In 2004, Meaghan Good created The Charley Project, which gives detailed descriptions and important information regarding missing persons. The website has grown to become the largest privately run missing persons database and holds information on more than 15,000 cases.
Cases posted on the website are missing persons from the United States and its territories that have been unsolved for over a year. Meaghan dedicated the database and named it after the kidnapping of Charley Ross, whose case in the 1870s was the first missing child case to make the national news headlines.
The website includes potential family abduction cases, those lost or injured and individuals who have just vanished. Here are five of the most chilling disappearances listed:
1. Angela Hammond
As midnight approached on 4th April 1991, Angela Hammond, 20, called her boyfriend, Rob Shafer, from a telephone booth outside a Food Barn Store in Clinton, Missouri. She was too tired to meet him as planned and told him she was going home.
Whilst on the phone, Angela informed her boyfriend that a ‘filthy bearded man’ was acting suspiciously and circling the parking lot in his truck. The unidentified man stepped out of his vehicle with a flashlight. A short while later, Rob heard Angela scream, and the line died.
As Rob drove to the phone booth, he passed the pickup truck. He heard Angela scream his name and proceeded to follow the vehicle. However, after trailing for a mile, Rob’s transmission failed, and he had to stop driving.
2. Bianca Piper
Teenager Bianca Piper was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder, which caused her to suffer from bouts of aggression and anxiety attacks. A combination of medication and therapy seemed to work for the 13-year-old.
Bianca's therapist suggested that to deal with her aggression, her mother, Shannon, should drive her a short distance from their family home in Foley, Missouri, and make her walk back alone.
After an argument over chores on 10th March 2005, she asked her mother if she could drop her off further down the road so she could walk back to her house in Foley, Missouri, to calm down. However, she never returned home.
Authorities conducted an extensive search, but there was no sign of Bianca. Shannon and her boyfriend were questioned for hours and both took a polygraph test, which they passed. Local registered sex offenders were also investigated, but the police could find no links.
Several months later, police were called to the family home regarding a domestic violence dispute between Shannon and her boyfriend. The police returned the following month and caught Shannon pinning her 18-year-old daughter, Tiffany, to the ground. She claimed Tiffany had bipolar and schizophrenia and was attempting to stop her from harming herself.
In 2012, Tiffany was arrested for soliciting two teenage girls for sex. It was reported she was sold into sex work.
3. Nancy Lewis
A beloved nurse, Nancy Lewis left her home in Birmingham, Alabama, during the early hours of 18th May 2005 and made her way to the local children’s hospital where she worked.
Whilst driving, Nancy called her brother and asked if he could help her with a flat tyre. However, when he arrived to help his sister, neither she nor her vehicle was there.
Her brother was immediately suspicious, as he claimed her tyres were brand new. A few days later, Nancy’s pickup truck was discovered abandoned at a gas station. Witnesses reported seeing a man driving the vehicle.
Fingerprints on the steering wheel matched those of Penny L. Clarke, but the police have not referred to Penny as a suspect. John Dubose was named as another person of interest, but his whereabouts remain unknown following his release from prison on unrelated charges.
4. Paul Skiba, Sarah Skiba and Lorenzo Chivers
Following a divorce, Michelle Russell and Paul Skiba shared custody of their nine-year-old daughter, Sarah. On 7th February 1999, Sarah went to stay with her father at his home in Thornton, Colorado. Over the weekend, Sarah travelled with her father and his colleague, Lorenzo Chivers, to the city for a moving job. The three of them have never been seen again.
The police initially believed the father abducted his daughter with Lorenzo, and a warrant was out for their arrest. However, three weeks later, the removal van was discovered. The vehicle had several bullet holes, was smeared with blood, and part of a human skull was inside.
DNA was later found to be a match for Sarah and Paul. The father, daughter and Lorenzo have never been seen nor heard from since.
5. David Lovely
On 4th August 1985, 19-year-old David Lovely and his family set off on a cross-country move from California to Massachusetts. Whilst his mother, Jackie Aubut, and sister, Alison, travelled in a truck, David followed behind on his motorcycle.
When the family reached Wyoming, David began having issues with his motorcycle. As Jackie and Alison decided to rest at a gas station in Evanston, Wyoming, David instead carried on to the next stop, hoping to find a mechanic. The family were due to meet there, but when they arrived, David was nowhere to be seen.
According to Jackie’s sister, David had phoned her on 5th August and explained how he broke down and pushed his bike to the next stop. Whilst at the Bingo Truck Stop, David met a ‘rough-looking’ man who helped fix his bike. David was reportedly scared of the man. When his bike was fixed, David allegedly drove off to meet his family but never made it.
