Are the Police Doing Enough as Community Searches for Missing LGBT Activist

Come out for Tomorrow Night’s Gathering for Frank Goldberg

By Melanie Nathan, December 26, 2013.

Frank Goldberg, a 36-year-old activist for LGBT groups in Buffalo, New York, has been missing since Monday 16th December. A video put out by friends notes that up to Dec 21, the police had yet to open a file, despite the fact that the missing persons report was filed on December 17th. We are trying to determine what effort has been put into the case to date. A detective was assigned to the case on December 23rd. Family and friends were questioned.  There is no information as to whether any official police search has been conducted.

In the meantime it is imperative that the community put out this alert, as friends and family believe Frank may still be alive.

Frank Goldberg identifies as genderqueer, prefers the use of feminine pronouns, and is described as being 5’5″ tall, 150 pounds, having “a tomboy-ish appearance with short, graying blond hair.”

Frank was last seen wearing a green canvas coat, and may have a black knit cap with a yarn mohawk in her possession.

UPDATED VIA FB PAGE:

As of December 31, 2013, we do not have concrete updates in the search for Frank Goldberg. Frank has now been missing for more than two weeks.

The community gathering last Friday was both beautiful and comforting, reflecting the strength of Frank’s community and of our love for her. The event drew significant media attention (links on this page), helping us to get the word out that – if Frank is out there and she’s not ready to come home – we would love to just hear word that she’s safe (preferably with some indication that lets us know that it’s really her.) The minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church – where we held the gathering – offered to receive those calls. Their number is (716) 885-2136.

At the event, we also discussed the transitions in the search effort. In the first ten days since Frank went missing, family, friends and community members played the leading role in the search efforts. And we did a thorough job using every tool that we had access to. Now that the police have gotten involved and the family has hired a private investigator, they are using the tools at their disposal to make sure we have done everything we can do to find Frank. We are asking people to continue looking for Frank and sharing her story; we will maintain the volunteer lists of people who are ready to respond quickly if and when we receive calls of possible sightings.

But we also want to encourage her community to now intentionally make space to deal with the emotional impacts of her disappearance. If we can learn anything from what happened that night – when Frank disappeared in a moment of personal crisis – it should be that we need to be open with each other about our pain and our struggles, and we need to provide loving support to each other in the process.

We will continue to post updates about the search process, but they will likely be less frequent since the dynamics of the search process are now shifting. We continue to appreciate the immense love and support that everyone has shown for Frank, her family and her community. Thank you.

The  Facebook Page dedicated to the search posts the latest message:

Status Update 12 /26/13, 0147H:

We have no new information regarding Frank Goldberg’s location or condition. There have been no sightings reported. We have no new information from the Buffalo Police Department. Our Private Investigator is on the job, but has nothing new for us yet……THE GOOD NEWS IS…
she may be alive. Chances are, if she were dead we would have found her by now. So, there IS reason to be hopeful!
And reason to keep looking.

We are grateful for your continued interest and support. You help us keep going….we really need that.

You continue to ask how you can help, and we sure do need you! MOST IMPORTANTLY, PLEASE KEEP LOOKING, KEEP SHARING and LIKING our posts- please bring as many eyeballs to this search as you can.

We are planning for Friday nights event, A Gathering For Frank (please, follow the events link).

We have our Hostess Most High and Our Queen of the Kitchen; we are grateful for the food you all have offered. Bring whatever food and non-alcoholic beverages you’d like to share.

We still need more Knights of the Floor to help set up/and take down. The doors open at 7, the event runs til 9….ish. We can start set up at 530. We especially need commitments on the later end to help clean up…Hope to be done by 11 at latest.

Material needs (I am hoping for 200 attendees)
Can you donate: (really we don’t have cash)
Napkins
Boxes of Tissues (6?)
Plastic rectangular tableclothes (Purple), #?- will get back on that
MAY need disposable dessert sized plates, hot cups, cold cups, utensils; Prefer that we use the compostable kind of all.
Decorations are welcome, if anyone has the creative energy- this is NOT a wake

I am going to be duplicating some of this post on our event page. Please pardon.

Please please Help Find Frank Goldberg. We miss her terribly.

Sincerely,
Karin Lowenthal https://www.facebook.com/FindFrankGoldberg

UPDATED 1/1/2014

SEE http://www.wgrz.com/story/news/local/buffalo/2013/12/27/frank-goldberg-still-missing-community-gathers-in-support/4229507/

UPDATED 1/3/2014

Facebook Page for Frank:

Today is January 3rd, the day that Frank was supposed to get on the plane and fly back to Portland. We are so sorry to let you all know that Frank did not get on her flight. It has been a long day of wondering. Her original 5am flight was cancelled because of bad weather in Buffalo, and she was rescheduled for a 2pm flight. The new flight was then delayed till 5pm. As of about 6pm today, her ticket was marked as “cancelled” and as a credit available for rescheduling because she did not show up to use it. Her community in Portland knows to be looking out for her in case she shows up, but this new information makes that path less likely.

This marks yet another moment of transition in our search process, another door closing. As hard as it would have been to not have known where she was for the past two and a half weeks, all of us were hoping that Frank was just going to show up and get on that plane and go home to Portland to re-start her life there with the incredible community she built there in just three short months. We are all heartbroken that – at least for now – that does not seem to be how the story is unfolding.

Please, hold yourselves and each other kindly tonight. Love each other, and let yourselves be loved in the fear and pain of this moment. We are holding all of you in our hearts in the same way that you have been holding us. Thank you all for loving Frank so strongly.

==============================================

A gathering will take place tomorrow night to help further the search for Goldberg:

A video put out by friends notes that at 5 days after reporting the case, the police had yet to open a file.