Gertrude Mary Snedegar, 49, was last seen at her Astor, Florida home in late July 1986. She vanished leaving her purse behind while living with her ex-husband, Stephen Cabe Snedegar, who gave authorities multiple conflicting accounts and generally said she had left him. Brenda Challis, Gertrude’s daughter, told investigators her mother had been fearful for her life and said Stephen had repeatedly held a gun to Gertrude’s head.

The night Gertrude was last seen she was going out with Stephen and deliberately left her purse at home; afterward Stephen told Brenda that Gertrude had moved to Tallahassee and was seen with a suitcase containing a large sum of money he told Brenda to take if he were arrested. Stephen was never charged; he died in January 1990 while terminally ill and reportedly burned papers at his home after his death. Gertrude’s disappearance is one of four linked to Stephen over five years, including the 1981 disappearance and 1982 murder of their daughter Lora Lynn Morris, and the disappearances of Paul Anthony Lambert and Charles Darwin Smith.

Does anyone have information about Gertrude’s last known movements or contacts in Astor in July 1986?