TX-Rebecca Stinson - 19 - Austin - 12/19/05

[Fusillade]

Disclaimer: The following information is to the best of my knowledge. My step-daughter has been known to hide the truth from us and those around her; therefore, I would guess that the truth is somewhere between the lines. Thank you.

Name: Rebecca Stinson
Location: Austin, TX
Sex: Female
DOB: 09/23/1986 (age 19)
Height: 5’ 2”
Hair: Dirty Blond when we last saw her
Weight: 165 to 185

Medical History: In 2004, Rebecca suffered from an acoustic neuroma, a brain tumor, which left her with the following symptoms following surgery: She is legally blind (low vision) but can see well enough to move about town using the public transportation system. She is completely deaf in her left ear. She has a mild facial paralysis on the left side of her face. Her vocal cords were also damaged resulting in a quieter but slightly raspy voice. She still experiences headaches and is required to receive regular checkups to ensure that her brain fluid is continuing to drain properly.

Clothing Style: She prefers pseudo punk clothing (typically black and hot pink) and jeans with t-shirts.

Rebecca attended the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center for the Blind in Austin, TX from Nov 2004 to June 2005. She briefly attended classes at Austin Community College in the fall of 2005 before dropping out (mainly drama classes), and had been living in various locations in Austin since then.

She contacted her family on Dec 19, 2005 and she said she was in trouble. She told us that her boyfriend threatened her life and she was going to go to McAllen, TX to stay with an acquaintance she met while at Criss Cole. We insisted that she contact the police and call us back as soon as she finished talking with them

Rebecca has not been heard from by family or friends since that last phone call on Dec 19, 2005.

Notes to Date:

The last two calls we received from Rebecca on Dec 19th were supposed to be from pay phones. The caller id displayed Austin, TX. The numbers were (512) 467-6976 and (512) 323-9883.

We know that Rebecca has been lying to us. The last address she supplied us is invalid and the apartment complex, Abbey Road Apartments on Penny Lane, said they do not have any record of her or the person whom she said was her roommate (who supposedly rented the place and held the lease) having lived there. Rebecca also told us she had removed her personal belongings from a U-Haul storage facility into her new apartment in mid-December but we continue to receive bills from the storage facility and apparently her stuff is still there and they have not heard from her.

Recently, Rebecca’s disability case worker contacted one of Rebecca’s friends in Austin to try to get in touch with Rebecca. He said that Rebecca, under the pseudonym Kat Kostello, had met someone through a phone chat service (we don’t know which one). The unidentified man had supposedly offered to pay Rebecca $100k to carry his baby and Rebecca was going to accept. We were also told that Rebecca was in trouble with her bank for bouncing some checks and that she had also started using recreational drugs and was getting deeper into them.

Rebecca is a phone talker, typically using 2000-3000 minutes a month, calling all her friends. Her cell phone has been disconnected and none of her friends have heard from her since mid December.

Rebecca has missed numerous appointments and engagements. Rebecca called her case worker on Dec 16 and made an appointment to have her walking cane replaced the following week (the week before Christmas) but she never called or stopped by for the appointment. She was supposed to visit her best friend in El Paso, TX for New Years but she never showed or called. She was scheduled to restart school at Austin Community College in January but never showed up for registration.

Conclusion:

Rebecca has become a recreational drug user and has some legal issues to deal with. She has been lying to us to avoid telling us what she has been really doing. We believe that she was planning on meeting up with someone, whom she may have come in contact with over a phone chat line. In any case, it is not like her to not contact any family or friends for two months and as a result everyone has become concerned.

We just want to make sure that she is alive and that no foul play is involved.

Her father is in Austin today and will be meeting with the police to file a missing persons report to try to start the official ball rolling.

Thanks for reading.

[SewingDeb]

I hope you will find her soon and she is safe.

[gingersnap]

Wow....I too hope she is found quickly and safe.

[petra]

Fusillade--First, Welcome to WS.

As i understand the last verifiable contact was on 19 December when she placed two calls to your house from the numbers you have posted.

Sounds like no one has seen or heard from her since that can be verified.

Do you have recent pictures of Rebecca??

Dad is down there now to report her as missing. That is the first step. Have you or any one else contacted missing persons organizations or help groups such as Project Jason, Klaaskids, etc.??

Is Rebecca on medication that could result in disorientation, etc. if not taken?
Perhaps that could give her an endangered, medical condition status?

I am sorry to hear that you are going thru this diffficult time. Just post anytime, we are here...pls. keep us updated with how it goes with Dad and LE.

[Fusillade]

Thanks for your replies.

Rebecca's grandmother and I have finally got the family on the same page and believing that their might be a problem; therefore, we are just in the process of starting the search. Prior to this, our only other search efforts have been by Rebecca's grandmother who has been in contact with the Abilene TX police and my postings at a few sites that I regularily visit.

I am working on setting up a web page with pictures and information and will post that as soon as it is complete.

Thanks again,

James

[Jeana (DP)]

James (and family),

I'm sorry that your family is going through this difficult time. Please know that you are all in our thoughts and that we pray Rebecca is safe and that she contacts you soon.

In the meantime, please keep us posted and let us know how we can help.

[Fusillade]

Update:

Rebecca's grandmother was able to track down and speak with Rebecca's roommate and she relayed the following information to me:

Rebecca's roommate stated that they talked about moving into the new apartment complex so he could be closer to his work but he never signed a contract and he does not know why Rebecca was passing out new address information to everyone.

Rebecca was still in her apartment in Austin, TX as of the morning of Dec 21, 2005 when her roommate left to go to work. This is two days after the last date that we spoke with her. When the roommate returned home from work, the apartment was a wreck, the blinds were messed up, and Rebecca was gone. She has not returned home since.

The roommate was not initially concerned as Rebecca has always been a messy person and she was talking all the time about meeting this person, supposedly a member of the Air Force that is stationed in McAllen, TX, who wanted her to carry his child for $100k.

The roommate has since become concerned as he has noticed that Rebecca does not appear to have taken any personal belongings, including her cell phone which he bought for her. He says Rebecca always had her cell phone with her.

Our next plan of attack:

Rebecca's mother will be traveling to Austin in hopes of gathering information from Rebecca's personal belongings.

Her mother will contact Greyhound and see if anyone remembers Rebecca traveling on Dec 21.

Has anyone personally been successful in getting Greyhound to check their passenger records without police or court intervention?

She hopes to talk with Rebecca's friends in an effort to gain any other possible information regarding her whereabouts.

All information gathered will be supplied to the Austin police department.

If we can determine that Rebecca left home without taking any personal belongings, photo identification, or doctor prescribed disability aids, is this enough to warrant a police investigation? (Currently she is just a missing person in their database)

Thanks for reading and I hope I haven't wasted anyones time.

[KatherineQ]

James, have you talked to the people at Criss Cole for help? It's possible they would know the acquaintance she was going to McAllen with. Also, the staff at Criss Cole can probably help you with the police department, and filing the missing persons report. The Austin Police Department has a special section of Mental Health deputies (probably you found this out) who might be very able to help you out, and would be more helpful than they would if your stepdaughter didn't have documented disabilities.

Is this roommate her boyfriend? The man who bought her the cell phone and said she messed up his blinds and left suddenly and didn't take anything with her - is he the same guy she called to say was threatening her?

Prayers for her. I think you'll get the help you need here.

[Fusillade]

James, have you talked to the people at Criss Cole for help? It's possible they would know the acquaintance she was going to McAllen with. Also, the staff at Criss Cole can probably help you with the police department, and filing the missing persons report. The Austin Police Department has a special section of Mental Health deputies (probably you found this out) who might be very able to help you out, and would be more helpful than they would if your stepdaughter didn't have documented disabilities.

Is this roommate her boyfriend? The man who bought her the cell phone and said she messed up his blinds and left suddenly and didn't take anything with her - is he the same guy she called to say was threatening her?

Prayers for her. I think you'll get the help you need here.
Criss Cole has been contacted and they are aware of the situation.

From Rebecca's personal stand point, I'm trying to think of the best way to say this.

Rebecca has always been the type of person who, if given the slightest bit of attention from a boy, would assume that the boy was romantically interested in her and she would immediately "fall in love" with him; therefore, it is difficult to determine if her and her roommate are romantically involved just based on her using the term boyfriend without seeing them interact in person.

Rebecca has also been the type of person who would invent stories or do negative things to gather attention. She once told some kids in middle school that she was going to commit suicide during spring break and they supposedly encouraged her to do so. I managed to stop her before she attempted to break her leg jumping off our back porch. The detailed written plan we found in her school notebook indicated that she thought she could gain acceptance into the group, guys would help her get around between classes (finally, a boyfriend), and other people would finally start to like her after they heard about her failed suicide attempt. (counseling immediately followed but just as high school started, she moved in with her father and stopped counseling)

My response in any of these types of situations involving Rebecca is almost always the same. While I may not believe the story she is telling me, I err on the side of caution and encourage her to do whatever is necessary to protect herself. In this most recent event, I encouraged her to contact the police if she felt she was in any danger and discouraged her from moving in with someone she barely knew. Report it, contact us, and we will go from there and see if we can help.

I personally do not believe that the roommate is her boyfriend nor did he threaten her. I believe that she was wanting some sympathy and expected us to encourage her to run off to meet the new guy in McAllen, which we didn't. We encouraged a trip to the police. However, I do find it a bit interesting that her roommate would come home to an unusually messy house, find Rebecca missing, all her personal belongings still there, and not feel that something out of the ordinary might have taken place.

It is difficult to put the pieces together if you don't even know if they fit into the puzzle.

[KatherineQ]

You mentioned contacting Greyhound - have you just called and asked them about how much information they can give you? Once you've filed the missing person's report, it seems like that might be all you need in her case.

It seems highly unlikely to me that she took a greyhound trip without her things, but it would be good to rule that out.

Have you talked to Capital Metro bus service? She sounds unusual looking enough that a bus driver would remember her, and if she often took public transportation they might know something. It might be really key to post her picture on lampposts up and down Burnet Road, or other places near where you think she may have been last.

How does she support herself? Has she gotten any checks since Dec. 21 that you know of?

I'm still puzzling about the roommate. It's hard to get a handle on their relationships, isnt it? He buys her a cell phone, which indicates some kind of relationship, but she's talking to him about running off with some guy from McAllen which indicates no kind of romantic relationship with the roommate.

Prayers you turn up some information soon. I'm looking forward to seeing her website and will keep a sharp eye out in midtown areas.

[Jeana (DP)]

Does Greyhound ask for personal information from its customers?

[PrayersForMaura]

A few things brought up red flags:

The friend she met at the crisis center
The boyfriend threatening her
The guy who wanted her to have his baby for $100,000.
That her belongings were still in her apartment
She hasn't contacted anyone.

She contacted her family on Dec 19, 2005 and she said she was in trouble. She told us that her boyfriend threatened her life and she was going to go to McAllen, TX to stay with an acquaintance she met while at Criss Cole. We insisted that she contact the police and call us back as soon as she finished talking with them

It sounds as if you've done some if not most of this, but...

My first instincts would be to have police question the roommate.
He may not be a suspect but he is the last known person to see her alive and usually, that is the route to take.
Was it possible he was in love with her and jealous about these other men she talked to and perhaps harmed her? Was he the person who threatened her? Also, have the police get the name of her boyfriend from the roommate if possible. Maybe the roommate WAS the boyfriend who threatened her. If so, there's a possible suspect.

Next, if the Criss Cole center can help you identify the acquaintance she met and was going to stay with, I would also get that name for LE and have that person questioned.

Finally, I'd try to figure out if there was indeed a person wanting to pay the money for her to carry the baby, what phone dating service she was calling
(try to get the cell phone bills from the roommate if possible and get records of the numbers she called ... the phone dating service number should be on there, as should the number of this guy if she was calling him direct).

I know it's a lot of work, much of which the family and friends have to do but hopefully the police will help.

If you can post a picture of her here, too, we can try to circulate it as well.
Prayers to you, your wife and your family and especially for Rebecca. I hope she calls someone soon. :o

[Fusillade]

My first instincts would be to have police question the roommate.He may not be a suspect but he is the last known person to see her alive and usually, that is the route to take. Was it possible he was in love with her and jealous about these other men she talked to and perhaps harmed her? Was he the person who threatened her? Also, have the police get the name of her boyfriend from the roommate if possible. Maybe the roommate WAS the boyfriend who threatened her. If so, there's a possible suspect.I believe that the roommate may know more than he is saying; however, I don't think he is involved. Unfortunately, until foul play is suspected by the Austin police department, Rebecca is just a number in the NCIC database and they will not be questioning him or anyone else. Rebecca's mother and grand-mother will be in Austin on Monday to try to get a better feel of their relationship.

Next, if the Criss Cole center can help you identify the acquaintance she met and was going to stay with, I would also get that name for LE and have that person questioned.We believe that this was a lie she told us to avoid telling us she wanted to move in with someone that she had met on a phone chat line.

Finally, I'd try to figure out if there was indeed a person wanting to pay the money for her to carry the baby, what phone dating service she was calling (try to get the cell phone bills from the roommate if possible and get records of the numbers she called ... the phone dating service number should be on there, as should the number of this guy if she was calling him direct).We hope that her roommate will be helpful and will provide us with her cell phone and grant us access to her personal belongings and the cell phone records. Other than any journals that she might have kept, we have no proof of the alleged financial offer for carrying someones baby.

Here is a photo of Rebecca taken a few months before she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Afterwards, she avoided having her picture taken due to personal reasons. Hair color and length may have changed.


http://photos.yahoo.com/innmorris

[ketel0ne]

See if she can be added to the Texas clearing house for those missing.

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/mpch/

Also Nationally here: http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmalistview.php?wstr=Adult&state=TX&alpha=S

[PrayersForMaura]

Did she ever get on the Internet?

Does she have a MySpace account? Those seem to be popular?

I can understand why she refused to have pictures taken because of the paralysis and things ... that's sad :(

She's a very pretty girl. I hope no one is taking advantage of her :(

Should we email the local media in that area with this story? Reach out to Greta? Is it too soon?

[Fusillade]

My wife spent several days in Austin this week working with the Austin police. The following has been determined.

The last person that we have been able to contact and who has admitted to having seen Rebecca in Austin before she disappeared was her roommate on Dec 21.

Her and her roommate do not appear to have had any romantic relationship nor did she appear to have a boyfriend at the time.

While Rebecca appears to have left with some of her personal belongings indicating freewill (clothing, purse, toiletries, etc..), she left in a hurry and she does not appear to have taken any of her cd's and dvd's (the things she always said were most important to her). She also did not take anything from her personal storage with included furniture, family heirlooms, etc.. This leaves us to believe that she was either planning on returning or planning on living light from now on.

The Austin police contacted Greyhound and they do not have her listed as a passenger in her real name or the pseudonym she used when online nor do they recognize her by her description. It is also believed that Rebecca did not have any money for traveling and therefore she might have contacted someone to pick her up at the apartment.

We have collected all of her belongings from Austin and if she returns there, she will be asked to contact someone in her family.

The police have offered to do a few more things before they put the case away due to how cold it is and the lack of physical evidence indicating foul play:

They have enough information from her phone to obtain copies of phone records and they will check them for possible leads; however, it appears she did not use the phone in the last week or two before she disappeared. Unfortunately, the phone had been disconnected due to lack of payment and therefore they believe that it will be of no use to them.

They will check with her bank to see if any activity has occurred since her absence.

They will check to see if she is still receiving her social security check and where it is being sent.

At best, they say they might can locate her based on this information and can tell us if she is still alive; however, if she is alive they will not be able to tell us where she. I understand this and we will just accept that she has chosen a new live without us, but at least it will put an end to our fears that she is dead.

Thanks for listening.

One final note: Given descriptions and clothing sizes, Rebecca's weight appears to be around 185 now and she has shortened the length of her hair; however, the color has remained the same.

[Brad Dennis]

Fusillade,

Our organization will be happy to assist you in your search. If you would like to contact me please send an email to klaaskidssearcher@yahoo.com so we can discuss your case.

This is a wonderful group of people on WS and we all want to see your stepdaughter come home.

Brad

[Becba]

Don't know if it helps but I believe pay phone numbers always have the prefix and then the last four numbers always start with 9.

Like 555-9555

THe first phone number you listed would not be a payphone.

[docwho3]

. . .it appears she did not use the phone in the last week or two before she disappeared. Unfortunately, the phone had been disconnected due to lack of payment and therefore they believe that it will be of no use to them. . . Sometimes when people have their regular phone cut off they begin to use cell phones. I know that one store that happens to have stores all over the nation has some cheap prepaid cell phones by ummm tracphone that was selling for about $20 locally (I don't know if stores everywhere have them for that price.) But I mention this for another reason, Sometimes people low on funds will start borrowing their friends cell phones to make a call or two. You might ask around to see if that was what happened. If it did them maybe L.E. could check records of those whose phones were borrowed. Of course L.E. are smart people and they may have thought of this already.

[docwho3]

. . .The caller id displayed Austin, TX. The numbers were (512) 467-6976 and (512) 323-9883. . .

I am sending you a PM.

[KatherineQ]

I'm sending you a PM too, Fusillade.

[Fusillade]

Thanks for everyone's efforts. I'll pass this information along to her mother who is still in Texas looking for her.

[Fusillade]

Thanks to everyones search efforts, she may have been located in Edinburg, TX. I will post definite information once I've received it.

[petra]

Thanks to everyones search efforts, she may have been located in Edinburg, TX. I will post definite information once I've received it.
Good news. Hoping it is Rebecca. Wishing you the best!!:)

[CrimeHater]

Thanks to everyones search efforts, she may have been located in Edinburg, TX. I will post definite information once I've received it.
I hope so! We are praying for you, and hope to hear something soon!!