Abby Hernandez Still Missing

Missing person stories have taken over headlines for decades. The stories tend to provide the usual evidence, but the story of Abigail Hernandez is a bit of a game-changer.

The 9^th of October must have started out as any other day for 15-year-old Abigail Hernandez as she attended Kennett High School in Conway, New Hampshire. In an interview with CBS-Boston, Hernandez's mother said she usually rode the bus home from school. However, according to surveillance footage, Hernandez made her exit from Kennett High at 2:29 p.m. and was then seen walking a strange path through the field hockey grounds, down Eagle Way, and into a power line trail near the school. 

At some point during the day she began a conversation with a classmate through text messages, which lasted until 2:53 p.m. The FBI traced the cell phone usage to a cell tower on the west side of the North Conway ski resort Cranmore Mountain near Hernandez's home.

Later on from 2:40 to 3:30 p.m. reports came in that someone matching Abigail's description was seen walking on the North-South Highway between the rotary and the entrance to a local shopping outlet known as Settler's Green. Though the authorities listed these reports as unconfirmed, searches were conducted through the air as well as on the ground for Hernandez where highway roadblocks were set up to question passing drivers. 

On Nov. 6, a letter came. It was postmarked Oct. 23 and was addressed from Hernandez to her mother. The police, who retained custody of the letter, took a month to come forward with the evidence.

"Law enforcement had to take every possible step to verify its authenticity and at this juncture we believe that it was in fact written by Abby and was sent to her mother," said Deputy Attorney General Jane Young. 

Though many wish to know the contents of the letter, officials have refused to reveal any further information.

The only recent changes in the investigation come from a YouTube plea from Hernandez's mother over two weeks ago asking her to come home and from social media outreach Thunderclap. On Jan. 15, Thunderclap employed a mass message across major social networks Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook to spread Hernandez's story. 

Though the outreach hit over one million views, many commentators have expressed skepticism on the validity of the story due to a lack of evidence.  Abigail Hernandez, who is 5'4" and 118 pounds with long brown hair and brown eyes, was last seen near Kennett High School. She has still not been found.