Photos of Sandra Ross (left) and Sandra Ross sitting with her daughter Jennifer Buckner (right). Photos courtesy of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office. | Photo taken by Kristen Brewer.
Story by Kristen Brewer
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Cold cases have risen astronomically across the United States. While investigators have been advised to resubmit evidence, many cases remain unsolved. In Apex North Carolina one case highlights the increasing cold case problem with no major developments for over four decades, take a look.
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Since 1984, few details have been released concerning the unsolved disappearance of Sandra Ross. But now, for the very first time, we are sharing her story.
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The day Ross went missing she told her husband she was headed to the pharmacy in search of some items for her baby. But when she never returned, her husband became worried and contacted the police. It’s been 40 years since then, but now with modern technology and a change in lead investigators, Ross’ case is under review from a fresh perspective.
JUAN COLLADO, SENIOR INVESTIGATOR
We have started from the beginning on this case. We started talking to the friends, to the family, to the daughter who is now an adult.
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While investigators are still seeking explanations, now they are sure that Ross never actually made it to the store. Her car and various other belongings were left abandoned outside Carry Village Mall which is now the new site for Epic Games Headquarters here in Raleigh, North Carolina. Investigator Collado also explained that when investigators spoke to store employees, they had no record that Ross ever had bought anything that day.
JUAN COLLADO, COLD CASE INVESTIGATOR
The friends and family felt that this was out of character for Mrs. Ross.
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While many of those who knew Ross have passed away; her daughter, Jennifer Buckner, agreed to do a Zoom interview with her husband saying she would be more comfortable speaking to me that way.
JENNIFER BUCKNER, DAUGHTER OF SANDRA ROSS
We didn’t talk about my mom growing up. Um, and, my fraternal grandmother, she talked to me the most about her… ‘like your poor dear mother’ and like she would tell me what she knew.
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Buckner was 16 months old when her mother disappeared, but over time she has learned bits and pieces of who her mother was.
JENNIFER BUCKNER, DAUGHTER OF SANDRA ROSS
I heard she liked music, that she was smart.
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But Buckner is still seeking answers.
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Sandra Ross’ story is unique to the area, but not to the nation. Cold cases are incredibly common across the United States. Thousands of cases become cold each year. Agent Nate Thompson works with the SBI to help solve these cases.
NATE THOMPSON, SBI ASST SPECIAL AGENT
So there’s a, there’s a cold case crisis right now because there’s really not dedicated people following up on cases that could be solved with a simple, literally as simple as just resubmitting the evidence for today’s modern technology.
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And that resubmission of evidence could make a huge difference to families still seeking answers.
JENNIFER BUCKNER, DAUGHTER OF SANDRA ROSS
That would be life-changing and surreal like, um, I don’t know I might be in denial because like for forever I’ve been like we’re not going to get any answers, you know.
JUSTIN BUCKNER, HUSBAND OF JENNIFER BUCKNER
I guess just like she was saying, I think a thing that might help other people would just be to talk about it um and a lot of it is just painful for her dad too. Um, that’s probably a big part of why it wasn’t really talked about.
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I’m Kristen Brewer Reporting
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