5 area missing persons cases that continue to be mysteries

The Springfield Police Division confirmed Wednesday that a body found this week near Buck Creek was a missing woman from Tennessee.

Cassandra R. Fox, 32, of Sevierville, Tenn., was last seen Tuesday, April 4, near the 1700 block of Winding Trail in Springfield.

» RELATED: Body found near Buck Creek that of missing Tennessee woman 

Fox had mental health issues in the past, said her sister Erin Laywell. But Laywell didn’t believe her sister would just disappear because of her two children.

Nationwide, there are as many as 85,000 active missing persons cases at any given time.

In 2007, the National Institute of Justice launched the National Missing and Unidentified Persons, or NamUs, to help law enforcement and the public resolve cases. Currently there are 305 people on the federal list missing from Ohio. A database maintained by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office includes more than twice that number.

Here are five missing persons cases from the region that remain unsolved:

Julie Earley

The Trotwood woman disappeared in 2012 when she was 50. Her husband Gregg Earley told police that she hadn’t been seen since May 21 of that year but didn’t report her missing until May 30. She reportedly had Type I diabetes, frozen shoulders and vision problems.

In 2015, Gregg Earley appeared on the Dr. Phil show and denied accusations he had a role in his wife’s disappearance, while other relatives of Julie Earley’s interviewed maintain her husband of seven years likely killed her and disposed of the body.

» RELATED: Dr. Phil confronts local woman's husband about her disappearance

Brandy English

English, from Middletown, was reported missing last May by a daughter. At the time of her disappearance, English 41, was helping police investigate the death of her friend Lindsay Bogan, who was also missing for months before her remains were found last July by a farmer.

English has not been seen or heard from since May 11, according to Middletown Police Lt. Jim Cunningham. She is described as white, 5 feet and 5 inches tall, and weighing 145 pounds with blond hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about the whereabouts of either woman is asked to contact Middletown police at 513-425-7737.

» RELATED: Middletown woman helping police in Lindsay Bogan case now missing 

» RELATED: Police have 'strong theories' about Middletown woman’s death 

Amber Flack

Flack, of Middletown, was reported missing by her father on Sept. 1, 2016.

Detectives followed leads about Flack’s whereabouts, even traveling to Lexington, Ky., but never found anyone who heard from the 30-year-old, according to Middletown police who said Flack was known to them for drug use and prostitution, which be a factor in her missing status.

Flack is described as white, 5 feet and 9 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

Zaden McKnight

The four-year-old's body has never been found but is presumed by police to have been killed along with this mother, Nichelle McKnight by her ex-boyfriend Antwan Anderson. Anderson fatally shot himself during a shootout with police about a week before McKnight's body was discovered in March 2014 behind apartments near the banks of the Stillwater River in Harrison Twp.

Property of the McKnights was found in the Birchwood Avenue Dayton residence of Tonisha Harris, who was later sentenced to three years in prison for tampering with evidence, failure to report a crime and gross abuse of a corpse.

» RELATED: Deputies resume search for Zaden Mcknight 

» RELATED: Harris sentenced for role in Nichelle McKnight murder  

Amanda Ward-Romine

Ward-Romine was last seen July 7, 2013, in the 300 block of Buxton Avenue in Springfield.

Ward-Romine was staying in her Indian Lake home but left July 5 to go back to live with her husband at their Avondale Avenue home, her sister Aliya Lindsey told the Springfield News-Sun in December 2013.

Her husband Daniel Romine, a person of interest in disappearance, was found dead in 2015.

» RELATED: Family fears local missing woman is dead 

Area missing persons

Source: National Institute of Justice's National Missing and Unidentified Persons System