West’s story was featured Aug. 27 on the season 11 premiere of the Investigation Discovery program “Disappeared,” generating new leads and interest in the case, according to a GoFundMe to raise money for the search for West.
Due to the renewed interest, the family is working with We Are The Essentials, a group of former law enforcement and military personnel who work as search and recovery investigators, the GoFundMe said.
The group last week was searching for new evidence and conducting interviews, The Independent reported.
“All it takes is one,” Scott Dudek, a private investigator who has been working with West’s family for years, told The Independent. “Whether we find her alive, confused somewhere or somewhere else, the family needs to know. They’re really good people. It’s tearing them apart.”
Sydney “Syd” Kaitlyn West was last seen Sept. 30, 2020, at 6:45 a.m., a foggy San Francisco morning, on the Golden Gate Bridge. West is a white woman who stands 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighed about 130 pounds when she disappeared. She may be wearing glasses.
There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to her location and return.
West was born in Walnut Creek and lived briefly in Castro Valley before her family moved to Pleasanton. She was a student at Donlon Elementary and Hart Middle schools and attended Foothill High School for her freshman and sophomore years.
Her family relocated to Orange County in North Carolina in July 2017. West returned to the Bay Area to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied briefly before deciding to defer her freshman year to the fall of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. She moved in with friends in San Francisco, where she was living when she disappeared.
West made the decision to take a break from UC Berkeley after suffering a concussion in the summer of 2020 that made it difficult for her to engage with virtual classes, according to a website created by her family and dedicated to the case. She decided to hold off on returning until she could make a more complete recovery.
West frequented the area of the bridge, the website said. She liked to go for walks and runs there and to take photos. She arrived at the area around the time of her disappearance after taking an Uber. The driver was interviewed by police and was not a suspect, according to the website.
West, who was very close with her family, was reported missing after her family received no response after multiple attempts to contact her. She had a long phone call with her dad the evening before her disappearance, the website said. West’s phone, social media and bank accounts have not been used since she went missing.
For more information, visit FindSydneyWest.com or contact Dudek at 925-705-8328.