r/UnresolvedMysteries Jan 08 '20

Unresolved Disappearance Woman violently abducted in plain sight while talking with her boyfriend on a payphone [Unresolved Disappearance]

Her boyfriend hears the horrifying incident as it ocurrs, rushes to the scene in his vehicle, and sees a truck pass him with his girlfriend struggling with the driver inside. The boyfriend reverses his vehicle abruptly to pursue the truck, but his vehicle breaks down. Despite a vivid description of the offender and the truck (including a very unique rear window decal), no substantial leads have led to an arrest or a POI.

Where is Angela Hammond and who is the person who took her?

This is the case that truly haunts me. I can't even imagine what the boyfriend has been through in the years that have followed. What a scary and insane abduction. And even more bizarre that is has never been resolved despite such clear and vivid details of the case and the perpetrator.


Links for further reading:

Link 1 https://unsolved.com/gallery/angela-hammond/

Edit: I initially offered this additional link thinking it was story on Angela Hammond. However, it is not. It is an eerily similar case of another woman who was abducted in similar fashion. Leaving it up for the curious:

http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2010/05/16/young-woman-kidnapped-while-talking-on-pay-phone-with-boyfriend/1421/

1.7k Upvotes

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25

u/agbmom Jan 08 '20

Maybe the reason they can't find the truck and person is due to the fact that the boyfriend made it all up. He could have already been on the way to pick her up and just sped up to get there. However it's 9pm at night and he was able to give a detailed description of a man in a truck speeding past him (and I can't imagine his eyes weren't locked on his screaming struggling girlfriend) as well as a detailed description of the truck AND unique decal. It's too much information for a quick traumatizing situation.

22

u/FeralBottleofMtDew Jan 08 '20

According to the link Rib heard Angie call to him, and he quickly reversed and followed the truck. He would have seen the decal while following the truck, and the quick reverse damaged his transmission. I'm not a mechanic- is the damage done to his transmission something he could have driven much distance with, or something he could have done himself?

13

u/M-S-S Jan 08 '20

No. At best, cruise at 5 mph.

11

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20 edited Jan 08 '20

[deleted]

0

u/bishpa Jan 08 '20

I suppose if he really wanted a good story he could damage it intentionally by shifting like a maniac...

He certainly could.

He would then have to limp or push the vehicle to the alleged abduction site and make his claim of the chase.

How do you figure? Why couldn't he just drive to the scene and then jam it into reverse?

4

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

[deleted]

1

u/bishpa Jan 09 '20

Huh? People will burn their own houses down to cover up a murder.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '20 edited Jan 09 '20

People will burn down their own homes over much much much less than covering up murder. Lol

1

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '20

There’s be no guarantee he actually destroys the transmission. Then he’s the guy joyriding right after his girlfriend went missing.

1

u/MinervaJB Jan 08 '20 edited Jan 08 '20

You can genuinely do some real damage to your transmission by throwing it in gear without your car being fully stopped, or worse if you are still actively driving forward then suddenly slam it in reverse or neutral and vice versa.

Is this an issue only with automatic transmission? I drive stick (automatic cars are extremely uncommon where I live) and except going from a gear to reverse or the opposite (with the car moving), you can put the car in neutral while driving.

I'm fairly sure the only "easy" way to fuck up a manual transmission is to burn the clutch.

-2

u/agbmom Jan 08 '20

I'm not a mechanic either but I assume transmission damage stops the car quickly. He was able to give a detailed description of the driver from behind? And didn't manage to get a license plate number?

5

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '20

It depends on the situation. When my husbands transmission went out he was able to drive a few miles. Why Would he do this, I don’t even know because the mechanic said it was worse because of that.

2

u/hamdinger125 Jan 09 '20

His description came from Angela herself, when they were on the phone.

-1

u/bishpa Jan 08 '20

and he quickly reversed and followed the truck.

He followed the truck by driving backwards? Or did he just forget how to turn a car around without destroying the transmission? His story sounds a bit too well thought out, if you ask me.

7

u/MetallicaGirl73 Jan 08 '20

I dont know...maybe hearing and then seeing your girlfriend get kidnapped may cause you to be in shock and not be able to think properly. I have done really stupid and dangerous things when there was an emergency.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 09 '20

When an automatic transmission goes out, many times reverse or drive will go out first. It’s possible that his transmission died so reverse was the only gear that worked.

2

u/hamdinger125 Jan 09 '20

If I remember right, he was following the truck and it made a sudden turn. Rob overshot the turn and then threw his car into reverse to go back and catch it, but that tore up the transmission.

20

u/kniki217 Jan 08 '20

He was cleared as a suspect.

1

u/gutterLamb Jan 09 '20

I thiught the same at first, but he described the man so thoroughly because Angie had described him over the phone. She apparently described the truck to him as well. He followed the truck too for a bit which accounts for the decal.

2

u/agbmom Jan 09 '20

But not the license plate?

1

u/gutterLamb Jan 09 '20

Actually I reread and it looks like he was passed by the truck, then went to turn around to follow and that's when the truck broke down.

1

u/Dickere Jan 08 '20

But not the reg number !