Missing Oregon mother-of-two 'spotted' boarding car ferry alone a six-hour drive from where she vanished after her husband made an emotional plea for her return

• Jennifer Huston, 28, went to run errands on July 24 but did not return home
• She was last seen taking out cash from a bank, buying snacks and sleeping pills from a Rite Aid before buying petrol in Newberg, Oregon
  
• Couple tell police they saw a woman matching her description on a ferry from Anacortes, Washington, to Friday Harbor on July 31
• Ferry port is connected to 20 terminals in the area
  
• Husband Kallen Huston has called the disappearance 'totally out of character' for the loving wife and mother
  
• Her cell phone has stopped working and she has not used her bank cards since disappearing
  

By Joel Christie

Published: 08:52 EST, 3 August 2014 | Updated: 14:51 EST, 3 August 2014

Where is she? Mother-of-two Jennifer Huston, 38, vanished as she ran errands in Oregon on July 24, but a new sighting placed her in Washington on Thursday

Police believe they have firmed up a sighting of missing Oregon mom Jennifer Huston boarding a car ferry in Washington state, some 300 miles from where she was last seen.

Deputies in the San Juan Islands are investigating what appears to be a solid description of the 38-year-old in Anacortes on the morning of Thursday July 31, one week after her disappearance.

A couple say they saw a blonde female in her 30s on the 9am ferry to Friday Harbor in a car that matched the make and model of Huston's green Lexus, including a crack in the windshield.

However the ferry system in the area is connected to 20 terminals, including Seattle, making the search to find Huston on surveillance footage even more cumbersome.

'If that was her on the ferry, she could be on Orcas Island right now, she could be on Lopez, she could be on Shaw, she could be anywhere using the ferry systems,' San Juan County Under sheriff Bruce Distler told KPTV.

The unconfirmed sighting adds further mystery to the whereabouts of the married mother-of-two.

Huston, from Dundee, Oregon, was last seen taking cash out at a bank, filling up her car with gas and then buying snacks and non-lethal sleeping pills at a Rite Aid in nearby Newberg around 6.22pm on July 24.

She also withdrew a 'small sum' of money from an ATM, but it is not known how much.

Her cell phone stopped working minutes after she was seen at the gas station, but police said it was not due to a dead battery, according to Fox News, and she has not used her credit cards since.

She told her husband, Kallen Huston, she had some errands to run, but then never returned home.

At a press conference this week, Mr Huston - who has passed a polygraph test - said he believed that finding his wife's 99 Lexus would be the key to finding her.

He also pleaded directly with his wife for her safe return.

Sighting? A couple believe they saw Jennifer Huston, 38, boarding a car ferry here in Anacortes, Washington, on the morning of Thursday July 31, one week after she went missing in Oregon

Last seen: The married mother-of-two was last seen filling up her car near her home in Newberg, Oregon, about 6.22pm on July 24

Missing: A couple have now come forward saying they saw a woman matching Huston's description in a green Lexus, even describing a noticeable crack in the car's windshield

Vast: If the sighting is confirmed, the ferry system Huston may have been on is connected to 20 different terminals, including Seattle

Clue: If the new sighting of Jennifer Huston is confirmed, she was last seen 300 miles - or a six hour drive - from her Oregon home in Anacortes, Washington

Search continues: San Juan County Under sheriff Bruce Distler said police are using local surveillance footage to firm up whether Huston was in the area on Thursday

Distraight: An emotional Kallen Huston pleaded for any information that could lead to finding his wife in a press conference Friday

'Jennifer, if you could see this or hear this, I love you,' Mr Huston said.

'You have a ton of support from the community. If you can come home, please do. The boys need you. I need you. I love you.

'We'll never stop looking for you.”

Local police called off their search on Friday with one final aerial search across rural roads in the area.

They also visited the San Juan Islands where the family used to visit but made no progress.

'After [Friday's] flight, the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office will have covered all rural areas of Yamhill County and no further search efforts are planned for Yamhill County,' a spokesperson for the sheriff's office said.

'If additional information arises, search efforts will be resumed as necessary.'

The latest sighting is expected to reactivate the search.

A clearly emotional Mr Huston, flanked by fellow members of her family, said he keeps calling his wife's cell phone even though it's been turned off on the hope someone might finally answer, KOIN reported.

Last seen: Police released these surveillance footage stills of Mrs Huston's car at a gas station just minutes before she vanished last Thursday. Her cell phone stopped working shortly after

As to questions surrounding her final known purchases, a Gatorade, trail mix, and sleeping aids, her husband said they were not a cause for alarm - the sports drink was because it was a hot day, the trail mix was something they had in the house often, and the pills could be attributed to a headache she'd been suffering from for three days.

He went on to call the disappearance 'completely out of character for her. She loves me, She loves the boys.'

Captain Jeff Kosmicki of the Newberg-Dundee Police Department said her car, a 1999 dark green Lexus LX 470 SUV, would be able to travel 300 to 350 miles after she filled up the tank.

Mr Huston, who has passed a polygraph test, told investigators his wife had left to run errands and had been complaining of a headache for several days before she went out but said nothing else was out of the ordinary.

Mrs Huston was a stay-at-home mother to her two sons, aged two and six.

Her husband previously said he'd told them she was on vacation because he couldn't bear to tell them the truth.

He also expressed his fears that she might be 'in a ditch somewhere' after driving her car off the road and urged motorists to look out for his wife.

Mr Huston has said that his wife complained of headaches three days before disappearing, but she hadn't seen a doctor. At a press conference on Monday, he said he feared she'd crashed her car

'I ask that anybody helping us, regardless of the area they are in, look off to the left and off to the side of the highways,' he said.

'This is totally unlike her. She's a devoted mother. She’s just a very good person, and for her to do something like this is completely out of the norm.'

She was last seen wearing black and pink Nike shoes and black yoga pants.

Mrs Huston's mobile phone has been switched off since her disappearance on Thursday. Her family has created a Facebook page to share photographs and information

KPTV - FOX 12

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