Esther Mae Gesler, 37, vanished from the Kent, Washington, area after leaving home on March 13, 1976. She told family she planned to rent a hotel room to study for a night-class final and expected to return the next day. Esther made a hairdresser’s appointment in nearby Auburn that morning; that appointment is the last confirmed sighting.

She was described as white, brown hair, green eyes, about 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches, 150–160 pounds. On the day she disappeared she wore a red t-shirt with Athlete’s Foot printed on the front, red-and-white checkered pants, and a long black leather coat with a fur collar. She was driving a metallic blue 1973 Mercury station wagon belonging to her ex-husband; the vehicle was later found abandoned in an Auburn municipal parking lot with no sign of Esther.

Suspicion focused on her ex-husband, Glenn Allan Bagley, who had been in contact with her days before and whose car she used. Bagley also was linked by investigators to earlier disappearances and later moved to the Philippines. In 2004 a former girlfriend recanted an earlier alibi for Bagley and told police he had threatened her about speaking up; Bagley died in 2016 and was never charged. The case remains unsolved and foul play is suspected.

Did anyone in the Auburn or Kent area remember seeing Esther or that blue 1973 Mercury around March 13, 1976?