Amy

Amelia Fitzgerald was born August 3, 1988 in Kennewick, Washington, the eldest of Daniel and Susan "Sue" Fitzgerald's three children. She had a younger sister, Lisa, and a younger brother, Lucas. She grew up in a Christian household.

Amy graduated from Kennewick High School, where she was an honor roll student for the entirety of her high school years. She was accepted into University of California, Los Angeles, in Westwood, Los Angeles, California, where she was accepted into the nursing program. However, shortly after beginning her first quarter in September 2006, Amy dropped out of the program.

 Amy moved to Pasco, Washington, in spring of 2007. In December of 2007 she was accepted into the psychology program at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, WA. She began attending the school in fall of the following year.

Prior to disappearance

On Sept. 26, 2009, Amy emailed her professors to inform them she would be visiting family in California for the month of October and would not be present in class. According to Amy's mother, she did not actually have any family outside of Washington State. 

That evening, Amy broke down crying while leaving her on-campus security job. Talia Schulmeister, also a student, approached Amy and attempted to console her. The girls did not know each other personally, though they were in the same course. Amy did not state why she was upset. Schulmeister allegedly asked Amy if ice cream would help, and invited her to grab some. The girls left in Schulmeister's car sometime after 11 P.M. Schulmeister dropped Amy back off at her car at approximately 1:30 A.M.

On the night of Sept. 28, one night prior to her disappearance, Amy attended a party hosted by another student alongside Talia Schulmeister. Reports about the party's size conflict, ranging from a small gathering to a large, open-invite party. Police have not confirmed whether all attendees of the party have been identified, nor what the true size of the party was.

Departure and disappearance

Amy stopped in Kennewick at some point after 6 P.M. on September 29. Between 6:00 and 9:00 P.M. she stopped at several ATMs and withdrew almost all of the money in her accounts in small increments. Her final ATM visit was at 8:22 P.M. At 8:42 P.M., Amy was seen purchasing a bottle of wine and a case of beer. This was her last confirmed purchase. Amy left Kennewick at approximately 9:00 P.M.

At 11:15 P.M. police received a call reporting a crash on SR-410. The man reporting the crash stated that he had been driving from Tacoma and saw a white car that had veered off the right side of the road and into the ditch. The car suffered severe damage to the front and passenger side. He pulled over and saw a woman sitting in the car. He claimed she looked startled, but did not appear injured. He offered her a ride into town, but she declined.He called police upon arrival in Naches. This incident was the last reputable sighting of Amelia Fitzgerald.

Police arrived on the scene at 11:23 P.M. to find Amy's car. Amy was nowhere to be seen around the crash site. The car was locked but the driver's side window and passenger side window were both half-open. Inside the car police found several of Amy's personal belongings including the alcohol she'd purchased earlier and the receipt for it. A pack of cigarettes was in a cupholder. 

Sometime around 1:10 A.M. a woman driving home to Yakima from Seattle reported seeing what appeared to be a young person wearing a dark shirt and jeans running westbound alongside the right side of the road roughly 1.5 miles from the crash. She did not report this until the following week, as she was unaware someone had disappeared that night.

Early investigation

In the day following the crash, September 30, police issued a BOLO report for Amelia Fitzgerald. She was reported to have been wearing a grey sweatshirt with jeans and potentially carrying a green backpack. Amy's father, Daniel Fitzgerald, received a call that afternoon informing him that Amy's car, which he'd purchased for her a year ago, was found abandoned. He immediately called the Yakima County police to request she be listed as missing, and was told that if she was not found within 24 hours a search would be organized.

On the morning of October 1, a search party was organized between the Fitzgerald family, police, and volunteers from the Tri-City area. The search began at 8:30 A.M. and continued until 5:00 P.M. Amy's boyfriend, Leonard Simoneit, was working in Vermont at the time and could not come to help with the search, but his family did attend. The search did not result in any significant findings.

On October 3, police reported Amy was listed as an endangered missing person as they believed she may have been suicidal. The family agreed with Amy's listing as "endangered," but strongly disagreed with the assessment she was suicidal. Rather, they believed she had likely been abducted. Police believed an abduction was unlikely. Yakima County Sheriff, William Price, stated "our biggest concern right now is that she [Amy] was very upset when she left and may be suicidal."

Eleven days after her disappearance, Pasco police chief, Elsa Vining, announced that the search for Amy had become nationwide. The case received heavy media coverage on local stations and later began seeing fairly heavy nationwide coverage as well in the month after Amy's disappearance. However, media coverage of the case died down significantly in the months that followed due to a lack of new info about the case.

The investigation is still ongoing. Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland police departments have been working alongside Yakima County authorities on the case.

Yakima County sheriff, William Price, stated on the 6 year anniversary of Amy's disappearance that much of the evidence collected could not be disclosed to the public because of active leads on the case.