5-year anniversary of missing New Madrid woman

NEW MADRID, MO (KFVS) - Five years this week, Barbara Stoffer went missing from her home on Maple Street in New Madrid.

According to New Madrid Police Department, there are only some details that cannot be released without jeoparding the investigation.

Police are asking the public to review the facts we know about Stoffer's disappearance and see if it jogs anyone's memory.

Download the KFVS News app: iPhone | Android

Here's what we know:

• Barbara Stoffer was 83 years old at the time she went missing. She was believed to be driving a green 1997 Volvo 850 GLT, which is a four-door sedan.
• She was reported missing on Aug. 21, 2013, after she was not seen driving the routes that she drove on a daily basis.
• The last time Stoffer was seen was on the afternoon of August 20th, 2013 and there are five witness statements to support that date.
• Based on witness accounts it is believed that between 4:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., Stoffer traveled a route from Main Street in New Madrid, to Highway 61, to Highway 62, to Highway 153, and finally to Highway D at Parma. The last place her vehicle was seen was on Highway D through Parma traveling west.
• There have been no witnesses identified who saw Stoffer’s vehicle returning from this area.
• It is possible, but not proven, that there was a passenger in the car during at least one of the sightings.
• The day after Stoffer was reported missing, a vehicle was pulled from the river just below the conservation boat ramp in the belief that it may have been the missing car. The vehicle turned out to be a Chevrolet Lumina that had been reported stolen in 2001.
• At least three other cars have been pulled from the Mississippi River during the Stoffer search, and all three were severely deteriorated; parts retrieved from the vehicles have proven that none of the three were Ms. Stoffer’s car.
• A large-scale grid search was held near Parma in the weeks after Stoffer’s disappearance, but nothing was located. This search included helicopters, tracking dogs and dozens of volunteers.
• Numerous other small-scale searches have taken place, and at least one property was excavated based on an anonymous tip. None of these searches yielded anything of value to the investigation.
• Several months prior to her disappearance, Stoffer accidentally drove her vehicle off the boat ramp parking lot onto the rocks and the car had to be pulled back onto the pavement by a tow truck. This obviously causes some concern and has focused some of our search efforts toward the Mississippi River.

Copyright 2018 KFVS. All rights reserved.