I usually am not someone who puts their problems or issues out online, but what's going on is honestly frightening to me and my wifes family that I need to get it out.  

 

To anyone who prays or believes in a greater being, my family could certainly use it.

 

As short as I can word it, my wife's sister (the two are inseparable) has gone missing.

 

No one has heard or seen my wife's sister since late Tuesday.  The last anyone has heard anything from her was a FB reply to a message, since then no one has.  Her job has tried getting a hold of her the past few days, and when they couldn't, they contacted my wifes parents who are friends with some of her co-workers to see if they had.  Needless to say, no one has. She wouldn't answer any phone calls/emails/FB messages. Has checked her house, even stayed there last night, and never came home.

 

We found out she was housesitting for a family while they were away.  My wife and her family got the address and went there, but her car was not there.  They were able to get in contact with the son of the family she was housesitting and he came over and opened it up for my wife's family and the police.  In it, they found her cell phone that was looked to be plugged in but was halfway pulled out and not charging and phone was dead.  They also found her Key ring with all her keys on it, but randomly, her car key had been taken off.  They also found her suitcase with clothes she brought as she was staying at the house, and the dogs that were there that she was taking care of as well had gone to the bathroom all over the house like they haven't been taken outside in a few days.

 

My wife's sister is not someone to just "run" or look to just get away.  She certainly wouldn't of done so while having the responsibility of housesitting and taking care of animals which she is a animal lover.  She suffers from no mental illness and she is like the most "goodie" person.  

It's been 3 days now, and no one has seen her.  The cops said it didn't look like any foul play, but we can't understand any of it.  She wouldn't just up and leave and skip work and not take care of the animals and house, and she wouldn't of left her cell phone if she was going out.  She wasn't depressed, she didn't have a fight with anyone, she just got back from a cruise and was bringing home her baby horse she just bought next week (she's a horse rider like my wife).  If she goes anywhere, she tells my wife or the family.  Her keys being all there besides her car key which she would of had to purposefully take off the key ring is quite odd as well.  

We've called the hospitals and she's not in any neighboring hospitals around where she lives or the house she was sitting.  We have no answers, and that's worse I think then even knowing because everyone's mind just sits and ponders what's going on, and thinking the worse.  Either way, I don't see this turning out good...and it's just killing my wife and her family.  My wife and her were suppose to spend the night together and wake up early to go to a horse show tomorrow...the two are best friends.  

So that's whats going on.  I don't have answers and no one does, nothing makes sense from why is she not coming back, to why she left without her phone and why she would take her car key off the ring of all the rest of her keys.  It's just a sickening feeling in your stomach.  

 

I hope some will keep my wife and family in your thoughts in prayers.  I don't know how much time I will have with work and with this the next few days.  So if you don't see me here posting much, at least you know why.  

 

Thanks.

Wow, that's heavy stuff. Just go be with your wife Rhizo, she really needs you during this time.

 

I hope everything will turn out well for her, but it's indeed very weird and not looking so good at the moment. I'll definitly be hoping for a good outcome.

Have the police tried to find the car that she drives yet? Maybe that might help a long way of finding her

Lord Jesus,

 

This situation with Rhizo's wife and her sister sounds horrible. I know you are a compassionate and loving God, and I pray that you would protect his wife's sister and that she would be found alive and unharmed. I also pray for your comfort and your peace for Rhizo's family including his in-laws, as I can't imagine the stress they must be feeling.

 

Amen.

Long distance hug from Downunder, Rhizo.

Wow, that's horrible Rhizo. Yes, as Yehom said, police should be looking for her car as a top priority. Was your wife's sister expecting company in the house? Are there signs that someone else was with her (like multiple dishes in the sink, glasses, etc.). You might want to contemplate the possibility that she hadn't left on her own, but was rather kidnapped.

 

I hope the situation will soon be resolved, but it does not look very good.

Thinking of you at this time mate, I hope everything turns out alright. You just have to keep hoping.

How awful for everyone. My thoughts are with you and the family.

Praying Rhizo. I'll send you a pm.

Holy fuck dude. My thoughts are with you and your family.

Thank you everyone, it truely means a lot.  This community as a whole has meant a lot to me, and has played a part in my life for years now.

 

It's just a situation I never saw myself have happen.  I hear about lost kids or lost people before, but you never really think it'll happen to you or be a family member.  I have always tried to pass along posts and things on FB about missing people, but you really don't feel the impact until it's happened to you.  I never realized the real surge of so many different feelings until it is you.  I have such a rush of feelings, and I can honestly only imagine how much worse it is for my wife and her parents.  

 

It's something I had to get out...work has been stressful lately but I know how to deal with that, I know how to not let the stress get at me.  But now work, and now this, I'm a mixed bag of emotions and talking is the only way I know how..get it off my chest.  And the community here I feel I can do so.

 

 

To answer questions:

 

The cops have but a Bolo (be on the lookout) on her car.  My wife's brothers have been driving around the area for awhile now just in the lookout to see if they can spot it.  Finding her car will certainly be a big step in figuring out what might have happened, so I hope it is spotted.  The family had made up fliers they're going to put out of her photo as well as her vehicle description and tag number.  I've started to post a picture and vehicle description in various FB groups for those areas as well to help spread the word.  

 

 

They looked through her phone and they didn't find any tests or phone calls she took after she answered the FB message.  They have her computer as well, and her brother was able to break into it and have looked through to see if they could find anything that would give a clue but nothing really seems to have.

I'm not sure about the dishes.  As far as I know I doubt she was expecting company, she's a pretty quiet girl and sticks to herself a lot, plus I don't see her bringing people over to a place that isn't her house, but I am not certain about any extra dishes or anything (wasn't at the house when they went).  She's not married, and as far as everyone knows she is not dating anyone.  I've only seen her date a single guy since my wife and I have been together (7 years).

 

It is a concern that she didn't leave willingly.  To be honest, that's the thought that has come in my head the most, as it seems to be the only one that would explain why she left without telling anyone, why she would leave without taking her cell, why she hasn't come back, etc.  The only thing that I would find odd with that is if someone did kidnap/take her, why would they spend the time to take the car key off the key ring and not just take them all.  And that's my biggest fear....someone has taken her, because it is the only thing that seems to make sense of all the oddities of the whole situation. 

 

TBH, right now I would love nothing more then her to return and it be some complete mental break down where she just left.  Like, at this point, I feel that's the best case scenario of it all, but I just don't think that knowing her.  I know sometimes these things can be hidden well be people and people don't realize someone really struggling on the inside, but I just don't get that feeling with her and I just saw her last Sunday and seemed her normal happy go lucky self.  

 

It's hard feeling this helpless.  In a situation like this, you can only do so much (spread the word, call the cops,etc), and all I want to do is something to bring her home.  The unknown is killer, it just leaves one mind just spin around and around with scenarios, ideas, ways to explain all the strange things about it all.  We were all hoping that it was simply her phone broke and that's why she wasn't answering but she was fine....but we now know it's not something as simple as that.    

 

They have found a few bank statements at her house.  They plan on going to the banks tomorrow and see if they can tell them if there's been any recent withdraws or deposits.  She started this new job a month or so ago, writing up things for grant approvals for this company out of DC (got to work from home).  She told us all about it, but she never mentioned the company.  They couldn't find anything at her house with names of any company, nor her email.  So they plan on asking the bank if there is any salary deposits from some company, so they can get the name and call them and see what they can find.  

 

It's all just trying to find any information we can and look at what we know and try to maybe figure out what happened and where she is.  I want nothing more then her to just come home and it all be some big misunderstanding...but nothing is looking that way.

Has the media got involved at all yet? Greta Van Susteren, of Fox News, takes missing women very serious. You should give her producers a call. If anything will light a fire under the cops... it's media pressure. Have to find that car. Was her purse, pocketbook, credit/debit cards missing? Any cameras around the neighborhood? Kick some ass, and get people moving on this... time is your enemy. Love you Rhizo... our thoughts are with you.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Not good.

Best wishes, Rhizo. Sounds absolutely horrible. Hope all goes well...

Rhizo, I hope this turns out every bit as good as you do.

Bless You All

Like Captain Crozier said above me, I sincerely hope this turns out for the best.

Has the media got involved at all yet? Greta Van Susteren, of Fox News, takes missing women very serious. You should give her producers a call. If anything will light a fire under the cops... it's media pressure. Have to find that car. Was her purse, pocketbook, credit/debit cards missing? Any cameras around the neighborhood? Kick some ass, and get people moving on this... time is your enemy. Love you Rhizo... our thoughts are with you.

 

Agree with this. The car is the key. It is clearly what was used to leave the house. Take it to every news station on earth if you have to. Can the cops find speed camera footage of surrounding streets?

I am so sorry to hear you and your family are going through this. You will be in my prayers and I hope she is found quickly.

 

As for computer, I may be able to offer some advice. You mentioned the Police were able to access it. I highly doubt they would have done forensic testing on it to determine what files may have been deleted on the drive. However there is a way to do that yourself if the police aren't willing to. I am being honest when I say you will likely find nothing of value to her disappearance, but I want to make this known in the event you do decide to try it yourself.

 

The first thing is to not read/write to the hard drive, obviously the operating system will always read/write, but you can limit that by not deleting or adding more data. The next step is to find data recovery software. There are many free versions out their. My personal favorite is Recuva, it isn't hard to use but depending on the drive's size and how much has been deleted it may take a very long time to compile a list of everything deleted. Most of what is displayed is junk system files which are of no importance. What it can show is file names, file type, etc... Once you scroll through the list (it will be a huge list), you check which files you would like to recover. Sometimes it works and the file is recovered successfully, and other times it doesn't (usually meaning it is a very old file on a part of the drive that has been rewritten so many times, that file is unrecoverable). You would need something more powerful to recover files than what the free programs offer.

 

I will say again that doing this will not likely net anything relevant. But it might at least give some indication into her computer habits over the past few months. Downloaded pictures, word documents, saved email copies which were later deleted, spreadsheets. On its own it would normally be insignificant, but it could help rule something out. For instance, people who usually want to disappear, will often leave some telltale sign regarding internet history or other method of information gathering. Statistically speaking, people with no history of mental illness or drug connections don't really just get up and leave without inadvertently leaving some form of 'bread crumbs' trail. I truly hope she wasn't kidnapped or taken against her will, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to reconstruct her social life over the past 6 months. Find out to the best of your ability who she recently met, who she interacted with regularly, her buying habits, debt, as well as any near future ambitions/goals.

Very sorry to hear this Rhizo. Wouldn't imagine this happening to anyone you'd know. All you hear about it is happening to someone e you never know.

 

Are there CCTV cameras in vicinity? With rough idea of time lines, you could zero in on the time stamps and form a general.direction of which way the vehicle was travelling.

 

In the flyers, it would be important to show the vehicle and the number plate as well in addition to the other personal details.

 

Furthermore, other than flyers, there are other avenues like newspaper and other published and online pages for these sections.

 

Lys is right, time is the big factor, if you can take a week off from work, I think it'll manage your stress and allow you to focus more on this and stop having a toxic cocktail of emotions with personal and work stress all mixing.

 

Don't think too far out, focus on next immediate steps and execute them.

 

And one more thing, we can give ideas, but none of us are really professionals at this sort of thing. Cops have 5000 other things on their table, they can only put so much priority and as Lys said media pressure could help.

 

Consider discussing and hiring a professional with good repute and history in addition to cops doing what they're doing.

 

I really hope things turn out well man.

Why the fricking heck don't the cops think this is suspicious? There should be a forensics team all over that house looking for DNA on the door handle and stuff. 

 

Re: the key ring, is there anything electronic on it that could be used to track her or something? Car blipper? Where was the key ring lying? On the floor? Or was it in a drawer or something? What precisely was on that keychain?

 

If the house was locked when you arrived, how would an intruder have got in? Does that suggest the kidnapper perhaps knew her and had a key of his own? Why would he bother to lock the door again afterwards? Are there any open/ smashed windows?

 

I reckon if she hasn't withdrawn any money in her bank statements it's pretty clear it was a kidnapping...

Damn, Rhizo. That's horrible. I hope your wife's sister is found soon and it was just a mental breakdown. Doesn't look good though, criminals like to target houses when a family is on vacation and they think no one will be there. If people knew they were on vacation due to social media or something, the cops should be more suspicious that foul-play was involved.

Also that's a good suggestion Lys has, if you can get media attention it will put more pressure on the cops and also people might call in tips if they see the car or anything.

In addition to DeathMerchan'ts advice: if she really did work remotely for a company, she's had to have used her laptop, correct? It should cntain files/folders indicating that. Unless they gave her a company laptop, but then where is it? Furthrmore her phone should have some contacts to the company as well.

 

If there are no signs of this, even after a system recovery...she might have lied about the whole thing.

wishing you the best I hope you find her quickly.

She wouldn't have gone out herself with just the key of the car, leaving all her other keys in the house though (in a normal situation)... So it's very probably that she was indeed kidnapped or something I think.

 

If criminals wanted to break in the house, because the owners where on vacation, they had to take something I guess. Did any valuable items in the house dissapear?

 

Finding out where/if she worked will maybe clarify some things as well, like others have already indicated.

How scary. I would feel the same way. Praying for you. There are alot of good ideas mentioned above.

Would it be helpful for you if some of us were able to help share the load by blowing up the social media accounts of the local news stations around you? Of course this would mean divulging some info here about her name, the location etc. Not sure if you want to do that, but I'd happily pitch in if it would be of help.

lm

Others have said the car is key, and I think they're right. Is there any info that you feel comfortable giving out to us in general? Like make, model, color, and license plate state?

 

I understand if you don't, because there are a lot of people that can see this section of forum that you've never met, but there might be some members near by that can help keep an eye out.

No news/newpaper outlets have been called directly yet, but that will likely be a next step if something doesn't materialize in the next few hours.  Social media has been a big help so far.  It definitely helps out that both of our families all live nearby in and around the state that we know a lot of people from this area.  My wife and her family have made several FB posts asking to be shared.  My wife made up a flier this morning with a picture of her and her details (weight,height, eye color), car make and model and license number and made a post on FB with the flier.  So far the post my wife made a few hours ago already had 453 shares on FB.  The other ones made by her family members last evening combined probably had close to 1k shares, and a fellow worker of mine whose main family is hours from us has seen her postings being shared, so it's done well to spread thanks to people and social media.  

 

A writer in a local newspaper was friends with someone who shared it and said they would look to put something in the paper about it.  The outreach to be honest has been more then I could expect.  Through this we've found several people who has family members part of the state/local police in that area.  I know cops have a million other things they are doing, but with friends of my wife's sister having family members in the police department, I have a good feeling this isn't going to fall between the cracks and will be continually worked on.  I have two uncles who are retired state troopers that have already asked for me to send information and they'd look to make sure it's looked at in my state (MD).  

 

Today my wifes family is going around with fliers to places of work and state parks, as well as there's a bike racing event that is going to be going through that area, so they're looking to pass out filers to the cyclists to keep and eye out if they can.  

 

I asked my wife about the house she was housesitting, if it was near any like gas stations or stores, or anywhere there might be cameras.  She said the house was in a rural area with not much around, and only a single neighbor that can actually see the house.  So likely no cameras of help, but might be worth looking at a few gas stations around the area if she maybe got gas in the past few days.  (hoping to see if any withdraws or charges has been made today if bank will give her parents anything).

 

 

It's not really "good" news, but her brothers maybe found a start.  Her one brother took her cell phone home, her other took her laptop home to look to go through and see if there is anything that could point to anything.  They found she had looked up parks/camping grounds on her phone, but no timestamp on when that was.  She's not the most in shape person, and my wife had said she was trying to start running and trying to lose some weight.  The thought right now is maybe she found a park to go hiking on running in, and maybe something happened, be it hurt or something else that she couldn't get back to her car, or got lost.  So they're driving through state parks and camping areas to see if they can find her car. 

 

This is the scenario that fits best with all the other weird things (leaving phone/only taking car key), and looking to exercise.  Maybe she left to go hike or jog a trail and only planned to be gone for a few hours.  It would make sense that she would only take her car key and leave the rest there she didn't need, because who wants to go hiking or jogging with a chain full of keys, and could be a reason she left her cell phone at the house.  I still would think she would of just took her phone and left it in the car, but who knows.  Even if this is the case, it's still not good.  That would mean she would of been out in the woods for now 3 days, without food or water, and it's been the hottest and most humid week we've had this summer. 
 

Not saying it's that, but it's at least another scenario we didn't think about yesterday.  Like I said, even if it is the case, it could end in a horrible situation being stranded for days out in the heat...but I hate constantly thinking some sicko could have her and could be doing who knows what with her or killed her.  

 

I'll let her brothers know what you mentioned Death.  Her one brother is a computer engineer, and we have a friend as well who work with cyber security, so they may know of something like you mentioned as well to recover any lost or deleted things on the computer.

 

I'm stuck at work with this heat, but I had a little time to write this up.  Will keep you'll updated if there is any news.

 

Also I don't mind giving some information out to people who live fairly close to me, in private.  I live in MD, but she lived/housesititng in PA.

 

*sorry for any run on's, spelling errors etc, I typed this up quick while I had a break at work