ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Family and friends have been frantically looking for a St. Charles woman who hasn’t been seen or heard from since early last week.
In a FOX 2 exclusive, our news crews were there when Jacquelyn “Jacque” Elizabeth Mitchell’s family finally got a break in the case and alerted police.
“She has been missing for five days now,” Tiffany Mitchell, Jacquelyn’s sister, said. “It has been five days. This is out of character. Something is wrong.”
People closest to the 39-year-old have not heard from her since Tuesday, March 14. Her family said she went to Maggie O’Briens in Sunset Hills on South Lindbergh around 7 p.m.
“So she went to Maggie O’s to grab a salad after work, which is down the street from her work,” her sister explained.
Huelsman Jewelers Inc. is in the same Sunset Village shopping plaza. Tiffany shared that the owner sent her surveillance video of Jacque in the parking lot getting into her car alone, leaving the restaurant that night. (FOX 2 is working to get permission to show that video taken at the business.)
“She is seen in the restaurant, and then she leaves the restaurant at 11:26 p.m. and then there is a jewelry store that’s a couple stores down from Maggie O’s. In their footage, (we) do see her getting into her car alone and leaving,” Tiffany said.
Family and friends have been searching for Jacque since they learned of her disappearance last week. They started their search Sunday morning out at Creve Coeur Park and have been posting a flyer of her everywhere in hopes someone has seen Jacque.
“We want her home,” Tiffany said. “This is not her. This is not, she doesn’t do this. Like, I just, ‘Jacque, please come home. Wherever you are, please come home.'”
As the dozens of people searching for Jacque broke up into smaller groups just after 10:30 a.m., her cousin Vernon Lane and his wife found her car at an apartment complex in Maryland Heights, near Interstate 270 and Page Avenue. They called police, who checked inside the Nissan Sentra Mitchell was driving. There were still no signs of where Jacque could be.
Her sister said her phone last pinged off a cell tower near Highway 364 and Bennington, which is what brought their search to that six-mile radius in Maryland Heights. Jacque lives in St. Charles and works in Sunset Hills. Family members say Jacque’s phone is dead, and her debit card was last used at Maggie O’Briens.
“We have a lot of friends that are gonna help,” Tiffany Mitchell revealed. “We’re gonna just start combing St. Charles.”
While the family had some solace in the fact they found her car, they just want to bring Jacque home.
She was last seen wearing a black hoodie with a red shirt underneath, gray sweatpants and black and white tennis shoes. She had a black purse and her hair up in a half-bun.
“I can’t sleep,” Mitchell said. “I’m worried about her. I don’t want to eat because I’m wondering if she’s eating. Is she cold? Is she scared? We need to find her. This is out of character. Something is just seriously wrong.”
Since her family reported her missing in St. Charles, Maryland Heights police investigating the scene where her car was found say this is still St. Charles police’s investigation.
If you have any information, you are asked to call 636-949-3300.