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!