TX TX - Catherine Hammel, 28, Houston, 23 March 1998

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6037997

24 March 08

A New Jersey family continues searching for answers ten years after the disappearance of their daughter here in Houston.

Cathy Ann Hammel was 28 when she vanished after leaving work at a Houston fitness club. She was last seen at her apartment complex on Wilcrest Road. Police followed several leads, but Hammel was never found.

She left behind a daughter who was just three at the time. Every year on the anniversary of Hammel's disappearance, her family makes the long trip from New Jersey to Houston, hoping to keep the case alive.

more at link

pic

http://www.click2houston.com/news/22922237/detail.html

Cathy Hammel Last Seen On March 23, 1998

POSTED: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
UPDATED: 3:14 pm CDT March 23,2010

HOUSTON -- A family handed out fliers Tuesday in hopes of finding a loved one who was last seen 12 years ago, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.

Cathy Ann Hammel, 28 at the time, was last seen at her apartment on Wilcrest on March 23, 1998.

Click to expand...

http://www.click2houston.com/news/22922237/detail.html

So very sad...she had a 3 year old son.

kh

current & archived links
http://doenetwork.org/cases/2269dftx.html

Date Of Birth: January 26, 1970
Age at Time of Disappearance: 28 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3"; 120 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown eyes; long brown/auburn hair.
Marks, Scars: Small scar near her left eye and pierced ears.
Clothing: Purple "24-Hour Fitness" T-shirt, gym shorts, and white tennis shoes
Jewelry: earrings(unknown description); letter "C" Ring; black purse
AKA: Cathy Hammel
DNA: Available

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/a...r-catherine-three-years-after-daughter-v.html

03/24/2001
Hammel was last seen March 23, 1998. She did not drive, but usually walked to her jobs at 24-Hour Fitness in the 12400 block of Westheimer and at Nick's Sports Bar and Grill in the 1400 block of Wilcrest.
She had worked at 24-Hour Fitness until 2 p.m. the day she disappeared, then went home to her apartment in the 1200 block of Wilcrest.

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/a...move-on-closure-remains-elusive-after-ca.html

03/23/2006
This year, Henderson also will have a memorial Mass for her daughter. It's a step she resisted.
"I never wanted there to be one (a service) because I never wanted to believe she was gone," Henderson said. "But I have to do this. I'm having a memorial so I can send her poor soul to heaven."
At first, Hammel's disappearance was considered a missing-person case, but Houston police homicide detectives took the lead in the investigation, concluding the mother of a now 12-year-old girl would not have vanished of her own accord.

http://www.thekatynews.com/article-...-missing-since-1998-still-looking-for-answers

03/21/2012

Catherine Henderson, Hammel's mother, has asked that question daily for the past 14 years. Each year on the anniversary of her disappearance she makes the trip to Houston in hopes that there will be a break in her case, seeking any bit of information to answer that question. Henderson said she's been told to "give up." "Law Enforcement and some advocacy groups tell me that it's useless for me to continue coming to Houston year after year. Some have even quit returning my calls," said Henderson.

Mom prays for daughter who went missing in ’98
Posted: Mar 22, 2014 11:20 PM CST Updated: Mar 25, 2014 11:21 PM CST

Hammel and Arenales, who had a “rocky” relationship, were heard having an argument at Nick’s Sports Bar and Grill, a restaurant where Hammel worked part-time, the night before her disappearance, Motard said.
<snipped>
“The first year she disappeared they had helicopters, ATVs, dogs, everything, trying to find her,” Henderson said, adding that fliers were distributed and groups searched every block for clues. The case drew widespread media and police attention and was investigated by homicide detective C.P. Abbondandolo, who has since retired. The case was labeled as a missing person since a body was never recovered, but Motard said it was investigated as a homicide since police do not believe Hammel would have left without her young daughter.

Click to expand...

Weird, I worked at Nick's part-time myself about 12 years ago. Loved that place, it was a great little bar.

How sad for her mother to fly here every year...

I wonder what ever became of her boyfriend, Jose?

Bumping for this poor woman and her mom. Vernon mom haunted by daughter's 1998 disappearance

Snipped from article linked above:

"I went down there that Thursday, and when I got to her apartment, Jose was standing there and had all these cuts and scratches on his face," Henderson recalled. "I told him, ‘Give me the key to her apartment,' and he did and never came back. I went and changed the locks and stayed there for nine months and spent every day looking for her.

"I printed fliers, knocked on doors, and searched everywhere within a 10-mile radius."

The Houston Police Department initially treated the disappearance as a missing persons case since a body was never recovered, but ultimately transferred the case to the department's homicide unit after concluding that Hammel would not have abandoned her baby and voluntarily vanished of her own accord.

Henderson said investigators also noticed that a rug in her daughter's living room was inexplicably gone. "They were thinking he [Jose] may have rolled her up and thrown her into the Dumpster," she said.[...]

Additionally, Henderson has not heard from her granddaughter -- Hammel's daughter, now 23 years old -- since 2008.

"I told her that her father killed her mother, and since that time, she is not allowed to be in touch with me," Henderson said.

Today the only remaining vestige of Henderson's daughter is an urn containing a few strands of her hair she pulled from the sink in her daughter's apartment shortly after she went missing.

Bumping for Cathy, now missing over 23 years.

COLD CASE: Today marks 25 years since the disappearance of Catherine “Cathy Ann” Hammel.
@houstonpolice say the young mom was last seen at her apt. off Wilcrest that she shared w/ her boyfriend & couple’s daughter. Her mother’s interview tonight @KHOU #MissingPieces @CrimeStopHOU

Houston PD "Featured Case" remains unsolved: