UPDATE: The yacht has been spotted off Pillar Point near Half Moon Bay. The Coast Guard and police are en route.
UPDATE Friday 11:08 a.m. CBS-5 reports the yacht has been spotted off of Pillar Point near Half Moon Bay by a commercial fishing boat. The Coast Guard is en route.
Police have so far turned up nothing in their search for a man they believe abducted his children on a stolen yacht headed for who-knows-where.
Authorities believe 43-year-old Christopher Maffei abducted his two children — 4-year-old Brooklynn and 2-year-old Devin — Tuesday from his ex-girlfriend’s house in South San Francisco, then drove to a harbor in Alameda and sailed away in a stolen 41-foot yacht.
ABC7 reported the ex-girlfriend was in the process of filing a restraining order against Maffei when the alleged abduction occurred at her home:
“I’m afraid if they back him into a corner. I just don’t want him to snap and do something really stupid more than what he’s already done…”
Mattei’s ex-girlfriend told ABC7 that Maffei somehow gained access to her house while her mother was watching the kids. She said he ran down the street with the children, with his car’s engine still running.
Maffei’s white Ford Fusion rental car was found abandoned in the parking lot of the Ballena Isle Marina in Alameda, where Unleashed was berthed, according to police.
The stolen yacht was reportedly spotted around Vallejo’s Mare Island about 6 p.m. Wednesday, though an extensive land and air search Thursday for any sign of the stolen yacht proved futile.
Police said Maffei had spoken in the past about sailing for Monterey or even Mexico.
Jesse Garnier is the editor and founder of SFBay. A Mission District native, he also teaches journalism as associate professor at San Francisco State University.
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