Vanished

Sarah Hunter is a detective supervisor in a Montana Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) office in Missoula. She is 32 years old, divorced with no children. Her senior detective is Allen Dickson, 29 years old, married and father of two young girls. They have been investigating a series of disappearances of young women that began over a year ago. They seemed to have occurred in Seattle, Spokane, Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, Billings and Rapid City.

All of these disappearances seemed related, as there has been no evidence of foul play. Also, it is believed, since there has been no trace of any of the kidnapped women, the same person or group is likely responsible for all the abductions. No evidence that the women are dead has been discovered, and yet their being alive seems to be too much to hope for. The kidnapping occurred in cities far apart and at different times of year. One occurred during the dead of winter. Although no evidence existed, the investigators from the various locales agreed that it was highly probable the same person did the kidnappings. Suspicion soon went to truck drivers on Interstate I-90. Sex trafficking and murder was often reported along the heavily trafficked I-80. However, I-90 had much less truck traffic and thus made investigators wonder why the kidnapper chose this route.

Bernie Ziegner grew up in Philadelphia. His career involved work as an electronic engineer for major defense contractors. He lived in Arizona for over two decades and now resides in Massachusetts. He can often be found in western Montana where he enjoys nature, horses, cattle and the local people.