TACOMA, Wash. — Nearly 45 years to the day after her disappearance, the family of a Tacoma teen is asking for the public’s help in generating new leads.
To family and friends, she was simply known as “Angie” – she vanished days before she turned 14.
“On July 7, 1979, Angela Meeker left her home on the south end of Tacoma to go to the Tacoma Mall to pick up a birthday card. She was never seen again,” said Tacoma Police Department Detective William Muse.
Angela Meeker was just over 5 feet tall, barely 100 pounds and her family was convinced all these years later that she had not run away.
“It’s been hard, it’s really hard. You think of a lot bad things in your head that happened, it’s not a good feeling,” said her sister Dee Knee.
Tacoma police insist the case is not cold; they have a detective assigned and, in 2016, learned new information – Angela Meeker had concert tickets for the same weekend she went missing.
Her family is hopeful that speaking out will encourage others to do the same.
“It could be a phone call tonight that changes everything,” said her brother, John Glenn Meeker. “Anything could help. So please do the right thing.”
Meeker’s father keeps hope alive all these years later.
“There isn’t a single day that it doesn’t flash through your mind,” said John R. Meeker, Angela's father.
His teenage girl would be a 59-year-old woman today.
“I believe in a life hereafter, and my first memory, if I’m lucky enough to get to heaven, she’s going to come running through the clouds,” John R. Meeker said.
But while he remains on Earth, he remains hopeful that his daughter is too – somewhere all these years later. Anyone with information is asked to call the Tacoma Police Department or submit a tip at tpcrimestoppers.com or call (800) 222-TIPS.