DFW Airport scales back search for missing woman

DALLAS/FORT WORTH AIRPORT -- Airport officials say they have "scaled back" the search Friday afternoon for a mother who was reported missing Friday morning.

The woman's 12-year-old son reported that she had disappeared after she failed to get on a plane with him.

Authorities identified the woman as Jolanda Newburg, who was last seen with her arm in a sling.

In a statement issued Friday afternoon, airport spokesman Brian Murnahan said that airport official believe that Newburg left the airport grounds on her own in a taxicab from the rental car facility. She apparently was in an emotional state, according to release.

Newburg and her son arrived at the airport from Arkansas and had a layover at Terminal A. She was last seen about 7:45 a.m. near a Terminal A ticket counter.

Newburg and her son were scheduled to depart for San Jose, Calif., later in the morning.

Newburg’s son notified airport police about his mother's disappearance about 8:44 a.m. The child was in the custody of airport police.

Airport police and security were conducting searches of the terminals, rental car facilities, hotels and airport grounds.

Women have gone missing at the airport before.

In 2001, a 70-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease disappeared from an American Airlines terminal and was never seen again. The airline and the woman's family later settled a lawsuit over her disappearance.

Anyone with any information about Newburg's disappearance should call airport police at 972-973-3210.