Claudia Altman

[LadyBlue]

Hillsborough County deputies say they need your help to find a missing pregnant woman.

Thirty-nine-year-old Claudia Altman has not been heard from for more than a week. It was eight days ago when neighbors say they saw Altman, alone, leaving her home. Deputies say Altman appeared to be doing fine and was not upset.

Altman is six months pregnant. Officers say she had been having financial and legal problems.

Family members of a missing pregnant woman are making a plea for help in finding her.

Claudia Altman's son, first husband, and his wife, flew into Tampa from Texas this morning and headed straight for a pres conference at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The three joined other family and friends of the missing woman to ask for help finding her.

Altman was last seen on April 4. She picked up a paycheck in Orlando, went to Lakeland and Ruskin, and at 6:30, she left her home in Carrollwood.

Gathered around a table Wednesday, the group of family and friends said the disappearance is out of character for the six-month-pregnant Altman, and they insisted it needs to be investigated.

"She has four kids who need her right now. These two are here; the other two are with some foster parents. I really feel like these kids need to be with their mom. And their mom needs to be found," family friend Judy Etkin stated.

Altman had a series of legal, medical, and personal issues that could have played a part in whatever happened to her. The sheriff's office says they are going through her phone and bank records, and they have issued a national missing persons alert.

While officials follow up on leads, Altman's first husband has hired a private detective.

Concern about Claudia Altman, the 39-year-old Carrollwood woman who has not been seen or heard from by family and friends for eight days, bubbled over into anger Wednesday.

Her boss, lawyer, ex-husband and children said they are angry over how the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is handling the case. They said that just because Altman was mired in a violent relationship, just lost a job and often called 911 doesn't mean she isn't in need of help.

"We're concerned about Claudia," said her ex-husband, Lowell Etkin, who flew into Tampa from Fort Worth, Texas, on Wednesday morning to help find his former wife. He said he has hired a private detective because he is unhappy with how the sheriff's office is pursuing the case.

He said he thought his ex-wife was in danger from her estranged husband.

The estranged husband, Lee Altman, 46, has no criminal record and could not be reached for comment. Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said he has cooperated with detectives and has been interviewed several times.

However, Etkin said, the sheriff's office "has not been actively searching for Claudia."

Etkin's wife, Judy, said she is also close with Claudia Altman and that recently the missing woman confided that she feared for her safety and her life.

"She called me crying last week," Judy Etkin said. "Threats had been made."

Neighbor Saw Her Leave
Claudia Altman disappeared last week, leaving her purse and medication in her house. The only things missing were her car keys and her vehicle, a 2001 light blue Chrysler Town & Country minivan. A neighbor saw her leave her home, at 15155 Shaw Road, in the van on the night of April 4. Relatives said she is six months' pregnant by her estranged husband.

Claudia and Lee Altman were involved in an abusive relationship, records show. Restraining orders were granted to both over the past year. Claudia Altman was arrested last year on an assault charge, which was dismissed when she went into a domestic violence diversion program, said her attorney, Michael Scionti.

"Mrs. Altman was trying to break free from that cycle of violence," Scionti said, "and that's the most dangerous of times."

She was sheltered at a spouse-abuse shelter even though she was the one arrested, Scionti said, and she was undergoing domestic violence victim counseling.

No Foul Play Indicated
As for the criticism about the investigation, Carter, the sheriff's office spokeswoman, would say only that detectives are doing all they can.

"The only thing we are going to say is that we are actively investigating this case," Carter said. "We have seven detectives working full-time on this case."

Carter said Claudia Altman has been entered into the statewide and nationwide missing persons databases and that there were numerous leads detectives were following up on.

"Unfortunately," she said, "none of that is anything we can make public at this time. But there is nothing to indicate to us at this time that there is foul play."

www.tampabaylive.com/stories/2006/04/060411missing.shtml

[LadyBlue]

TAMPA - Claudia Altman is a tiny woman. At 4-foot-11, she's six months pregnant and weighs 120 pounds. Now, her family says she's missing.

Altman's family says this 39-year-old woman disappeared April 4. A late-night call to her daughter was the last anyone heard from her. Neighbors say she left her home that evening in her light blue minivan. She never came back.

"The family is quite concerned for her safety," said Hillsborough sheriff's Lt. J.R. Burton.

Sheriff's investigators say they don't suspect foul play. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Burton said it seemed she had "personal, professional and financial problems."

Altman was on probation, Burton said. Court records show there had been domestic troubles. Investigators say sheriff's records show she had about 80 "interactions" with law enforcement.

But her family and employer at Las Americas Herald, a weekly Hispanic newspaper, don't buy it.

"I mean, what kind of mother would leave without all her stuff when she's six months pregnant?" said her daughter, Jessie Etkin, 17.

Altman, a member of the Tampa Bay Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, was reported missing Thursday by Etkin. The teen found her mother's Carrollwood home empty, her driver's license, purse and cash still there.

Only her cell phone and the keys to her Town and Country Chrysler minivan were missing.

The teen last spoke with her mother in a brief conversation two days before. It was 10:15 p.m. Etkin told her mother she wasn't feeling well. When she tried calling back, no one answered. By Friday, she says, the phone went straight to voicemail.

"I just want somebody to find her so nothing bad will happen to her," Etkin said.

Altman was born in Argentina and moved to Mexico before coming to the United States, according to her boss at the paper, Andrew Finder. Court records say she was born in Mexico and had been married four times. She has four children and came to Tampa a decade ago, Finder said.

For the past eight months, she covered news related to Tampa's Hispanic community, including interviews with the Mexican consul and the Peruvian ambassador.

"She was a woman with many different hats on," Finder said.

Investigators say Altman was fired from a part-time job with Westgate Resorts in Orlando on April 1. She picked up her last paycheck April 4, then drove to Ruskin, where she made a deposit at a bank. That afternoon, she met with her probation officer in Tampa, ate lunch in Lakeland and called her daughter at 6 p.m. Finder said she also met with her attorney.

Etkin and Finder say she was in the midst of an ugly divorce with Lee Altman. Investigators have spoken with him several times, and he's been "extremely cooperative," Burton said.

There's no record of a divorce filing for the couple in Hillsborough or Pinellas counties, but Finder says the Altmans had an injunction hearing set for today. Her husband could not be reached Tuesday evening.

Authorities stepped up the search for her Tuesday after finding paperwork in the home about her health problems, Burton said. He wouldn't give specifics.

Investigators were still checking records for her phone and bank card for clues, he said. They put a national alert for the van.

Anyone with information can call the Sheriff's Office at 247-8200.