There is only a little info on this case, so that is one reason I put it on here – to have more attention brought to it.
On February 1, 1990, 13-year-old Andrea D’Anne Durham disappeared from her home at Royale Apartments in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. The apartment complex was at the corner of Colonial Drive and Mayflower Avenue. Andrea shared the apartment with her mother, Roseanne Sterling, and older sister, Ashyea Durham.
That evening, her mother and sister left the apartment for a meeting. Roseanne asked Andrea to vacuum while they were away. Andrea was gone when the two arrived home a couple of hours later.
The vacuum sat upright in the living room, and Andrea’s belongings were still in the apartment. There was no indication of forced entry, but Andrea was nowhere to be found.
At first, the police thought Andrea ran away, but now they believe she could have been abducted. Andrea had switched schools and moved to a new apartment, and the teen was unhappy. Before her disappearance, she had gotten into trouble with the law. She was on the lookout for her friends as they stole change from people’s cars in the parking lot of a Red Lobster. However, Andrea was not worried about this incident.
Police believe Andrea remained in the area briefly after she disappeared, although this has not been confirmed.
All the leads that the police followed went nowhere.
According to CNN, “The Florida Department of Law Enforcement put Andrea’s picture and information on cold case playing cards handed out to inmates across the state, and her photo was shown in the video for the 1992 Soul Asylum song ‘Runaway Train.”’
Police believe that killers Mark Riebe and William Alex Wells III may have been responsible for Andrea’s demise, but they cannot connect the two to Andrea. In the 90s, the two men were convicted of murdering pregnant convenience store clerk Donna Callahan, age 29, in 1989. Wells led them to her remains in 1996.
Andrea is still missing, and her family continues searching for her today.
Sources: The Charley Project, Ocala Star-Banner, and CNN
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
It’s hard to base an opinion on such little information, but I’ll try anyway.
I think Andrea was abducted. All her personal belongings were still in the apartment. The vacuum was standing upright in the living room as if she was getting ready to vacuum. Because there was no forced entry, I believe someone knocked on the door; Andrea answered it, and she either willingly let them in, or the person forced his way in. I think it’s possible this person lived at Royale Apartments, too, and that’s how he knew Andrea, or he visited someone who lived there.
It’s not clear why police believe Andrea could have remained in the area after she went missing. If there were sightings of her, I could not find anything about them.
Yes, it’s possible she ran away. If she did, someone had to help her because there was no way a girl this young could orchestrate a perfect disappearance independently.
I’m astonished that there is such little info on this case. We have a 13-year-old who vanished into thin air, and hardly any articles have been written about her. There is no Facebook page set up for her by her family that I could find, although I did find personal pages of her sister and mother. UPDATE, 10/20/23: The family now has a Facebook page — Andrea Durham – Missing – Not Forgotten. Please like and support this family!
6 comments
My friend had a sister who lived in Royals Apartments either at the time of this or shortly after. Andrea was a year older than us, and had gone to my school but I did not know her. There was an incident that scared my friend and I over there. We were babysitting for my friends niece and nephews, and some guy kept knocking on the door, asking to use the phone etc and he would not leave us alone. It freaked us out, and we told my friends mom, but nothing was ever asked of us. All I remember now was he had super straight blonde hair and was drinking beer. I often think we were extremely lucky.
Just out of curiosity, why didn’t you call the cops on that harassing loser that kept knocking on the door and wouldn’t leave you alone?
It is very hard to judge based on the information given but my gut instinct is that she had plans with friends to go do something. She waited until her mother and sister left and took off thinking she would be back before they got back and she could quickly vacuum…. Then something happened. Young girls that age are very trusting especially back then when it wasn’t so normal to be abducted excetera. I remember being that age and doing things I shouldn’t have been doing with my friends unfortunately she got caught up in it.
There was a guy I knew who was a locksmith. Lived in those same apts before the two of us met. Told me about living there. In some of cold cases i have viewed. I swear there was a picture of him. Not linked to this case although is it possible he is a serial pedophile. I feel nauseated!
Was he a blonde beer drinker?
Since the time that she went missing was before the age of internet and luring children away in chat rooms. I still feel it’s so bizarre and how someone can just disappear and never be seen again.
Maybe she left because at a friend’s urging and met up with a dangerous person or someone took her out of her house. But how would they known she was alone and her parents were gone but unless it was all planned?