| Bianca Piper | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bianca Noel Piper (1991-12-26)December 26, 1991 Foley, Missouri, U.S. |
| Disappeared | March 10, 2005 (aged 13) Foley, Missouri, U.S. |
| Status | Missing for 19 years, 9 months and 25 days |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
Bianca Noel "B" Piper (December 26, 1991 – disappeared March 10, 2005) is an American missing person who disappeared at the age of 13 in Foley, Missouri, on March 10, 2005. She is believed to have been abducted.
Background
Bianca Noel Piper was born in Foley, Missouri, on December 26, 1991. During her early childhood, she was hospitalized due to suffering from ADHD and severe bipolar disorder. Piper required daily medications to prevent disorientation and hallucinations.
At the time of her disappearance, Piper was an eighth-grader at Winfield Middle School. She was in special education classes due to her short attention span and repeated absences.
Prior to her disappearance, Piper's therapist had recommended that her mother, Shannon Tanner, drive her a certain distance from home and have her walk back on her own, giving Piper time to deal with her own aggression.
Disappearance
On the evening of March 10, 2005, Piper and her mother had a dispute over doing the dishes. Although it was snowing that night, Piper, having found the activity her therapist recommended helpful, requested that it be done again, wanting her mother to drop her off at an even further distance. Piper was last seen at 6:15 p.m. that evening, when her mother dropped her off at McIntosh Hill Road about a mile from their home.
At the time of her disappearance, Piper was wearing a lime green blouse, a gray Adidas hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and white tennis sneakers. She also had a flashlight in her possession.
Hours later, when Piper still had not returned home, her mother reported her missing at 8:20 p.m.
Investigation and developments
Although investigators initially believed that Piper had simply gotten lost on her way back home, following an extensive search, authorities came to believe that she had been abducted. Piper had no prior history of running away from home.
Piper's mother passed a polygraph test, as did her mother's live-in boyfriend. Her biological father was also extensively interviewed. No one in Piper's family is considered a suspect in her disappearance.
In 2007, a multi-jurisdictional task force was created to investigate Michael J. Devlin for a possible connection to Piper's disappearance, as well as those of other children between 1988 and 1991, after two missing teenagers—Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby—were discovered in Devlin's residence. Hornbeck had been abducted in Beaufort in 2002, while Ownby was abducted in 2007 in Richwoods. The task force was dissolved in October 2007; no evidence of Devlin's involvement in Piper's disappearance was discovered.
On February 3, 2023, a septic tank near where Piper was last seen was drained. The sheriff's department of Lincoln County is working with Othram Labs, a forensic genealogy company, in an effort to solve Piper's case.
Aftermath
Piper's father died in 2009. Her mother now lives in St. Charles, Missouri. The investigation into Piper's disappearance remains open, though it is now considered a cold case. Her fate and whereabouts remain unknown.
In September 2014, Piper's sister, 24-year-old Tiffany Piper, was sentenced to eight years in prison for trafficking two suburban high school girls in June 2012. According to a prosecutor, Tiffany Piper was initially a victim of human trafficking herself.
As of June 2024, the Amber alert for Piper remains active.
See also
- List of people who disappeared
- Michael J. Devlin, American serial kidnapper and rapist who abducted at least two other children in Missouri between 2002 and 2007
References
- ^ "Missing Person / NamUs #MP4242". National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
- Sigona, Michelle. "It's Been More Than 15 Years Since Bianca Piper Vanished At Age 13". Investigation Discovery. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- ^ Good, Meaghan (February 13, 2023). "Bianca Noel Piper". The Charley Project. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- ^ Taylor, Betsy (March 9, 2007). "Two year anniversary for missing eastern Missouri girl". The Nevada Daily Mail. St. Louis. Associated Press. p. 2. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
- ^ Schlueter, Roger (March 2, 2018) . "This is why that photo of missing Bianca Piper hasn't been updated". Belleville News-Democrat. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
- "3750DFMO – Bianca Noel Piper". The Doe Network. March 19, 2024 . Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- "Lincoln County cold case gets renewed hope". St. Louis: KMOV. February 6, 2023. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- Singleton, Shawn (March 21, 2021) . "Sheriff to implement a Cold Case Unit; Piper disappearance tops on the list". Lincoln News Now!. Archived from the original on December 9, 2024. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- "Sister of missing Mo., girl sentenced in elaborate sex trafficking case". St. Charles, Missouri: FOX4KC. September 17, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
- Sager, Monica (June 23, 2024). "America's Lost Children: 37 Active AMBER Alerts Still Haunt Families". Newsweek. Retrieved January 1, 2025.
External links
- Bianca Noel Piper at The Charley Project
- Bianca Noel Piper at the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
- 3750DFMO – Bianca Noel Piper at The Doe Network
