For over three decades, a family's desperate search for answers has been met with silence. Now, a significant new reward is offering a fragile glimmer of hope in one of California's most haunting cold cases.
A Sister's Unending Quest for Answers
Ana White has lived with a gaping void for nearly 35 years, ever since her younger sister, Andrea Jerri 'Chick' White, failed to return home. The 22-year-old mother of four vanished on 31 July 1991, after a court hearing in Eureka, California. "It's like she just vanished into thin air," Ana told The Independent, her grief undimmed by the passage of time. As the eldest sibling, Ana had helped raise Andrea, who was 13 years her junior, forming a bond more like mother and daughter.
Andrea, known affectionately as 'Chick' since infancy, was a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe and lived on the reservation in northern California. Despite a difficult childhood, she was devoted to creating a stable life for her own four children. Her disappearance that summer day shattered everything.
The Day She Vanished on Highway 299
The last confirmed sighting of Andrea White was on the afternoon of her disappearance. She had hitched a ride to attend a court hearing in Eureka related to a DUI charge from a prior accident. Determined to regain custody of her children, who were temporarily with their grandmother, she made the journey alone. Investigators confirmed she attended the hearing, albeit late, carrying a borrowed duffel bag with a change of clothes.
Around 1:30 p.m., a woman gave White a lift from Arcata and dropped her near the Blue Lake exit on Highway 299, the winding road connecting Eureka to the Hoopa Valley. The driver's identity remains confidential. Witnesses, including a road crew and local residents, reported seeing a woman matching White's description hitchhiking further along the route towards Hoopa. Unconfirmed tips suggested she may have entered a 1964 Chevrolet Impala, but the lead went cold. Andrea White never arrived home.
"She was fighting to get us back," her son, Arnold Davis III, who was three at the time, told National Geographic. "That's why she hitchhiked to court."
A Case Reopened and a New Reward for Justice
The investigation stalled for years, becoming another statistic in the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Initial searches by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office yielded nothing. A $1,000 reward offered by the Hoopa Tribal Business Council in 1991 was the only monetary incentive for decades.
The case saw a pivotal shift last year when sheriff's officials reclassified it as a homicide and reopened the investigation. Then, on 30 December 2025, a new $20,000 reward was announced. The fund comprises $15,000 from the Hoopa Valley Tribe and $5,000 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit.
Lieutenant Mike Fridley, leading the cold case effort, stated, "We really want to see justice for Chick. We know there are people who may still be holding onto information." For the family, the reward is a crucial tool to pierce the veil of silence that has surrounded the case. "Any little thing that might get us closer to finding a key that will unlock all this," Ana said. "That's what we're hoping for."
A Family's Pain and a National Crisis
Andrea White's case is a microcosm of a devastating national crisis. Thousands of Native American women are reported missing each year, with systemic issues often hampering investigations. According to the National Institute of Justice, more than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women experience violence in their lifetime, and they face a murder rate ten times higher than the national average.
For Ana White and her nephew, Arnie Davis, the fight for answers is deeply personal. Davis, who now has his own family in Hoopa, spoke out at a recent town meeting, breaking a family silence that lasted 34 years. He expressed frustration that a case file had allegedly sat overlooked until the investigation was revived.
Ana's resolve remains unshaken. "I have nothing to do for the rest of my life but to find Chick – and that's what I'm doing," she declared. "Doesn't matter how long it takes me. That's my mission. That's what she deserves."
Andrea White was 5 feet tall and weighed approximately 110–115 pounds, with brown hair and eyes. She was last seen wearing Levi's jeans, a white sleeveless shirt, a black leather jacket, and carrying a black duffel bag with white trim. Anyone with information is urged to contact Lieutenant Mike Fridley at 707-441-3024.
