A Teen Girl from a Small Kentucky Town Spent a Night Cruising Around with Friends in 1997. She Then Vanished.

In small town Kentucky, everybody knows their neighbor. So, it’s weird when people don’t hear from one of the residents. But that is what happened in 1997 when a teen seemingly vanished into thin air.

Now, nearly three decades later, police still hope to figure out what happened.

On Oct. 21, 1997, Erica Fraysure, 17, went missing from Brownsville, Kentucky, a town of about 650 people.

Her vehicle was found abandoned on an isolated road. Her purse, including her money and checkbook, were found inside the vehicle. Her keys were missing.

Police continue to investigate her disappearance and ask anyone with information to contact the authorities. She was 5-feet-6-inches tall and weighed 115 pounds. Today she’d be 42 years old. Police said she had a strawberry birthmark on the back of her neck.

Kentucky State Police Trooper Cory Elliot told Fox 19 in 2020 that they continue to work the case to get answers for Fraysure’s family.

“They deserve peace of mind,” he told the outlet. “Everyone always wants answers. They deserve to know what happened to their loved one.”

According to Dateline, Fraysure vanished after a night of cruising with her friends. People had started to notice she was hanging out with a rough crowd, but when her mom called in the missing person report, people just assumed it was a teen breaking the rules.

However, she never returned home.

A friend admitted to being the last person to see her alive and was considered a person of interest. He hasn’t been charged and refused to corporate in the investigation.

Fraysure’s vanishing left people in the small town on edge as they feared they could be the next one snatched. Or that a kidnapper, and possible killer, could be living in their neighborhood.

Fraysure’s friend, Amanda Lang, told Dateline that her life changed that night and she became too afraid to leave the house or go to college.

“I was supposed to go to the local university for college on a graphic arts degree. And I was too scared to leave. So I stayed home and I went to the community college. And I just never left,” Lang said, according to Dateline. “I was always too scared.”

Lang told the TV program is someone came forward with information, it would bring closure to the town.

“I think it would certainly bring me peace. Maybe if I knew that she was murdered and we knew who it was,” Lang said. “Then I think we would all be able to find some peace and not live so scared anymore.”