Cora Ann Okonski, 23, was last seen at her home in Tama, Iowa, on April 16, 2000. She had moved to Tama from Chicago about a year earlier and worked as a waitress at the King Tower Cafe. At the time she lived with her fiancé, Tait Otis Purk, and their two-year-old son. Purk reported her missing on April 18, saying she left to buy cigarettes and never returned.

Family and friends described her disappearance as out of character, noting she would not have abandoned her child. Their accounts and previous history between Okonski and Purk drew attention: in 1999 Purk had faced a domestic assault charge and Okonski obtained a no-contact order that was later canceled after they reconciled. A friend testified that Okonski had said she feared Purk might kill her, and on the day she vanished she reportedly told a neighbor she and Purk had been fighting and she was scared. Her Social Security disability payments were later stopped, and the prolonged lack of contact led her family to believe she is deceased.

Are there readers who knew Cora, where she worked, or who remember her in Tama in April 2000?