On May 3, 1988, 25-year-old Rebecca "Ann" Crist vanished from her hometown of Staunton, Virginia. That afternoon, she was at her West Beverley Street apartment with her sister when she received a phone call. After a brief conversation, she asked her sister to look after her two-year-old son, saying she would only be gone for a few minutes. Dressed in a gray jacket, a pink blouse, and blue jeans, Rebecca was last seen walking west on West Beverley Street. She never came back.
Concern grew when Rebecca, a devoted mother who would not have willingly left her child, failed to return. Her family officially reported her missing on May 7, 1988. Adding to the mystery, Rebecca's mother answered a silent phone call to the apartment around midnight on the day she disappeared; the caller hung up without saying a word.
The investigation into Rebecca's disappearance produced few leads. She was known to be a quiet person who did not smoke, drink, or have any trouble with the law. Friends and acquaintances cooperated with the police, but there was no indication of foul play or that she had been unhappy or threatened. Investigators learned that Rebecca had paid her rent a month in advance and left her wallet behind, suggesting she hadn't planned a long departure. The day after she went missing, she was scheduled to appear in court for a paternity hearing concerning her son. There was also unconfirmed information that she may have been up to three months pregnant at the time. The case grew more complex in 1991 when a local handyman sent a letter to Rebecca's family confessing to accidentally killing her and disposing of her body in a landfill. While he remains a suspect and is incarcerated for unrelated charges, investigators were never able to verify his confession.
Further complicating the case was the disappearance of a former neighbor, Raymond Fauber, a few months after Rebecca vanished. In 1991, his body was discovered buried in the basement of his home. His son-in-law, Robert Asbury, was convicted of his murder. Although cadaver dogs detected a scent at the end of the paved driveway on Fauber's property, a search for a second body was not conducted. Authorities do not believe the two cases are connected and noted that the driveway had been paved years before Rebecca's disappearance. At one point, a plea deal was offered to Asbury, stating that if he confessed to Rebecca's murder, he would serve no additional time; he maintained his innocence in her case. Decades have passed, but the disappearance of Rebecca Ann Crist remains unsolved, a lingering mystery for the Staunton community and a source of unending questions for her surviving family, including her son and sister.Last Seen: May 3, 1988
