First Published:
1:20 PM PDT, April 30, 2021
Thirty years ago, a 20-year-old pregnant woman named Angela Hammond was abducted off the street in Clinton, Missouri. She hasn’t been seen since. Now, there might be a breakthrough in her cold case investigation.
Police say they’ve been investigating the possibility that her kidnappers set out to abduct someone else. “It was a case of mistaken identity… pretty incredible,” says Captain Paul Abbott from the Clinton Police Department.
They believe the intended target was the daughter of a law enforcement informant, who has similar features to Angela. They add that the informant even received a threatening letter. It reads, “People like you deserve what you get. We know where your foxy daughter is at. She will see us soon.” And the note was postmarked with the exact date that Angela was stolen.
Over the years, they hadn’t figured out what happened to Angela Hammond, even though the case received national attention when featured on “Unsolved Mysteries.” On the show, they reenacted the events of that evening. They describe the incident, saying Angela was on a payphone outside a market talking to her fiance, Robert Shafer, when she noticed a pickup truck circling nearby.
Robert told investigators she screamed for help, and that’s when he ran out of his house and jumped in his car to get to her. Cops say that Robert saw the pickup truck drive away with Angela inside, but his car broke down and he couldn’t pursue the vehicle anymore.
All these years later, Marsha Cook, Angela’s mother, still hopes she will learn what happened to her daughter. “No, it never gets easier. You just learn to live with it.” And police are still hoping a tip will come in to help them crack this case. Anyone with information on the abduction of Angela Hammond can email the Clinton Police at tips@clintonmopd.com.
