HOOD RIVER, Ore. (KOIN) — October 30, 2004 was a Saturday. Kimberly Forbes planned to meet a friend for breakfast the next morning and then go shopping in Portland.
She never showed up and she has never been seen in the ensuing 14 years.
Forbes, who was 48 when she disappeared, was last seen in her Hood River home in the 1600 block of Jeanette Road.
About 3 weeks later — November 19, 2004 — her car was found abandoned in the parking lot of Don Pedro’s Mexican Food in Gresham. Investigators found no leads after looking at the car, which was found 55 miles from her home.
Friends told investigators Forbes was reliable and punctual, not likely to leave someplace without warning. She didn’t appear to be in any mental health crisis or under any other strain, officials said.
Kimberly Forbes is white and at the time she was last seen was around 5-feet-8 and 200 pounds. She had graying brown hair, blue eyes and pierced ears.
‘She was a very nice lady’
Margaret Strasser told KOIN 6 News that before the trees grew tall on Jeanette Road she was able to see Kim Forbes’ house from her window.
“She was a very nice lady,” Strasser said. “When I saw her, she was always kind of laughing. A nice person to be around.”
Their families knew each other well.
“When her mom was working in the packing house, mother baby sat the 2 kids. She had a brother as well,” Strasser said.
Kim’s home had a beautiful backdrop of Mount Adams in her yard. But her small house was the last place anyone saw her before she vanished.
“I’m sure her daughter would like to have closure,” said Strasser, “but even I as a neighbor would like to know what happened to her.”
KOIN 6 News file video from 2004 showed the moment when tow truck driver Danny Closser of Dinky’s Towing found her abandoned burgundy Ford Explorer parked behind that restaurant near 188th and SE Stark.
“They said,’Yes it’s the one that’s missing person’s and this is the result of it,” Closser told KOIN 6 News back then. “They found the vehicle they’d been looking for for the last 2-and-a-half weeks.”
But the case went cold and more than 14 years later her disappearance remains a mystery. With the $2500 reward from Crime Stoppers, Margaret Strasser hopes the public can help provide some answers to those who knew and loved her.
“Especially the family. You want to have closure of some kind. The way it is now it’s always this thing, this think in the back of your mind.”