Sketch released of person last seen with missing South Lake Tahoe woman

Authorities have released a sketch of a person of interest in the case of a South Lake Tahoe woman missing from a counter-culture gathering in southwest Washington state, the Reno-Gazette Journal reports.
Marie Colello Hanson, 54, was last seen the evening of July 6 leaving a Rainbow Gathering at Skookum Meadows on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Click here for more details from KOMO News in Seattle.

Hanson, 54, has not spoken to family or has been heard from since. A website and Facebook page have been built in the hopes of finding her.

In an Aug. 29 post the family reports the following:

"Thanks to an amazing group of people from the Rainbow Family, we have now traced Marie’s whereabouts to a location near the back gate late in the evening of July 7th. This is significant because prior to yesterday the last confirmed sighting of her was the morning of July 7th.

"We are now looking for people who were still at the Rainbow Gathering on the 7th and 8th of July. Please cast your nets again friends, we are particularly looking for people who were near the back gate, Lovin Ovens or near any parked cars, particularly a white Saturn near the back gate in the early hours of July 8th through noon on that same day. If you know of people who were departing July 8th, please contact them, and have them contact the family by email findmariehanson@gmail.com or phone 530-307-0280."

Hanson had talked to her daughter and grandchildren daily before deciding to make a spur-of-the-moment trip to the Rainbow Family Gathering in Washington's Gifford Pinchot National Forest on July 1.

"I think that she wanted an adventure, and I think that she got into something that she didn't know she was getting into," Family member Nancy Enterline told the Tahoe Mountain News earlier this month.

Hanson, a 26-year resident of South Lake Tahoe, spent most of her days taking care of her family and volunteering at the Sierra Community Church. Her husband, Billy, daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren also reside in South Lake Tahoe.

Hanson visited the East Coast for the first time in June to attend her son, Michael's, wedding and readily accepted a neighbor's invitation for another adventure soon after her return. The neighbor was planning to take part in the annual Rainbow Gathering in Washington and invited her to join him and his girlfriend for a week of camping, socializing, praying and meditating.

With its roots in the hippie counterculture movement of the 1960s, the Rainbow Family of Living Light is an unofficial group of people seeking peace and love. This year was the fortieth anniversary of their national gathering.

Though her daughter said Hanson had never heard of the Rainbow Family before and first described the trip as a "peace rally," it was not out of character for Hanson to take last minute trips with friends.

She and her neighbor departed on July 1. Hanson phoned home on July 2 to tell her husband they were almost there, and she would see him when they returned home on July 10. This was the last contact Hanson had with her family.

Official reports state she spent a few days enjoying her time at the Gathering, trading items for gifts to bring home to her grandchildren and joining the evening dinner circles. But on July 6 or 7, Marie Hanson vanished. Her purse, ID, medications, gifts and money were all left in the tent she shared with her friends.

Every year the Gathering generates several reports of missing people. In fact, the Skamania County, Wash. Sheriff's Office was looking into nearly two dozen missing person reports at the time Hanson was reported missing on July 9. She is the only one still unaccounted for. Family members reported her missing after the neighbor, whose name has not been publicly released, informed them she had not been seen for a few days.

While the Skamania County Sheriff's Office continues their investigation in Washington, Hanson's friends and family are here in her hometown, raising money to conduct their own investigation. They have hired one private detective, accepted the volunteer services of another, built the website and Facebook page.

— Contributing Tahoe Mountain News writer Jessie Marchesseau added to this story.