"And if you remember that episode, forget absolutely everything we said about Kimberly Doss, because a family advocate working with Kimberly's mom and sister recently reached out to let us know that a lot of the official information out there about her case is just flat out wrong." — Brit
"This latched on to a false narrative and got tunnel vision on it." — Brit
"The new detective on the case has been thorough and empathetic and communicative. And they believe that she's all in on solving this case for real this time." — Brit
This episode revisits the case of Kimberly Doss, providing an updated narrative based on information from a family advocate that corrects previously reported inaccuracies. The initial disappearance of 14-year-old Kimberly in 1980 was complicated by jurisdictional disputes between police departments in Houston and Davenport, delaying the official missing person report by two years. Furthermore, the initial report contained errors, mischaracterizing Kimberly as a 16-year-old runaway when she was actually en route to her mother.
The investigation pursued a lead involving a girl named Kimberly Gardner in Los Angeles, who bore some resemblance to Kimberly Doss. Despite discrepancies in height, hair color, and birth date, this identification led to the case being prematurely closed. This false identification persisted for years, hindering further investigation and obscuring potential leads, including information provided by Kimberly's cousin Wendy regarding her last known movements with individuals named Dallas and Cecil.
Recent efforts, spurred by family advocacy and a new detective, have focused on re-evaluating the case. DNA evidence has definitively proven that the identified Kimberly Gardner was not Kimberly Doss, invalidating the prior conclusion. The episode emphasizes the ongoing optimism of the family and their advocate due to the thorough and empathetic approach of the current detective, highlighting the importance of continued investigation and public awareness for unresolved missing persons cases.