Police, parents still looking for Kortne Stouffer — five years later

(Lebanon) — Kortne Stouffer disappeared from her Palmyra apartment July 29, 2012. Five years later her parents and local authorities are still searching for her.

“It has been five years, but five minutes is too long when your child goes missing and you don’t know where they are or what happened to them,” Wendy Stouffer Hammel, Kortne’s mother, said. “So coming up on five years it is just devastating – every day and every minute it is hard.”

Kortne Stouffer disappeared from her apartment at 810 W. Main St., Palmyra, between 3:45 and 7:30 a.m. Sunday, July 29, 2012. She was last seen when a borough police officer responded to her apartment for a disturbance involving a neighbor at 3:12 a.m. July 29. She was 21 years old at the time of her disappearance.

The Lebanon County District Attorney’s Office is treating Kortne’s case as an open, active investigation, and Hammel and Kortne’s father, Scott Stouffer, have also hired a private detective, Leah Jennings from Appalachian Investigative Services, to help locate Kortne.

Kortne Stouffer went missing on July 29, 2012. Here’s a timeline of the events that have happened since her disappearance. Wochit

 

Investigation Discovery’s television show “Disappeared” featured Kortne Stouffer’s case on the April 9 episode of the series.

“There has been activity (after Kortne’s story was featured on “Disappeared’), but nothing we can really put out there for the public,” Hammel said.

“The ‘Disappeared’ episode generated some calls and emails that are being followed up on,” Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold said.

Arnold had no updates regarding the case, however.

Scott Stouffer was frustrated with the lack of new information.

“I wish I had some earth-shattering information,” he said. “I just don’t have anything concrete or new – that’s after another two years and a private investigator working on it. It is just beyond frustrating.”

Despite the lack of solid information on Kortne’s whereabouts, Scott Stouffer is not giving up hope.

“I can’t imagine not finding a resolution,” he said. “I absolutely believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that one of the gentlemen that was with her that night knows where she’s at. Or one of the people that she had the altercations with (that night).”

The reward for information leading to Kortne’s whereabouts was increased to $100,000 just days after the “Disappeared” episode was aired, but that has not had much of an impact on the case.

Anyone with information about Kortne’s case can contact the Lebanon County District Attorney’s office at 717-228-4403, or private investigator Leah Jennings at 717-348-3205.

Stouffer and Hammel have been putting together events to celebrate Kortne’s life on the anniversary of her disappearance for the past several years, and this year the events will span two days.

“We usually have a get together at her dad’s farm, and we light the lanterns for the age she is that year – this year it will be 26 – and we have a bonfire because she loved to hang out there and have a bonfire and campout,” Hammel said. “She loved floating on the water, so Sunday we are doing a float for her.”

The lantern lighting will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday at 29 Park Drive, Grantville, and the float will take place at noon Sunday beginning at the Gravel Hill Road boat launch on Swatara Creek in North Londonderry and finishing at Boat House Road in Hershey.

Both events are open to the public. More information can be found at the Kortne Stouffer – Remember Me Facebook Page.

Scott Stouffer also wanted to extend his thanks to Dave Arnold and the investigators working on Kortne’s case for the past five years.

“I’d also like to extend my sincere appreciation to everybody that has kept the awareness going on that Kortne is missing,” Stouffer said.

This article is part of a content-sharing partnership between WITF and the Lebanon Daily News.