In the winter of 2016, a 48-year-old mother of two, Teresa Lynn Towne-Woolard, vanished from Burton, Michigan, leaving behind a life and a family who continue to search for answers. The specific date of her disappearance is shrouded in some uncertainty, with reports varying. She was reportedly seen walking with an unidentified man on December 5, 2016, near her residence at the Kings Lane Apartments. However, the last communication from her was a text message sent to her daughter in the early hours of December 11, 2016. That same day, police responded to a 911 call reporting a dispute at her apartment, but when they arrived, Teresa was gone. Witnesses at the apartment complex claimed to have seen her walking away with a man, heading west from the property. At the time of her disappearance, she was believed to be wearing a red winter jacket and jeans.
The investigation into Teresa's disappearance revealed unsettling details. Inside her apartment, authorities found most of her personal belongings, including her cigarettes, left behind as if she intended to return. In the days and months that followed her last confirmed contact, her cell phone emitted signals from several different locations. Initially, it pinged in downtown Frankenmuth, Michigan. Subsequently, over the next two months, further pings were detected in downtown Lapeer and Davison, Michigan, deepening the mystery of her movements and whereabouts. Teresa was described as a private person with two teenage daughters. She had a history of addiction but was reportedly clean at the time she went missing.
Years have passed since Teresa Lynn Towne-Woolard was last seen, and her case remains an active and unresolved missing person investigation. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance are unclear, leaving her family with a painful lack of closure. The Burton Police Department continues to be the investigating agency for her case. Her daughters and extended family have made public pleas for information and have worked to keep her memory alive in the community. The case is a sorrowful puzzle, marked by conflicting dates, an anonymous 911 call, and the strange journey of her cell phone after she was gone. The overview of the case suggests a woman who vanished under ambiguous and concerning circumstances, leaving a void in the lives of those who knew and loved her, a void that remains unfilled as the search for answers continues.
Teresa Lynn Towne-Woolard was a 48-year-old female from Burton, Michigan, whose disappearance is publicly listed with a missing date of December 11, 2016. Online missing-person records describe her as a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, about 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall and approximately 110 pounds, and report that she may also have used the last name Woolard. The Charley Project classifies her case as endangered missing and states that she was last seen walking with an unidentified man along Hemphill Road near her apartment complex, Kings Lane Apartments, on December 5, 2016, before sending a text message to her daughter in the early morning hours of December 11. Other public alerts list December 11 as the date she was last seen or reported missing from her residence at Kings Lane Apartments off Hemphill Road, which makes the exact public timeline somewhat varied, but the case consistently centers on Burton, Michigan, Hemphill Road, and the days leading up to December 11, 2016.
At the time she disappeared, Teresa was reportedly wearing jeans and a red winter coat or red winter jacket. Public descriptions also note identifying features that could help someone recognize her, including a linear scar on her abdomen, pierced ears, a tattoo of a smiley face on her hip, and a tattoo of flowers and barbed wire on her upper thigh. Her hair was dyed blonde at the time, though her natural hair color was described as graying brown. The Charley Project notes that Teresa had a history of addiction but was clean at the time she disappeared, and it describes her as a private person who left behind two teenage daughters. The details that she left behind most of her personal belongings, including her cigarettes, have been repeated in public records and are a deeply troubling part of the case because they suggest she did not simply leave in a way that looked planned or ordinary.
The early facts of the case are marked by uncertainty. Teresa was reportedly seen walking with an unidentified man near the Kings Lane Apartments area, and after her early-morning text to her daughter on December 11, she was never heard from again. The Charley Project reports that after her disappearance, her phone pinged in downtown Frankenmuth, Michigan, and that over the following two months, additional pings were detected in downtown Lapeer and Davison. Those phone locations widened the geography of concern beyond Burton, but public sources do not state that any of those pings produced a confirmed sighting of Teresa or explained who had the phone, whether she was with it, or what happened after she vanished.
As the years passed, Teresa's family continued searching for answers and keeping her name in public view. Mid-Michigan Now reported in 2023 that her daughters, mother, and sister had searched for her and continued to long for answers, and her sister Laura described Teresa as the youngest of four siblings. The same report stated that Teresa was last seen in Burton near Fenton and Hemphill Roads, and her daughter Miranda spoke about the pain of having no answers. Family members gathered on the anniversary of her disappearance to paint the Flint rock at Hammerberg Road and 12th Street, raising awareness not only for Teresa but for other missing people as well.
Public appeals have remained active years after Teresa disappeared. In December 2023, WSGW reported that Teresa's family had increased the reward for information in her case to $5,000, and Mid-Michigan Now again reported in December 2025 that police were still looking for answers nine years after she went missing. Those reports continued to place her last known location near Fenton and Hemphill Roads in Burton and repeated that she had been wearing jeans and a red coat. Tip information has been directed to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-422-JAIL or 1-800-422-5245, while missing-person materials have also listed the Burton Police Department and Texas EquuSearch as contacts for information.
The available online sources do not state that Teresa Lynn Towne-Woolard has been found alive or deceased, and they do not provide a public resolution status. They also do not provide a confirmed explanation for why she vanished, who the unidentified man was, whether the phone pings reflected her movements, or what happened after her final known contact with her daughter. What can be said with care is that Teresa Lynn Towne-Woolard, a 48-year-old female, disappeared from the Burton, Michigan area in December 2016 after being connected to Kings Lane Apartments off Hemphill Road and the Fenton and Hemphill Roads area; she was last publicly associated with jeans and a red winter coat; most of her belongings were left behind; her family has continued searching for answers; and investigators and advocates have repeatedly asked the public to share any information. The overview of the case is that a mother disappeared from Burton under unclear circumstances, years have passed without a public resolution, and the case remains defined by a family's enduring love, unanswered questions, and the hope that someone who knows something will finally come forward.
Last Seen: Dec 11, 2016
