'Friday Night Lights' Actress' Sister Missing for Seven Weeks

March 26, 2009 — -- Television actress Aasha Davis has tried everything she can to find her sister, who has been missing for nearly seven weeks from her Hollywood home.

On Tuesday, the actress, who has had recurring roles on NBC's "Friday Night Lights" and The N's "South of Nowhere," joined police at a press conference to enlist the public's help in finding 45-year-old Lesley Herring.

"The days would start and I'd feel renewed and think we're going to figure this out, this will lead to information," she told ABCNews.com. "As night would creep in, I would get so sad and feel another day has passed without Lesley."

Herring has not been seen since Feb. 8. Though her husband, Lyle Herring, was the last to see her, it was Davis, 35, who called police two days later and reported her missing when she failed to show up at her job in the payroll department of a company in Glendale, Calif., that manufactures sprinkler alarm systems.

"Lesley Herring is missing under very suspicious circumstances," Detective Wendi Berndt, supervisor of the Hollywood detectives homicide unit, told ABCNews.com. "At this point we are thinking the worst."

Police say Lyle Herring is not considered a suspect but that he has been less than forthcoming.

Herring's family also said he has been evasive with them and said that he disappeared for two weeks around the time his wife vanished. He later turned up with his long dreadlocks cut off, with a wild story of how he had gone to Mexico to look for his wife because they were planning a vacation there and ran into some sort of gang who cut off his hair because he owed them money, according to Davis's husband Jesse Pforzheimer.

"I would describe his cooperation as fragmented and less than helpful, not someone I would expect as a grieving husband," Det. Chris Gable said at Tuesday's news conference, taking a surprisingly confrontational tack with Lyle Herring, who was standing nearby.

"We felt he could not come there and present himself as a caring husband asking for the public's help when he's not been very helpful to us in trying to find Lesley," Berndt said about Gable's surprise statement. But she added that police continue to look for other leads in Herring's disappearance.

"You have to question why he is reacting the way he is in this investigation. But we definitely put it out there that we are exhausting all clues we have in order not to do a rush to judgment or limit ourselves just to him," she said.

An Argument Before Disappearing

Lyle Herring made a brief appeal to his wife to come home after telling police earlier that he had an argument with her before she disappeared.

"Please give us a call," he said at the news conference. "Let us know what's going on. I know we have a lot to talk to about."

He refused to answer questions, but in an earlier local television interview, he denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance and said police had not asked him to take a polygraph test.

Neither Lyle Herring nor his lawyer responded to messages left by ABCNews.com. One of his colleagues at California State University, Northridge, where he works as a recruiter, told ABCNews.com that he was on administrative leave, but the human resources department refused to comment on what they called an "ongoing personnel matter."

'Absolutely Maddening'

Initially, it appeared that both Herrings were missing.

Davis, who was her sister's emergency contact at work, drove to the Herrings' condo in Hollywood after receiving a call from Herring's job informing her that Herring had failed to show up for work for a second day.

Police said Herring's car and her personal effects were all there. But neither of the Herrings were home, and they did not respond to repeated phone calls and text messages, Pforzheimer told ABCNews.com.

Pforzheimer said he and his wife immediately suspected something was wrong.

"We don't have many friends who keep to a schedule as well as Lesley does," he said. "You could set your clock, your calendar by her. You knew where she would be at any time."

Both Pforzheimer and Davis say they knew of no problems in the Herring's marriage and had no reason to suspect any violence. At holidays and family get-togethers, the couple always appeared happy.

But Lyle Herring's evasive answers to their questions since he returned from his brief disappearance have left them frustrated.

"When you have absolutely no answers and the person who could know something is giving no answers, it's absolutely maddening," Pforzheimer said. "All you want to know is if you know anything."

Celebrating Leslie's Birthday

Davis's mother, who spoke to Herring twice a day, is taking her daughter's disappearance extremely hard. On a blog that Davis started soon after her sister went missing, their mother wrote: "Hi Les, do I have to tell you that I love and adore you? You know that, right. I miss talking to you at 10:45 a.m. and 8.00 p.m. almost every day. I feel lost and empty without you. Don't you miss me?"

"She's gone back and forth between 'Lesley will show up, maybe she needed time away,' to 'I can't believe I'm not going to ever see her again,'" said Davis, who has also made guest appearances on "Gilmore Girls" and "Grey's Anatomy."

Herring's mother and about 40 relatives and friends celebrated Herring's 45th birthday last Saturday without her. Pforzheimer said it became something of a vigil, with guests praying, singing songs and passing around pictures of Herring.

For Davis and Pforzheimer, this has been a bittersweet time. Just before Herring disappeared, they had their first baby. Herring, who was sick at the time of his birth, has yet to hold her new nephew.

"I'm a new mother and it's important for my baby to see me smiling and clapping hands and playing with him," Davis said. "I'm trying to be distracted by the love and attention he needs. In the shower is my time to release the pain."

The family and police are asking anyone with any information about Lesley Herring to call (213) 972-2915.