Police redouble efforts to solve Pennsylvania woman's 21-year-old disappearance
Sabrina Kahler, a young Erie, Pennsylvania, woman with a big smile, vanished without a trace 21 years ago.
She left her residence sometime on the late morning or early afternoon of June 24, 2002, to go swimming with an acquaintance in western Erie County.
Before she left, she told her mother, Susan Burg, in a telephone conversation that she loved her.
The last person known to be with Kahler told authorities that, after swimming, he had given Kahler some money and dropped her off at the West Erie Plaza in Millcreek Township to see the movie, "Lilo & Stitch," and to get a ride home.
Investigators never found any evidence that Kahler made it to the plaza.
Authorities have spent decades trying to figure out what happened to Kahler and where she might be. The case has passed through the hands of several Erie Bureau of Police and Pennsylvania State Police investigators, each of whom worked dilligently to come up with the answers Kahler's family and others have long sought.
Investigators said last week they are now reassessing the case, and are making another strong push to get to the truth behind Kahler's disappearance.
"Our office remains committed to reopening the investigations on all cold cases," Erie County District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz said in a statement to the Erie Times-News, part of the Paste BN Network, on Thursday.
"We are thankful to be working with dedicated investigators who share our resolve to bring closure and justice for the victims and their families," Hirz said. "We urge anyone with information regarding these cases to come forward to assist our efforts."
Detective Sgt. Craig Stoker, the cold case investigator for the Erie Bureau of Police, said that he, state police investigators and the District Attorney's Office have been making a strong push to unearth more information that could lead to the discovery of Kahler's whereabouts and who might be responsible for her disappearance.
The investigators include state police Master Trooper Todd Giliberto, who with Stoker was involved in the solving of another of Erie's cold cases, the 1988 murder of Helen Vogt. The pair in July charged Vogt's grandson, 56-year-old Jeremy C. Brock, in the killing.
Brock is awaiting trial in the case.
Disappearance and hunt for clues
Kahler, then 20, was last seen alive on the day of her disappearance with David Heck, then 26, in East Springfield, according to authorities.
Kahler, a 2001 East High School graduate who attended special education classes and was described by her mother as very naive, left a note stating that she had gone swimming with Heck and wouldn't be home until 4 p.m., Kahler's boyfriend at the time told the Erie Times-News in December 2002.
Heck would state that the pair swam at Eagley Park, a public swimming spot along the Lake Erie shoreline north of Old Lake Road in Springfield Township, just east of the Ohio line. He said they swam for about a half-hour before Heck's former girlfriend and 10 to 15 other people confronted him, and he and Kahler left Eagley Park and went to the nearby Tasty Twist ice cream stand on Old Lake Road and called police.
Erie police confirmed through a Pennsylvania State Police trooper that the trooper met Heck at the Tasty Twist and reported seeing Kahler there.
Heck, who has denied any involvement in Kahler's disappearance, said he and Kahler then drove back to Erie and he dropped her off at the West Erie Plaza.
Extensive searches were launched for Kahler in the days and weeks after her disappearance. Search teams scoured the Lake Erie shoreline and wooded areas around Eagley Park. Search areas expanded to spots including Raccoon Creek Park in Springfield Township, an area around the Harrington Bridge in Conneaut Township, and a tract of undeveloped land off upper Peach Street in Millcreek Township.
Age-progessed images of Kahler were released to the news media and publicized as Kahler's DNA was placed in a national database and her dental records were put in a missing-persons database. The case was featured on numerous missing-persons websites.
Burg successfully petitioned Erie County Court in 2009 to declare Kahler legally dead, in part to protect her identity.
"Twenty years. We're looking for, what do they say? Closure?" Burg told the Erie Times-News in an August interview, two months after the 20th anniversary of Kahler's disappearance.
A push for answers
Investigators in recent months have done a complete full case review of Kahler's disappearance. They have interviewed people who may have information, and have re-interviewed a number of people investigators have spoken to previously, Stoker said.
Investigators have done searches of relevant data related to the case and of various scenes of interest, particularly in western Erie County. Some of those areas being searched are based on information police have received, said Stoker, adding that those searches will continue.
True Crime podcast | Unsolved 4: A missing girl, a search for truth
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children produced an age-progression image of Kahler earlier this year and it is featured on the organization's website and on the Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers website.
Earlier this year, Stoker and Giliberto presented the Sabrina Kahler case to the Vidocq Society, which is made up of volunteer forensic experts and investigators who serve as confidential consultants to assist law enforcement in solving difficult cold cases.
Members of the Vidocq Society include profilers, criminologists, forensic scientists, medical examiners, active and retired law enforcement officers, prosecutors, polygraph examiners and others who provide pro bono assistance to law enforcement agencies across the United States.
Stoker said investigators believe there are people out there who might have information relevant in the case that they have not yet shared with the authorities. Even if someone has heard a rumor, investigators would like to hear about it, he said.
'Somebody ... knows something:' Michigan family hopes documentary leads to answers in cold case
Anyone with information that could assist in the Sabrina Kahler case is asked to contact Stoker at 814-870-1506 or cstoker@erie.pa.us, or Giliberto at 814-898-1641 or tgiliberto@pa.gov.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.