The Disappearance of Alyssa McLemore

On the evening of April 9, 2009, 21-year-old Alyssa McLemore was heading home to be with her ailing mother. She never arrived. The next night, a 911 dispatcher answered a call from her phone and heard a young woman begging for help, then the line went dead. More than a decade later, her family still has no answers.

Who Is Alyssa McLemore?

Alyssa McLemore was a 21-year-old member of the Aleut tribe who lived in Kent, Washington, with her mother and grandmother. She had a three-year-old daughter, who was staying with the child’s father, Alyssa’s boyfriend, at the time she vanished.

Her family has always been firm on one point: Alyssa would never have walked away from her child.

Her mother was also seriously ill. She was suffering from scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune disease, and died just three days after Alyssa went missing. The family lost a daughter to a mystery and a mother to illness in the same week.

Timeline of Events

April 9, 2009, 6:30 p.m. Alyssa spoke with her grandmother by phone. Her grandmother told her that her mother wasn’t doing well and asked her to come home. Alyssa agreed. She said she was about six miles from home and would catch a bus back.

April 9, 2009. A witness reported seeing Alyssa near 30th Avenue South and Kent-Des Moines Road. This is the last confirmed sighting of her.

April 10, 2009, 9:15 p.m. A call to 911 was placed from Alyssa’s phone. A young woman asked for help before the line went dead. That night, police knocked on the family’s door to ask whether Alyssa was okay.

April 13, 2009. The family formally reported Alyssa missing to the Kent Police Department. They had reportedly been told they needed to wait because she was an adult who might have left on her own.

A few days later. Alyssa’s phone went dead, and it has never been recovered.

The 911 Call

The 911 call is the most haunting piece of this case. According to the dispatcher, a male voice could be heard in the background telling the caller to “come here” and saying something like “I’ll kill you.”

Investigators could not pinpoint where the call came from. Alyssa’s BlackBerry had no GPS, so its location was impossible to determine. The caller has never been officially identified.

Citing the active investigation, authorities have not allowed Alyssa’s family to listen to the recording.

The Witnesses and the Green Truck

Two witness accounts form the core of the public evidence.

The first witness saw Alyssa near 30th Avenue South and Kent-Des Moines Road on the day she disappeared. They also saw a green 1990s pickup truck, possibly with Oregon plates, approach her.

The second witness described the driver as a white man in his 50s or 60s, about 5’8″ and 175 to 185 pounds. This witness also said he appeared to be someone Alyssa knew.

To date, the man in the green truck has never been identified.

The Area and Alyssa’s Record

The stretch of road where Alyssa was seen is known for street-level sex work. Court records show she was arrested four times between September 2008 and February 2009 for prostitution and related offenses.

This context is part of the public record, but it is worth stating plainly that it does not lessen her humanity or the urgency of finding her. Advocates have long noted that missing women who are stigmatized or seen as “high-risk” often receive less attention, and Indigenous women face disproportionately high rates of disappearance and violence across North America. Alyssa was a daughter, a mother, and a granddaughter first.

Questions That Remain Unanswered

Who made the 911 call, and who was the man heard in the background?
Who was the man in the green pickup truck, and did Alyssa really know him?
Why did the family have to wait days to report her missing?
What is on the 911 recording that investigators are keeping from the family?
Where is Alyssa’s phone?

Description of Alyssa McLemore

Ethnicity: Native American (Aleut) / Black
Sex: Female
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5’1″ to 5’2″
Weight: About 130 lbs
Distinguishing mark: A scar on her abdomen

How You Can Help

If you have any information about the disappearance of Alyssa McLemore, please contact the Kent Police Department at (253) 856-5800. Even a small detail, such as a memory of a green pickup truck or a conversation you overheard, could matter.