On July 12, 2015, Matthew Graham was seen at the Cascade Boulevard Burger King in the City of Shasta Lake. As deputies arrived in the area Matthew fled into the wooded area behind the restaurant. This greenbelt, which runs north and south along Interstate 5, extends south to the intersection of Walker Street and Cascade Boulevard. In the Burger King surveillance video, detectives noticed that he had a black backpack. This backpack was not found at the scene in Dunsmuir, California.
On July 15, 2015, approximately 20 members of the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team, assisted by detectives with the Major Crimes Unit, searched this greenbelt up to the wooded area north of Cottage Avenue where Matthew was last seen when he stole a vehicle at gunpoint on July 13, 2015. The intent of the search was to find any items he may have left behind with the hopes that there would be some indication of where Ember Graham was located.
Searchers located the backpack in a densely wooded area approximately 250 yards from the victim’s residence on Cottage Avenue. Inside the backpack were a hodgepodge of items ranging from rope, twine, gloves, a single sheet, frying pan, roll of duct tape, and a shirt he had when he was originally reported missing on July 11, 2015. There were no items of evidentiary value in the disappearance of Ember.
This investigation is continuing. Anyone with information leading to the whereabouts of Ember Graham, please contact Shasta County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit at (530) 245-6135 or Sheriff’s Records at (530) 245-6025. Information can also be sent to the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit email address: mcu@co.shasta.ca.us
