This episode of Disappeared on Investigation Discovery tells the story of 19-year-old missing person Katelin Akens, who vanished after making an unplanned stop at a Virginia shopping mall on the way to an airport in December 2015.
The episode, titled Flight Risk, documents how police, upon investigating her loved ones, began to suspect someone close to her wasn’t letting on to all they knew about the disappearance.
Her stepfather was said by the sheriff’s office to have been driving Katelin, from Arizona, to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when she apparently asked to be dropped off at the Springfield mall, intending to ride the metro the rest of the way to the airport.
Katelin mother, Lisa Sullivan, reportedly received a text message from her daughter later that day saying she had arrived.
Katelin’s luggage was reportedly found in a drainage ditch two days after she went missing.
“It bothers everybody,” Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office Captain Jeff Pearce told The Huffington Post in February 2016. “We just want to know what happened.”
Kaelin remains missing but her mother still has some hope that she might be found alive.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelDisappeared uses cinematic recreations and interviews with those close to missing people to tell their story. Each episode ends with a plea for fresh leads.
Disappeared – Flight Risk airs 7 P.M. on Investigation Discovery.