PALO ALTO — Authorities are searching for a woman who caused a national uproar — and received death threats — earlier this month after she publicly lambasted a 74-year-old man for wearing a Make America Great Again baseball cap at a Palo Alto coffee shop.
Rebecca Parker Mankey was reported missing Friday morning when she didn’t return to her home in Palo Alto after visiting a friend in Lake County, said Sgt. Aaron Clark of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Clark said investigators believe Mankey went off the grid to avoid the avalanche of negative attention she has received.
“We have nothing that makes us think she’s at-risk,” Clark said in a phone interview late Friday night. “We’ve determined from the people we’ve talked to that she is voluntarily missing.”
Two separate cellphone pings performed by law enforcement placed Mankey in the Aberdeen area of Washington state on Friday, authorities said.
Sgt. Darrin King of the Aberdeen Police Department said all the department’s officers are aware of what Mankey looks like, and have been asked to keep an eye out for her.
“Sometimes people just don’t want to be found,” King said Sunday. “Not that they’re going to do anything wrong, they just don’t want to be contacted.”
King said if officers locate her, they would use caution, ensure Mankey is safe, and not being taken anywhere against her will.
On April 1, Mankey berated the man at a California Avenue Starbucks for wearing a red MAGA cap made famous by President Donald Trump, then posted about the encounter on her Facebook page.
“He will never forget me and will think seriously about wearing that hat in my town ever again,” she wrote.
The post sparked a social media firestorm and national debate about whether Mankey’s actions reflect the country’s political divide or represent out-of-bounds extremism.
Mankey received death threats and was forced to resign from her job at Gryphon Stringed Instruments, a company that sells, rents and repairs used and vintage musical instruments. She also stepped down as a co-chair, officer and member of the Bayshore Progressive Democrats.
“Parker felt strongly that she wanted to use her privilege as a white woman to stand up for those who are living in fear because of the hateful atmosphere fostered by Trump,” the club wrote on its Facebook page.
“Unfortunately the manner in which she chose to stand up against a slogan that stands for racism led to an even stronger hateful response that has endangered her and her family.”
Anyone with information about her whereabouts can call Sgt. John Gregore of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-263-2690.
Check back for updates.
Staff writers Maggie Angst and Joseph Geha contributed to this report.
