Kara Rudd was 12 when she vanished from Longview, Washington, after skipping Monticello Middle School on November 21, 1996. She was last seen getting into a Pontiac Firebird driven by a man the family knew and trusted, Joseph Kondro, whom Kara and her sister called Uncle Joe and who had once stayed in the family’s garage.

A search lasted six weeks before Kara’s body was found on January 4, 1997, hidden beneath the rusted shell of an abandoned Volkswagen in a ravine near Mount Solo. Investigators concluded she had been raped and strangled. DNA and other forensic evidence tied Kondro to the crime. While awaiting trial on Kara’s murder charges, Kondro was also convicted of raping and molesting two other young girls.

Kondro confessed to Kara’s murder and, as part of a deal reached while he faced the death penalty, admitted to an unrelated 1985 murder of another Longview girl. In 1999 he was sentenced to 55 years in prison. Anyone with memories of Kara, the Monticello Middle School area, or Mount Solo in late 1996 is asked to come forward with information.