2 of 8: The Walk

It's August sixth, nineteen eighty nine. It's a warm Sunday evening in Aransas Pass, the kind of summer evening where the day slowly fades into night. Neighbors finish dinner, kids ride their bikes through quiet residential streets. Porch lights begin flickering on one by one inside homes across town, families settle into their usual routines. For most people, the nights feel ordinary. But inside one house on South Whitney Street, something feels wrong, because a thirteen year old girl who left home earlier that evening has not come back. At nine forty nine pm, a call is placed to the Aransas Pass Police Department. On the other end of the phone is a young girl. Her voice is steady but uncertain. She tells the dispatcher, my sister hasn't come home yet, and my mom wants a policeman to come over. The weekend leading up to Elisa's disappearance had been completely ordinary, and that's one of the things that makes cases like this so difficult to process even decades later. There was no warning, no dramatic event, no moment where anyone could have looked back and said something felt wrong. Instead, everything about that weekend looked like the normal life of a thirteen year old girl growing up in a small coastal town. On Saturday night, Elisa stayed over at one of her best friend's house, Charla. Sleepovers were a regular part of Elsa's world. She had a circle of friends she spent time with often, and like most teenagers, those friendships were incredibly important to her. The girls spent the evening together doing what most teenage girls did in the late nineteen eighties, talking, laughing, sharing stories, probably staying up later than they were supposed to, moments that felt small and ordinary at the time, but moments that would later become the final memories people held of Elisa before she disappeared. The next day was Sunday, August sixth, nineteen eighty nine. Elisa remained at Charlotte's house for most of the day. Sunday afternoons in small towns like Aransas Pass often moved slowly. The heat of the Texas sun lingered well into the evening. People spent time indoors or gathered with friends and family, and at some point that afternoon, Elisa and Charla had planned to go to church. The church van would come around and pick up kids from the neighborhood. It was a routine many families in the community were familiar with. But when the van arrived that afternoon, Alisa made a different decision. Instead of going to church, she decided she would walk home, and at that time that decision didn't seem unusual. In fact, it probably barely registered as anything at all, because the distance between Charlotte's house and Elisa's home was short, just a few blocks, the kind of walk a teenager in a small town could make without anyone worrying about it. But it would become the first step in the timeline of Elisa's disappearance. Around five twenty pm, the church van arrived at Charles's home, but Alisa didn't get on. Instead, she left and began walking back toward her home on South Whitney Street. It was a familiar route. The walk to Elsa's home would have taken roughly ten minutes. In a town like Aransa's pass that distance wasn't considered far. Walked to friend's houses all the time. They rode bikes through the neighborhood, They cut across streets and sidewalks. They had traveled dozens of times before. The streets were quiet, residential roads lined with modest homes. Neighbors knew each other, families looked out for the kids who lived nearby. It was the kind of environment where a thirteen year old walking home alone wouldn't raise concern, and that afternoon, Elisa's walk looked exactly like that, just another teenager heading home after spending the night with a friend. About ten minutes later, around five thirty PM, Alisa arrived back at her house at four thirty one South Whitney Street. She had only been home a few minutes, but in those few minutes something happened that would set the rest of the evening in motion. The phone rang, and on the other end of the line was another friend, a girl named Debbie Green. Debbie and Elisa were friends who lived in the same general area, and that evening, Debbie called to ask a simple question. She wanted to know if Alisa could come over to her house. For many teenagers, that kind of phone call was routine, friends checking in with each other seeing if someone wanted to come hang out. She'd just come home, and she was home for the evening. She was supposed to go with Charla to church services but she so my mom was when she showed up. It wasn't expected. We were expecting she would go to church, but she just said she wanted to come home. Never dug into it it, you know, just figured she just had had it and was ready to come home. And so she was done for the day. And a little while later, I don't know the Timeframebie, Debbie Green called and asked if Alisa could come hang out with her, and my mom had told her, it's getting too late, it's time for you to stay home. But when Alisa asked her mother, the answer was no. It was getting late and Alisa had already been gone most of the day. Her mother felt it was time for her to stay home. But Debbie had another idea. Instead of Alisa walking all the way to her house, the girls could meet halfway at Key Burger Elementary School. The school sat between the two neighborhoods. It was a place they both knew well, and Debbie offered an important reassurance. She told Alisa that her father would drive her home later. That way, Alisa wouldn't have to walk back alone after dark. Alisa told her, when my mom says it's getting too late and Debbie said, well, I can meet you halfway and my dad can then bring you home later. And so we were friends of Debbie's family. Debbie's dad was we'd go visit and sometimes he would drop us off for vice versa, you know, and we were back and forth at each other's houses. It was kind of like a backdoor policy. We were always just there's a certain set of friends that we knew we were going to be at. And so my mom thought nothing of it to say, Okay, well, if Debbie's going to meet you halfway, then then it made her feel more comfortable that Alisa wasn't walking at night. It was a compromise, and after hearing that plan, Alisa's mother agreed Alisa could go meet Debbie just for a little while, though then Debbie's father would bring her home. At the time, it sounded safe, it sounded reasonable, and most importantly, it sounded temporary, just a quick visit between friends on a Sunday evening. But sometimes the smallest decisions, ones that feel completely normal in the moment, end up shaping events in ways no one could have imagined. Because within minutes of that phone call, Alisa would step out of her house one more time, and that short walk she began that evening would become the last confirmed movement anyone would ever see her make. Just a few minutes later, after that phone call ended, Alisa prepared to leave the house again. Originally, a lot of the newspapers or or some places show that Alisa left the house about four thirty. But when we did the timeframe and we talked to Linda Thompson because she had talked to Charlotte and her mom and trying to figure out when the bus stopped buying. The bus would always stop by about five fifteen to five twenties so that they could be pick up all the other kids and be in church before it started at six. In fact, from what I understand, she was actually just about to get on the bus, so the bus had just stopped by, and she was no, I'm going to head home. From how we understand, I'm just going to go home. Charlotte's house is just about, I don't know, five ten minutes from our house, not very far so, so she just walked home, so that would have put her back to our house about five thirty. And we think when when Debbie called, probably five thirty five probably, and then Alisa was out the door after my mom said yeah, it's okay, you could go. Then she was out the door, so we believe close to five thirty to maybe five forty. She then left to meet Debbie and they were going to meet at the It was Keyberger element Tree. It was a school between our house and Debbie's house, so it was just about a six minute walk from our house. If I was just to come down the street and just look down, I could probably see her walking till she got to the school, because that's how close it was. The sun was still up, though beginning to soften as evening approached. In early August. Along the Texas Coast, daylight lingers late into the evening. The air would have still been warm, the kind of lingering summer heat that sticks around well after sunset. For Elisa, this was supposed to be a quick trip. She wasn't leaving for the night. She wasn't planning to be gone long. She was simply walking a few blocks to meet a friend. She stepped out of the front door of her home and began the short walk toward Keyburger Elementary School. The distance between her house and the school was only about six minutes on foot, but unlike the walk she had taken earlier that afternoon from Charlotte's house, this walk would become one of the most important timelines investigators would later try to reconstruct, because somewhere along this short route something happened. One of the most important aspects of any missing person's investigation is establishing the last confirmed sightings of the individual. Those sightings help investigators understand two critical things, where the person was last seen and which direction they were traveling. In Elisa's case, several people would later come forward saying they had seen her that evening, and each of those sightings helped confirm that Alisa had indeed started the walk toward the school. The last confirmation came from the Roberson family's neighbors, Mister and Missus Barker, who lived nearby. Their kitchen window faced directly toward the Roverson home that evening. While washing dishes, they noticed Alisa leaving the house. They saw her step outside and begin walking down Whitney Street. At the time, it was simply a passing observation, a neighbor noticing another neighborhood kid heading out for the evening, But later that small detail would become incredibly important because it confirmed that Alisa had left home exactly as her family described. At the time, there was nothing memorable about that interaction, but years later, moments like that become incredibly significant because they help investigators place someone in a very specific location at a very specific time, and in Elisa's case, that moment would become one of the last confirmed points along her route. After that, her trail becomes far less clear, but there was still one more sighting that evening, one more interaction that would later help investigators piece together the timeline. Jennifer Taylor was the last one to officially see Alisa walking on the route. As Lisa walked past her house, they spoke briefly. Jennifer asked where Alisa was headed, and Alisa told her she was going to meet her friend Debbie. That small detail would later become one of the most important statements in the case because it confirmed Alisa's destination. The neighbors in that neighborhood the houses were closer together, they seemed, and everything was just all and it's a summer night, so people are out sitting on their porches, and so our neighbors next door that were a lot older and we found that older people make and retired people make the best witnesses because they're always watching what's happening in the neighborhood. They like to see the little kids coming and going. And so that was mister and missus Barker where they were just finishing up dinner and washing dishes when they looked out the window and they saw Alisa walking out the door and they'd seen, you know, they knew our family, We knew theirs, We talked, you know, they were friendly, they knew us all. And so they had seen them. And then on the corner right right across from their house, that's where Jennifer Taylor and her little brother Nathan lived. And Jennifer actually talked to Alisa on her way to meet Debbie and asked her, do you want to hang out with me and stick around? And she was no, me, Debbie, I'm walking down the street, and and so she keeps walking. After that brief conversation, Alisa continued walking and as far as anyone knows, that was the last time anyone in the neighborhood spoke with her. While a Lisa was making her way toward the school, Debbie Green was preparing to leave her own house, but things didn't happen exactly as planned. Jennifer says the time sometime later, Debbie's heading this way with another little friend. And she asked Jennifer because she knew Jennifer too. She goes, some, you know, I'm meeting Elisa whatever she said, and she goes, oh, she she went that way, and she said she was meeting you down at the school. And so then Debbie turns around. She goes, oh, like nobody's thinking anything of it. Okay, well I'll head back. I probably missed her. Instead of leaving immediately after their phone call, Debbie probably didn't start walking toward the school until around six pm. Give her take a few minutes. From Debbie's house, the walk to Keyberger Elementary School would have taken about ten minutes, which means she likely arrived at the school around six ten pm. But when Debbie got there, Alisa wasn't waiting. At first, that probably didn't seem alarming. Maybe Alisa had gotten there early and then left. Maybe she had started walking toward Debbie's house instead. Maybe she had stopped somewhere along the way, so Debbie turned around and walked back home. Then she picked up the phone and called Alisa's house. It was the first moment that anyone realized something might be wrong. When Debbie called Elsa's house. Ruby answered, and that's when we get a call from Debbie and Debbie says, well, is Alisa at your house? My mom was in the kitchen and she shouted, and it kind of I still to this day, like it's like a shock to me because SUTs. She goes tell Debbie Alisa should be with her right now, and I think it panicked me and I was thinking nothing, It just I just remember that shout from the bat from the kitchen that she I think at that moment, my mom kind of panicked, like what is she talking about? She should be with her right now. And I don't know what how much time had passed from the time. Time gets really skewed this many years later, but it was enough time for my mom to kind of jump in her skin. And I remember saying, now, I don't know if I was annoyed at Debbie because Debbie was a pain in the butt, or if me and Elisa were fighting, you know, we're teenage sisters. But I remember saying I was I was annoyed at Debbie, and I remember saying, Debbie, I don't know, and I don't care, like, go back and look, you'll find her. She's over there. And I just, you know, to this day, those words haunt me because you mean, I never dreamed, you know, that something bad would happen. I was just like just so I've always felt really, you know, and guilty for saying that. Debbie asked a simple question, is Alisa there? Ruby turned and asked their mother. Her mother responded with something that must have sounded completely reasonable in that moment. She should be with you, But Debbie told them Alisa had never arrived at the school. It was the first moment the plan the girls had made earlier that evening began to fall apart. Debbie told them she would go back out and check the school again. Maybe Alisa had stopped somewhere nearby, Maybe she was just talking with another friend. Maybe she had arrived after Debbie had already turned around. So Debbie went back out. She returned to the school and looked around again, but Alisa was nowhere to be found. And so Debbie, we hang up and she goes back. I don't know how long she's gone. I think she called probably a total of three times, because I think that in I lose track, but I think then the second time she called, because she says, well, I'm going to go look for her. And so she called back again, and that's I think the third time, and she says, we can't find Elisa. Is she there. That's when I tell my mom and that's when I started kind of getting a little more panicked. And he says, she's not here, and Debbie says, well, I'm going to wait till my dad gets back gets home, and then we'll probably drive around and go look for her. When Debbie returned home again, she made another call to the Roberson house, still know Elisa. By now, the uneasiness inside the Roberson home was starting to grow. What had started as a simple plan between friends was beginning to feel more uncertain. Debbie told them that when her father got home from work, he would drive around the neighborhood and see if he could find Elisa. In the meantime, Alisa's mother turned to Ruby and asked her to begin calling some of Elisa's friends. Ruby started dialing numbers. And then at that point was when my mom told me start calling a Lisa's friends right now, And so I started calling Charla Jennifer, and that's how we knew that. Jennifer said, yeah, I talked to her, talked to her about whatever time it was about whatever an hour ago, whatever time it was, because I saw her. We talked she was heading down to keep her her school, So that was a positive. And then and then mister Barker said that they had seen her, so we knew that she had made it past Jennifer's house and likely to the school. As the calls went out, small pieces of information began to come back. Neighbors reported seeing Alisa earlier that evening. They had seen her walking down Whitney Street. They had spoken with her briefly. She had told them she was heading to meet Debbie. Those confirmations helped establish something important. Alisa had left the house, she had started the walk, and at least several people had seen her along the way, But after those sightings, no one could say where she had gone. And as the evening continued to pass, the worry inside the Roberson home continued to grow. And so a little bit later then Bob comes to our house with Debbie and the other little friend and my mom were out in the yard. If Bob asked, my mom, is Alisa here? Has she made it back home yet? And my mom said no, And that's at that point he said that they had driven around, they looked for her. They stopped by dairy queen, picked up a couple of ice cream cones and brought an extra one for Lisa, thinking that maybe Alisa would be at the house. But you know, that's always really always bothered me because I thought, at a time like that, where we're looking for Alisa, you guys had enough time to go stop by the dairy queen. But then I think, well, maybe they were just thinking, well, she's gonna be at the house, let's grab some ice cream, grab one for her. It'll be fine, she'll be at the house. So that I try to think of that too, But it was just really odd. It was really odd the idea that something terrible might have happened hadn't fully taken hold. Yet they still believed she would show up, that she would laugh about the confusion, that the ice cream cone waiting for her would just be part of a normal summer evening. But when Bob Green arrived at the Roberson house, Alisa still wasn't there. So by the time he got to the house and asked, my mom, is Elisa here and we said no, And that's when he said, missus Roberson, you need to call the police. By the time Bob Green spoke with Alisa's mother, it had been several hours since Lisa had left home. The neighborhood surge hadn't found her, the phone calls hadn't found her, and the growing uneasiness that had been building inside the house was beginning to turn into something much heavier. Bob Green told Elsa's mother, something that would change the course of the night. It was time to call the police. At nine forty nine pm, a call was placed to the ransis Pass Police department. Ruby made the call. My sister hasn't come home yet, wants a police police officer to come to our house. And so I know I was the one that took the that made that phone call. I don't remember, but it's right there. It was saying that that twelve years you know that it was me that made the call. An officer eventually came to the house and took a report, but according to the family, there didn't appear to be any real urgency. And so a police officer came and took the report, and he just kept saying, you know, well, maybe maybe she's talking to a friend, or maybe she stopped buying, got sidetracked, and you know, she'll probably come home anytime now. He was trying to calm my mom down, and my mom was just adamant saying, no, she at least it was pretty responsible when it came to mean home on time when she was supposed to. She wasn't the type that was, you know, sneaking out of the house, running away, doing bad things with friends or anything like that. She was a pretty good kid. And so my mom just knew right away. No, A Lisa's not the type that just go do her own thing. She would always ask my mom for permission. You know, hey, Mom, can I or Mom, I'm gonna go here? Is that okay? So so she knew right away that something was wrong. They were told Alisa was probably just with a friend, that she would likely come home soon. But Alisa didn't come home that night, and by the time the sun rose the next morning, the Roberson family already knew something was very wrong. That night, you know, we just I remember I couldn't sleep. My mom couldn't sleep. My mom was pacing, pacing, She was like a caged animal. And oh my gosh, I just remember her insight and out of the house, you know, going outside, going down the street, looking down the street. And I remember being with her. We'd be out in the yard. We'd go down look down the street, thinking, you know, any minute, Alisa's gonna come walking, you know, come around the corner. And then we have my two little brothers that are in the house, so you can't go running around looking, you know, and it's dark, and couldn't do much. There wasn't much we can do. And and so I just know I didn't sleep, my mom didn't sleep, and I just I when just constantly looking waiting for Elsa to come home. And she never came home. It just was really sad, scary, just horrible. And I knew, I even knew at that at that young age. Like I just remember being so sad and being so afraid for my mom, so scared, you know, because my mom was crying. And my mom wasn't the type to she she she was really strong person, so she wasn't a crier. She wasn't the type that would cry. And she held a lot of things in to be strong, for for for kids, and so when when I saw her crying, I knew it was serious and it scared me. And I was so scared, and I was so sad. And my mom just just the pain in her her just and that anxiety in her voice when she was talking. I never want to relive that. That was just really hard times. The following day, Alisa's mother went to the police department with Ruby and her two younger brothers. Ruby acted as her mother's translator as they walked officers through everything that had happened over the previous twenty four hours, the sleepover, the phone call, the walk, the sightings, the school, the search, every detail they could remember, because by that point, the possibility that Alisa had simply wandered off no longer made sense. She had been seen walking toward the school, she had spoken with neighbors, she had told people exactly where she was going, and yet somewhere between her house and that meeting point, Alisa Roberson had vanished. So that next day, my mom, with us kids, all of us, we went to the police station because my mom wanted to know what was being done. Y'all been looking for Alisa, and that's when Linda Thompson said she always would see Alisa with her, so when she saw her without Elisa, she knew something was wrong immediately because we were always we were always like a group. Everywhere we went, we were together. And Alisa was at the helm to help translate from my mom, and so she wasn't there, And Linda said that she knew when she saw Alisa because it's a small town. Everywhere we go, you see us all together, and she knew when she when Alisa wasn't there, that something was very wrong. As investigators began to look more closely at Alisa's route, one question would quickly rise to the surface. If Alisa started that walk and multiple people saw her heading toward the school, how could a thirteen year old girl disappear in the span of just a few blocks, Because whatever happened to Alisa most likely happened during those missing minutes. Next time on the Unseen Truth, the investigation into Elisa's disappearance begins. Officers start retracing her steps, Neighbors are questioned, searches begin, and one discovery along Alisa's route would raise an even more troubling possibility that she may not have finished that walk alone. The Unseen Truth is a Reignited Media production, hosted, edited, and produced by me John Rivera. A special thank you to Reignited Media's own Sam Cole and Rose George for their support in scheduling and conducting the interviews that made the season possible