"Your daughter's missing." — Griffin (Kristen's housemate)
"If we felt like we were closing in on finding her, we certainly wouldn't have come home." — Bob Modiferry (Kristen's father)
"I put the attention on me when I shouldn't have and I screwed up. I took the focus off of the investigation." — John Onuma (Person of interest)
The episode recounts the baffling disappearance of Kristen Modiferry, an 18-year-old Park Scholar at North Carolina State University, who went missing in the Bay Area in June 1997. Kristen, described as adventurous and intelligent, had moved to Oakland for the summer to pursue photography courses at UC Berkeley and explore the region. Her parents, initially concerned but supportive, lost contact with her after her classes began. The investigation was hampered by a perceived lack of urgency from local law enforcement, who initially treated her as a potential runaway.
As the investigation progressed, leads emerged, including scent dog tracking that led to Land's End, a treacherous coastal area where her scent disappeared. A key, albeit problematic, tip came from John Onuma, who falsely implicated two women in Kristen's disappearance out of spite. This led to an investigation into Onuma, who had a history of alleged abuse and was linked to Kristen's case through a personal ad found in her room that matched her interests. Despite extensive efforts, including a dedicated PI, community awareness campaigns, and later the establishment of the National Center for Missing Adults due to her family's advocacy, Kristen's whereabouts and the circumstances of her disappearance remain unknown.
The case highlights the protracted and often frustrating nature of missing persons investigations, with numerous theories and dead ends. Even with the identification of John Onuma as a person of interest, and later findings such as a cadaver dog alerting in the basement of her former residence and a controversial technological detection of human decomposition chemicals, concrete evidence and definitive answers have eluded investigators and Kristen's family for over two decades. The episode concludes with the ongoing mystery, the passing of Kristen's father, and a call for any information to come forward.