The family of Cassandra Durham has been trying to figure out what happened to her ever since she was last seen in Baltimore back in July 1987.
There’s strong evidence she found her way to Northern Michigan, but where she went after that is a mystery.
Michael Durham says his daughter Cassandra was typical 19 year old in the summer of 1987.
“She moved up here with me and worked in a store for me for over a year. She liked her job. She did a really good job. She dated several people. She had this habit, she liked good guys and bad guys,” recalled Michael.
Michael says the last time he saw her was the weekend of July 18. That Monday, he got a call from the yogurt store where Cassandra worked.
“He had called my retail store and told my help that he needed to get in touch with me. So, I don’t remember if he called me or if they told me that he left a message with whoever he talked to at the store that Cassie had disappeared with the bank deposit from Friday and Saturday.
So we immediately drove back to Baltimore, went to her apartment that was totally empty. Just a trunk, a few clothes, a note.
That note read: Dear Dad, will you ever forgive me? I’m in trouble and I don’t know when I’ll be back, I will call and write, god knows I love you!
A few days later, Michael received another letter, reading in part: I don’t really know what to say, I don’t really have an explanation for what I did, I just did it.
Then, in September, Michael got a phone call from Cassandra.
She told her father she was in Roscommon visiting her boyfriend’s grandparents.
“She said she was sorry. She’d already done it. She couldn’t get out of it. She was going to get try to get everything straightened out, and she would be back, but that I should not try to find her, contact her or do anything else.
So, you know, you didn’t know. I certainly didn’t know, the day when she called me that time, I would never talk to her again. I assumed whatever was going on, somehow we get a resolution,” said Michael.
Michael kept holding out hope for that resolution until 2019, when he reported Cassandra’s disappearance to law enforcement.
State Police detective sergeant Brett Nichols now heads up the investigation.
He admits it’s a challenging case.
“She very well may have been somewhere in the Baltimore area and was very much alive and she still might be. And in 1987, you know, there was no internet, there was no social media. So if you’re savvy and you can stay away from all the electronic devices for that amount of time, then it’s, you know, it’d be fairly easy to stay off the grid if you start that early,” said Nichols.
Nichols says he and others have done a number of interviews, including with Cassandra’s boyfriend,
All have been cooperative.
“You know, we just don’t know what happened. There’s all kinds of theories that get thrown around. And so we really can’t call anybody a suspect. All we can do is say, you know, this is the last person that we know of that was with her, that talked with her. She’s not in trouble for anything. Her family, very much wants to be in touch with her. I don’t know if he told you, but, her dad has kept the same phone number that he had at the house in 1987. He has kept it through this entire time. Just in case Cassandra wants to call,” said Nichols.
“If you’ve made your own decision. It’s fine. I’d just like to know that you’re alive and well,” said Michael.
If you have any information on what happened to Cassandra Durham, contact Michigan State Police.