Investigators turning to Ashtabula to help find missing woman
Nov. 26—YOUNGSTOWN — Detectives with the Mahoning County Sheriff's Office hope someone in Ashtabula County can provide information about a cold case of a woman missing since 1981.
Phyllis Brewer, then 19, was last seen going out for a walk from her house in Coitsville but never returned.
"Investigative efforts indicate Brewer has/had family in the Ashtabula area," said Det. Dave Sweeney, Mahoning County Sheriff's Office. "This was documented by a family member's obituary that was published in the 1980's in the Youngstown Vindicator."
A Caucasian female, Brewer was born Aug. 28, 1961. She would be 60 years old now.
She's 5-feet-6 and has a scar on her hand, according to the Ohio Attorney General's Missing Person site.
Investigators released a photo of what she looked like when she went missing.
"We are hoping to develop investigative information from the Ashtabula area to further our efforts to resolve this cold case," Sweeney said.
According to The Charley Project, Brewer's disappearance wasn't investigated until 2014 when her sister died. That's when the county coroner realized Brewer was unaccounted for.
The Charley Project profiles more than 14,000 cold case missing people mainly from the United States. It does not actively investigate cases; it is merely a publicity vehicle for missing people who are often neglected by the press and forgotten all too soon.
No one reported Brewer's disappearance to police when she went missing all those years ago, which has raised questions about her home life, according to the Charley Project.
As far as detectives know, all of her relatives have since died except for a niece.
Anyone with information about Brewer is asked to contact Mahoning County Sheriff Detective Patrick Mondora at 330-480-5051 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or Missingkids.org.
