She Vanished In 1992 While Walking To Her Friend’s House
In the summer of 1992, Melissa “Missy” Eck of Pensacola, Florida, was 15 years old and just beginning her young adult life.
She’d recently finished her freshman year at Escambia County High School and landed a job as a server at The Original Point Restaurant. Melissa also had a boyfriend, Brian, and enjoyed makeup, listening to music, and hanging out at the beach.
Yet, on June 25, 1992, Melissa vanished while walking to a friend’s house, and to this day, the exact circumstances of her disappearance remain a mystery.
That Thursday, the teen had initially planned to have a sleepover with her friend Jackie, who’d gotten her the serving job at The Original Point Restaurant. That way, they could carpool and travel to work together for their scheduled shifts on Friday morning.
However, Melissa ultimately decided to hang out with Brian instead, who lived under half a mile away on Clara Street. Then, she ended up calling another friend, Lisa, who also didn’t reside far away. Lisa happened to be hanging out with her boyfriend, so Melissa and Brian intended to hang out at Lisa’s house as a group.
Lisa and her boyfriend offered to walk over to Brian’s house so they could all travel back to Lisa’s home together. But Melissa turned that idea down, saying she and Brian would just head over there by themselves.
So, the pair set out at 8:30 p.m. for the approximately 10-minute walk. While walking between Santa Barbara Street and Lenora Street, though, Brian ran into a friend traveling in the opposite direction and parted ways with Melissa. She seemed to keep walking toward Lisa’s house alone, and witnesses spotted her “within a few doors” of the property at about 9:00 p.m.
Nonetheless, Melissa never actually arrived. Lisa spent around an hour waiting outside on the porch before she became concerned and asked her boyfriend to check on Melissa. He walked up the road and wasn’t able to find her or Brian.
This pushed Lisa to head inside and phone Brian’s house by 9:30 p.m. She discovered that Brian had returned home and thought Melissa had been with Lisa. So, when he and Lisa realized neither one of them was with Melissa, they both became panicked. Brian then informed his mother, Ellen, who was friends with Melissa’s mother, Mary, and called her to tell her that Melissa was missing.
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The 15-year-old left her purse behind at Brian’s house and didn’t bring any of her other belongings with her. This suggests that she never intended to stay anywhere overnight, but the police still initially believed that Melissa had run away.
According to Mary, it took the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department five and a half weeks to conduct their first search, which covered the wooded regions surrounding Patricia Drive. Many of Melissa’s loved ones, including her relatives, Brian, Lisa, and Ellen, joined the effort, but no evidence was uncovered.
Melissa never arrived for any scheduled shifts at The Original Point Restaurant after June 25, and she didn’t pick up her remaining two paychecks, either. One of her coworkers and friends, Jackie, also told authorities that she didn’t believe Melissa had run away.
After all, she wasn’t having any trouble at home, and Melissa’s mother allowed her to come and go as she pleased. This pushed investigators to change her “runaway” case classification to “endangered missing person” and suspect that foul play was involved.
Despite this turning point, Melissa’s case didn’t receive a lot of media exposure, and subsequent searches in the community proved unfruitful. Brian was also interviewed by the police on multiple occasions, but his mother, Ellen, claimed he and Melissa were “so much in love” and that Brian couldn’t sleep or eat for weeks after she went missing.
Nearly 33 years later, Melissa’s case is still unsolved. No suspects have ever been named in her disappearance, and no arrests have been made.
At the time she went missing, Melissa was five feet six, weighed 110 pounds, and had brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing black shorts, a black tank top, black shoes, and possibly hoop earrings and hoop bracelets. Today, she would be 48 years old.
Anyone with information regarding Melissa’s case is urged to contact the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620.
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