The disappearance of Lompoc resident Daniel Burgess three days ago is completely out of character, his girlfriend said Sunday in pleading for information about his whereabouts.
Burgess, 47, was last seen at 11:30 a.m. Thursday while running errands on his black 2015 Harley-Davidson Freewheeler Tricycle, with an Alaska license plate of “Phreak,” according to a Lompoc police alert released Friday.
“The police are concerned and they have put it as a high-risk missing person,” Burgess’ girlfriend, Lorie Clark, told Noozhawk.
After living in Alaska, the couple moved to Lompoc in July seeking a place with mild weather so they could ride their motorcycles more frequently, she said.
“The police have been fantastic,” she added. “We don’t really know anybody here because we’re still new. We know very few people so it wasn’t a matter of running up with one of his buddies and taking off.
“It just doesn’t work that way. He’s not that person,” she said. “And he would never do this to his family or myself.”
Burgess is described as a white male adult, 5 feet 10 inches tall and 245 pounds. He has hazel eyes and blond hair.
He has a tribal fish tattoo on his upper right arm, a tribal dragon tattoo on his upper left arm and a black and pink breast cancer ribbon tattoo on his left calf.
Clark said Burgess’ first errand took him to the Lompoc post office where he apparently picked up mail.
The second errand involved visiting a computer businessman he met after answering a Craigslist ad three weeks ago. He planned to work as a subcontractor and expected to pick up the agreement Thursday.
Clark’s efforts to reach out to the businessman have gone unanswered, she said.
“As far as I know he will not return anybody’s calls,” she said.
Burgess has family in Alaska and a sister in San Francisco, but she has not heard from him, Clark said.
Since Thursday his cellphone has gone straight to voicemail, “which is very very unheard of. He never turns his phone off,” Clark said.
“That’s a very huge red flag,” she added.
She described Burgess as outgoing, personable and fun-loving.
“He’s a very genuinely nice guy,” Clark added. “He will give you the shirt off his back. He’s a very nice man.
“And he’s very very close to his mom and his sister so for them not to be able to get ahold of him, we have a very big problem.”
While Burgess is an experienced motorcycle rider, the couple has a strict rule that they shared routes with each other even when going on short rides.
“And every time we stopped for gas we text each other to let each other know we’re OK,” Clark said.
Clark and Burgess have been friends for 20 years and a couple for approximately a year.
“We don’t fight so that wasn’t a reason,” she said. “We have a great relationship. None of us can think of any reason that this happened.”
Burgess worked remotely as a financial database manager for major corporations in Alaska. He missed a teleconference on Friday and apparently has not logged in to work, Clark said.
“That’s very bad because he never would jeopardize his job,” she said of the career he has held for a few years. “They love him so much they let him work remotely.”
Looking for better weather to allow more riding, the couple sought a new home in the Lower 48 states.
While taking six weeks to explore where to move, Clark, who grew up at Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1981 to 1989, said she decided to show Burgess where she once lived.
“He fell in love with it here so instead of moving to Florida we decided to stay here,” she said.
Clark said she has driven local roads to search for possible signs of a crash.
“The community has really popped up and helped a lot and I’m very appreciative for it because I don’t know anybody here,” she added.
Anyone with information about Burgess’ whereabouts is asked to call the Lompoc police at 805.736.2341 or Clark at 907.331.9871.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.