Woman Who Dedicates Life To Finding Missing People Is ... Missing
The Louisville woman has been missing since August 13.
Facebook A Lousiville, Kentucky woman has been missing for almost two weeks leaving no clues to where she might have gone. Andrea Knabel is a 37-year-old mother of two who was last seen walking in her neighborhood in the early hours of August 13. She called a friend for a ride but no one has seen or heard from her since.
Knabel's disappearance is eerie due to the fact that searching for missing people is one of her passion projects. She has been a dedicated volunteer for Missing In America and has searched for numerous people. She is the first volunteer for the organization to have gone missing.
Who is Andrea Knabel and what happened to her? Read on for all the details.
1. Last seen August 13
Andrea Knabel was last seen around 1 or 1:30am on August 13, walking near her home in Louisville. Investigators know that she made a call from her cellphone around 1:30 a.m. to a friend asking for a ride but since then her phone has gone straight to voicemail, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. No one has seen her since then.
"It was a total disappearance," her father Mike Knabel said according to CBS News. "I'm hoping she didn't come out on a busy thoroughfare…and take a ride with someone to go to someone else's house and never made it and got into the wrong car."
2. Hard times recently
Friends and family say that Knabel has been having a tough time of it for the past year. She was laid off from her job and her car was totaled in a hit and run accident. The night of her disappearance, her sister reported that she was very sad the last time she saw her.
She has been missing since August 13.
3. "We talk every day"
Knabel's family says the disappearance is entirely out of character for the single mom. Her sister Erin told NBC, "We talk daily or every other day.” The sisters live only a few blocks apart and Erin says they frequently spend time together. She notes especially that her sister never loses touch with her two children saying: "She always keeps in touch with all of us, especially her children. Even if she's visiting friends.”
4. Missing person alert
The organization Missing in America posted an alert about Knabel's disappearance. The alert reads, in part, "Andrea has been missing from Louisville since Tuesday, August 13th at 1am. She is described as a white female, approx 5’7, between 190- 200lbs. Last seen wearing a light color tank top and white shorts." Missing in American Founder Nancy Schaefer Smith is actively involved in the search for Knabel, telling the Lousiville Courier-Journal, "She is loved by so many people. It's all hands on deck. She's my girl...We're going to find her."
Missing in America is searching for her.
5. Close to her heart
Nancy Schafer Smith's words are especially poignant given that Knabel was a volunteer for Missing in America. In a video, Schafer said: "Andrea is not only a member, she has searched for a lot of missing people. She’s also a very good friend.” Schafer explained that volunteers from all over have come to Kentucky to help find Knabel. “I’m not going to stop looking for her. She’s my best friend. She’s a lot of people’s best friend,” Schaefer said. “She’s one of our own and we’re going to fight for her. We’re going to find her.”
6. Private investigator involved
In addition to the investigation the Louisville police are conducting, several private investigators are also involved. Tracy Leonard, a private investigator who is working on the case, said in a video on the Finding Andrea Facebook page: "We are looking at a couple [of] different avenues and checking leads out daily. We have no indication at this point that leads us to believe that there is any foul play, but we are still very early in our investigation...We're just going to continue to look at what facts we discover." He also noted that Knabel's emotional state could be a factor, saying that she was "pretty upset, [and] pretty wound up when she left walking."
Dan Washington, another private investigator, says they are exploring every possible avenue to find her. "We’ve done numerous database searches and everything from different leads to different tips, different associates — everything and anything, pretty much," he told the Courier-Journal.
Anyone with information on Andrea Knabel’s whereabouts is asked to contact investigator Tracy Leonard at 502-618-9337, investigator Dan Washington at 502-722-8181, Missing Person Recovery Specialist Nancy Schaefer Smith at 502-500-3026 or the Louisville Metro Police Department at 502-574-LMPD.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.