Primorye woman Erika vanishes in Thailand

The high-profile case of the disappearance of Erika V., a 34-year-old from Vladivostok, in Thailand is accumulating ever more ambiguous details. Just a day after the Primorye native was found, she disappeared again, and her 4-year-old daughter remains in her grandmother’s care.

Because of this, not only social media users but also volunteers are increasingly suggesting that the young woman did not go missing or end up in danger, but chose to free herself of all obligations and go out to enjoy nightclubs.

VLADIVOSTOK1.RU gathered the latest information about Erika V.’s disappearance, spoke with volunteers, and tried to determine whether she truly found herself in trouble. Read a detailed breakdown of the first reports and the search process via this link.

The disappearance went unnoticed at first

News of Erika V.’s disappearance spread in Russian media on 18 September, although she had gone missing five days earlier, during the night of 13 September. According to volunteers and acquaintances, she had lived for several years on the island of Samui (Thailand) and, for unknown reasons, flew to Bangkok with her 4-year-old daughter. There she checked into a hotel and, at 2 a.m., ordered a taxi and went alone to the Sukhumvit Soi area of Bangkok, popular with nightlife lovers but risky for tourists due to its questionable crowd.

The next day, hotel staff discovered Erika’s little daughter. Because no adults were present, the child was sent to one of Bangkok’s children’s homes, and it proved impossible to call her mother: the phone was switched off. At the same time, her page on the VKontakte (VK) social network became active every few days.

On 16 September, Erika’s friends and relatives realized she had been out of contact for a long time. Her parents traveled from Vladivostok to Bangkok and also sought assistance from the Embassy of Russia.

Later it emerged that staff at an unnamed hotel had seen the missing woman on 16 September accompanied by a Western-looking man, which became one reason to think she was simply enjoying entertainment venues. She was without her child and left the hotel the next day, abandoning her belongings and not paying for her stay.

The search process and odd volunteers

The search for Erika began on 18 September, but in the first 24 hours it did not progress beyond posting notices. The reason was a lack of leads and the absence of a scan of her passport, without which even filing a missing-person report in Thailand is difficult. Volunteer and editor of the group Pattaya ot A do Ya (“Pattaya from A to Z”) Svetlana Sherstoboeva suggested that the situation would be made worse by poor policing in Thailand.

«It won’t be like search teams set out straight away. They’ll accept the report, and it will just sit there unless you prod the police 10 times. Thailand’s police aren’t in the habit of looking for missing farang (Thai term for Western foreigners),» — the volunteer said.

Beyond documentation issues, some individuals could have impeded the search. Svetlana Sherstoboeva complained about a woman who presented herself as a volunteer, sent out missing-person notices with Erika’s surname misspelled, and later refused to work together on the search.

On 19 September the investigation moved off dead center: volunteers managed to reach Erika’s ex-husband, Denis, who lives in Vladivostok, and he provided a scan of her passport. Later the man clarified that he had not known about his former wife’s trip, despite their good relationship.

Separately, volunteers and users discussed the search for and ways to return Erika’s 4-year-old daughter to her family. Despite reports that an acquaintance of the missing woman was watching the child at the children’s home, more and more information suggested the girl could have ended up in any of Bangkok’s shelters.

In the end, thanks to the passport scan, on 20 September the grandmother managed to take her granddaughter home from the children’s home, where the child had spent a week. At the same time, the Prosecutor’s Office of Primorsky Krai intervened. The agency said it would monitor the establishment of the circumstances of the woman’s disappearance and the reasons she left the child.

The search ends — and the disappearance repeats

On 21 September came good news that seemed to wrap up the story. Erika was found in a budget hostel: its staff recognized the missing woman. She had been living there for five days.

Preliminarily, the Primorye native was in normal condition, and in one photo she appeared wearing a skincare mask on her face. There were no signs that Erika had been in the hostel against her will.

A representative of the consulate, friends, and her mother were then supposed to go meet her, but things grew even more tangled. According to SHOT, Erika experienced a mental breakdown: she would not let loved ones approach and did not understand she had left her daughter for eight days. This information has not been confirmed, but an anonymous source at VLADIVOSTOK1.RU said the young woman ultimately spoke with her mother. Presumably, the woman asked her daughter to come home.

But on 22 September Erika disappeared again. This was reported by an acquaintance of volunteer Svetlana Sherstoboeva who visited the hostel where the young woman had been staying. It turned out she had packed her things and left on her own in an unknown direction.

Mental confusion or a wish to run from everyone?

As of 23 September, Erika V.’s whereabouts are again unknown. From the very start, users split into two camps: some believed the young woman had serious problems and was in danger, while others thought she simply wanted to live for her own pleasure and went on a binge.

Speaking of possible problems, Erika’s friends told StarHit that she had no debts or serious conflicts. At the same time, since spring this year she had begun posting on social media about betrayal, pain, and emotional turmoil.

Some of Erika’s acquaintances claimed she liked to have a good time.

«She often looked for a nanny for her daughter. According to Erika’s circle, she herself liked to party hard. She was last seen in an unfavorable area of Bangkok,» — StarHit reported the day news of the Primorye native’s disappearance became known.

At the same time, hostel neighbors say she did not appear intoxicated or out of control and did not bring anyone in, though she could at times behave strangely.

For this reason, talk of Erika’s mental confusion also remains in doubt. Many people are sure this is untrue, because in such a state she would not have been able to pack and leave the hostel. Others think that if the young woman was not in her right mind, it was likely under the influence of alcohol.

In a conversation with a VLADIVOSTOK1.RU correspondent, Svetlana Sherstoboeva suggested that Erika did not vanish but intentionally left the hotel and «is doing whatever she wants». For this reason, the search is unlikely to continue — the Embassy of Russia in Thailand has already announced that it provided all necessary consular assistance and is no longer handling her case. Moreover, her relatives have the young woman’s contact, though it is not certain she herself wants to be found.