What happened to Kathy Stobaugh?
Posted: Sunday, May 06, 2007 10:06 AM by Dateline Editor
Filed Under:
Crime
Dateline brings you 3 stories with a central question: Can a single moment solve a mystery? Sara James has a story of a wife who disappeared into the night.
by Sara James, Dateline correspondent
The signs in the New York City buses and subways are simple, clear, arresting: "If you see something, say something."
It's obvious, of course. In the fight against terrorism, every voice counts. But this isn't just a big city matter. In the fight against crime -- any crime, every crime -- everyone needs to speak out. Because that is how crimes are solved.
And yet, of course, it's never that simple. How many people don't say something? Because the "something" is small, seemingly insignificant? Or embarrassing? Or because the person it concerns is a friend, a family member, or someone who is intimidating? Or because they're busy, or it's a bad time, or any of a host of myriad other reasons?
Well here's what I would like to say: Saying something matters. And not just in high-profile cases of terrorism. It matters here In New York. Or, as in this case, it matters in Texas. Because, let's be honest, most of the time, someone saw SOMETHING. Or heard something. Or put some blocks together and came up with an uncomfortable realization, a shiver, a sense of foreboding.
In my story "The Coldest Case," someone saw, or heard, or knows -- something.
So say something. Please.
It matters. A woman is missing. Her family believes -- knows, but there's no proof, so they have to settle for believing -- that she is probably dead. That is horrific enough. Kathy Stobaugh. A mother. A daughter. A sister. A friend. A teacher. A woman with a big smile, ready to leap at a second chance at happiness after her marriage ended. But she never got the chance. Chances are, someone out there cut her life short. Chances are, someone knows who did it. Her brother Chris, a police officer, struggles with this every day. He's supposed to solve crimes, but he can't solve the crime of what happened to his sister. Her parents are devastated. Surely someone, somewhere knows something about what happened to Kathy Stobaugh. I feel it in my bones. So let me add my plea to that of the family.
If you know something, say something. For her family, the answer may be difficult. But waiting, speculating, endlessly because you have no answer is the most difficult of all.
Click here if YOU have any information about Kathy Stobaugh. The "Coldest Case" airs Dateline Sunday, 7 p.m.
