SULLIVAN, Mo. — The National Crime Information Center says there are more than 200 active missing person cases in Missouri.
As Tonya Miller spends a spring day outside with her daughter, she can’t help but think how her own mother, 72-year-old Betty Alexander, should be there with them.
“It’s just been a long battle searching for answers,” said Tonya Miller. “We still to this day have nothing.”
Alexander disappeared from her Sullivan, Missouri, apartment 3 years ago without a trace.
“She left everything behind,” Miller said. “The one thing that has really bothered me from day one is the fact that she left her daily glasses on her recliner.”
Alexander’s purse and keys were also found in the apartment, but her daughter says there was one thing missing.
“There was a box of missing fentanyl patches that had just been delivered and she had an extra $200 in her purse that we cannot track down where it came from,” Miller said.
Over the last three years, the family has received tips that Alexander was possibly spotted, but those calls have become fewer and farther between.
“I’ve learned to not get my hopes up as much as I want it to be her,” Miller said.
Sullivan police are still investigating the case, but Miller believes it could be time for a fresh set of eyes.
“We have a petition out there with over 5,000 signatures asking for the FBI to step in and help out,” Miller said.
She is now waiting for someone to come forward with new information that could crack the case open.
“It might be the key that we need to be able to find answers,” she said.
Meanwhile, Miller says giving up the search for her mother simply isn’t an option.
“I will never give up,” Miller said “It’s my job as her daughter to find her.”
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Betty Alexander is asked to call Sullivan Police at 573-468-8001
There is a $20,000 reward for anyone with information that helps find Alexander.