No leads in search for Kentucky mother who helps find missing people. ‘I’m very worried.’
A Louisville mother who devoted her free time to helping track down missing people has not been found after more than two weeks of searches.
Crews have been looking for Andrea Knabel, a 37-year-old woman who volunteers for Missing in America, an organization that helps find people who have disappeared throughout the country.
The Louisville Police Department told CBS News Thursday they have no leads in Knabel’s disappearance.
Knabel’s family now worries that she will not be found.
“Just the more time that passes, the more I worry that this is it,” Knabel’s sister, Erin Knabel, told CBS News Thursday. “And maybe that was the last time I was going to see her, so I’m very worried.”
Knabel is the first member of the organization to have gone missing, according to the Courier-Journal.
The search hits home for Missing in America volunteers now looking for one of their own.
“This is very personal,” volunteer Diane Stump told CBS News. “It’s heartbreaking. We miss her and we’re going to find her. We’re going to keep looking until we do.”
Missing in America has set up a Facebook page — called Finding Andrea — to help get the word out about Knabel’s disappearance,
Knabel was last seen around 1 a.m. Aug. 13 leaving a relative’s home in the Audubon Park area of Louisville, according to the Facebook page. The single mother of two was upset when she left the home and was trying to find a ride, a friend told WAVE 3.
She made phone calls between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. in the Audubon Park area that night, but her phone has since gone straight to voicemail, private investigator Tracy Leonard said in a Facebook post.
Photos posted on Facebook by Bud Dorsey show the search extending this week to an area in Louisville by the Ohio River.
Erin Knabel told Dateline they usually talk daily or every other day and it isn’t like her to walk off without telling anyone.
“She always keeps in touch with all of us, especially her children,” she told Dateline. “Even if she’s visiting friends.”
Mike Knabel, Andrea’s father, told CBS News “it was a total disappearance.”
Knabel is listed as a graduate of the University of Louisville, according to her Linkedin account. While it says she is an analyst for Humana, friends said she was recently laid off, according to WAVE 3.
She also recently had her car totaled in a hit and run, longtime friend Marcia Kidd told WAVE 3.
Leonard has asked anyone in the Fincastle Road area to review cameras and see if anything pops up that could help investigators find Knabel.
“I want everyone to keep positive, keep vigilant and keep your eyes open,” Leonard said in a recent video.
Knabel is described as 5 feet. 7 inches tall, approximately 190 pounds, with light brown hair, Missing in America said. When she was last seen, she was wearing a light-colored tank top with white shorts.
The founder of Missing in America, Nancy Schaefer Smith, is confident Knabel will be found.
“She is loved by so many people,” Smith told the Courier-Journal. “It’s all hands on deck. She’s my girl ... We’re going to find her.”
Anyone with information about Knabel’s whereabouts is asked to contact Leonard at 502-618-9337 or tlip2171@gmail.com. Tips can also be sent to the Louisville Metro Police Department.
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 1:14 PM.