakland location in 2009. Farley’s said in a public statement that Hillyard has been an active member of the Oakland community for more than 20 years. Friends have echoed that description, portraying her as the kind of person who connected neighbors, parents, customers and local organizers. Serena Khaira said at a vigil that Hillyard “collects people” and is often the first person others call when they need help. Those details matter because missing-person cases often depend on how fast a community can spread information, preserve camera footage and narrow possible routes. In this case, that network has already produced search teams, flyers and a wider public focus on her last known movements.
The public campaign has grown alongside the official investigation. A candlelight vigil near Lake Merritt drew a large crowd over the weekend, with reports ranging from around 100 attendees to hundreds of supporters. Posters have gone up in Oakland and San Francisco, including near transit stops and at the family’s coffee shop. The California Highway Patrol also issued an endangered missing advisory on behalf of Oakland police, sending alerts to cellphones in the East Bay and increasing attention to the case days after Hillyard vanished. Family members and friends have urged residents to review home security footage from Wednesday afternoon, especially in the neighborhoods between Cleveland Heights, Lake Merritt and the areas leading toward Dimond Park. That request reflects a major unresolved part of the timeline. Police now have one confirmed video point in the park area, but they have not publicly said whether other cameras tracked Hillyard before or after that sighting, whether she appeared on foot the entire time, or whether investigators believe she entered any vehicle.
For now, the case remains a missing-person investigation, not a criminal case announced with charges or suspects. There are no public court filings tied to the disappearance, and police have not announced an arrest, a person of interest or a scheduled hearing. The next procedural steps appear to be familiar but urgent ones: checking additional video, reviewing tips, repeating ground searches where new information points and comparing witness accounts with the timeline from March 25. Chris Hillyard told reporters the family still has very few answers, saying only that his wife has been missing since 2 p.m. Wednesday. That public uncertainty has become a defining fact of the case. Investigators know when she left home, and they say they know she was in the Dimond Park area by late afternoon, but they have not said where she went after that or whether she tried to contact anyone. As long as those gaps remain, each new tip or camera image could reshape the search area again.
At the park and at weekend gatherings, the mood has mixed anxiety with determination. Searchers have walked trails and roadside edges looking for any sign that Hillyard may have passed through. Friends have described her as an avid hiker and a deeply rooted local figure, which may help explain why so many people who know her only through school groups, neighborhood projects or the coffee shop have shown up to help. Eandi, speaking for the family, said the focus remains on bringing Hillyard home. Khaira, speaking at the vigil, said the city needed to keep Hillyard’s name in public view because someone might still remember seeing her or noticing something out of place. Even volunteers without a personal connection have framed their participation in simple terms: a woman vanished during a routine walk in a densely populated part of Oakland, and a broad public effort may be the best chance to fill in the missing hours. That sense of shared stake has kept the search visible well past the first days of the case.
As of Thursday, April 2, Hillyard remained missing, and police were still asking for tips as they work to close the gap between her departure from Radnor Road and the later video sighting at Dimond Park. The next milestone in the case is likely to be either a new confirmed sighting, another organized search, or a police update that clarifies the timeline.
Author note: Last updated April 2, 2026.