Page 7 - March 2021 TTI

Private Investigators Find the
Answers about a Missing Mother
by Kelly E. Riddle, Kelmar Global
I first learned of the missing 42-year-old Texas woman
of Ethiopian descent through the normal media
barrage. Her disappearance caught the attention of local
news and the sympathy of the public.
Around 5 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014, Almaz
Gebremedhim left her home but did not make it to
work, a nursing home just three miles away. Normally,
she called home to wish her children “Good morning”
before they left for school. On this day there was no
call. There was no sign of her vehicle, a Chevrolet
minivan, either at the nursing home or along the
roadside. Her disappearance was alarming to her
children, her husband and her mother, who lived with
them.
The police in Wylie, Texas, a small suburb northeast of
Dallas, began searching for a wrecked vehicle along her
route to work. In the coming days, they followed
numerous missing person tips to no avail.
After two weeks with no sign of Almaz, the distraught
family wanted their loved one found but the case
seemed to have gone cold. Frustrated, the family turned
to private investigative agencies for help, perceiving a
language and cultural barrier hampered good
communication between the family and police.
Late on Friday, Oct. 17, my focus and interest was
drawn to the specifics of this case when I received a call
from a friend of the Gebremedhim family. The caller
seemed guarded in his initial conversation with me,
which I attributed to him being from Ethiopia. We set
an appointment for the next day with one of our lead
investigators to further discuss the case.
It was not until much later that I learned this initial
meeting was supposed to be the first of a series of
interviews with investigative firms. The family, however,
THE TEXAS INVESTIGATOR
developed a rapport with our investigator. He was able
to assure them that Kelmar Global would follow up on
leads the police and media seemingly ignored. The
family decided to work exclusively with Kelmar.
The Kelmar investigator quickly learned of a video
taken by a neighbor who had a surveillance camera set
up to record activity on her property. The video showed
Almaz’s vehicle driving away in the early morning
followed by a second vehicle. Our first thought was that
the second car was waiting for her, perhaps to run off
together, or to do her harm. When the investigator met
with the Wylie police, he learned that they already had
a copy of that video.
One initial concern was the possibility of a hate crime
due to the family’s ethnicity. The investigator conducted
various interviews within the local Ethiopian
community and learned that there were no indicators of
racism or religious hatred. Additionally, interviews did
not turn up any reason why this woman would choose
to disappear alone or with someone.
During the initial stages of his investigation, the
investigator drove the route to and from Almaz’s
workplace. He found the roadway to be a narrow, two-
lane blacktop that was uneven with no shoulders and
two sharp turns. The concrete and metal guardrails had
seen their share of vehicle damage. This stuck out in the
investigator’s mind. He conducted a search of the area
on foot through heavy brush and trees overhanging a
creek approximately twenty feet wide. The creek
channel was searched between the two sharp turns with
no visible evidence of a vehicle. Portions of the channel
appeared to be dark and possibly very deep.
The family paid our initial retainer and then, when it
was clear that more work needed to be done, St.
Michael Ethiopian Church raised funds to help pay
added costs. The investigator and his wife, who are also
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