VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., (WVEC) -- Friends and family of 39-year-old Bellamy Malaki Gamboa, who was last seen on July 1, are leading a search party to find her.
A group gathered at noon Saturday at the Philippine Cultural Center to organize a search effort and hand out fliers.
Her longtime friend Jeremy Gatbonton led the search and helped organize groups.
"Thankfully there’s a big group of people that came out today. We are trying to do some organizing of search parties to help find Bell and get her back to her kids. We just drew a Google map from where her apartment is to where her car was found and from that we kind of grid out search areas," said Gatbonton.
Gamboa was last seen on July 1 shortly before 8:30 p.m. in the 2100 block of Carrene Drive.
On July 5 at 6:44 p.m. Virginia State Police issued a 'Critically Missing Adult Alert' or an 'Ashanti Alert.'
Gamboa's sister Charisse Gamboa flew in from California on Saturday morning and said that Gamboa's disappearance was suspicious.
"My sister would never leave her children, she does love life, she loves her family. She would never leave her children so we know there’s something suspicious," Charisse Gamboa said.
Charisse Gamboa joins the search efforts in the Lake Edward area of Virginia Beach where police said Bellamy Gamboa's car was located.
With a privately hired K-9 search dog, volunteers walked the edge of the water and through brush surrounding Lake Edward.
Charisse Gamboa hopes they find her sister before her 40th birthday on July 16.
"What's going through my mind right now is where is Bellamy and hopefully we will find her. Seven is our lucky number and it’s her birthday month," Charisse Gamboa said.
Monday, the Gamboa family received help in their search through social media from comedian Marlon Wayans and Virginia Rapper Pusha T. The celebrities shared posts about Gamboa's disappearance.
Family friend Beverly Gatbonton said they are expanding their search for Gamboa to social media. They created the social media page called "BringBellamyHome".
"We will be showing updates later on the next search. We just wanted to have one location where we update everyone with the latest news. This one is a page that everyone can go to, to figure out how they can help," said Gatbonton.
Anyone with any information on Bellamy Gamboa's disappearance is asked to call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
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