On September 21, 2015 Asha Kreimer was experiencing a mental health crisis. The 26-year-old Australian woman living in Northern California had been awake for four days. Her friends said in addition to the insomnia, she was acting “off” and shouting at people, which was out of character. While Asha had no history of mental illness, her mother believes she may have been experiencing symptoms of bipolar disorder because it runs in their family.
Her friends had her taken to Fort Bragg Hospital. The hospital decided to put her on an involuntary 5150 hold because they believed she was in the midst of a psychotic episode and a danger to herself. Asha refused to allow hospital personnel to test her blood, take her blood pressure, or perform any other tests on her. Because she was adamant that she wanted to be released, the hospital simply let her go against protocol.
Asha’s boyfriend, Jamai Gayle, and her childhood friend, Sally, picked her up from the hospital. On the way home, Asha tried to jump out of the moving car. That night, Asha left from her home and told a friend she had killed her neighbor (the neighbor was very much alive). In the morning, she wandered away again twice and her friends grew even more worried. The decided to visit Gayle’s mother who lived 123 miles down the coast in San Francisco. They thought the scenic drive would help Asha feel better. At 9:30am the trio arrived at Rollerville Cafe in Point Arena, a small town of less than 500 people. They planned to get pancakes.
While eating breakfast, Sally got up from the table to go to the bathroom. Asha decided to join her and followed behind her, unbeknownst to Sally. When Sally returned to the table, Jamai asked where Asha was. Sally said she had not seen Asha in the bathroom. Sally and Jamai were unable to find Asha anywhere in the bathroom, the restaurant, the car, or the rural area surrounding the cafe.
When she disappeared, Asha Kreimer was barefoot. She had no money, ID or phone. It’s believed Asha never entered the bathroom but instead wandered outside because her jacket was found on the road that traveled from the cafe to the Point Arena Lighthouse almost 3 miles away.
At some point, it is believed Asha returned to her apartment in Albion, CA a full 28 miles north to get her German Shepherd. A surfer in Gualala, California — 42 miles south of her apartment (and further south than Point Arena) — claims he saw Asha at 3pm, five and a half hours after she disappeared. Jeannie Kreimer, Asha’s mother, thinks Asha may be suffering from bipolar disorder and using an assumed name, perhaps working on a cannabis farm in Humboldt County. Traveling back and forth between California and Australia to search for her daughter, she says “I’ve been everywhere. I’ve been in crack houses.” She thinks Asha is unaware people are searching for her and needs help.
No one has heard from Asha Kreimer since that morning at the cafe.
