In 1998, This 16-Year-Old Left For A 20-Minute Jog And Never Returned Home: Then, Her Family Discovered She Was Involved In A Relationship With Her Taekwondo Instructor, Who Was The Last Person To See Her Before She Vanished

Troy was ultimately found guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon by a jury on June 24, 1999, and consequently sentenced to four years in jail.

Unfortunately, though, nothing from the investigation into Troy led investigators to find clues about Tera’s whereabouts or ever name him an official suspect in the teen’s disappearance.

Troy maintained that he had no involvement in Tera’s disappearance. In interviews with police, he claimed that Tera had called him while he was working and said she wanted to see him. Troy then went to Tera’s home and recalled how she had been standing at the bottom of her driveway at the time he arrived.

Tera then allegedly leaned through his window and asked Troy for two thousand dollars. He claims he told Tera that he did not have that much money but then said he would give it to Tera if he knew what the funds were for.

At that point, Troy said that the teen became angry with him. Nonetheless, she reportedly asked Troy for a ride, and he claims to have dropped Tera off at Old Oregon Trail, where she planned to go jogging.

And with Troy never being considered a person of interest in Tera’s case, the Smith family has unfortunately hit dead-end after dead-end.

At first, Marilyn and Terry were pleased with how much effort local police were putting into finding Tera. Authorities called in cadaver dogs and even practically drained a nearby lake while trying to unearth what happened to their daughter.

As time went on, though, the Smiths noticed investigators’ effort waning and their daughter’s case becoming colder and colder.

“We feel like they [the police] really gave it their all for probably six months to a year. And then it was an important case for another year or two. And since then, it’s shelved. It’s completely cold. Stone-cold,” Terry explained.

Marilyn held onto hope for a very long time. With the drawn-out investigation, she felt like she and her family never mourned Tera until later on since they hoped the teen would return home.

“It was a very gradual process realizing she was gone,” Marilyn said.