Paula Louise Merchant, 25, vanished after leaving her parents’ home in Forest Acres, South Carolina, on the evening of Sunday, January 3, 1999. She left about 6:30 p.m. driving a tan 1989 Nissan Sentra to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting on LeGrand Road. Paula had recently graduated from Georgia State University with a degree in anthropology, had moved back home two months earlier, and planned to enroll for a master’s at the University of South Carolina.

Around midnight into January 4 her Sentra was found burned on Commerce Drive in Columbia, near Owens Field airport. The fire was ruled intentionally set. Investigators recovered Paula’s purse and keys in the car; Paula herself was not found. Authorities treated the case as a kidnapping and conducted extensive searches, but no viable leads developed.

Over the years the investigation has explored possible links to other offenders, including Reinaldo Javier Ray Rivera and Richard Evonitz, and noted a loose association with the 1992 disappearance of Dail Dinwiddie; none of those leads produced definitive evidence. Paula’s family has continued to press for answers and hold vigils. If anyone knew Paula, saw her the night she left, or has information about the burned Sentra on Commerce Drive, please come forward.