Decades Later: Hudson Valley Mother Still Missing
Audrey May Herron disappeared after leaving work in Catskill in 2002. More than two decades later, her family is still waiting for answers.
Twenty-four years ago, a Hudson Valley mother of three finished her shift as a nurse, got behind the wheel of her Jeep and headed home.
She never made it.
Audrey May Herron was last seen on August 29, 2002, driving westbound on State Route 23 in the Town of Catskill. She was 32 years old.
Today, her disappearance remains one of the Hudson Valley's enduring cold cases.
According to New York State Police, around 11 p.m. August 19, Herron left the Columbia Greene Long Term Health Care Facility at 161 Jefferson Heights in Catskill where work she worked as a nurse.
She was last seen wearing dark green medical scrubs and a blue turtleneck and was driving a 1994 black Jeep Grand Cherokee, New York license plate X233UV.
Police have classified her disappearance as suspicious.
A 12-Mile Trip That Never Ended
Investigators and volunteers repeatedly searched the approximately 12-mile route Herron was believed to have traveled.
Despite reports of Audrey's car being spotted on a gas station surveillance video shortly after 11 p.m., in more than 20 years there has been no sign of Audrey and no sign of the Jeep.
A Mother Who Never Came Home
Herron's disappearance wasn't just a mystery to the people investigating it. It changed the lives of her three children forever.
Her oldest daughter, Sonsia Court, was only 10 years old when her mother disappeared.
Years later, Court told CBS6 Albany that the hardest part was the uncertainty- remembering her mother as a wonderful person and a great nurse. Both Court and her sister eventually chose nursing as their own careers.
Court said her mother had inspired her to pursue a career helping people.
That legacy has continued, even as the questions surrounding Herron's disappearance remain unanswered.
24 Years Without Answers
August can be especially difficult for those who knew Herron and regularly call for information in her disappearance in a Facebook group with almost 5,000 members.
Twenty-four years have now passed since she was last seen, but the case has never received the kind of ending her family has been waiting for.
There has been no confirmed discovery of Herron.
For her family and friends, the passage of time hasn't erased the case. It has simply added more years to the question they've been asking since 2002:
Where is Audrey May Herron?
Anyone with information about Herron's disappearance is urged to contact New York State Police.
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Gallery Credit: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services-Missing College Students List
