They said something was wrong. Then they disappeared.
Most disappearances begin with an ordinary last moment. These cases began with warnings.
Some reported being followed. Others sounded frightened, made urgent calls or behaved as though they believed they were in danger. None of those details proves what happened next, but they became much harder to dismiss after the person vanished.
Here are five disappearances preceded by warnings that still have no clear explanation.
#5 Rebecca Coriam: The Distressed Call at Sea
On March 22, 2011, Rebecca Coriam was working aboard the Disney Wonder as it sailed off the Pacific coast of Mexico.
The 24-year-old British crew member was last recorded by the ship’s security cameras at around 5:45 that morning. She was in a crew lounge, speaking on an internal telephone.
Something about the call appeared to upset her.
The footage showed Rebecca holding her head in her hands and looking visibly distressed. At one point, another crew member approached and asked whether she was all right. Rebecca reportedly replied that she was fine before ending the call and walking away.
She never arrived for her scheduled shift later that morning.
The crew searched the ship, made announcements and checked cabins and work areas. Rebecca’s personal belongings were still in her room. No confirmed footage showed her leaving the vessel, and no witness could say what happened after she left the lounge.
Disney later suggested that Rebecca may have been swept overboard by a large wave. A pair of sandals reportedly found near a crew pool was presented as possible evidence, although her family questioned whether they belonged to her and strongly criticized the investigation.
Because the ship was registered in the Bahamas, the official inquiry was handled by Bahamian authorities. Only one detective was reportedly sent to investigate, and Rebecca’s parents said they were left with far more questions than answers.
Rebecca has never been found.
The phone call may have had nothing to do with her disappearance. Its contents have never been publicly confirmed. But it remains the final recorded moment of her life: a young woman alone in a crew lounge, clearly upset about something, only hours before the ship realized she was gone.
#4 Jodi Huisentruit: The Man in the White Truck
Jodi Huisentruit was a morning news anchor at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa. Her workday began before sunrise, which meant leaving her apartment while most of the city was still asleep.
Nine months before she disappeared, Jodi contacted police about something that had frightened her.
She said a man driving a white truck had followed her while she was jogging. According to the police report, the truck passed her more than once before its driver stopped and tried to speak with her. Jodi ran to a nearby house and asked the resident to watch while she made it safely home.
No one was identified, and the incident did not lead to an arrest.
On the morning of June 27, 1995, Jodi failed to arrive at the television station for her usual 3:30 a.m. shift. At around 4:00, producer Amy Kuns called her apartment. Jodi answered and said she had overslept but would be at work within minutes.
She never arrived.
A coworker eventually contacted police, who reached Jodi’s apartment complex shortly after 7:00. Her red Mazda Miata was still in the parking lot.
Outside the car, officers found her red dress shoes, hair dryer, hairspray, earrings and car keys scattered across the pavement. One of the keys was bent. The placement of the objects suggested that Jodi had been interrupted and a struggle had taken place as she approached the vehicle.
Several neighbors later reported hearing a scream at around 4:30 that morning. Witnesses also described a light-colored van in or near the parking lot, although investigators never established whether it was connected to the disappearance.
Jodi was gone.
Police, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI pursued leads, searched properties and interviewed people connected to her. Several names have attracted public attention over the years, but no one has ever been charged.
Jodi was declared legally dead in 2001, although her body has never been found.
There is no proof that the man in the white truck reported nine months earlier had anything to do with her disappearance. The van seen near her apartment may also have been unrelated.
But Jodi had already experienced the feeling of being watched. Then, months later, someone appears to have been waiting near her car during the darkest part of the morning.
Investigators still do not know who was there or where they took her.
#3 Brandon Lawson: The Call No One Could Understand
Shortly after midnight on August 9, 2013, Brandon Lawson was driving along a remote stretch of Highway 277 near Bronte, Texas.
The 26-year-old had left his home in San Angelo after an argument with his longtime girlfriend. He planned to travel to his father’s house several hours away, but his truck ran out of gas along the highway.
Brandon called his brother, Kyle, and asked him to bring fuel.
Then he called 911.
The recording has been analyzed, enhanced and argued over for years. Brandon sounded hurried and difficult to understand. Parts of the call were obscured by poor reception, background noise and his rapid speech. Various online transcripts claim he mentioned being chased, being shot at or encountering other people, but many of those words remain disputed.
What is clear is that Brandon said he was in a field and needed police.
A sheriff’s deputy reached the abandoned truck before Kyle arrived. The vehicle was parked haphazardly near the road, but there was no obvious sign of a collision or struggle. Brandon was nowhere nearby.
Kyle arrived with his partner and a small child in the vehicle. He reportedly believed Brandon might be hiding because there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. While they searched the area, Brandon called again and indicated that he could see them.
They could not see him.
At some point, the calls stopped.
Search teams later covered thousands of acres surrounding the highway. Helicopters, dogs and volunteers were used, but the terrain was rough, dark and thick with brush. No confirmed trace of Brandon was found.
The 911 recording became the center of the mystery. People listened repeatedly, trying to pull complete sentences from static and overlapping sounds. Some heard an attack unfolding. Others believed Brandon was confused, frightened or experiencing paranoia.
Brandon’s family later acknowledged that he had used methamphetamine shortly before leaving home, which may have affected what he believed was happening. That possibility explained some of the confusion, but it did not explain where he went.
In February 2022, searchers discovered clothing and human remains approximately a mile from where Brandon’s truck had been abandoned. DNA testing eventually confirmed that the remains belonged to him.
More than a decade after the call, Brandon had finally been found.
What killed him has not been publicly established, and the Texas Rangers continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death. The warning he left behind remains incomplete: a frightened voice calling from a dark field, asking for help that could not reach him in time.
#2 Dorothy Jane Scott: The Caller Who Never Stopped
Months before Dorothy Jane Scott disappeared, an unknown man began calling her at work.
Dorothy was a 32-year-old single mother living in California. The caller seemed to know details about her daily life, including what she was wearing and where she had been. Sometimes he told her he loved her. Other times, he threatened to hurt or kill her.
His mood could change within the same conversation.
During one call, the man told Dorothy to look outside because he had left something for her. She found a dead rose on the windshield of her car.
Dorothy became frightened enough to alter her routine and take karate lessons. She discussed the calls with coworkers and family members, but no one could identify the man behind them. This was before modern caller identification, widespread security cameras and stalking laws designed for this kind of repeated harassment.
On May 28, 1980, Dorothy attended a staff meeting in Anaheim. During the meeting, she noticed that her coworker Conrad Bostron looked ill. His arm was swollen and discolored from what was believed to be a spider bite.
Dorothy and another coworker, Pam Head, drove him to the hospital.
After Bostron received treatment, Dorothy walked to the parking lot alone to bring her car around. Head and Bostron waited near the hospital entrance.
A short time later, Dorothy’s car approached them at high speed.
Its headlights were on, preventing them from seeing who was driving. Instead of stopping, the car sped past and left the parking lot. Her coworkers initially thought Dorothy might have received an emergency call involving her young son.
When she failed to return, they contacted police.
Several hours later, Dorothy’s car was found burning in an alley. She was nowhere inside it.
About a week after the disappearance, the same unknown man called Dorothy’s parents. He asked whether they were related to her before saying that he had her.
The calls continued for years.
Dorothy’s mother said the caller often contacted them when she was home alone. He sometimes asked, “Is Dorothy home?” Police attempted to trace the calls, but they were generally too short.
In August 1984, construction workers discovered human remains near Santa Ana Canyon. Dental records confirmed that they belonged to Dorothy.
Her killer has never been identified.
The anonymous caller knew enough about Dorothy’s life to frighten her before she disappeared. He then knew details about the night she vanished that had not initially been released publicly.
Whether he was the person who drove her car from the hospital has never been proven. But more than four decades later, investigators still do not know who was on the other end of those calls.
#1 Tammy Lynn Leppert: “Someone Is Trying to Kill Me”
By the summer of 1983, Tammy Lynn Leppert appeared to be moving toward the career she had wanted since childhood.
The 18-year-old Florida model had reportedly entered hundreds of beauty pageants and won most of them. She appeared in the film Spring Break and later received a small role in Scarface.
Then her behavior changed.
According to people close to Tammy, the shift began after she attended a party connected to the production of Spring Break. She returned home frightened and withdrawn but never clearly explained what had happened.
Tammy began telling her mother that someone wanted to kill her.
She reportedly became afraid that her food or drinks might be poisoned. Telephone calls frightened her. She suspected unfamiliar vehicles and believed people were watching her.
Her fear eventually followed her onto the set of Scarface. While filming in Miami, Tammy reportedly became hysterical during a violent scene involving artificial blood. She left the production and returned home to Rockledge, Florida.
In early July, Tammy experienced a serious crisis at home and was taken to a mental health facility for observation. Reports indicate that testing found no evidence of drug or alcohol use. She was released after approximately 72 hours.
A few days later, on July 6, 1983, Tammy left home with a 20-year-old male friend.
He later told police that they argued while driving through Cocoa Beach. Tammy asked to be let out, and he dropped her near the Glass Bank building along State Road A1A.
She was wearing a light blue shirt decorated with flower appliqués, a denim skirt and flip-flops. She carried a gray purse.
No confirmed witness ever saw her again.
The man who dropped Tammy off was interviewed and is not considered a viable suspect by authorities. Investigators also examined possible connections to Christopher Wilder and John Crutchley, two violent offenders active in Florida during that period. Neither man was ever conclusively linked to her disappearance.
There were other possibilities. Tammy may have left voluntarily during a period of emotional distress. She may have encountered someone after being dropped off. Her fears may have been connected to a real threat, or they may have come from a crisis no one around her fully understood.
More than four decades later, her case remains open.
Tammy takes the Number 1 spot because her warning was not something people reconstructed after she vanished. She had repeatedly told those closest to her that she believed someone intended to kill her.
Days after leaving a mental health facility, she disappeared from a busy Florida beach town without leaving a confirmed trace. No body, arrest or clear explanation has ever followed.
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