The Disappearance of Ali Lowitzer
For this case I watched an episode of Disappeared. It’s season 9 episode 9, titled ‘So Close to Home.’
A sixteen year old girl vanishes after getting off the bus in front of her home.
Background
Ali Lowitzer
Ali with her mom Jo Ann
Alexandria ‘Ali’ Lowitzer was sixteen years old when she disappeared after attending another day at Spring High School in Spring, Texas. Ali was described as fun-loving, energetic and artistic. Ali’s goal after high school was attend art school to further her passions.
The Disappearance
On Monday, April 26, 2010, Ali was woken up for school by her mom Jo Ann. Jo Ann said Ali loved her sleep, and would wake up at the last possible second. She did get up, put on her signature dark clothing and eyeliner, and left the home around 7:30am.
Around 2:30pm, Ali rode the bus home from school. She called her mom to tell her that she forgot her house keys. Jo Ann called her son Mason, to tell him to leave the home unlocked if he was going to be leaving. Mason had graduated high school the year before. Ali then asked her mom if she could go to her job at the Burger Barn, which was about a 10 minute walk from the home. Ali wanted to get her paycheck and maybe pick up a shift. At first, Jo Ann said no, but she said Ali knew how to push her buttons, and she gave in.
Jo Ann had told Ali to stay in contact with her, especially if she was going to stay at work. By 5:30pm, Jo Ann arrived home, and Ali wasn’t there. Jo Ann was worried, but decided to drive to the Burger Barn. Jo Ann said she started to panic, when she saw that the restaurant lights were off and the chairs were on the tables. She called Ali's dad John, who she was separated from. John and Jo Ann called several of Ali’s friends and her boyfriend, and they all hadn’t seen her.
Jo Ann then called the police around 11pm. An officer was sent over to the home, and asked if they could look in Ali’s bedroom. After a few minutes, the officer said Ali had probably just run away for the night, and to call the next day if she still wasn’t home.
A Search of Their Own
John and Jo Ann were shocked by the police’s statements. They decided to do their own investigation. John tracked down the school bus company, and discovered that they had cameras in the bus. The cameras captured Ali walking out of school, getting on the bus and getting off.
On the video, two boys were also seen exiting the bus at the same time as Ali. One of the boys was a neighbor, and John and Jo Ann questioned him. He said Ali walked out of the neighborhood once she got off the bus, which was in the direction of the Burger Barn.
John went to speak to the owner of the Burger Barn. The owner said Ali never came in that day, and never picked up her paycheck. There was a gas station across the street, and John asked if he could see their surveillance footage. The footage confirmed that Ali never went to work that day.
The Lowitzer’s also remembered that they had a family map plan with AT&T. The map was able to show them that Ali’s phone last pinged off a tower in their neighborhood.
An Official Missing Person
About a week after Ali disappeared, John and Jo Ann went to the Harris County police. They gave them all of their information, including the surveillance footage from the bus and gas station.
The police went to the Lowitzer’s to have another look around. Inside Ali’s room, the police focused on Ali’s journal. Ali had written that she had wanted to run away. The Lowitzer’s didn’t believe she actually wanted to run away, she struggled with her parent’s separation, but that was it. Jo Ann also focused on the fact that she didn’t take her makeup, charger or money.
The police seemed to think Ali just ran away or hurt herself, but they did change Ali’s case from run away to endangered run away.
The Lowitzer’s enlisted the help of the Laura Recovery Center, a group that helped find missing people. The Lowitzer’s put out a reward for $25,000 and put out missing persons flyers. John said he “ran around like a mad man,” putting posters on every place he could find.
Three weeks later, the homicide unit was finally on the case. This led to the investigators looking into John and Mason, Ali’s dad and brother. They were both asked to take a polygraph test, and both passed. John said he couldn’t believe the questions that they were asking him, and he didn’t even want to repeat these to Jo Ann. It’s very clear that John and Mason didn’t do anything to Ali, and it’s heartbreaking to see their pain.
There was another possible lead, but it soon was another dead end. Ali had texted with an older boy at 2:50pm on the day she disappeared. However, the boy never saw Ali that day.
A Possible Connection
Ali’s case went cold, and the Lowitzer’s had hired a private investigator who was helping them continue to search for answers.
The private investigator came across another case that occurred on May 19, 2012, in Lafayette, Louisiana. Brandon Lavergne killed a 22 year old woman named Mickey Shunick. Mickey had been riding her bike home, when Brandon side swiped her. Brandon then offered Mickey a ride home, and killed her.
Brandon had a connection to Spring, Texas. He had family that lived there, and after he killed Mickey, he burned his white pick up truck about 50 miles from where Ali lived.
An eyewitness said that they had seen a girl that looked like Ali talking to someone in a white pick up truck around the time of her disappearance. The police went to speak to Brandon in prison, and he denied killing Ali. He said he had been in Louisiana at the time, and this was confirmed by his employer at the time.
Brandon Lavergne and Mickey Shunick
Human Trafficking
In the fall of 2012, the Lowitzer’s hired another private investigator named Amber Cammack. Amber was the first person besides John and Jo Ann, who believed Ali was still alive. She believed Ali could have been the victim of human trafficking. Houston, Texas is very large, and human trafficking happens a lot there.
In October 2012, Jo Ann received a call from a woman who lived in Columbus, Ohio. The woman said she had seen a young girl that looked like Ali, at a church event for the homeless. The woman said the girl was quiet, but almost appeared like she being forced to act that way.
Amber contacted the police in Columbus, and flew out there to help them. Amber went undercover, and visited several crack and drug houses. Amber also met an undercover officer, who was undercover as a pedophile. They both wanted to find all victims of human trafficking, especially the underage ones.
Amber also met a woman named Amy, a local sex worker who also helped the police. Amber showed Amy a picture of Ali, and Amy said she knew the girl as AliCat. Amy also described that Ali had a scar on her forehead, which John and Jo Ann later confirmed.
Amber went with Amy to a drug house. They were provided prescription drugs by the police to use in exchange for deals to get into the various homes. Amber said that she saw a young girl that looked exactly like Ali in one of these homes. Amber then left Columbus to give John and Jo Ann this information.
Where is Ali?
John, Jo Ann and Amber returned to Columbus a few months later, and in January 2013, a recovery mission was put into place.
Amber went back to the crackhouse, this time undercover as a madame. Amber was told to lay down on the ground when the police raided the home. The police were able to arrest several people, save 8 girls, and seize drugs and weapons. Unfortunately, Ali was not among the young girls saved that night.
Amber believes that Ali’s captors were tipped off, maybe even when they went to the house that first night.
Sadly, Ali’s case is at a standstill. John and Jo Ann left Ali’s room the same as it was the day she disappeared. They are hoping one day they will find answers for Ali. Amber believes she truly saw Ali that one night in Columbus.
An age progression of Ali
FINAL THOUGHTS
I believe it’s very possible that Ali was trafficked and could be still alive. It’s just so bizarre that Ali got off the bus, and was gone in seconds. It’s also a possibility that someone she knew could’ve done something to her. Maybe she met up with someone who had a plan to kill her or it happened in the heat of the moment. I actually think the human trafficking angle seems more plausible, just because there has never been any evidence or items of Ali’s found. I hope the Lowitzer family will get answers one day.
Sources
https://thecinemaholic.com/what-happened-to-ali-lowitzer-was-she-found/
https://medium.com/@jennbaxter_69070/vanished-where-is-ali-lowitzer-e1511a719d80
https://mickeyshunick.com/site/facts-about-mickey-shunicks-disappearance/
https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2020/shes-out-there-somewhere-10-years-after-ali-vanished
https://abc13.com/missing-teenager-person-spring-girl/6131606/
