Tuesday marks 6 years since 22-year-old's disappearance

GASTONIA, N.C. — Around this same time each year, Gaston County Police appeal to the media to put the word out about Jamie Fraley.

Police said she was battling a stomach bug in April 2008 and told a friend she was getting a ride back to the hospital from her home at the Copperfield Apartments. There's been no sign of her since.

Her purse and wallet were locked inside her apartment. Her cell phone later found at the intersection of South New Hope Road and East Hudson, a little more than a mile away.

Gaston Police Sgt. Stephen Dover said, "Our hopes are that she'll be found alive. I know with every passing year the likelihood of that grows dimmer."

Joan Petruski, founder of The Kristen Foundation for missing adults has worked with police and Fraley's family organizing searches and publicity for the case over the years.

She showed a Channel 9 crew a folder full of articles, photos and notes she's gathered in her continued search for Fraley.

"The fact that you can't find your child is devastating." Petruski said, "I don't like to see that happen to any family."

Dover told us nearly every year the department has put the word out about Fraley's case they've received tips from the public.

But he says for the first time, not a single tip has come in the last 12 months.
Dover and Petruski sid there's a good chance you could know something that might be the break they need to find Fraley.

Dover said, "I would just encourage the public even it's something that they're not certain of we would like to know, let us follow up on it."

Petruski said, "We do think there is someone that knows what happened to Jamie. Someone always knows something," she said.

Ricky Simonds Sr., the father of Fraley's fiancé, has been the only person of interest named in the case

In what police called a "strange accident," Simonds was found dead in the trunk of a car months after Fraley was last seen.

Investigators told us they have yet to find any concrete evidence linking Simonds to Fraley's disappearance.

Two years ago, Investigation Discovery aired a national segment covering the Fraley case - you can view it here.

Eyewitness News will have the latest on the story Tuesday night at 5.