5 years later, case of missing NKY teen stays open

Five years ago, a 17-year-old Florence girl, Paige Johnson, vanished.

The teen, described as a “social butterfly,” was reported missing on Sept. 23, 2010, setting off public vigils, exhaustive investigative searches, a flurry of social media including Facebook pages seeking clues about her disappearance and offering support to her family.

None of it led to Paige Johnson, or to answers about what happened to her.

But Paige’s disappearance isn’t a mystery to everyone. And five years later, investigators say they will never close her case.

“I believe there are multiple people that know what happened to Paige, whether she was murdered or whether it was some other cause of her death,” Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders said. “While there may not been a lot of people involved in her death, they know what happened to her body. They have chosen to be uncooperative.”

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children continues its search for Paige, whose sister, Brittany Haywood, then from Covington, reported her missing. The center is again urging the public to call with tips and information about Paige.

NKY teenager disappears

Paige was the mother of a then 2-year-old daughter, Makenzie, when she disappeared. She had dropped out of Simon Kenton High School after she had her baby, but those who knew her said she was a friendly, happy girl.

“We had a couple classes together at Simon Kenton High School. She was a sweet girl, very funny and full of life,” said Candice Williamson, who currently lives in Ludlow. “It’s sad nothing has been discovered of her whereabouts or what happened to her.”

Haywood said she misses her sister terribly. “She was such a down-to-earth, fun-loving girl who would’ve done anything for anyone at the drop of a hat,” she said.

After Haywood reported Paige missing, police questioned Jacob T. Bumpass, then 22, of Taylor Mill. He was described as one of Paige’s acquaintances, who’d picked her up at her mother’s Florence home the evening of Sept. 22. He told them he dropped off Paige at about 1 a.m. the next morning at 15th Street and Scott Boulevard in Covington.

But the evidence didn’t show that. Investigators said phone records placed Bumpass near Paige’s Florence home at that time.

More phone records led investigators with cadaver dogs to 10,000-acre East Fort State Park in Clermont County, where they searched for Paige. They said they focused their search in the park because Bumpass, the last person known to have seen Paige, sent a text message from the area at about 4:28 a.m. Sept. 23.

They recovered nothing.

Bumpass was never named as a suspect and never arrested for anything in relation to Paige Johnson’s disappearance.

He was arrested in November 2010 on a parole violation for a theft conviction for having liquor in his home, but he was released from a Kentucky prison in 2012. He has not spoken with police about the missing persons case since early in the investigation.

Sanders said investigators want to talk to Bumpass again.

Attorneys for Bumpass said they have no comment, and The Enquirer was unable to reach Bumpass for this story.

Haywood agreed with Sanders, saying people have to know what happened to her younger sister.

“She didn’t deserve what happened to her, and Jacob Bumpass and one of his close friends know exactly what happened to her yet refuse to come forward,” Haywood said. “I know there are other people who know what happened to my sister that night five years ago, and how they sleep at night is baffling to me.”

Tips wane, police seek more information

There haven’t been many large-scale searches for Paige in the past couple of years, but police follow up on whatever leads they get, said Covington Police Detective Justin Bradbury.

In January 2013, they searched the backyard of a building on the 3500 block of Decoursey Pike in Latonia when they heard that the teen’s remains could be in a cistern.

Most tips these days are vague.

“There’s not much in the way of credible leads that have enough information,” Bradbury said. “If there’s even a piece of information that we can tie in with the information we had, we definitely work it.”

Still, Sanders called the investigation “very active.”

“We’ve chased down countless leads and tips and possible witnesses,” Sanders said. “As frustrating as it is to have a case go on this long, Covington Police deserve kudos for how they’ve pursued it. There’s nothing that puts Paige in Covington with the exception of one person’s word. Jacob Bumpass said he’d seen Paige Johnson alive in the city of Covington.”

Holding out hope for answers

The community has been affected by the disappearance of the teen, Bradbury said.

“I think the problem with the case is, it just leaves a lot of questions,” he said. “There’s a greater fear in the community when there’s just no answers (to) what happened, how it happened, where she is.”

Tips trickle in, averaging at about one per month, he said.

Some come from CrimeStoppers or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“A lot of the tips we get are very dated,” Bradbury said. Someone may say he saw Paige in a car in a location years ago, for example.

Bradbury, who was assigned the case after the original lead detective, Brian Frodge, retired in June, said he keeps in touch with Paige’s mother, Donna Johnson.

Johnson told The Enquirer in 2013 that she no longer believed her daughter was alive. She said she finds some solace in watching Paige’s daughter, Makenzie, now 7, grow up.

Sanders feels for the family.

“It’s just not fair to have a young mother disappear like that, without at the very least being able to find some answers for her child and for her mother,” he said.

And five years after Paige disappeared, her sister still holds onto hope that answers will emerge.

“All I can do is hope and pray that one day, God places it in someone’s heart to come forward so that justice may be served,” Haywood said. “And my family can have the closure we deserve.”

Finding Paige

Anyone with information about the Sept. 23, 2010, disappearance of Florence teen Paige Johnson is asked to contact authorities. Here’s how:

If you have information that needs immediate attention call Kenton County Dispatch at 859-356-3191.

Talk to a Covington Police investigator: 859-292-2234.

Call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: 1-800-843-5678.

Other missing children from the Cincinnati area include four girls and one boy, some of whom now are adults, since 1994.