The Most Terrifying Cold Case

Let's talk about Angela Hammond in Missouri for a second.

I believe this case happened in 1991. Yes, in fact I just did what we refer to as a “quick Google” and it happened on April 4, 1991 — so over 34 years ago at this point. Angela Hammond was a young woman in Clinton, Missouri, which is part of the generalized Ozarks region. She was dating a young man named Rob, who was a multi-sport high school athlete. They were both around 19–20. Some reporting on this case says that Angela was four months pregnant, and that Rob had given her a diamond ring, but it wasn’t a proposal, it was more like a promise. I do believe she was pregnant, but I don’t know about the rest of it.

On this April 4, 1991 evening, the two of them hung out and then she met up with a friend. She was done with the friend and then went to a bank of pay phones about eight minutes from Rob’s house to call him and check-in. I am unsure why she didn’t just return to his house, but eh. Anyway, while on the phone, a guy pulled up in a green pickup truck (late 1970s or early 1980s model, apparently) with a decal on the back of a fish jumping out of water. He approached the phones and they spoke, as she talked to Rob on the actual phone. She thought he was sketchy, but then he returned to his truck and her and Rob kept talking.

Eventually, she screamed and was clearly being abducted. Rob dropped his phone, at home, and raced to his car. As he drove downtown, he passed the truck and Angela screamed for him. He threw his car in reverse, but fucked up the transmission in the process, so he couldn’t pursue.

That was, again, April of 1991. Angela has never been found. I initially saw this case on Unsolved Mysteries when I was probably 11–12 years old, and they do a haunting job with the re-enactment: