Carolyn Ruth Killaby, 34, was last seen the evening of November 11, 1995, in Orchards, Washington, after leaving Omar’s Restaurant & Steak House on Northeast Fourth Plain Road. Witnesses said she was visibly upset and had been drinking heavily; she left the restaurant with a man identified as Dennis Keith Smith. Two separate witnesses placed a 911 call shortly before midnight reporting a woman’s screams from a nearby field, but an initial search found nothing.

Carolyn’s 1991 Toyota Camry was later found in the restaurant parking lot with no signs of struggle but with a handwritten note mentioning a desire to fly from Portland to Los Angeles. Her purse was missing and has never been recovered. Investigators focused on Smith, who fled the state as questions mounted. Blood matching Carolyn’s DNA was later found in Smith’s truck, and an arrest warrant was issued in July 1996.

Smith was captured in Florida in September 1996 after a violent confrontation with police, extradited to Washington, convicted of aggravated murder and later resentenced to first-degree murder with a 70-year term. He admitted to killing Carolyn, tried to direct investigators to her remains on Larch Mountain without success, and died by suicide in custody in late 2004. Carolyn was declared legally dead in 1997; her body has never been found.

If anyone knew Carolyn, her movements that night, or has information about where she might be, please come forward.