She Vanished In The Mojave Desert In 2004, And A Mysterious Message In A Truck Stop Bathroom Seemed To Point To Her Location

Facebook - pictured above is April
Facebook - pictured above is April

In 2004, April Pitzer was 30-years old-and trying to start fresh. But, after deciding to move back in with her family in Arkansas, her home state, she vanished, and foul play is suspected in her case.

Her disappearance may be linked to an incident that occurred when she was 22-years-old. At that time, April was arrested for driving while intoxicated, and two of her friends in the car also had methamphetamine with them.

Following the arrest, April was presented with a deal. Detectives said they would waive the DWI charges if she worked as a drug informant for police. She agreed and subsequently infiltrated a methamphetamine drug ring.

However, April’s identity was eventually compromised, and she fled town. She wound up moving to Fort Worth, Texas, and tying the knot with her husband, Chase. Together, they had two daughters.

Yet, while pregnant with her first baby, April was forced to return to Arkansas. She was summoned to testify as a federal witness in a case against the drug ring that she’d infiltrated.

A total of 32 people were convicted as a result of April’s testimony, and the experience took a toll on her mental health. She started suffering from paranoia and ultimately received a bipolar disorder diagnosis.

Sadly, her marriage disintegrated, and she lost custody of her children. So, by 2003, she opted to leave Texas and move to California. She ended up in Newberry Springs, a rural desert community, and lived in homeless shelters and on the streets.

April didn’t tell her mother the true details of her life, and she claimed to be working as a waitress.

Even after moving states away, though, reminders of the drug ring followed her. In June 2004, she happened to run into the wife of a man she’d previously testified against. The encounter scared April, who feared she’d been made out as a federal informant and pushed her to flee California.

Facebook - pictured above is April

Facebook – pictured above is April

It was June 22, 2004, when she called her mother and explained how she was going back to Arkansas to live with her. Before leaving, she was staying at her friend Chuck’s home.

A few days later, on June 27, April visited an elderly woman she’d cared for in Newberry Springs and said goodbye. The next day, June 28, she packed her things and intended to get on a bus back to Arkansas.

At that point, her friend Chuck reportedly brought her to a bus station.

But April never arrived in Arkansas, and she has remained missing ever since.

Her mother contacted the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department on July 16, 2004, to report her daughter missing after being unable to contact her. This sparked an investigation into April’s strange disappearance.

First, in Roseburg, Oregon, an employee at a Love’s Truck Stop came across a mysterious message on a tile in the bathroom on September 7, 2004. The tile read, “Want to find a missing girl from Arkansas? I-15, 3 miles east of Barstow.”

Authorities executed a large ground search in the area, and no evidence of April’s whereabouts was uncovered. They also weren’t able to figure out who wrote the message in the bathroom.

Then, two days later, on September 9, 2004, a Barstow city bus driver called the police. The driver claimed to have overheard a female rider discussing April’s disappearance. The rider reportedly heard rumors at a party about how April had been killed, and her body was hidden in an abandoned mineshaft in the desert.

Several months later, in December 2005, authorities searched a mine in Ludlow, California, known as the Red Dog Mine. This Mojave Desert mine also happened to be owned by one of Chuck’s close friends, Dan Dansbury.

This effort yielded many pieces of evidence, including multiple pieces of clothing and a white suitcase. These items were reportedly scattered between the Red Dog and Indian Queen mines in a three-mile radius.

Additionally, investigators found both a mattress and a sheet, which were stained with body fluids and human blood. But because of exposure to the elements, they were of little forensic value.

When speaking with police, Chuck denied playing any role in April’s disappearance and claimed to have gone out of state to help a friend relocate to Oregon after he dropped her at the bus station. He died of cancer soon afterward, in September 2006.

In November 2009, Chuck’s friend, Dan Dansbury, died as well and maintained that he wasn’t involved in April’s disappearance.

Investigators have carried out more searches since then, but no further evidence has been found.

Foul play is suspected in April’s case, and her mother believes she might’ve been killed due to her previous work as an informant.

Still, the exact circumstances of her disappearance or her whereabouts have never been ascertained, and on August 27, 2012, April was declared legally dead.

She was five foot nine, weighed between 120 and 130 pounds, and had brown hair and hazel eyes.

Anyone with information regarding April’s case is urged to contact the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department at (760) 256-4838.

Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.

Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing ... More about Katharina Buczek

More About: