Found Deceased CO - Amy Ahonen, 38, Golden, 8 July 2011

[grandmaj]

There is a Red Lobster in Wheat Ridge which is about 20 minute drive from Golden depending on the direction of travel. Hopping on I-70 to Wadsworth Blvd. easy to do in 20 minutes. By bus longer. From Highway 58 about the same time by car.

 

[Seek&Find]

Red Lobster is set up so that every waitress has one table to wait on and only one table of guest at a time. If there are 25 tables in the restaurant there are 25 waitresses. It would not be hard to have "regulars" that you became familiar with, as it is a more one on one establishment, great money there as it is an upper scale dining.

Have to disagree with you here. While Red Lobster is sit down dining, it's not upscale, especially for the Denver area. And I've eaten at metro Denver Red Lobsters multiple times, and I've always seen waitstaff serving multiple tables at once.

 

[tfrohning]

so we don't know what red lobster she work at?

 

[summer_breeze]

http://www.denverpost.com/billjohnson/ci_18527125

Posted: 07/22/2011 01:00:00 AM MDT
By Bill Johnson
Denver Post Columnist

Poof. Just like that.

OK, maybe that is the way it happens. I don't think so. People cannot simply disappear. In my experience, someone almost always disappears them.

 

[SurfieTX]

She divorced shortly after arriving in Denver. But she loved hiking, skiing and the mountains so much that she stayed.

The only thing that makes sense, Andrea Ahonen said, is that Clear Creek Canyon was Amy's favorite place. She would almost always take friends there when they came to visit.

Her roommate was the last person to see her at 1 p.m. that Friday, July 8. Amy was due at work at 6 p.m. Since that Saturday was Amy's birthday, the roommate figured she was with friends. She was reported missing Sunday.

A state trooper who had discovered her car Friday night reported he saw nothing unusual. There was no note left behind.

Andrea Ahonen, 40, said she knows her sister. There was no way she was going close to the creek if the water was raging.

"She left her phone, the keys and her purse behind. There is no way she is doing that," she said. "I don't see her being away from her car for even five minutes and not locking the doors. We're from Detroit. We lock the doors."

http://www.denverpost.com/billjohnson/ci_18527125

 

[Litlstar04]

Amy Ahonen has been missing two weeks today. Where are you Amy?

 

[Keota]

Here is her picture:

It sounds like she wasn't in Golden but 6-7 miles west up highway 6, in the mountains. The 7 News article says the sheriff believes she could have walked down to Clear Creek and fallen in. At this time of the year, with the snowmelt, Clear Creek is probably a violently rushing, swollen river. The post by her friend says she was hiking, which is different than just walking down to the river. The river runs right along highway 6 so I don't think you would be considered hiking if you just walked down to it. If she was hiking, I hope they are searching to make sure she isn't injured somewhere. I hope there isn't an issue with LE thinking she called for assistance when actually she didn't because she was away from the road hiking, and LE thinking she must have been close to her car when she wasn't. Also, there have been mountain lion attacks along the Front Range there in the past.

If she was actually walking along the river, I wouldn't be surprised if she fell in. You have to climb down to it, and 6th is dark. I wouldn't want to fall into Clear Creek at any time since it's kinda big, but this summer all the rivers out here are raging...too dangerous for tubing/most rafting.

I live in Denver and throughout the summer have traveled to the mountains several times a month--and Clear Creek was much higher than I've seen it in a long time..It snowed so much this year there was serious talk of opening A-Basin for skiing on the 4th of July (not sure if it happened) and Aspen was open Memorial Day weekend. All that runoff is still going strong...also I don't remember the dates but there were some particularly bad rainstorms/flooding in that area around the same time.

 

[Keota]

10pm, doesn't sound like a time when someone would go hiking alone, not to mention leaving their phone and leaving an unlocked vehicle.

Sounds suspicious to me.

I think that is obvious to most people, but you never know...from my personal observation--people lock their doors less and are more trusting here in Colorado. I personally think hiking at night is a bad idea, but people do it all the time. Surely she'd know how much more dangerous it was to go alone...but I can see some hippie chick just going out to listen to the water and look at the stars.

Unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility.

 

[Keota]

One thing I was surprised about is the location of Amy's apartment. Her apartment complex is nice and new but that's one of the sketchiest areas of Denver in general. I used to play golf at the Park Hill club, which is behind her apartments. That was 10 years or so ago. Of course it's probably just as likely somebody she knew would be involved but it's something to think about. I know her scent was supposedly followed from her car to the river but that's not always foolproof.

I hope they have searched the river thoroughly enough. I hate writing this but a body could travel a long way downstream in such a rushing river, and there are a lot of big boulders it could get stuck under.

Good point. The area still has a lot of break-ins.

 

[Keota]

"I'm thinking she probably went for a hike because everything was found under her seat. So it seemed like it was planned,"

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/28573157/detail.html

Wonder what cellphone coverage is like in that area. If there is coverage, wouldn't she take her phone
with her?

Coverage is spotty, so she may not have had service. I never hike with a cell phone because the service is not good in the mountains (even when you aren't far from Denver) and it is just one more thing to carry...The keys are the weirdest thing to leave in a car--I can't imagine doing that. However, I wouldn't imagine anyone stopping on that windy road to steal my car randomly, either. If she was going for a swim, she wouldn't take her keys...

 

[Keota]

I understand what you mean, I also run and walk on local walking trails, but I ALWAYS have my keys, phone, and pepper spray with me. I couldn't imagine going out in the woods without anything but the clothes on my back and leaving my car unlocked with all my personal effects in it.

How long was her car parked there, do we have any idea? I leave all my junk in my car and go day hiking often. Once while with a friend, I took her bad advice and we wound up lost, after dark, 11 miles from our car. We had no idea what time it was. Stupid decision that could have turned out bad. I still can't believe she left her keys, though...

 

[Keota]

Good question. The furthest Red Lobster is the one in Aurora. It's about an hour drive. There is traffic on a Friday afternoon but she would have been going against the congestion going towards Denver, then would have gotten in more traffic heading from Denver towards Aurora so it would have probably evened out at not more than an hour and a half at the most.

Sorry to once again reference my own experience, but I do similar drives on a regular basis. Especially while working in the service industry, with odd hours--take a day trip and be back for work later, even if it's an hour each way. I think people tend to do this quite a bit, in summer for hiking and winter for skiing.

 

[Chili Fries]

So here is what we know timeline-wise:

- She was last seen at her apartment at 1 pm on Friday the 8th.

- She had to be at work at 6 pm. We aren't sure which Red Lobster she works at but there is one in Commerce City only a couple of miles from her apartment.

- Her car was found about a 45 minute drive away from her house.


I think if she had been planning to go hiking she would have wanted to take a shower before work. So if she left her house after 1:00, she would have been where the car was found at about 2. Maybe she planned on spending an hour and a half or so up in the mountains. You figure she would have wanted to be back at home at maybe 4:45 at the latest to shower, get ready and get to work about an hour later (that would be if she worked at the Commerce City Red Lobster which is closest to her house). If she was just driving around maybe she didn't plan to shower but if she went hiking I'm pretty sure she would have.

 

[cakegirl0905]

So here is what we know timeline-wise:

- She was last seen at her apartment at 1 pm on Friday the 8th.

- She had to be at work at 6 pm. We aren't sure which Red Lobster she works at but there is one in Commerce City only a couple of miles from her apartment.

- Her car was found about a 45 minute drive away from her house.


I think if she had been planning to go hiking she would have wanted to take a shower before work. So if she left her house after 1:00, she would have been where the car was found at about 2. Maybe she planned on spending an hour and a half or so up in the mountains. You figure she would have wanted to be back at home at maybe 4:45 at the latest to shower, get ready and get to work about an hour later (that would be if she worked at the Commerce City Red Lobster which is closest to her house). If she was just driving around maybe she didn't plan to shower but if she went hiking I'm pretty sure she would have.

Did she ever actually call the police, or was that a rumor? And at what time if she did? Also, did she call in to work saying she wouldn't be in?

 

[OldSteve]

So here is what we know timeline-wise:

- She was last seen at her apartment at 1 pm on Friday the 8th.

- She had to be at work at 6 pm. We aren't sure which Red Lobster she works at but there is one in Commerce City only a couple of miles from her apartment.

- Her car was found about a 45 minute drive away from her house.


I think if she had been planning to go hiking she would have wanted to take a shower before work. So if she left her house after 1:00, she would have been where the car was found at about 2. Maybe she planned on spending an hour and a half or so up in the mountains. You figure she would have wanted to be back at home at maybe 4:45 at the latest to shower, get ready and get to work about an hour later (that would be if she worked at the Commerce City Red Lobster which is closest to her house). If she was just driving around maybe she didn't plan to shower but if she went hiking I'm pretty sure she would have.

Thanks for this timeline!

So if I'm reading your timeline correctly, an hour or hour-an-a-half hike would have been okay to do.

I tending to think that she stopped to simply take a look at the creek (that's why she left her keys in the car) and that by accident she somehow went into it and got swept away...

Wonder what the chances are of that happening and nothing being found?

 

[Chili Fries]

Did she ever actually call the police, or was that a rumor? And at what time if she did? Also, did she call in to work saying she wouldn't be in?

No she didn't call police. A state trooper noticed her car at 10 pm that night, ran the plate and nothing unusual came back so he tagged it as an abandoned vehicle.

We don't know if she called in to work but since nothing has been said about it and it has been reported that she was expected at work at 6, my guess is that she did not call in.

Wonder what the chances are of that happening and nothing being found?

That's a good question. It's probably really tough to say. I know there are a lot of big rocks along the river that things can disappear under but I'm not sure for how long. Maybe if there is brush or a downed tree it could create a trap. The river is running very fast though. It's a very populated area so you'd think something would be found at some point. I hate writing that but it may be possible.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Johnson: Mind of missing woman's sister is racing

Poof. Just like that.

OK, maybe that is the way it happens. I don't think so. People cannot simply disappear. In my experience, someone almost always disappears them.

More: http://www.denverpost.com/billjohnson/ci_18527125

 

[Ophelia]

I want to thank everyone for the thoughtful discussion of Amy. I went to high school with her and live in the same city as her family. As you can imagine, I've been scouring the internet trying to find clues. I've been reading this forum for a week, and nodding in agreement several times; I've wanted to answer questions you've had a few times. I finally registered so I could join the discussion.

While I'm not positive about which location she worked, I do know there is a Red Lobster in Denver. (8268 E Northfield Blvd, Denver, CO 80238) It's less than 10 minutes from her home.

I would like to reiterate what you may have already read by saying I would be literally stunned to find out she committed suicide. There are some people who would never consider suicide an option, and my belief is she's one of them. She cares WAY too much about others. --The same goes for speculation I've read on the internet that says she just doesn't want to be found.

While nothing can be ruled out without some sort of clues and/or evidence, obviously, it seems those ideas are very unlikely.

For those who are wondering, the family/LE has been made aware of Travis Forbes' past Craigslist correspondence. So, I would assume the possibility of Forbes contacting Amy via Craigslist is under investigation. In fact, the family has been made aware of Forbes' criminal connection to the area, past history, etc. It's my personal hope that LE is seriously checking into a possible link to Amy.

It becomes difficult not to have tunnel vision, after a while. I'm almost completely convinced TF has something to do with this.

Does anyone know whether Lydia Tillman's car was recovered? --I'm wondering if it could've been used to get him to Clear Creek Canyon.

I may have missed a post or two. How did some of you come to the conclusion she was hiking at night? I believe (could be mistaken) that the witness reported seeing her and a male around 3pm. We have no way of knowing whether or not this is true. As you know, she was supposed to be at work at 6pm that day.

I don't know if any of you have read this already: she's a member of hiking, curling and hockey clubs. So, she's fairly athletic. I've been guessing that she would've known to be careful in regard to falling in the water, etc., since she seemed to be a hiker of some degree.

Finally, I agree: we're from Detroit, and we lock our doors! She lived here long enough that it's something that would be pretty well ingrained.

 

[shefner]

Ophelia...welcome to Websleuths and thank you for your post! I have been following Amy's case closely and truly hope she will be found.

I think the fact that LE stated they made contact with her in her vehicle at night (and she said she did not need assistance) is what is leading some to suggest she may have gone there at night for some intentional purpose. There is conflicting info, however, about this contact. Other reports say that LE simply saw her car on the roadside and called in the tag. I'm not sure if we ever heard a definitive result. LE did say they told the family they thought Amy might have gone to that location to view the rushing waters. You can find the link to this article I'm referring to in the very first post. Don't really know why they would think that.

Hopefully, we will have more answers soon. Thanks again for your willingness to join and post here.

 

[Ophelia]

It's just odd imo, and with the added info that everything was under the seat, so even if she was, say, going on just a short little hike, why leave her phone and keys behind?? :waitasec:

You've made an excellent point. If I'm going to go through the trouble of stuffing my things under the seat, why then, would I leave the keys in the car? :waitasec: It almost sounds like she stuffed her things under her seat, and then someone else came and put the keys back in her car later.