HEIDI Planck was last seen at her son’s football game on October 17 and her boss was “probed” over millions in fraud before she disappeared, her ex-husband claims.
The 39-year-old mom’s last known movements are now under police investigation after she appeared “edgy” before suddenly leaving her son’s game.
Police who are looking into the disappearance are looking into her work after her boss was probed over a $43 million fraud, her ex-husband has told The Sun.
Her boss, Jason Sugarman, is accused of stealing “$43 million from unwitting pension funds to finance the acquisition of a global financial conglomerate of European and Bermuda insurers, and investment advisers based in Virginia and Connecticut” according to legal documents obtained by The Sun.
It is not clear what the status of that civil lawsuit is.
Asked about Sugarman, a managing partner at Heidi’s firm Camden Capital, Heidi’s ex-husband Jim Wayne, 63, told The Sun: “Heidi would have been working with him daily, for sure. I know for a fact that the police are looking into that. That’s absolutely one of their lines of inquiry.”
There is no evidence to suggest that Sugarman was involved in Planck’s disappearance, and police have not named him as a suspect or person of interest in her disappearance.
Heidi was captured on security footage the same day she went missing leaving her home with her dog in her gray 2017 Range Rover. Since the disappearance, Reddit and Websleuths users have been commenting on the case.
Read our Heidi Planck live blog for the latest news and updates…
-
CAR MISSING, PHONE STILL AT HOME
Heidi Planck’s car remains missing, according to local reports.
Her laptop and phone were found at her home during a wellness check on October 20.
-
WHO IS JIM WAYNE?
Jim Wayne, 63, is Planck’s ex-husband. The pair divorced after four years together shortly after the birth of their son.
Reportedly, Wayne is a hairdresser for celebrities in Beverly Hills, according to Meaww.
Wayne and Planck had a 24-year age gap at the time of their relationship.
-
WHAT DID THE FBI FIND IN THE RAID OF HEIDI’S HOME?
The FBI was seen on Friday evening entering her home with guns drawn; they had been expecting to find a crime scene there, according to local reports.
They were later said to have left the home with files; it is not known what they contain.
Heidi’s friends say they have not been allowed in her home.
-
‘LEAD CONTACT’
Heidi’s ex-husband Jim Wayne explained that he is acting as the “lead contact” for the police and Heidi’s friends through the ordeal.
He described Heidi as a great worker and a great mom.
“We have totally different parenting styles,” he said.
“I’m a very strict dad. This is not my first rodeo, I’ve got two older kids.
“Our son is Heidi’s only child and she is a bit more relaxed in her parenting style.
“We were married for a couple of years but had been with each other for four years.
He said that they couple decided to get divorced “nine years ago.”
-
‘A REALLY GREAT GUY’
Heidi’s ex-husband Jim Wayne said he has no suspicious about Na’eem Salaam, who had been dating Heidi when she went missing.
He explained: “I don’t have any worries about him, he’s a great guy.
“I’m no detective for sure, but he seems like a really great guy.
“They had been in an argument the week before so he didn’t know anything about her disappearance.
“He thought she was just ghosting him.
“He had no idea.”
-
WAS HEIDI PLANCK DATING ANYONE?
It has emerged that the single mom had been dating Na’eem Salaam, 43, who works for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as a vice president for operations, according to his Linked-In account.
Stanford-educated Na’eem’s mom Amirah confirmed to The Sun that he had been dating Heidi and gasped “oh no” when told that she had gone missing.
The mental health counselor confirmed she had met Heidi previously, and that she “hoped all is well”.
-
SUSPICIOUS BUILDING?
Residents of an apartment building where missing mom Heidi Planck’s dog was found have raised concerns over ‘criminal activity and guns fired’ at the location.
Cops have not said how Heidi is connected to the Hope + Flower complex, and reviews on Yelp.com, seen by The Sun, show many disgruntled residents hate the building.
One reads: “DO NOT MOVE HERE. Resident of 18 months… Plenty of other buildings in the area to chose from. Rent at your own risk.”
They list 14 alleged issues including theft, “rampant drug use” and “rowdy residents,” claiming security cares more about people wearing masks sunbathing by the pool than following through with neighbor issues.
A second resident posted last month, warning prospective residents: “DO NOT MOVE HERE!! Don’t fall for the nice amenity spaces and valet parking and make the mistake of thinking this is a luxury building. This is anything but.
-
HEIDI’S DOG FOUND
Heidi was captured on security footage leaving her home in Downey, California with her dog in her gray 2017 Range Rover on October 17, and the pooch was found later that day on the 28th floor of a high-rise in LA.
Cops have not said how Heidi is connected to the Hope + Flower complex, and reviews on Yelp.com, seen by The Sun, show many disgruntled residents hate the building.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, her ex Jim revealed how he found messages on Heidi’s phone from a stranger who had discovered her dog Seven wandering alone in the high-rise.
He said he then went to pick up the pet from a couple “who said they had just found it roaming around on their floor in the hallway.”
-
WHO IS HEIDI PLANCK?
Planck, 38, is known as a California mom who was reported missing on October 20, 2021.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she currently works as a controller and executive assistant at Camden Capital Partners.
She was last seen on October 17, looking “antsy” at her son’s football game, according to her ex-husband.
The missing mom is described as a 5’2″, 102 pound white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes who was last seen wearing jeans and a grey sweater.
-
APPEARED ‘EDGY’
Heidi Planck’s ex husband Jim Wayne told ABC that when Heidi left their son’s football game: “She may have been a little bit edgy. I don’t know.”
He added: “If you have seen anything, anything at all, we have a 10-year-old boy at home that’s looking for his mom and we need to find his mom.
“People don’t just disappear.”
It is unclear why Heidi left the game early.
-
HEIDI PLANCK TIMELINE
The 39-year-old was last seen on October 17 at her son’s football game.
She was captured on security footage that same day, leaving her home with her dog in her gray 2017 Range Rover.
That dog was found later that day on the 28th floor of a high-rise building in downtown LA – 12 miles from her home in Downey, California.
But it was not until three days later that Heidi was reported missing by her ex husband Jim Wayne after failing to pick up their 10-year-old son from school.
Then on October 29, FBI agents raided her home, allegedly leaving with files; they had been expecting to find a crime scene there, according to local reports.
-
THE HUNT CONTINUES
Heidi is white, 5-feet-3 inches tall, and weighs about 120 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes.
If you have seen or have any information regarding the whereabouts of Planck, Heidi please contact the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at 213-996-1800.
During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (877-527-3247).
Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to http://www.lacrimestoppers.org.
-
CONNECTION TO APARTMENT COMPLEX?
The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement that security footage from October 17 shows her leaving her Palms home on L.A.’s Westside with her dog, CBSLA reports.
Friends of Planck posted flyers in Downtown LA around the corner of 12th and Hope Street on Saturday after Planck’s dog was found wandering through the halls on the 28th floor of an apartment building nearby.
Los Angeles Police Department Detectives have not said if Planck is connected to the complex.
However, Jarrod Burguan, a retired San Bernardino police chief, said: “People are very, very attached to their pets, and their pets do not just go missing. There clearly is something out of place here.”
One friend told CBS: “It seems to us that everything stems from that building where her dog was found.”
-
WHERE IS HEIDI PLANCK FROM?
Planck, 38, is a California mom who was reported missing on October 20, 2021.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she currently works as a controller and executive assistant at Camden Capital Partners.
-
FORMER COWORKER ASKS FOR HELP
A former coworker of Heidi Planck’s asked Twitter users for help in finding the missing mother.
“Please RT this, my former coworker is missing,”they wrote.
“She left her son’s football game on Oct 17 and hasn’t been seen since. Spread the word! Her name is Heidi Planck.”
-
SEC PROSECUTOR ‘WANTED TO KNOW MORE’ ABOUT HEIDI’S BOSS
Heidi Planck’s ex-husband Jim Wayne told The Sun: “When this all started and the news started calling me, a federal prosecutor for the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) actually called me on my cell phone.”
“I have no idea how they got my cell phone number, I have no idea how they even got my name, but they did.”
“They wanted to know more about Jason Sugarman and I was like ‘I don’t work for him’.”
“Don’t forget, Heidi’s my ex-wife. She’s not talking to me about this stuff.”
-
‘WE JUST NEED TO FIND HER’
Jim Wayne, Heidi Planck’s ex-husband, appeared on NBC’s Dateline on November 1 to talk about the case and revealed that he suspected something was wrong when she did not pick up their son on October 20.
“She’s a devoted mother who would never, ever leave her son,” Wayne told NBC.
“We have a 10-year-old boy at home that’s looking for his mom and we just need to find her.”
He went on to reveal that their son’s birthday is next week and all he wants to do is spend his birthday with his mom.
-
WHO IS HEIDI PLANCK’S EX-HUSBAND JIM WAYNE?
Jim Wayne, 63, is Planck’s ex-husband.
The former couple divorced after four years together shortly after the birth of their son.
Reportedly, Wayne is a hairdresser for celebrities in Beverly Hills, according to Meaww.
Wayne and Planck had a 24-year age gap at the time of their relationship.
Their son together is their only child and Wayne claimed that Planck’s parenting style is “relaxed.”
-
SOCIAL MEDIA USERS CONNECT HEIDI PLANCK AND GABBY PETITO CASES
Some Twitter users are using the attention that remains on the Gabby Petito case to make people aware of Heidi Planck’s disappearance.
“For those following #brianlaundrie and Gabby’s odd case. A new one. 39 year old mom in LA, left home with her dog for her son’s football game. She’s been missing for days…Her dog was found wandering the hallways of an LA highrise,” one person wrote.
-
‘SOMETHING OUT OF PLACE’
Heidi Planck’s friends posted flyers in Los Angeles on Saturday near to where her dog was found wandering an apartment building without her.
Los Angeles Police Department Detectives have not said how Planck is connected to the complex.
Jarrod Burguan, a retired San Bernardino police chief, said: “People are very, very attached to their pets, and their pets do not just go missing.”
“There clearly is something out of place here.”
One friend told CBS: “It seems to us that everything stems from that building where her dog was found.”
-
HEIDI PLANCK’S BOSS PROBED OVER MILLIONS IN FRAUD
Authorities probing the disappearance of Heidi Planck are looking into her work after her boss was probed over a $43 million fraud, her ex-husband told The Sun.
Heidi’s boss, Jason Sugarman, is accused of stealing “$43 million from unwitting pension funds to finance the acquisition of a global financial conglomerate of European and Bermuda insurers, and investment advisers based in Virginia and Connecticut,” according to legal documents obtained by The Sun.
It is not clear what the status of that civil lawsuit is.
Heidi’s ex-husband Jim Wayne, 63, told The Sun she had never spoken to him about the legal issues her colleague is facing.
Jim said: “Heidi would have been working with him daily, for sure.”
“I know for a fact that the police are looking into that. That’s absolutely one of their lines of enquiry.”
-
‘GREAT WORKER AND A GREAT MOM’
Heidi Planck’s ex-husband spoke to The Sun and was asked to describe her.
“She’s a great worker and a great mom,” Jim Wayne said.
“We have totally different parenting styles, I’m a very strict dad. This is not my first rodeo, I’ve got two older kids.”
“Our son is Heidi’s only child and she is a bit more relaxed in her parenting style.”
“We were married for a couple of years but had been with each other for four years. We divorced nine years ago.”
-
WATCH FOR A RANGE ROVER
Heidi Planck was last seen driving a 2017 gray Range Rover with a California license plate.
Anyone with information that could help investigations should contact the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit at 213-996-1800.
Anonymous tipsters should call the Los Angeles Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to the Crime Stoppers website.
-
BOYFRIEND NOT NAMED AS PERSON OF INTEREST
There is no evidence to suggest that Heidi’s current partner was involved in her disappearance.
Police have not named him as a suspect or person of interest in her missing persons case.
Heidi’s ex-husband, Jim Wayne, told The Sun, “They had been in an argument the week before so he didn’t know anything about her disappearance.”
“I don’t have any worries about him, he’s a great guy,” he noted.
-
NEW BOYFRIEND IS A ‘GREAT GUY,’ EX-HUSBAND INSISTS
Heidi Planck’s ex-husband Jim Wayne, 63, reported Heidi missing after she failed to pick up their son from school three days after she left his football game.
He told The Sun Heidi had an argument with the man she had been dating in the week before her disappearance – but insisted he is a “great guy.”
“I don’t have any worries about him, he’s a great guy,” Wayne said.
“I’m no detective for sure, but he seems like a really great guy.”
“As I said, I’m not a detective, but I can pretty much assure you that that’s not it.”
There is no evidence to suggest that Heidi’s partner was involved in her disappearance.