Lora Ann Gabbert, 29, was last seen on December 1, 1997, in Pecos, Texas, where she lived with her boyfriend, Chris Bigham, and her three children. Bigham told investigators she planned to travel to Dallas and allegedly purchased a Greyhound ticket; that purchase was later shown not to have occurred. Shortly after her disappearance Bigham moved to Washington state, taking one child and returning the other two to their fathers.

In 1998 Bigham confessed to killing Gabbert, saying she had pointed a gun at him and he shot her in self-defense, then burned her remains in a barrel and dumped it in the Pecos River. A barrel recovered from the river did contain human remains, but the bones were too degraded for conclusive DNA testing. Bigham was convicted of her murder in 1999. Gabbert’s body has never been fully recovered and the case remains open.

If anyone in Pecos or the surrounding area around December 1997 has information about Gabbert, her movements that day, or the disposal sites along the Pecos River, please come forward.