The Vanished Podcast recently covered Laura's case
EPISODE 163: Laura Nimbach
All of the news links above are now dead so here is a summary:
On February 17, 2009, 22 year old Laura Nimbach went missing. According to reports, Laura’s last interaction was with a police officer in St. Petersburg, FL. Laura allegedly told the officer that she had been at a domestic violence shelter the previous day, but had left for unknown reasons. Laura was in the midst of leaving a highly abusive relationship and was currently without a permanent place to stay. She had been bouncing around from friends homes to shelters. After this interaction Laura Nimbach told the officer she would make her way to another shelter, but after they parted ways Laura was never seen or heard from again. In the days following her disappearance, Laura was due to make an appearance in court to testify against her abuser, but she never showed up.
If you have any information as to the whereabouts of Laura Nimbach please call the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office 727-582-6333
Laura was last seen in St. Petersburg, Florida on February 17, 2009. A police officer saw her sleeping behind a building in the 4800 block of 49th Street near Memorial Park Cemetery. He woke her and told her about local homeless shelters. She had left a domestic violence shelter the previous day. She told the officer she was leaving her abusive boyfriend and would travel to another shelter. She never showed up at any local shelters and has never been heard from again. Laura was a transient at the time of her disappearance, but she always kept in touch with her family. Due to her transient lifestyle, the police refused to accept a missing persons report until March 31, six weeks after she was last seen. She grew up in Michigan and enrolled in Wayne State University to study nursing, but dropped out after two years and moved to Florida. She became addicted to oxycodone in 2007. She stayed briefly in two drug rehabilitation centers in June 2008, then returned to Florida in July and stayed there until November.
Laura (may have) attempted suicide in Florida in late November 2008. Following her release from the hospital, she returned to Kentucky(with her sister) and stayed until January, when she returned to Florida to attend the pre-trial hearing for a court case against her. The charge was assaulting a police officer, and Nimbach was not concerned, as she believed she would probably be put on probation. She disappeared a week before the hearing. Nimbach's loved ones fear for her safety, due to her lifestyle, drug addiction and lack of contact. Her case remains unsolved. Some agencies state Nimbach disappeared from Largo, Florida.
Additional info gathered from the podcast:
Laura had a turbulent childhood and had lived with her father (who has a gambling addiction) in Michigan. Laura's mom and sisters all live elsewhere, but they were in touch and saw each other often prior to Laura's move to Florida. Laura had been in an abusive relationship in Michigan with a guy named Nick, and moved to Florida after a falling out with her dad in 2007. She lived with her best friend in Clearwater and things were really great for a time, then she got into a car accident and was prescribed oxy, which she became quickly addicted. Within a year, she began dating Sean Wheeler, who Laura identified to her sister as also supplying her with drugs. This is where the family's telling is different from the Charley Project statement above - according to Laura's sis, Sean beat Laura so badly she was hospitalized and the hearing she disappeared ahead of was for the assault charges against HIM. They seem to have a strong suspicion of SW due to his history of drugs and violence, and also state Laura was seen with Sean after LE was in contact with her on Feb 17th, 2009. LE declined to comment or be interviewed (I'm going to speculate that no one there even remembers Laura or has been looking for her for nearly 10 years)
Missing & Homeless
Give Me Hope, Bring Me Home
There is also this
Windermere police ID several women after releasing photos
Here is the thread for that, also a bit hard to research since links are broken or missing
FL - Windermere police trying to identify women in photos