The search is on for a Round Lake Park mother who has been missing for nearly a week.
Clint Best said it's like his wife, 34-year-old Melissa Best, "fell off the face of the earth."
The Round Lake Park machinist reported her missing to police on Saturday. A day earlier, surveillance video from a local business showed Melissa Best's minivan driving by and then returning a few minutes later after dropping off one of their two children at a friends house nearby. And then, she vanished.
"It's terrible. All we can do is just wait," said Best.
Best said it's out of character for his wife, a stay-at-home mom, to be gone so long. High school sweethearts, they've been married 15 years.
Best said he's aware attention turns to husbands in cases like this. Police said he's been incredibly supportive and do not consider him a suspect.
Police decided to reach out to the media as typical tracking methods turned into dead ends. She doesn't have a credit card. Her cell phone minutes expired days before she disappeared. And she's made no contact with her family, even though there's a holiday weekend approaching.
Hours before she vanished, police said it appeared to be business as usual for Melissa Best. She took her daughter with her to Wisconsin to shop at a market. They returned home, and she started unloading the groceries.
"She actually put things out to prepare their dinner their night," said Round Lake Park Police Chief George Filenko. "Then her daughter asked her to give her a ride to a friends house, and that's the last we see of her."
Melissa Best is described as 5-feet, 1-inch tall and weighs 140 pounds. She has brownish blond hair and hazel-colored eyes. She was wearing blue jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt with "Chicago" written on the front. She was last seen driving a green Pontiac minivan with a license plate tag of A 770-405.
"This entire situation is out of character from what we're gathering," said Chief Filenko. "Her not making phone conact minimally with her children or a relative out of state is extremely unusual."
Anyone with any information on her location or who saw her the day she disappeared is urged to call Round Lake Park police at 847-546-7275.
