On a winter day in Oregon, 37-year-old Alissa Marie McCrann disappeared while on a run near the scenic Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge on Saturday, December 19th, 2015. A resident of Portland's Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, Alissa was a mother to a 13-year-old son and lived with her Korean parents. Friends described her as an upbeat and friendly person who was always willing to help others.
That morning, she had returned home from one run before leaving again in her Mazda CX-7, presumably to go for another run along the Franklin Ridge Loop Trail. She was reported missing on Monday, December 21, after she failed to show up for her job at Sunshine Dairy. Her car was discovered the following day, parked in the Multnomah Falls parking lot, which initiated an urgent and widespread search effort.
A significant lead in the investigation came from a couple who reported a possible sighting of Alissa on a trail near Franklin Ridge at around 3 p.m. on the day she vanished. They recalled speaking with a woman who matched her description and noted that she was wearing running clothes and shoes, but was not equipped with food, water, or gear suitable for the cold weather. Concerned, they advised her to turn back, but she reportedly ran off down the trail, seemingly in an effort to stay warm. This encounter highlighted the perilous situation Alissa may have been in, as she was apparently unprepared for the harsh and dropping temperatures on the trail. The search that followed was extensive, with more than 100 searchers covering over 150 miles of trails in the gorge. Despite the use of sniffer dogs and an aircraft, the search was severely hampered by difficult weather conditions, including over a foot of fresh snow at higher elevations.
The official search was suspended on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2015, due to the increasingly dangerous weather conditions in the gorge. Though a follow-up search with about 60 volunteers was organized in January 2016, covering more than 80 miles of trails as snow levels receded, it did not yield any new clues. No trace of Alissa has ever been found. Her case is a deeply concerning one, marked by a possible sighting that suggested she was ill-prepared for the elements on the trail. Despite comprehensive search efforts, the challenging terrain and severe weather likely concealed any evidence of her whereabouts, leaving her family, friends, and community without answers. The disappearance of Alissa McCrann remains an unresolved and poignant mystery.Last Seen: Dec 19, 2015
