And extensive searches of the area yielded no sign of Vicky.
“Our initial thought was she may have had a health issues. Her husband told the officers initially when they went to the home he saw that he she was walking up into the hills to see her son where he was up cutting wood. And we did have some information that there were times she would walk into Boyne Falls on a two-track to the fields called the Old Carriage Trail,” said Wheat.
Now Charlevoix County Sheriff, Chuck Vondra was a bus boy at Pippen’s, and worked alongside Vicky. He says Vicky was a well-liked and caring woman.
“ I’m going to say from my perspective, the grandma perspective which in my mind is a good thing, it’s a sweet caring person who always made sure folks were taken care of including myself, I came in to work, making sure I had what I needed,” said Vondra.
And he remembers the days after she was reported missing.
“It was atypical, it wasn’t normal and as a kid you knew something wasn’t right,” said Vondra.
Investigators also started getting the same feeling.
“There was an extensive amount of work done trying to find out if she was still alive by checking Social Security records, Medicare, Medicaid, Vicky and her husband were from the Detroit area and she still had friends and family in the Detroit area, so they spent a lot of time talking all the family and friends they could,” said Lt. Wheat.
But 33 years later, there remains no sign of Vicky.
“Well, we’ve interviewed all of the family members that we could to try and anything that was happening with in the family. Anytime a possibility has come up where there is even the slightest possibility where we might be able to find any kind of forensic evidence, or her body or body parts, we have search,” said Lt. Wheat.
The sheriff’s office announced in October of 2020, the FBI was getting involved in the case, even offering a $5,000 reward for information that helps solve the case.
And that has led to several promising new leads.
“I think because of the things that we have learned in the last year and a half, either through interviews or contacts with various people and family members, I think that we probably have as good or better of a chance of solving this as we ever have had,” said Wheat.
“It would bring satisfaction in that we resolved the case, knowing Vicky, she deserves a proper burial, she was a good gal, she lived her life very well, she deserves better than what’s happened to her,” said Vondra.
If you know anything that can help them in their investigation they encourage you to contact the sheriff’s office at 231-675-1541 or or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or go to FBI.GOV/TIPS.
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