M.A. Kleen

It can happen in an instant–a friend or family member says goodbye and is never seen again. A paucity of clues leaves investigators scratching their heads. Days turn into weeks, months, and then years. How can a person vanish without a trace? The following cases are among the Old Dominion’s most mysterious disappearances. Can you help bring these people home?

Jaisle Elizabeth Thomas

Seventeen-year-old Jaisle Elizabeth Thomas seemed like a typical student at Tucker High School in Richmond, Virginia. She was bright and hardworking, with a deeply held faith. All signs pointed to a bright future. But something went wrong. On the afternoon of Sunday, April 12, 1998, her white, four-door Mitsubishi was found facing north on Edward E. Willey Memorial Bridge over the James River.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jaisle was last seen on Saturday, April 11, 1998 around 8:30pm near Ukrop’s Grocery Store in the Village Shopping Center at Three Chopt Road and Patterson Avenue, where she worked. She had plans that Sunday to speak at church and then go to the University of Richmond’s library to study. Her car was locked, and all her possessions except her car keys were left inside. Police searched the river for clues, but found nothing. The case has since gone cold. If alive today, she would be 41 years old. If you have any information about her disappearance, please contact the Henrico County Sheriff’s Office at (804) 501-4581.

Rodney Lynn Kiser

Rodney Lynn Kiser had seen better days. In his 20s, he was a Dickinson County Sheriff’s deputy. By 1990, the jovial 32-year-old was helping his brother run the H&G Market in the old southwest Virginia coal mining community of Trammel. He lived in a rental trailer near his mother and sister, often visiting a second trailer he owned to tinker with old cars. On April 26, 1990, he allegedly told his girlfriend he was going to Alexandria to visit his brother, and may have been involved in petty theft.

A week later, his 1983 Dodge Ram pickup mysteriously appeared at his second trailer with its keys in the ignition. His family saw blood smeared inside the trailer and called the sheriff. Rodney, however, was gone. For over two decades, this case has sat unsolved and Rodney’s body has never been found. If you have any information about Rodney Kiser’s disappearance, please contact the Dickenson County Sheriff’s Office at (276) 926-1600.

Rebecca Ann Crist

In horror movies, characters who say “I’ll be right back” seldom return. This horror movie trope became a horrible reality for Rebecca Ann Crist and her family on May 3, 1988, when Rebecca asked her sister to watch her 2-year-old son while she went out “for a few minutes”. Minutes turned to hours, then days, then years, and the 26-year-old shy, freckled redhead was never seen again. Oddly enough, Rebecca’s former neighbor in Staunton Virginia, Raymond O. Fauber, also went missing that year. His body was later found buried in the basement of his home, prompting police to unsuccessfully search the property for Rebecca’s remains as well.

A man incarcerated on unrelated charges once confessed to killing Rebecca, but investigators could not corroborate his story and he has never been charged. She has been described as a devoted single mother who paid her rent in advance and mostly kept to herself. To this day, no really knows what happened to her and the case has gone cold. If you have any information that could help solve this case, please contact the Staunton Police Department at (540) 332-3842.

Israel Ray Smith

An unlocked door leading to an apartment, lights and TV still on as though someone is home, a car with the keys still inside. No signs of struggle. Yet its resident, 28-year-old Israel Ray Smith, was nowhere to be found. This was the perplexing situation that confronted Wytheville, Virginia police on March 14, 2008 when Israel’s employer at the local Radio Shack asked them to perform a welfare check when he didn’t show up to work. His family became concerned as well when he missed his brother’s birthday party.

It seemed the last time anyone saw Israel, father of an 8-year-old boy, was the night of Monday, March 10th. He then disappeared without a trace, with no activity on his phone, bank account, or social media ever since. Wytheville is a small town, population 8,211, in southwestern Virginia. How could Israel Smith simply vanish? If you have any information that can help find him, please contact Detective Gary Davenport at 276–223–3300.

Hattie Gertrude Brown

Hattie Gertrude Brown, a U.S. Army and Gulf War veteran with an impressive military resume, was last seen with her nephew Derek Brown at a Sheetz gas station in South Boston, a small town in Halifax County, Virginia, around 2:30am on May 16, 2009. That was 15 years ago. Her family and friends have heard nothing from her since. Her silver Volkswagen Jetta was found a few weeks later behind a barn 15 miles away just north of the North Carolina border. Someone had tried to burn the car, along with whatever evidence was inside.

Hattie’s nephew, Derek, is a suspect currently serving time for burglary and assault, but police do not have enough evidence to charge him with her disappearance. It’s horrible to think Hattie would be a victim of foul play at the hands of her own blood relative. If she is still alive, she would be 62 years old. If you have any information that could help find Hattie, please contact the Virginia State Police Appomattox Division at 1-800-552-0962 or (434) 352-7128.