Fund set up in memory

A woman has set up a memorial fund for a Huntington Beach resident whose body was believed to be found in San Diego Tuesday morning.

Dane Williams, 23, was last seen by colleagues about 2 a.m. Saturday after attending a trade show at the Marriott hotel in downtown San Diego. Tuesday morning about 6:30 a.m., a motorist informed the San Diego Police Department of a body lying in a nearby alley, and Lt. Kevin Rooney said the body — which had not yet officially been identified Wednesday — matched Williams’ physical description.

The next day, Teresa Ifland of Huntington Beach, a longtime friend of Williams, set up the Dane Williams Memorial Fund at Washington Mutual to benefit his family. She said anyone can make donations to the fund, whose account number is 3403116755, at any location of the bank.

“We just love him,” said Ifland, whose son went to school with Williams. “He was a part of our family.”

After news of Williams’ disappearance spread Saturday, friends and family members raced to San Diego to post fliers around the downtown area where he was last seen. According to accounts from police and friends, Williams, a marketing intern for Hurley International, left the bar at the Hard Rock Hotel near the Marriott about 1:30 a.m. and chatted briefly with a colleague on the street.

Afterward, Williams continued walking alone. Monica Munoz, a public information officer for the San Diego Police Department, said he was last seen near 6th Avenue and K Street with a group of friends.

Amy Pacheco, a friend who accompanied Williams to the trade show, said she last saw him in the bar at the Hard Rock Hotel. Soon afterward, she called him on his cell phone, and he told her he was at another bar. Pacheco said she and Williams ended the conversation because she was having difficulty hearing him over the music and crowd noise in the background.

She and a friend returned to the hotel where Williams was staying shortly after 2 a.m., but left when he didn’t show up to let them into his room. Pacheco said she sent Williams text messages several times throughout the night and got no response. At that point, she said, she didn’t feel that anything was wrong.

“The weird part about this whole situation is that that night was like any other night,” she said.

The body, Rooney said, was found wrapped in a blanket and showed no visible signs of trauma. The alley where it was found is nearly seven miles from where Williams was last spotted, leading police to believe someone may have moved the body.

In the meantime, an autopsy was scheduled Wednesday.

Joe McElroy, the director of global branding for Hurley, issued a statement Wednesday on behalf of the Costa Mesa-based company.

“Our sympathies and support are first and foremost with Dane’s family and with everyone at Hurley who is dealing with his loss,” the statement read in part. “Many of us at Hurley had helped in the search for Dane over the weekend, and no one was prepared for this shocking outcome.”