Feather Alert Issued for Missing Person Last Seen in Arcata

Mikeala Smith, 28, has been missing for nearly 11 days, and the California Highway Patrol is now calling on the public across five Northern California counties to help find her.

The CHP issued a Feather Alert on Monday for Smith, an Indigenous woman last seen at Creamery Row Alley and O Street in Arcata at approximately 10 p.m. on March 27. The alert covers Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, and San Francisco counties, a wide net reflecting the urgency of a case that went public more than a week after she vanished.

Smith is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 130 pounds, with blonde hair and brown eyes. She is believed to be traveling on foot, which means no vehicle description or license plate to watch for; her physical description is the primary identifying tool.

Creamery Row Alley sits near the active commercial center of Arcata, a corridor that draws regular foot traffic from nearby businesses, residents, and students. Any surveillance cameras covering the alley or the adjacent stretch of O Street could be critical to the investigation. Businesses and neighbors in that area are urged to review footage from the evening of March 27, particularly in the window between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Tips about her direction of travel or last known clothing are also useful to investigators and can be relayed directly by calling 911.

A Feather Alert is a state-designated emergency notification, active in California since January 2023, reserved for the suspicious or unexplained disappearance of an Indigenous woman or Indigenous person under California Government Code Section 8594.13. The program has proven effective locally: in November 2024, a Feather Alert issued for Naomi Donahue, 20, of the Bear River Rancheria band, led to her safe recovery within 48 hours of the public alert being activated.

Anyone who sees Smith is asked to call 911 immediately rather than approach her directly.