MISTY COPSEY - 14 yo (1992) - Puyallup/ Tacoma WA

It’s been almost 20 years since 14-year old Misty Copsey went missing after leaving the Puyallup State Fair. It was September 17^th,
1992 when her mother, Diana Smith, dropped she and a friend off to
enjoy the day. Smith says that initially she told Misty that she
couldn’t go to the fair, “I told her she wasn’t going to go because I
was a care giver and took care of an elderly lady all night long and I
wouldn’t be able to pick her up. “
But being a typical teenager,
Misty talked her mom into letting her go. Smith recalls, “Her and her
friend Trina got on the phone and figured out the bus routes . She said,
‘mom I’m 14 and responsible let me go.’ And I said okay. The last thing
I said to her when I dropped her off, I said’ misty I love you.’ She
said’ I love you mommy.’ I said,’ if you screw up, you won’t do anything
like this again. “







Misty said she understood and got out of the car. But Smith
says something wasn’t right, “As she was walking away she just looked
so little and vulnerable and I just thought, ‘oh God.’ I just felt like
something was going to happen and wanted to grab her. I should have.”The
two girls spent the day at the fair, but ended up missing the bus home
that night. Captain Dave McDonald with the Puyallup Police Department
explains, “The last bus driver did see her there, but he wasn’t going
that direction. Told her there were no more buses in that direction.”
Trina
headed home towards Sumner while Misty called her mother from a pay
phone near the police station. She explained that a friend would pick
her up, but Smith wasn’t happy. “ I told her I didn’t want her to ride
with him, call grandma or somebody else and call me back and let me know
how you get home. She said okay. I said promise me. She said I promise
and I never heard from her again,” Smith said.
But her only child
at the time was seen just a short time later. “A lady said about
10:00pm in front of 7 Eleven , she was sure she saw Misty. She said she
was crying and real upset she said she thought she should talk to her,
but she’s from California and you shouldn’t get involved,” explained
Smith.
The trail went cold after that sighting of Misty and it was
almost a year later before a single clue surfaced. Smith organized a
search team at Mud Mountain Dam where a horrible discovery was made.
“This kid, this cub scout was digging through the ditch with a stick and
he caught hold of something and flipped it up on the road and I looked
at it and it was her jeans,” said Smith.
Misty’s jeans, underwear
and socks were found but her body has yet to be recovere . Captain
McDonald says that is key to solving this cold case, “We still have
several persons of interest . They will continue to be persons of
interest until we have a crime scene, her bodies recovered or something
so that we can get some suspect DNA.”
Smith is hoping that
enough time has passed that anyone who may have information will finally
come forward. “I know there’s more than one person that knows what
happened that night . I know there’s a few people that know what
happened that night. This is their perfect opportunity to unburden
themselves and call in anonymously and tell what happened so we can
bring misty home,” Smith said.
If you have any information about
the disappearance of Misty Copsey, you are asked to call Crime Stoppers
at 1-800-222-t-i-p-s. All calls are anonymous and you could be receive a
$1,000 cash reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction
of the person or persons responsible for this crime.
http://www.q13fox.com/community/wamostwanted/featuredcases/kcpq-girl-disappears-from-puyallup-fair-20-years-ago-police-seek-new-tips-20120503,0,5133096.story