Woman to last see missing person Nancy Ng on Guatemalan lake breaks silence
The woman who last saw missing yogi Nancy Ng before she disappeared on a Guatemalan lake broke her silence Wednesday, insisting through her lawyer she warned Ng not to jump in the “rough” water before she wasn’t spotted again.
Christina Blazek crossed paths with Ng while the two were kayaking on Lake Atitlan on Oct. 19, Blazek’s lawyer G. Christopher Gardner told ABC 7 Los Angeles.
The attorney also defended Blazek amid criticism she’s remained tight-lipped as Ng’s loved ones seek information on the disappearance.
“To say my client hasn’t done all she can is just not true,” Gardner said.
Ng, of Monterey Park, was on a yoga retreat in the Central American country when she and Blazek began talking to each other on the lake.
“My client did not go anywhere with Ng,” Gardner told the station. “They happened upon each other on the lake.”
During their conversation, Ng, a fitness enthusiast, told Blazek she wanted to take a dip in the lake.
“She tried to tell her not to swim because it was rough out there and there was a good current,” said Gardner.
After Ng jumped in, her kayak was pushed away. Blazek tried to retrieve it by keeping one leg in her kayak and another in Ng’s kayak, Gardner claimed.
“And tried to get back to her… and got close to her,” he told ABC 7 LA.
“And then apparently, she lost the kayak again and she turned around to go back to get the kayak again, and when she turned back around, Ms. Ng was gone.”
Blazek, a San Bernardino County public defender, called for help, and later spoke with local authorities about where they should look on the lake, he added.
“She was told she needed to talk to the police, and she went and gave a full statement to Guatemalan police,” Gardner said.
“They told her there was nothing that could be done. Apparently that lake is known for having people drown on it.”
Local prosecutors said earlier this month Ng drowned after she jumped into the lake, according to ABC News.
Ng’s desperate family has sought answers from Blazek but has been met with silence before Wednesday’s latest information.
“If it is like she says and it is an accident, I don’t understand how she could choose to leave my family in the dark for almost four weeks, and not just say that from the start,” Ng’s sister Nicky told ABC 7 LA.
Gardner said Blazek needed time to herself after going through the “traumatic experience.”
Ng’s family in an Oct. 31 email to Blazek begged her to talk with them, and then warned if she refused to cooperate they would pursue the matter, the station reported.
“I hope she can understand that we have no account of what happened because she is the only person that saw what happened, and it wasn’t included in the report,” Nicky Ng said.
