This story is a part of Ask Alabama, where you ask the questions, you vote to decide which questions we answer, and then we investigate.

This week we're answering a question from John Hazel of Slapout who asked: Traci Pittman Kegley has been missing since 1998. Why has there been no interest in investigating this further?

Traci Pittman Kegley's abandoned car was found on a secluded road in Elmore County on April 26, 1998. Personal belongings, including her purse and identification, were found at the scene. Her two-year old child was left in car.

Kegley hasn't been seen or heard from since her 1993 Geo Storm was found on Old Georgia Road in Wetumpka. Her family believes that she is likely the victim of a crime given that they don't believe she would leave her child in the car alone.



Under Alabama law, family must wait five years before a person can be declared legally dead if his or her body has not been recovered and no death certificate has been issued. In this case, those steps have not been taken yet.

After Kegley, who was 30 years old at the time, went missing, a number of people were questioned and later cleared of being involved in her disappearance. A local flooded quarry was searched, but another two flooded quarries were not searched, according to a report by Elmore and Autauga News report from 2015. She had separated from her husband earlier in 1998 and her divorce was made final 16 days prior to her disappearance. She was living with her mother at the time and was due to start a new job at a dental office in Montgomery the day after she went missing.

John Hazel, who posed the question to Ask Alabama, said in an interview that he remembered her going missing and recalled the large billboards on route 231 asking for information about her disappearance. "The police seemed to reach a dead end back then," said Hazel. "But I think they should reopen her investigation and apply modern techniques. Maybe there are fingerprints that can be retested or DNA from the car that can be put back through a database."



While Elmore County Sheriff's department no longer officially handles Kegley's disappearance, a representative told AL.com that the case was still open. "The case is still under investigation and anyone with information about Traci Kegley is encouraged to come forward."

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) currently handles Kegley's disappearance, although Elmore County Sheriff's department confirmed that the case was now what detectives would describe as "cold," meaning that unless new information or evidence is brought to investigators the case will not be actively worked on but will remain open.



ALEA did not formally respond to questions about when the case was last looked at or if modern investigative techniques had been used on evidence collected at the time.



A description of Kegley when she went missing in 1998 described her as being "5'10, 140 pounds. She is a Caucasian female, with brown hair and green/hazel eyes. Her hair was frosted at the time of her disappearance. She has a Caesarean section scar on her abdomen, and her ears were pierced."



Anyone with information on her disappearance can call the Elmore County Sheriff's Department on: (334) 567-5441 or the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency on: (334) 353-2250

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