About 50 friends, family members and supporters walked around Lake Merritt last Friday in a show of solidarity for Amy Hillyard, co-owner of Farley's Coffee, who has been missing from Oakland for three months — as private investigators disclosed they have ruled out a video lead and are pressing deeper into surveillance footage obtained through search warrants.

Hillyard, 52, was last seen March 25 near the 500 block of Radnor Road in Oakland. Her disappearance has drawn sustained community attention and escalating investigative resources, including a newly hired private firm now working through previously unseen footage. The Dissent covered an earlier chapter of this search in April, when her husband first spoke publicly about her mental health struggles before she vanished.

Amy Hillyard had walked Lake Merritt often — with friends, with family, in the ordinary rhythms of a life now suspended. On Friday evening, June 26, about 50 people retraced that shoreline in her name.

The group gathered at the Pergola at Lake Merritt at 5 p.m. and set off on a community awareness walk at 5:30. According to the family's website, bringamyhome.com, crews from CBS TV, Telemundo, and KCBS Radio documented the event. The walk, the site noted, ended with "renewed hope and a shared commitment to continue raising awareness."

The occasion was somber but not without momentum. Three weeks before the walk, the Hillyard family retained SEARCH Investigations LLC, a private investigation and search-and-rescue firm, to lead the hunt. The firm has been working through surveillance footage that was either previously unreviewed or recently obtained via search warrants, according to NBC Bay Area.

The past week brought a setback on one front: video from Dimond Park that investigators had initially flagged as potentially showing Hillyard has since been determined not to be her, according to NBC Bay Area's reporting citing the Bay City News wire. The disclosure underscores the painstaking nature of the investigation and the frustration that has mounted over three months of searching.

A $25,000 reward remains active for any information leading to Hillyard's whereabouts.

Hillyard, who co-owns two Farley's Coffee locations in the Bay Area with her husband, Chris, is described as white, 5 feet 4 inches tall, 120 pounds, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, light-colored jeans, and white sneakers with black stripes. Oakland police classify her as at risk due to a medical condition.

In a video posted to bringamyhome.com, Chris Hillyard described his wife's effect on the people around her.

"Amy's superpower is to bring out the best in people," he said. "She made me a better person; she makes most people she comes in contact with a better person. She's able to bring out everyone superpowers. Now we need those powers to bring her home."

The family is specifically asking residents in the Cleveland Heights, Lake Merritt, Lakeshore District, and Crocker Highlands neighborhoods to review any home security or doorbell camera footage from March 25 beginning at 2 p.m. Video can be uploaded at bringamyhome.com.

Anyone with information on Hillyard's whereabouts can contact the Oakland Police Department's Missing Persons Unit at 510-238-3641.