Fourteen years ago, Kortne Stouffer disappeared from her residence without a trace, and her family is still looking for answers and closure.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, the Stouffer family and others drove near Swatara Creek Park in Hershey and lined the banks of the creek with multiple inner tubes. It's part of a tradition in which the family floats the currents towards Hummelstown in remembrance of one of their own.
Kerstin Jennings said it's "heartbreaking" how much time has passed with no answers on her sister's case.
"We try and hold off the sad and terrifying emotions that we always have to just try and put on a good day for her, and do something she would have loved," she said. "We have the day be about celebrating her life, keeping her story out there, (and) letting the community know she's still missing."
Kortne Stouffer disappeared from her apartment at 810 W. Main St., Palmyra, between 3:49 and 7:30 a.m. Sunday, July 29, 2012. Since then, family and friends have been searching for answers to her disappearance with no success.
She was 21 at the time of her disappearance.
"She was just discovering herself and living her early young years," Jennings said. "None of that should have led to her not being here 14 years later."
Characterized as "carefree" and "very loud," many of Kortne Stouffer's friends would say she always seemed happy, a modern-day free spirit. Family described her sister as a fun, loving happy person.
"She was loud. She was just a happy person," Jennings said. "There were people that she made mad, and there were people that absolutely loved her. But at the end of the day, she was a good person. She meant well."
Scott Stouffer said that the 14 years the family has not been able to find closure for his daughter's disappearance has taken its toll.
"I miss hugging her, I miss holding her, the whole ball," Kortne's father said. "She wasn't the perfect child, and she wasn't the worst child, but she was our child."
Kortne Stouffer was last seen when police responded to her apartment for a disturbance involving a downstairs neighbor at around 3:12 a.m. July 29, 2012. Police were called out again around 4:11 a.m. after neighbors reported Stouffer screaming through the walls and stomping on the floor, but no one responded when police knocked on the door 20 minutes later.
Stouffer had planned to meet with her family at the Lebanon Area Fair later that day. When she didn't show, Stouffer's family went to check on her and found the front door open and her dog barking.
There was no note left behind — no blood and no sign of a struggle, according to officials. Stouffer's vehicle, keys, cell phone and purse were all found at her home.
"She was a person, and she's not here anymore, and that's because of another person," Jennings said. "That other person needs to be put away, and it needs to be solved. It's a case that should not have gone on for 14 years."
Return to View: Kortne Stouffer: How — and why — did she vanish from her apartment in 2012?
Immediately after Kortne Stouffer's disappearance, friends and family created search parties, a tip line was set up, and missing posters were placed around Palmyra and neighboring towns.
But for all the efforts made over the last 14 years, Jennings said, there has never been any lead solid enough in the investigation to close the case and tell the family what happened to her sister.
"We do get random tips throughout the years that are like maybe thinks they spot her, or something like that," Jennings said about Kortne's case. "But besides the random people thinking that they spot her, there really isn't much."
Tips to the family have not just come from Pennsylvania, but from all over the country. In the last week, a truck driver in Florida reported that he saw Kortne Stouffer and law enforcement are still attempting to verify.
"I've been in touch with Orange County Police this week, and they're actually looking through video," Scott Stouffer said about the tip.
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Most of the communication the family has had about the investigation has been retired detectives who worked on Kortne's case for more than a decade. But Jennings said that getting in contact with law enforcement currently is "frustrating."
"We have called in very recently with tips that have come in, and haven't heard anything back," she said.
The Stouffers are offering a $100,000 reward for solid information that leads to Kortne Stouffer's whereabouts. Over the last couple of years, they have been launching a nonprofit tie-dyed clothing collection called "Kortne Remember Me" and releasing video testimonials to keep her story alive.
Members of the Stouffer family Saturday said the support from friends and neighbors that come out to the annual float and show their love for Kortne Stouffer is what keeps them going.
But Kortne Stouffer's family does not want to continue floating down the Swatara Creek 30 years later still looking for answers, according to Jennings.
"We want closure," she said. "We want to know what happened to (Kortne). We want there to be an end to this story some day."
More information about events and the Stouffer family's efforts to keep Kortne's memory alive are available on the Kortne Stouffer — Remember Me Facebook page.
Anyone with information regarding Kortne Stouffer's disappearance is asked to contact the Lebanon County Detectives Bureau at 717-228-4403, The Western Lebanon County Regional Police Department at 717-838-8189, or Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at crimewatchpa.com/crimestoppers.
Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at [email protected] or on X at @DAMattToth.
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This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: Family still seeks closure 14 years after Kortne Stouffer vanished