KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On April 4, 1991, pregnant Angela Marie Hammond, 20, dropped her fiance, Rob Shafer, off at his parents’ house so that he could watch his younger brother. Hammond had plans to call Shafer later and meet up. But first, she and her best friend, Kyla Engerman, cruised around Clinton until 11:15 p.m. when Hammond dropped off Engerman at her house. Hammond then drove to the Food Barn parking lot at East Jefferson and 2nd Streets.
Hammond did not have a landline telephone, so she used a payphone to call Shafer. They talked for about 30 minutes, but it is unclear why Hammond and Shafer did not meet as planned.
During their conversation, Hammond told Shafer a man had pulled up beside her car. He drove an old two-tone green Ford truck with a water or fish scene in the back window. She described the man as filthy with a beard, mustache, glasses, and overalls.
The man got out and looked around his truck with a flashlight. One report said Shafer told Hammond to ask if he needed to use the phone, to which he responded that he did not. Another one states that the man used the payphone, left, but returned and circled the parking lot shortly after. Moments later, Hammond let out a big scream.
According to Shafer, he immediately headed to the Food Barn. As he reached the site, he saw the truck Hammond described and heard her scream his name before it sped away. Shafer said he could not see Hammond in the man’s vehicle but followed behind. Unfortunately, his truck stalled, and he could no longer follow the man who took Hammond.
Two witnesses reported seeing this same man and his truck near the telephone booth Hammond used.
Police extensively interviewed Shafer and ruled him out as a suspect.
Hammond and her alleged kidnapper have never been found. She was four months pregnant at the time of her abduction.
Some believe that confessed serial killer, Larry Dewayne Hall, abducted and murdered Hammond. Police think he may be responsible for up to 4o murders and disappearances nationwide. Hall traveled extensively with a civil war reenactment group. He was convicted of the 1993 federal kidnapping of 15-year-old Jessica Roach of Georgetown, Illinois.
Another serial killer, Kenneth McDuff, has also been named a possible suspect in Hammond’s kidnapping. In 1990, McDuff was released from prison, where he served time for a 1966 triple homicide. He was convicted again in 1992 and sentenced to death for additional murders in Texas. McDuff was executed in 1998.
It is unclear if McDuff was in Missouri at the time of Angela’s abduction.
Police believe Angela’s case may be related to that of 30-year-old Cheryl Ann Kenney, a convenience store worker who disappeared on February 27, 1991, from Nevada, MO, and Trudy Darby, who was abducted at gunpoint from a convenience store in Macks Creek, MO on January 19, 1991. Darby was later found murdered. Two men were convicted of that crime.
Kenney has never been found, nor has anyone been arrested concerning her kidnapping. There is no evidence linking the three cases.
On May 18, 1991, in Brooklyn, NY, a woman’s remains were found in an open grassy area off Seaview Avenue, 200 feet west of Fountain Avenue near Belt Parkway. The woman was about 5’0″ to 5’2″ and weighed about 139 lbs. She had long, straight brown hair. The woman was pregnant and had died weeks prior. The cause of death is unknown.
Angela was 4’11 “-5’0” tall and weighed between 120 and 140 lbs. She was also pregnant at the time she went missing.
Could this be Hammond? Maybe her killer was a trucker and traveled all over the country. We do not know when Hammond was murdered. Her killer could have kept her alive for a period before killing her.
The only difference between this victim and Angela is Angela’s hair was curly, not straight. However, she could have straightened it with an iron of some kind. It’s likely not her, but worth noting.
Hammond’s case might be related to the January 1991 murder of Trudy Darby and the February 1991 disappearance of Cheryl Ann Kenney. Both women were taken from convenience stores at night near Clinton. Two men were convicted of Darby’s murder, however. They do not fit the age of Hammond’s kidnapper. In 1991, they were teenagers.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
I do not necessarily believe in Shafer’s innocence. Police cleared him after an interview and after passing a polygraph test. We know guilty people have passed those before, and the tests are not admissible in a court of law.
But here’s what makes zero sense.
Hammond and Shafer met in November 1990, and she announced her pregnancy in January 1991, three months before she vanished. Shortly after the announcement, she and Shafer moved in together. They were living together when she disappeared.
So, why would she speak on a PAYPHONE for 30 minutes to a man she LIVED with and could have waited for him to return home after babysitting his brother? One source says they had plans to go to her parents that night, but she was too tired. So she called Shafer to tell him she was going home instead.
But she could have driven back to Shafer’s parents’ house to TELL him. It’s a small town. It would have taken five minutes. Even if she used the pay phone, they were on it for 30 MINUTES close to midnight. They could have had a long convo IN PERSON.
Also, Shafer had said that when Hammond asked the man if he needed to use the payphone she was on, he heard the man say “no.” Another time, he heard, “I didn’t need to use the phone anyway.”
He also claimed he did not see Hammond in the truck, and another time, he saw a woman leaning over the male driver, yelling, “Robbie, Robbie!” And conveniently, his vehicle stalled, and he could no longer chase after the man who had Hammond. His transmission allegedly went out when he went to make a sharp right turn behind the kidnapper.
Who were the two witnesses who claimed they saw the truck? Did they know Shafer well?
I also find it hard to believe that no one else witnessed the abduction. Clinton had a population of about 9,000 in 1991. It’s the same today. Even in small towns, people are out and about at night, especially back then when all there was to do was cruise around. The alleged abduction occurred on one of the main roads going through Clinton.
