Husband asks for help after wife goes missing in Jemez Mountains

Husband asks for help after wife goes missing in Jemez Mountains

There is growing concern for a New Mexico woman after she was last seen on a remote forest road in the Jemez Mountains.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – There is growing concern for a New Mexico woman after she was last seen on a remote forest road in the Jemez Mountains.

Ingrid Lane has serious medical problems and has been missing for three weeks. Now, her husband is calling for help. 

“She got all the bookcases, so my office is absolute chaos,” said Louis Scuderi. 

He and his wife bought a home in the heights of Albuquerque just four months ago.

“On our first date, we played music together, and that was kind of it,” said Scuderi. 

It was a first duet – not a dance – a year and a half ago when they got married at Ghost Ranch. But it’s not love in the air anymore, it is grave concern because Lane was last seen three weeks ago.

“That keeps me up at night, because that’s awful,” said Scuderi. “It’s not unusual for her to go without contacting anyone for a day. Two days would be a little out of the ordinary, three was getting into like, I am extremely worried.”

Lane – a practicing Buddhist – took off to the Zen Center in Jemez Springs on Oct. 15.

Scuderi says he encouraged her to go because she had been struggling with sleep and her mental health.

“Ingrid is fantastic at taking care of others, and incredibly generous. But not good at taking care of herself,” Scuderi said. 

But three days without hearing from her prompted Scuderi to call the police. He says an Apple air tag pinged and led investigators to her damaged car, and a couple of hunters. 

“And they said ‘Hey we saw this woman, talked to her.’ She apparently flagged them down, said her car had got messed up. They helped her with a tire and um – offered to give her a ride back down to the main road which she didn’t take. Said she was really determined to get to the top of a mountain or a peak,” said Scuderi. 

Her car had a spare tire on it, the back window was smashed with a rock in the back seat. Scuderi says it might be from his front yard in Albuquerque.

“One very strange detail is that they found a burner phone in her car, but still in its package, not opened, not activated,” Scuderi said. “That’s a shock to me. That’s a huge shock to me to find out.”

Those hunters on Sunday afternoon are the last people to see Lane. 

Scuderi says dozens of people have searched with dogs and drones. They are certain she is not near where her car was found.

A GoFundMe page has raised more than $23,000 to hire a helicopter.

“There’s a lot of things that just don’t make sense,” said Scuderi. 

They are asking if anyone has seen Lane or can help solve this mystery.

“It’s been three weeks. There’s not really a good end here, right? If we find her alive and safe, and OK. Who would do that? That’s not my wife,” said Scuderi.

Scuderi says Lane has a rare lung condition that worsens when it gets cold out. The car was found on a remote forest road northwest of the Valles Caldera. 

KOB 4 called the Sandoval County sheriff and did not get a callback Sunday. But Scuderi says he interviewed them a couple of weeks ago and is waiting for any updates.

The search is expected to intensify, but they are warning people not to go out there unless they are prepared, because it can be dangerous. 

Anyone with info should call the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office.