Stepped off the School Bus and Never Seen Again – The Disappearance of Ali Lowitzer Ft. Her Mom
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back. So happy to have you here joining me today to discuss yet another case. And if you are new, then welcome. Be sure to hit subscribe. So today we have a case out of Texas, and it's a disappearance, and it's

very upsetting. I will give you that warning ahead of time. Also today we have Joanne Lowitzer, Allie Lowitzer's mom joining us to do some interviews, which I think is always really helpful to hear right from the family in the content. With that being said, I want to see you guys on your best behavior as always in the comments. God, I really sound like a mom these days, but seriously, family members read comments. I mean, not just in

videos where I have a family member featured, but across the board. And so I just want to put that reminder out there to be kind because unhelpful comments are unhelpful. I am very thankful to Joanne for joining us today. It's not easy to get on camera and get up and talk on a big platform like this, where potentially a million or so people can see it. And I

I think that's very brave of her and just everything that she has done for her daughter's case and other people is really impressive. So I'm honored to have her joining us here today. Also, I wanted to remind you that my neck mech merch has restocked. This is our last restock on this collection and I

I loved this collection. I know you guys did too. And this is your last time to get your hands on it. Again, 100% of the proceeds from the collection is donated directly to national center for missing and exploited children. So it's a great cause. In fact, I think we are just under $180,000 raised so far.

And I'm very grateful to all of you who have participated in our campaign. But anyway, let's go ahead and get into today's case. We're going to be talking about the disappearance of Allie Lewitzer, who has been missing since 2010. So Alexandria or Allie Lewitzer was born February 3rd, 1994 to her parents, Joanne and John.

and was raised just outside of Houston in Spring, Texas. Allie was actually a younger sister to her half-brother Mason, who Joanne had while in a prior relationship. And growing up, she was an absolutely adorable little girl who was raised by a family who loved her and adored her from the very beginning of her life. As she got older, Allie began developing a big passion for reading and for art. And it's safe to say that she was a very creative person.

In fact, Joanne says that after high school, Allie was hoping to pursue art in the next chapter of her life. Allie also was athletic. She loved playing softball. She loved hanging out with her core group of friends, and she liked singing as well. And Allie really was a very talented singer. She actually performed at a rodeo at a very young age, which takes a lot of guts to do. Who sings at the twilight's end? Who talks to a night of sadness?

Allie's parents did end up getting a divorce and this was very hard on her as it is for, you know, anyone at any age to deal with their parents going through divorce. And while both of her parents did love her so much, she did go through a period where she felt sort of distant from her father.

Especially being a teenager, you know, when you're struggling with a million other things in life, like friendships, relationships, hormones in school. It's definitely not unusual to have a more strained relationship with one or both of your parents. And even though Allie was going through a sort of strained phase with her father, John, the two of them were actually working through it at the time of her disappearance, which I can only imagine has made this that much harder for him.

As you will hear Ali's mother say, she was an extremely kind, loving, generous, wonderful person who had a lifetime of opportunities to look forward to before she went missing. Ali has always been artistic from the time she knew what crayon and paper was.

Well, it didn't even really have to be paper. Ever since she learned how to hold anything in her hand, really, whether it be markers or a paintbrush, she was drawing and creating things. Since she was, I don't know, two years old, I have lots of her artwork. I have...

some watercolors and pastel drawings and even some paintings, some sketches. That's the thing that really, that I really miss about her. She, I didn't know until after she went missing, but she wrote some poems.

And she drew some anime just out of pencil. And from the time she was in, I think in either the third or the fourth grade, her teacher had her students start journaling. So ever since then, even though...

I'm sure that she didn't have to. Allie has kept journals. You know, given her privacy of the journals, I never read them. I would always see her write in them, but...

For me, that would be something I feel that should be kept private. But after she went missing, I did read some of her journals and there were poems and sketches and even little short stories that she would make up about, you know, me or her dogs or, you know, some of the family or whatever. She was in Girl Scouts, which I think I liked a little bit more than she did. In junior high school, she was in band.

And she learned to play the flute. But when she started ninth grade, she didn't want to have to do the marching band. So she switched from band over to choir. And from, you know, from a mom's point of view, she just excelled. She had...

has a beautiful voice. But, you know, she loves her animals and her friends and art and fashion and, you know, and family. You know, she was always willing to go to all of the family functions. But just her passion for her friends is...

For me, the most missed about her is just her loves and her passions. Because if she liked something, she was all in. That was just the way she was. So in February of 2010, Allie was 16 years old. She was a sophomore at Spring High School. And things were going pretty well at school. She had a great group of friends and even had her first boyfriend.

And like any teenager, Allie, of course, was glued to her cell phone and was always texting back and forth with her friends. But keep in mind, it was 2010, so she didn't have a smartphone that we're all used to now. So during the second semester of Allie's sophomore year, she got her very first job and she was pumped about it. She was working at the burger barn. I'm sure many of us can remember our first jobs and how monumental that felt at the time.

I mean, having new responsibility, having some money to be able to spend on things that you want or save. It all just adds a layer of independence that you haven't experienced before. And this was definitely the case for Allie. She was finally gaining some of that independence that all teenagers want. But sadly, all of this was taken from her on April 26th, 2010. That day was a Monday and it started off like any other typical day for Allie. She didn't want to wake up for school because who's

Who does? So she slept in a little bit and then eventually put on her makeup and got on the bus by 730 a.m. At this point, Ali had only been working at the burger barn for a couple of weeks and

She was very excited to be getting her paycheck. And so that day she texted her mom and asked her if she could stop by the restaurant after school to get her paycheck and possibly pick up an extra shift. And at first, Joanne actually told her no, because up until this point, Allie had never walked to work. She was always driven there after school. And even though it was only a quarter of a mile and just 10 minutes from her house, her mom was nervous about it.

But she just kept asking until her mom finally gave in and said she could go on her own. However, Joanne did tell her that she needed to text her as soon as she got to work and also let her know if she was going to stay for a shift. Allie agreed. So that was the plan.

She went about her school day. It was a normal day around 2 25 PM. She left the school and got on the bus like she always did. And sometime while taking the bus, she called her mom and let her know that she had forgotten her house keys. Now, Joanne was at work. So she called her son Mason was still at home and asked that before he left to go hang out with friends, that he keep the door open so that Allie can get inside. And unfortunately this was the last conversation that Joanne had with

So at 2.44 p.m., Allie can be seen on the bus's surveillance camera exiting the bus. And then we know that instead of walking in the direction of her house, she goes towards the direction of the burger barn, which was the plan. There's also confirmation that Allie started walking in the direction of the restaurant because two other boys who got off at the same stop as her confirmed that they saw her walking in that direction. But sadly, there are no more confirmed sightings of Allie after this point.

So Joanne got home from work around 5.30 that day. And when she got there, Allie wasn't there, but she wasn't too concerned at first because even though she didn't get a text from her confirming that she stayed to work a shift, she just assumed that that was the case and that

You know, she started working right away. She was busy and maybe she put her phone in her locker or something. So Joanne tries texting her around seven o'clock and didn't get a reply. And so she became more and more concerned around 830, 845 ish. She just decided to go ahead and jump in her car, head over to the restaurant and just make sure that Allie was there. So she drives to the burger barn knowing that if she was working, her shift was likely over or ending soon, but

When she arrived, she saw that the restaurant was closed and all the lights were off. And it finally hit her that something was clearly wrong. Allie was a very responsible girl. And if she had picked up an extra shift and then gotten a ride home with someone or gone to a friend's house or something, she definitely would have told her mom.

Plus, Allie was a bit of a homebody, so chances are if she made plans to hang out with someone, she would have invited them over to her house. So obviously now Joanne is completely panicked. She has no idea where Allie is. She hasn't heard from her. She knows that that is very unusual for her. So she calls John, Allie's father, and he tells her that she's likely okay, but she just can't shake the feeling that

Something is not right. So together they start calling all of Allie's friends, seeing if she was with any of them or if any of them have heard from her. Joanna even drives over to Allie's boyfriend's house to see if maybe she's over there and her phone just died or something like that.

But no one has seen Allie and it becomes very clear that they need to call police. So realizing Allie was not at work, I called John and, you know, he was, you know, trying to suggest things that, you know, maybe Allie was at a friend's house or, you know, maybe she was just with friends. I mean, we couldn't think of any other options.

reason or explanation why she couldn't be at work. And so after I had my, my meltdown, basically, you know, sitting in front of the, the restaurant in my, in my truck, you know, I told John, you know, I said, I'll, I'll go by, you know, her boyfriend's house, maybe she's over there.

And, you know, I went over there and him and his mom, you know, were kind of shocked to see me. But, you know, he, his name is DJ. So he had also been trying to text and call her and hadn't heard anything from her. And I felt so helpless. I felt alone, not really knowing what to do. You know, what do you do when you can't find your child? So, yeah.

You know, I went home and my son Mason got some of his friends together and they drove around a couple of the subdivisions we live that were close. And after a couple hours, John got off work and left.

He came over and we were trying to think, you know, where could she be? So we got out and we drove around ourselves, you know, just to see if we see her walking with any friends or anything. And, you know, we got home. I think it was close to midnight. And we decided to call Precinct 4.

which is our local sheriff's office. So a deputy from Harris County Sheriff's Department responds to their call, and it pains me and really frustrates me, but doesn't surprise me to find out that they did not take the Lewitzers seriously at all. And unfortunately...

That's going to be a common theme here as we discuss Ali's case. The police have been horrible from the beginning to today. The way the Harris County Sheriff's Office has ignored the blatant signs of foul play and ignored the Lewitzer's concern for their daughter is not only disrespectful and disgusting, but also should scare all of us as citizens.

If you are a consumer of true crime content, you have probably heard so many times of cases where families are just blown off and treated like dirt by the police. And quite frankly, I'm sick of it because it feels like it's pretty much every other case that I cover at this point. And especially in cases of the missing, obviously not limited to that, but I just see it over and over again with missing cases.

So that first night on April 26th, when a deputy arrived at their home, Joanne and John were both told that Allie probably ran away. They tell them to just call the sheriff's office back tomorrow if she's still gone, which

which is wasting so much valuable time. And every time I hear this, it frustrates me more and more. I mean, even if she was a runaway, which she wasn't, she's still a minor and she is potentially in danger and they should have immediately began patrolling the streets looking for her. So John and Joanne are forced to just leave

wait to wait and see if she shows up and hope that they eventually help. It was a little while later. Uh, one of the deputies, uh, showed up at the house and, uh,

She came in, she came in Allie's room, kind of looked around and, you know, basically said, oh, well, y'all probably had a fight. And, you know, she was cooling off with some friends, you know, and she'll probably be home tonight or tomorrow and didn't make a report. And, you know, I, you know, I'm like, well, what do we do? You know, as this deputy is walking out the door and she's like, well, call us tomorrow when she comes home.

And I'm thinking to myself, what the hell? You know, my child is missing. You're not going to do anything but tell me to call tomorrow. And that was just the beginning.

of the issues that we had with law enforcement. So the next morning around 9 a.m., they call. They let the police know that Allie is still not home, but their concern doesn't seem to grow at all. They still considered her a runaway, even though there was no sign that she ran away, and she left all of her belongings at home. She left her money, her makeup, her phone charger, everything.

All of her clothing in her room. A runaway teenager is not going to leave all of those items behind. So that should have been a red flag to them, but it wasn't. Allie especially loved to express herself through her makeup and her parents are absolutely positive that she wouldn't have left it all behind. The sheriff's office pretty much refused to believe that this was anything more than a runaway teenager. And

And so they wouldn't even open a missing persons case for her. So from that very first night, we had issues with law enforcement. I grew up being taught that when you need help, you call the police. And having that experience of them coming into my house and

you know, expecting them to help me find Allie and then just saying, call us tomorrow was, was devastating. And it just seems like from there, it just went downhill. We, gosh, there's just so much, so much to talk about with law enforcement. So,

Over time, Allie's case would change hands because we don't live in the city. We live in Harris County. And the part of the county that we live in, there's Precinct 4, which is, you know, who we call. So if we were to call like 911, you know, it's going to go to Precinct 4.

And then within Harris County, I don't know how many precincts. There's several precincts. And after a couple of days of us begging for help, a couple of the deputies did try to

to investigate, even though they're not missing person investigators. And I'm so grateful for them, for the two that did try to help. And so, of course, this leaves John and Joanne to do all the early investigation work that the police should be doing, which no family member should ever have to do. And I hear of this all the time.

the time. Of course, as a parent, even though you're extremely worried, you're scared, you don't know what the first step should be. You're going to try your best and do everything that you can to find your child. And that's exactly what they did.

John first tracked down the school bus company and was able to retrieve that footage of Allie getting off the bus that day. And it was on this footage that they saw the two boys exiting at the same time as Allie. But like I said, all they could really offer was confirmation that Allie started walking in the direction away from her home. John went to the burger barn himself to find out if Allie had actually gone in that day to get her paycheck and

and maybe see if she was with someone or if there was any information that they could give him. But unfortunately, he found out that Allie never even made it to the burger barn that day. John even went to the gas station across the street from the restaurant to see if maybe they could pick her up anywhere in that area around 3 p.m., but even that showed that she didn't make it that far.

So this obviously leaves a very small window of time that something must have happened to her. If it was only a quarter mile of a walk from the bus stop to the burger barn, whatever happened to Allie happened in that timeframe. But in those first few days of her disappearance, Joanne did remember something that she hoped would be helpful.

Even though Ali's phone didn't have the GPS tracking data like we see in phones today, their family did have a cell phone plan through AT&T, which included something called a family map that allowed them to get location data somewhat easily. But unfortunately, the only information they were able to get from that is that Ali's phone pinged off of a tower at the end of their subdivision, and then it was completely shut off after that.

So the last text that Ali sent was at 2 57 PM. And it was to another student named Jay, who was a little older than her. And they had been friends for a little over a year at that point. They later found out that Ali had texted Jay asking if he wanted to hang out that day, but he had other plans. So the two of them never met up. So with all of this, they're left feeling extremely hopeless and not sure what to do next. And of course they're getting no help really from the police at all.

So on Monday, May 3rd, it had been a week since Allie had first gone missing and they hadn't heard anything from her. They had no more clues, but they gathered up all the information that they did have so far and brought it to the police station, hoping that

they would start to take her case more seriously at this point. And they finally got a handful of deputies to go back to their house and look at Allie's room. But all they did was look for more evidence to support their theory that she ran away. And while looking through Allie's journal, a deputy noticed an entry about possibly running away. And from this one entry,

The Harris County Sheriff's Office decided to ignore the fact that Allie left all her belongings behind, including money, which someone would need when running away, and stuck by their notion that she left of her own free will. They did question the boys who got off the bus at the same stop as Allie. They also went and talked to some of her co-workers at the burger barn, but

They just came to the conclusion that there was no foul play. And this is truly unbelievable. But even at this point, they wouldn't classify her as a missing teen. All they did was change her status from runaway to endangered runaway.

So once again, her family is stuck having to take things into their own hands. And at the advice of the Girl Scout Council, which Allie was a member of, Joanne reached out to a group called the Laura Recovery Center. And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Laura Recovery Center, they are a nonprofit organization that was created in 1998 by Bob.

and Gay Smithers when their daughter, Laura Smithers, was abducted and then later murdered near her home. The Laura Recovery Center helps educate people about kidnapping and abduction prevention as well as organizing searches for those who have been taken. They are an incredible organization and they were extremely helpful and supportive to the Lewitzer family in the early days, weeks, and months following Allie's disappearance.

And during the first week of her being missing while the police were sitting on their ass doing nothing, members of the recovery center immediately established a command center and began coordinating search efforts. Hundreds of volunteers came together to search the wooded areas and creeks surrounding the Lewitzer home. They executed awareness alerts and took part in making and distributing flyers.

Also, a $25,000 reward for information was even offered. However, nothing has yet come of this, unfortunately. And knowing how useless and unhelpful law enforcement had been, the Laura Recovery Center kind of acted as a liaison between the family and the police, hoping to create more of a conversation.

So two days after Allie had already been missing, somebody from our local Girl Scout council told me about the Laura Recovery Center. I'd never heard of them. So I called them, I think it was like at 10 or 11 o'clock in the evening, and somebody answered the phone. And Dawn with the Laura Recovery Center, she showed up at my house the very next morning. I still get emotional about it because...

It felt like they were the only ones working to help us. It was such a relief when they came to help because they were truly listening to what we were telling them. And, you know, law enforcement, they just wanted to call Allie a runaway.

And the lower recovery center, I mean, they believed us when we said that Allie would never run away. So they got us organized and we set up a command center in the parking lot of the local church. And they called in all of their volunteers and they started ground searching really quickly. You know, because you hear that, you know, the first 48 hours of someone going missing is the most important thing.

And we had already passed the first 48 hours. And I understood what they were looking for. I tried not to concentrate on why they were searching around in the woods.

Because I knew what that meant if they found something. But not only, you know, did they organize ground searches, you know, they also did door-to-door canvassing to ask, you know, anyone in the surrounding neighborhoods if they saw anybody or if they've heard anything. They helped us get in touch with the local news stations and

to help get Allie's face out there. They gave us advice on what we could be doing as parents. And, you know, they got us in touch with the National Center for Missing and Displaced Children. And, you know, had somebody from Team Adam come out. And they were just wonderful people and truly cared. And that's what...

the feelings and the emotions that I remember most because I'm when you're in when you're having a traumatizing experience you know your brain to protect yourself it just kind of not shut down but I can't remember tiny details you know of the beginning of when Allie went missing and I remember emotions and the big details and

But the lower recovery center, I mean, they just they they felt like at the time they were a lifesaver to me. And I'm sure many of you are wondering if maybe there were any known predators in the area. And of course, Ali's family was wondering the same. And even after looking into this possibility, nothing came out of it. But one thing that Joanne has shared is there were only 11 officers for 10,000 cases in the area.

And because Allie's case had yet to be considered anything other than an endangered runaway, she took very low priority. With the very little time that they actually spent looking into Allie's case, they essentially just classified her as an emotional 16-year-old who ran away and completely dismissed the idea that someone did something to her or that someone took her. And it took three whole weeks for anyone...

at the Harris County Sheriff's Department to really care about Allie's case. At that time, Allie's case started gaining more traction in the media. And of course, it was only once they felt the pressure that her case was transferred to the Homicide Department. And at first, Joanne was really hopeful that maybe now the police would start to take things more seriously, that the Homicide Department would really take things up a notch for them. But unfortunately, this just became more problematic.

As we know, when someone goes missing, that person's family is looked at first. And this is the case because statistically, homicide is far more likely to occur by someone the victim knows. But that's not always the case, and that's really important to remember. Non-family abductions do happen, and you'll hear me get into this here in a bit, but human trafficking is an epidemic and absolutely could have possibly been the cause of Allie's abduction. The

The case was handed over to Harris County Runaway Division, which would be a little bit of a step up from the Precinct 4. And they had the case for a week or two, but I

And, you know, and they they did a lot of work on the case while we were doing ground searches with the Laura Recovery Center, the runaway division. They were talking to the school and Ali's friends and just, you know, putting trying to put pieces of this puzzle together. But come to find out, they lost the one video surveillance that we had. It was from the gas station at the corner. They lost it, which was.

you know, was, again, it was devastating. You know, we didn't think that we needed to make copies of that video, but we should have before we handed it over to them. And, you know, again, they failed us there. And then the case was eventually handed over to Harris County Homicide. And that's when they decided to investigate us as the family first.

And that was a horrible experience. Yeah, that was horrible. But with that being said, the Lewitzers then spent the next several weeks under extreme scrutiny as they were being investigated. And Allie's brother Mason was interrogated for hours. And it was a very traumatic experience for him, to say the least. They seriously considered the possibility that maybe he had something to do with Allie's disappearance, even though he was with friends.

that afternoon and had an alibi but sadly weeks turned into months and then months turned into years with no answers as to what happened to ali lewitzer this is heartbreaking but her mom has kept her room exactly the way that she left it hoping that one day she'll come back

Two years, the Lewitzers were left to handle things on their own. Of course, with the exception of support from the Laura Recovery Center. So eventually, to better increase the chance of finding Allie, Joanne decides to hire a private investigator. Unfortunately, this paid PI was unable to find anything concrete in Allie's case. However, two years later,

two PIs ended up volunteering to help for free. And I want to talk about both of their work. One of the PIs was a man named Max Hanford. Max did some extensive digging and he believed that he could link Allie's disappearance to a man named Brandon Laverne, who actually pled guilty to killing a college student named Mickey Schoenig, 250 miles away from spring Texas. In the early days after Allie disappeared, a tip came in that said that they saw a younger girl talking to a man in a white truck and

And it was along the road that Allie would have walked to get to the burger barn. Mickey Shunick was abducted and then later killed while she was riding her bike along the street where a man in a white truck sideswiped her and then offered her a ride. Although Mickey was taken and killed in Louisiana, the private investigator looking into Allie's story thought maybe the cases could be related. And as it turns out, this Brandon Laverne guy had connections to Spring, Texas.

Not only did Brandon have family in the area, but his white truck was found abandoned and burned 50 miles away from where Ali disappeared. An investigator in the Houston area claims he has evidence connecting Shunick's killer to a missing girl in spring, and that private investigator spoke only to Local 2 investigator Joel Eisenbaum.

THE FAMILY IS HOPING TO GET THEM BACK TO THEIR HOME. THERE IS SO MUCH TIE IN TO ALLY HERE. IT IS SO DIFFICULT TO OVERLOOK. MAX SANFORD IS A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR WHO IS CERTAIN HE IS CONVINCED A MAN WHO KILLED TWO WOMEN IN LOUISIANA HAS OTHER VICTIMS. AMONG THEM A 16-YEAR-OLD SPRING

THE LAST TIME HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN THE CITY. HE WAS IN

THE GUY WHO WROTE DOWN THE PLATE NUMBER ACCIDENTALLY DISCARDED THE CLUE A WEEK LATER. So they put him under hypnosis and that's where we got a partial. Max Sanford's put a lot of work into this case, but the Harris County Sheriff's Office says he's off track.

They've checked and rechecked and can find no connection between Brandon Laverne and Allie Lowitzer. Louisiana authorities are of the same mind. Now, Brandon was in jail by the time that the private investigator was hired, but they felt like it could be a possibility that he could know something about what happened to Allie.

All this information and connections were relayed to the homicide department in Harris County. And surprisingly, they actually looked at this as a possibility. However, they found out that Brandon had a rock solid alibi for the time that Allie went missing. And this just left the Loitzer family even more confused. On one hand, it would have been very traumatizing and upsetting if the family found out Brandon had something to do with it.

But at the same time, it would have given them some answers. So they were somewhat hopeful. But there was some relief in the idea that if it wasn't Brandon, maybe Allie is still out there somewhere alive. We've had a couple of private investigators. We've had most of them did their work pro bono.

We did have one that we sought out. He was retired law enforcement and we did have to pay him, but he didn't turn up any information at all. As a matter of fact, I couldn't even tell you exactly what he did for the money that we paid him. But I think his name, I think it was Frank. Anyway, our first private investigator, his name was Mack.

And he was recommended to John from one of his friends. And, you know, we basically, we gave him everything that we had, everything that we thought would do any good. And, you know, he investigated the Mickey, Mickey Schoonik theory, you know, with the Brandon Laverne. And he says he went to Mexico. I don't know if he actually did or not. I never really saw any evidence.

Now, the second private investigator that I mentioned was the first person to look at Allie's case with the idea that she was still alive. It had been years since she was last seen and there weren't any strong leads, but this PI was somehow able to take Allie's case in a whole new direction.

Now this PI is named Amber and I'm not going to mention her last name or share any photos of her because she has been through a lot to say the least. And she has since stepped away from this line of work, but I do want to say how impressive it is.

that she was so committed to Ali's case. Joanne and the PI actually purchased a cell phone and then activated Ali's number on it and used some sort of password recovery method to recover her emails and social media. But just like we've talked about how different things were when it comes to phones back then, things were also very different when it comes to social media. Ali didn't have a social media presence like we would see most 16 year olds have today. All she had was a MySpace account and an email account.

And after looking through that, they didn't really find anything substantial. There was no indication that Allie was getting herself into trouble or talking to someone strange. There was no indication that she wanted to run away. So nothing really came out of that. But like I said, Amber was the first person to investigate Allie's case with the assumption that she was still alive.

And the Department of Justice has named Houston as a major hub for human trafficking. And with Spring, Texas only being about 30 minutes away from Houston, it wouldn't be impossible to think that she was targeted. Houston is also a gateway for international travel, which sadly means that victims can be taken far away in a very short period of time.

And knowing that Allie's phone was shut off almost immediately after she stepped off the bus led Amber to believe that the person who took her knew what they were doing. Shutting off her phone stopped it from being traced in any way. And with how quickly she was taken and without being seen, Amber believed that this could be the work of a professional. It's possible that someone had been watching Allie as she got off the bus, learned her routine. But it's also possible that Allie was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Her MySpace and email data didn't lead them to believe that she was talking to someone that she shouldn't have been or talking to someone posing as someone else. However, when they got Ali's cell phone data, the only thing they were able to retrieve were the numbers that she texted and called.

and what time that those occurred. What's frustrating is they weren't able to retrieve the text messages themselves. So even though the human trafficking theory seemed possible, it did take some time before they had any leads. The most work that I did was with Amber. Amber was the only investigator that was looking for an alive Allie.

You know, from all of the cases that I've followed and kept up with these almost 13 years, you know, when someone is taken and killed, you're going to have a body. And it's been almost 13 years and there's been no body. So, you know, I choose to look for an alive Allie as well. And so if Allie was alive, if she is alive...

then that would mean somebody took her and is holding her against her will. And what for? So one of the theories is that, you know, it would be human trafficking because, you know, we live near greater Houston and international, you know, travel. And Amber had discovered that a long, longtime friend of Allie's that she went to school with, he was,

grooming girls and his brother was involved with, I think it was drug trafficking, I believe in Ohio. And that was one of the things that we were kind of working on and had to step back from because Amber's life was threatened. And yeah, there's so much involved in what, what Amber did, but she,

She did everything above and beyond any of the other investigators that we've ever worked with. And she never asked for a dime, not even for travel expenses. And...

For me, she became part of the family because she was with us every day and she was working the case and she would actually listen to what we were saying and basically starting from ground zero on the investigation and going forward. And for me, she was a blessing. I'll never forget the work that she's put into this case. And I think we were able to move forward a little bit in the case.

But in October of 2012, Joanne got a call from someone in Columbus, Ohio, who said that they thought they saw a girl matching Allie's description at a church function for the homeless.

They said that this girl didn't make contact with anyone at the church and that this person generally seemed like they were forced to be there. Obviously, this sparked some new hope for them, and Amber immediately reached out to the Columbus Police Department to initiate her search efforts. What made this especially interesting to Amber and the police department in Columbus is Columbus, Ohio, is actually one of the top communities

10 worst cities for human trafficking in the United States. So this possible sighting helped confirm Amber's belief that maybe Allie was still alive and gave the Lewitzers hope that maybe one day they would be reunited with her. And when I say that Amber did her absolute best to try and locate Allie,

She truly did. In October, November of 2012, Amber literally went undercover looking for Allie in Columbus and went around talking to people, hoping that someone would know where she was. And while she was undercover, she ends up speaking to this man and she shows him a picture of Allie, hoping that maybe he would recognize her. And he did. She was very surprised to hear him say, yeah, Amber.

That's Allie Cat, which just happens to be Allie's nickname growing up. And not only that, he also tells Amber that he knew Allie was from Texas, but didn't know that she was a missing person.

Unfortunately, even though he did recognize her, he didn't know where she was, but he wasn't the only person to recognize her. A few other women who worked in a brothel actually recognized her as well and also referred to her as Alley Cat. And they actually took Amber to the brothel where she was known to stay. And when she got there, she actually saw the girl believed to be Alley Cat and she recognized a distinct scar on her forehead, which indicated

Allie had the same scar for when she had chicken pox as a child. And I know this is going to be very frustrating and upsetting to a lot of you,

But because she was undercover, she couldn't do anything drastic that would put her life at risk or the person believed to be Allie's life at risk. So instead, Amber reached out to Columbus PD and together they began taking steps to get a search warrant for that property where illegal sex work and possibly human trafficking was occurring. And

And after that, she flew home to Spring, Texas to tell John and Joanne what she had found. And it just breaks my heart thinking of how high their hopes got after hearing this news. Amber believes Allie was trafficked to Ohio. Here's video of her looking for the girl in Columbus. Just stop real fast. Let me ask you a question. In January, she convinced police to raid a suspected brothel there, but

No sign of Allie. We know this girl exists. Okay. That resembles that. But she, we cannot say that that is our Allie until we get our hands on her. At this time, everyone believed they would be able to go and recover this person that they believed was Allie and bring her home to safety. But obviously it takes time to get a search warrant. So in the meantime, in December of 2012, John, Joanne and Amber all flew out to Columbus trying to find Allie themselves.

And only about a month later, the Columbus PD had all their search warrants and were ready to act on their sting operation. While police raid an alleged prostitution house in Ohio, a mother in spring waits impatiently. It's sickening. It's terrifying.

THE HOME. I WAS JUST LIKE, WHAT IS THIS? IT WAS A SICK, NERVOUS FEELING. BECAUSE POLICE AND A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR ARE RAIDING THE HOUSE IN COLUMBUS, LOOKING FOR JOANNE LOITZER'S DAUGHTER, ALI. THERE IS A PART OF YOU THAT

being held against her will and drugged and prostituted. So with Amber looking for an alive Allie, you know, she would follow up on leads when they would come in. I mean, the leads that would come in were crazy. Like at the same time, somebody would report seeing Allie at a Walmart in Alaska and somewhere in Florida, you know, in the same week.

And Amber would call in and talk to every single person that thought that they had information. You know, the psychics that would call us, or not call us, but they have called. But the psychics that would contact us, she would talk to them. The tips that would come across with Allie potentially being sold online, she would follow those through.

She would make reports on everything that she was doing and she would send them over to Harris County Homicide Detective and she would never hear anything back from them. They didn't want to work with any private investigators and could really care less about the information that we would turn over to them. But she did some traveling. I guess the biggest tip is

that we followed up on as we all went to Ohio. And there was a lady that had called and said that she thought that she had saw Allie at one of their church functions and was very adamant that it was Allie. But long story short, it was not Allie. It was a lookalike. We ended up going to Ohio. Well, I'd been there twice before.

Amber had been back maybe three or maybe four times. We were even contacted by a show called Last Seen Alive and they were interested in helping us to follow those tips to see if it was Allie and they went to Ohio with me and Amber and John and I think we were there for either two or three days and

And they filmed everything. And that's where Allie thought that she had saw Allie. And they call it a brothel. And so Amber went to the brothel with one of the other, a girl that she met and

And she came back. And if you've ever watched a show, it's a little confusing because you have to remember that TV shows, even though there's like almost an hour of a TV show, we filmed for days. And they have to, you know, chop it up and put it all together to make the show. So there's this one part where Amber gets in the van with us and she's like, I just saw Allie. And I'm like...

you mean Ohio Alley? And she said, yes. But they cut that part out. She says, yes, I think I saw Ohio Alley. So, and that's what we were calling the girl in Ohio that everybody was saying was Alley. We would call her Ohio Alley just to keep it straight. And

After the filming and after Amber helped with the raid and everything, they actually arrested a girl that everyone was calling Ohio Allie. And so they sent me a picture of her and she didn't look anything like Allie. That part was devastating because of the time that we had spent in Ohio. But we did finally, you know, see the person that they were calling Allie and we were able to rule out that lead. How?

However, despite all of this, Harris County law enforcement has stated that they don't believe Allie was a victim of human trafficking. They say they believe that if Allie was still alive, her fingerprints would have shown up in some criminal database by now, which is not necessarily true. It's not uncommon for people who are forced into sex work to be arrested for crimes such as theft.

And because Allie's fingerprints haven't come up anywhere, they say there's little to no chance that she's still alive. However, her family, of course, continues to hold out hope that she is. And like I said in the start of this, Joanne has just been so impressive. Joanne

Joanne has dedicated her life to helping other victims and their families. Not only has she not stopped advocating for her own daughter, but she has really rallied the Houston community and beyond to honor other missing persons. After she attended the National Day of Remembrance in Houston, which is an event that honors victims of homicide, Joanne thought, there needs to be something like this, but for people who are considered missing.

And while all this started as a way to bring attention to Ali's case, it has grown into much more than that. On February 3rd, 2015, which would have been Ali's 21st birthday, Mayor Anise Parker declared the day as Houston Missing Persons Day.

And Joanne's continuous efforts have helped raise awareness for countless missing persons cases. And each year on her daughter's birthday, she holds an event where families can come speak out about their missing loved ones. And if you want to learn more about this day, or maybe you live in Houston and want to attend, or even if you don't, you can watch this year's event. You can actually do so on the Hope for Allie Facebook page, which I will have linked below. This page is a great resource for information on Allie's case and

And I encourage you to not only leave kind words of encouragement and support for Allie's family on this video, but also go to the Facebook page and take that extra step to let them know that

that you're thinking of them. Joanne has been so proactive in her community and the least we can do is show her support in that way. And of course, this is one of those cases where you can be an active true crime consumer and take the extra steps to hopefully get some more movement going in Ali's case. The acting sheriff in Harris County is Ed Gonzalez. And even though he was not the sheriff at the time of Ali's disappearance, I think we can still reach out to him and ask that he provide the Lewitzer family with more support and with

with information regarding Allie's case. I've asked you guys to do this in the past and we've seen some really amazing results. So why not try? I mean, the very least Harris County can do is providing answers about what they're doing to locate Allie and her family deserves to have an open line of communication with those in charge. So his email is sheriff.gonzalez at sheriff.gonzalez

dot H C T X dot net. Now we have found that we have the best luck getting a response when people reach out in a firm, but not aggressive way that we keep it professional and respectful, but we demand the help that this family needs. So in the description of this video, I will include a short example of what you can write to encourage him to reach out to the little Whitzers. I've made it really easy. You could just copy paste.

taste it. And the more of you that reach out, the better chances we have of getting a response. And you can also tweet them if you want. Their Twitter is H-C-S-O Texas. And you can ask that they look into Allie Lewitzer's case. And you can, you know, compose your own tweet, or you can just ask all

What they are doing to look into Allie Lewitzer's case. Also, of course, if you want, you can give them a call and let them know that you want to see Allie Lewitzer's case be solved. You can call the Harris County Sheriff's Office at 713-274-9100. The more people that do it, the better results we see. What I would like everyone to do is...

to share on social media. I know it becomes redundant when you look at, when you really, really look at the amount of missing persons. There's a lot out there. But you know what? It just takes that one person to see that

a face and recognize it or remember that they saw something or they heard something and report it. So I want to ask everybody, you know, first of all, if they will just hit the share button when you see something across your social media,

like it and share it. And any tips can be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Allie has an active case with them. You can just simply call. It's 1-800-THE-LOST, T-H-E-L-O-S-T. And you can report tips there because I know that they will follow up on those tips. Harris County Homicide, we can call them, but I can't guarantee that they're going to know what you're talking about.

or even call you back if you have to leave a message because they don't call me back, they don't email me back. You can also report any information to me directly. I run Allie's website as alexandrialowitzer.com

And I answer the messages on the Facebook page. It's Hope for Allie. But I mean, maybe if we if everybody emails some way, Harris County Sheriff, maybe he will do something. I know he knows who I am and that I have a missing child, but I've never been able to like catch him and sit down with him and and speak to him about Allie's case.

Anytime that we've done a campaign like that, one of the detectives will usually reach out to me and just say, well, it's an open investigation. We're working on it. But I think if we just rattle some cages and put a fire under their butts, maybe they'll start doing something again. Because if it is an open case, an active investigation, they're not going to share any details with me. But it would just be nice to know that...

You know, they are still looking for Allie. So it has now been 13 years since Allie first disappeared and her family deserves answers. When I first talked to Joanne on the phone, I told her that it feels useless to say, I'm sorry. It's hard to find the words to

to express to someone how horrible you feel for their situation when their child is missing. I can't even fathom being in their shoes and they're so incredibly strong. I really can't even put it into words. Someone out there knows something and it only takes one person to speak up

for Allie and her family so that they can get those answers that they've been looking for. If you have any information about the disappearance of Allie Lewitzer, please call the Harris County Sheriff's Office at 713-274-9100.

That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there.