'I’d want someone to look for me': Year after woman goes missing, police seek public’s help

INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly a year after an Indianapolis woman walked away from her treatment facility, police are asking for the community's help in finding her.

Candice Hairl was last seen in April 2023 at Ritter Supportive Housing, an Eskenazi mental health center on South Ritter Avenue in the Irvington neighborhood. After a visit, unanswered calls, several text messages to Hairl and finally, radio silence, Tywanda Hatcher reported her then 31-year-old niece missing on June 19, 2023.

Hairl, a Black woman, is 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs 110 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

Hairl's family has spent the last week sharing details of her life and disappearance with IndyStar.

Hours after IndyStar emailed Indianapolis police about Hairl's case Tuesday, the department released a missing persons alert to its social media channels. The newspaper has requested an interview with a missing persons sergeant to learn more about this case and the delay in providing details to the public.

Hatcher said Hairl who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, seemed to be struggling after her father moved to Mississippi in September of 2020.

That December, Hatcher and her husband advised Hairl to receive treatment at Eskenazi Health. In June of 2021, Hairl was moved to the NeuroDiagnostic Institute, a state-run mental health treatment center.

It was there that Hairl seemed to be doing better. When she was at the NeuroDiagnostic Institute, she had goals, Hatcher said. Hairl, who went to Northwest High School but never graduated, wanted to get her GED. She dreamed of being a social worker.

Hairl's father died in December of 2021. Her older cousin, Elvis Brown, said Hairl began to act differently.

“She started spiraling ... when her dad passed,” Brown said.

But Hatcher said her niece's improvement "didn't just stop immediately." Her niece entered into Ritter Supportive Housing at the beginning of January 2022. The site is a "short-term/acute care transitional housing program" for adults "with a diagnosis of mental illness and possibly addiction who require skills training and care coordination to reach the next step of recovery" according to its website.

Things were going well. But after some time, Hatcher suspected Hairl wasn’t taking her medication. A social worker told her that Hairl, who had previously been responsive and engaged, stopped sharing as much.

And then Hairl missed her mother’s birthday on March 28. It was unlike Hairl to stop communicating with her mother, who had suffered a stroke several years prior and lives in an assisted living facility.

Hatcher said family members visited Hairl regularly at Ritter Supportive Housing. When Hairl stopped returning their calls and texts, they went to the facility. She wasn't there, staff told Hatcher. When asked if they knew when she would be coming back, staff told Hatcher they couldn't share that information, the aunt said. A representative of Ritter Supportive Housing said that privacy laws prevent them from releasing information to people, including family, unless the resident gave written consent.

Hatcher kept calling and texting Hairl. The family searched areas where she had grown up. One day, the calls stopped going through. That's when Hatcher decided police needed to be involved.

Filing a missing person report is how she learned Hairl had walked away on her own.

Hatcher said she's kept in contact with the detective assigned to the case.

“I would want someone to look for me,” Hatcher said. “Whether I was forced or I went on my own, I’d want someone to look for me.”

Hatcher said investigators believe there’s been two sightings of Hairl since she went missing last April. Family members scour the locations of her reported sightings, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Hatcher said she refuses to give up.

“Her family loves her,” Hatcher said. “We would love for her to come home. Just try some kind of way to send a signal. Just come back home.”

This story will be updated.

Anyone with information on the disappearance of Candice Hairl is asked to call 911 or contact the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's missing persons unit at 317-327-6160. They may also call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or 317-262-TIPS.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis missing woman: Family talks about the Candice Hairl case