Alyssa McLemore.Photo: Chris Carino
Alyssa McLemore was always there to care for her mother, Gracie, who suffered from the skin-tightening disease scleroderma.
But on April 9, 2009, when the 21-year-old Alyssa was away from the Kent, Wash., home she shared with Gracie, her grandmother Barbara called Alyssa’s cell phone with the news the young woman dreaded: Get home fast. Your mom is dying.
Hours later it would be Kent police who appeared at the family’s home — not Alyssa, who hasn’t been seen since. Police said they were responding to a call Alyssa herself had made to 911.
Alyssa’s aunt, Tina Russell, 50, says the family doesn’t know where Alyssa was when she made the call. Since the call is considered evidence, Russell says she has never been allowed to hear Alyssa’s voice and only obtained a transcript of it this year.
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According to Russell, Alyssa said, “Help me,” and then a male voice interrupted her, saying, “I’ll hurt you,” before the line went dead.
Interest in Alyssa’s case has waned in the community as each year passes, says Russell. “Everybody’s life goes on,” she says. “The only info we have is 10 years old.”
Alyssa’s mother never saw her daughter again and died three days after Alyssa vanished. Their tight-knit family, members of the Aleut tribe, have raised Alyssa’s daughter Nevaeh — Heaven spelled backward. Three years old when her mom vanished, Nevaeh is now 16.
“I don’t want her out here still looking for her mom,” says Russell, who believes Alyssa is still alive and may be a sex-trafficking victim. “I need to bring Alyssa home.”
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Kent Police at 253-856-5800.
source: people.com
