MetaChat - One cold, sunny morning in September 1998,

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22 August 2010

One cold, sunny morning in September 1998, my mother awoke to an empty house, packed a few belongings in a pink sports bag, put on her coat and shoes, locked the front door and walked away from her life. She left a note asking my dad to look after my brother and me, and headed in the direction of the local train station. She has not been seen or heard of since.→[More:]

A sad, baffling story. I have a theory. What do you think happened to her?

post by: Senyar at: 11:48 | 7 comments

Since her bank account remained untouched and she had a history of mental illness, my guess is that she wandered off and committed suicide someplace where her body couldn't be found.

I wish the author had written more detail about the immediate aftermath of her mother's disappearance and the initial search efforts, so we'd have an idea of what theories could be discarded.

posted by amyms 22 August | 15:22

What's your theory?

My great-uncle Morty did this in the 1960s. Packed summer clothes in February and left behind his wife and two small kids and never returned. In his case, it is believe that he was involved with the mob and was probably running then things turned bad.

posted by amro 22 August | 15:29

probably running then things turned bad.

probably running when things turned bad.

posted by amro 22 August | 15:29

I'm glad she waited until the kids were adults. I hope she's found a new life where she's happy. But I think it more likely that, as amyms said, that she's dead; either by her own hand or another's.

I had a co-worker whose father did the same thing while we were working together. He turned up a year later in Las Vegas very pissed off to have been found. I don't remember any of the other details.

posted by deborah 22 August | 16:56

I forgot to mention - Bro#2 disappeared for a year and a half a few years ago. Not totally (we knew he was in NYC), but no one in the family knew where he was. Once he got back in touch he said that he thought Mum was angry at him. Asshole.

posted by deborah 22 August | 16:58

My theory is the same as amyms'. I think she probably killed herself.

posted by Senyar 23 August | 12:46

My stepkids' mom did this. She was on the run from the law (her then husband (now my X2) was already in for white collar crime) with four kids under 5 when she was nabbed for writing bad checks. She gave the youngest up for adoption (she was not her husband's child - another long story), the other three were taken in by a family member. She had very little contact after that - the last time she saw her kids was about 11 1/2 years ago, at her oldest son's 8th birthday. She arrived very late, stayed for 5 minutes, and had someone drive her back to the train station. Her kids never saw or heard from her again.

posted by redvixen 23 August | 19:47

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