Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - They Vanished Without a Trace, But the Truth Was Worse Than Being Left Behind #65

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #vanishedmystery #unexplaineddisappearances #darktruths #hauntingsecrets #fearoftheunknown  When a group of people suddenly vanish without explanation, their absence sends ripples of fear through the community. But what no one knows is that the truth behind their disappearance is far more horrifying than simply being left behind. As secrets unravel, the nightmare grows deeper—revealing a sinister reality no one was prepared for. This story explores the dread of the unknown and the shadows we never see coming.  horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, disappearancemystery, hauntingtruth, fearoftheunknown, darksecrets, unexplainedvanishings, chillingevents, eerieencounters, nightmareunfolds, sinisterreality, communityfear, shadowsandsecrets, lostwithouttrace, terrifyingtruth, mysteryunraveled

As a college freshman, I had planned to come home for Thanksgiving. I had two younger siblings. Grace who was in the sixth grade and Liam who was in the eighth grade, so I knew my parents were always busy and I would only call them once a week. I am the older sister being that I'm 18 years old. I had called my parents the previous Thursday to let them know that I would be home the following Thursday, which would be Thanksgiving Day at around 10 a.m. Thursday came and I left Penn State Main Campus at around 7.8.

to be home in Philadelphia at around 10 a.m. When I got home I was expecting to be greeted by my annoying younger siblings, but instead there was dead silence and a note on the dining room table that said, Dear Alice, Your father and I decided to move with your brother and sister to Florida. You can come and go from the house any time you want, because we have no plans on selling the house. Love mom, I felt like I was punched in the stomach. I immediately called my mother and heard the generic voice message, we're sorry, but the phone number you're trying to reach is no longer in service. Goodbye. I then called my father and received the same message. I was confused and perplexed. I felt completely abandoned. I called my Aunt Reba and she apologized to me and said her sister,

who is my mother, gave her very little details other than they wanted to start over in Florida and they didn't leave an address. I've never heard anything like this before. My parents weren't mad or anything else at me the last time we talked. I looked throughout the house and it definitely looked like they had moved out with no intentions of coming back. I called the police and about a half hour later a detective had showed up. I told the detective that when I came home for Thanksgiving break there was a brief note that my family moved to Florida and my parents gave me no information on where they moved to or an explanation on why they had moved. The detective asked permission to search the house, which I allowed. The detective said, I searched the house.

and found no evidence of a crime, because of that there is nothing that we can do. I replied, how do you know they weren't kidnapped or killed or something? The detective replied, since you have a note with your aunt corroborating the story, what's the crime? On top of that there's no evidence in the house that a crime had occurred. I said, well, they gave me no notice and no reason why they left. The detective said, your 18 their legal obligation towards you is over. Though this situation sounds extremely harsh and a bit cruel there has been no crime committed,

the detective then asked, what about your parents or your siblings' email or social media accounts? I said, the social media accounts were taken down and I haven't gotten an email response from any of them. My dad has his own IT business which is almost impossible to track down because he doesn't advertise. The detective said, well, I hate to say this, but it sounds like your parents wanted to separate from you. Call me if you come across any evidence that would suggest a crime had occurred. The detective had left and here I am 18 years old during Thanksgiving and I'm now completely alone. I look online to try to find similar situations to what is happening to me and I find nothing.

Also, I have to assume that I'm going to be completely cut off financially. I'm going to have to get a full-time job, but at least my loans will keep me in college. I'll transfer to one of the branch campuses to make it easier to find a job and and it would be a bit cheaper living in this house versus paying rent. I asked my neighbor if they had seen or heard anything. My neighbor replied, there was a big unmarked truck that came, with guys who were putting stuff from your house into the truck. I thought your parents were doing fall cleaning and donating old stuff away. I hadn't seen either of your parents since last week. I thought to myself whoever those movers were knew not to take any of my stuff which my parents or

someone else had to tell them. I thought through these events that had transpired to see if there was anything that I had missed. I called my brother and sister's school district and the principal said the receptionist received a phone call from a person who identified herself as my siblings' mother who said they were moving to Florida, where my siblings were going to be homeschooled. I thought to myself either the detective was right where my parents wanted to completely disassociate for me or this is a very carefully orchestrated crime. My mother hadn't worked in months so I couldn't question her employer. I always thought my father's job was boring and I never really paid attention to who his clients were so I don't know who to contact regarding my father. I'm now completely

out of thoughts on what to do or what avenues I should pursue. I went back to the main campus to finish the semester. I got a part-time job at the university and a part-time job at a bar. I would check my emails constantly and still no response from any of my family members. My parents had paid off the mortgage so I would just have to pay the utilities and the taxes. It's now December and the fall semester had finished. I drove back to Philadelphia with a car which probably wouldn't last much longer. My parents' house was in the desirable historic district whose property value had skyrocketed over the years. The area was also prone to break in so I always felt weary about sleeping in the house alone. Being a female, it was extremely creepy going into my parents' house

with no one else being there. I unpacked all of my things from college. I was hoping that one of my friends would move in with me and pay rent. As nighttime approached the quietness of the house became more and more creepy. It's now 2 a.m. and I'm upstairs in my room playing with my phone because I can't sleep. I hear an unsettling sound from downstairs. I swore I heard. I heard. I heard. I'm heard the front door close. Then I heard the most terrifying sounds imaginable. I heard footsteps on the hardwood floors. I become paralyzed in fear I know I have to do something. I pull myself together and quietly sneak into my closest. I lay down and put the spare sheets and blankets over me. Then I hear click-clack as the footsteps come up the stairs. I can't see this person so I don't

know who this person is. I try to hold my breath so whoever this unknown person is can't hear me. My heart jumps out of my chest as the unknown person walks towards the closet door. The door opens and I stay as still as a tree. The unknown person then turns and walks away, then the person does a quick look through the other rooms upstairs and then proceeds to leave the house. After hyperventilating I call the police. They take down my statement and kind of brush me off, because whoever came into the house most likely had a key because there were no signs of forced entry and also there was nothing taken from the house. I had to go to Home Depot in the morning and change out all the locks. It took me forever and I spent money I really didn't have, but at least

I felt safer now. The odd thing was is whoever the person was probably had a key and the person went straight to my room. If it was one of my family members, I would think they would see my car and at least call my name out. I had to suspect that the unknown person who was in the house was there to harm me, which made me all the more terrified of being in the house alone. I went the next day to the ASPCA to adopt a dog. I now felt a little better with having, Buster, in the house. I would hope he would at least bark to scare the intruder away. I wish I knew where in Florida my parents moved. It's such a big state that it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack without knowing at East the city. Everything is just so weird. First, my parents abandoned me and now someone might be

looking to harm me. I couldn't rule out that something sinister happened to my family, but someone would have to know the passwords to their social media accounts to be able to disable them as well as other personal information. But why? Was the question I kept asking myself. Why would someone want to harm my parents or why would my parents abandon me? Either question was plausible and I'm not sure which one I preferred more of either being abandoned or that someone harmed them. My Aunt Reba was the only family I had left. I would visit her about once a week. I tried to brainstorm with her all the possibilities of what was going on.

I'm also not completely naive. The only person who is not a suspect is me if something did happen to my family, but what would be the motive? Then it dawned on me. How could I be so stupid? My parents' house is worth a half million dollars which is a hell of a return on an investment considering they only spent $30,000 for it. If I'm dead then someone could lay claim to the house.

I thought it was odd how my Aunt Reba doesn't reach out to me unless I make the effort and she never told me about my parents moving until I approached her. But what would be her motive she has no kids and she's a retired school teacher so she has a pension and she has a house that's as equally as valuable as my parents? logically, she would be able to figure out all of my parents' passwords, which more than likely my mother probably inadvertently had told Riba over the year. She also has a key to my parents' house. I'm now convinced that my aunt is responsible for my parents' disappearance and now it's time to catch the rat. Jealousy and greed were the only motives that I could think of why Riba killed my

family. With the new locks, I gave Riba a spare key to the house. One of my old shady boyfriends lent me his stolen handgun. First, I want to approach Reba and let her know that I was aware of her scheme and she needed to tell me where my parents' bodies are buried. So I went to Reba's house. I left my gun at home. She answered the door and I said, I know it was you. You killed my parents. She replied, dear, I would never hurt anyone on top of killing my own sister and her kids. I said, don't play games you are the only logical person. Tell me what? what you did to my family and I'll give you time to leave before I call the cops. She said, Dear, please leave now. Those are some serious allegations you're alleging. I said, fine, but

eventually I'll figure out what you did to my family, then I left. Christmas is only two days away and I have never felt so depressed and lonely. I try to fall asleep, but I can't. As I start to doze off, once again I hear that terrifying sound of someone coming through the front door. I'm as equally as scared as the last time this happened. I grab my gun and hide in the closet. I'm an 18-year-old girl who's never harmed anyone. I don't know if it's my aunt, one of her goons, or someone else. I hear the click-clack sounds of steps coming up the stairs. I am now shaking in terror in the closet. I hear the footsteps come to my room then towards the closet. I have the gun pointed at the closet door. As the footsteps approach the closet door, I unload six shots

and yell out in pure horror. Then I hear a big thump and I cautiously open the door. It's my aunt. I see that one of the bullets hit her in the forehead. I feel a sense of relief and a sense of sadness. I'm now hysterically crying in a fetal position on the floor. I think to myself two months ago I was just an ordinary freshman. Now my family is presumed dead and I just killed my aunt who is their probable killer. I call the police and the coroner comes and takes my dead aunt away. I'm questioned down at the police precent. The police aren't as understanding as I thought they would be.

I told them of all the circumstantial evidence I had against my aunt. The police questioned why I gave my aunt a key and also my aunt had no weapons on her. her when I shot her. Also, there was no proof that my family is dead or that my aunt had anything to do with their disappearance. I left the police station and I was told that I would have to meet with the Attorney General for further questioning and possible charges. I went to my parents' house and fell asleep on the couch from pure exhaustion. It's Christmas Eve and I'm extremely depressed. I doze off into a deep sleep and I'm awakened by knocks on the front door. I figure it's the police so I opened the door. As I open the door I see my parents then everything goes

blank. I wake up on the couch with my family hovering over me. I must have fainted I thought to myself. Then I say, Mom, Dad, Grace, Liam, am I dreaming? My mother says, no honey it's us. Then I say, where were you guys? What happened? My mother responded, well we decided that we had enough of everything in Philadelphia so we went to Florida. I said, why didn't you take? tell me. Why did you leave me? My father then said, well, honey, we wanted you to grow up. You were too reliant on us for everything. I said, what? I'm an 18-year-old kid all of my friends are like me. My father then said, compared to me and your mother when we were your age, our parents had much higher expectations and we weren't allowed to be just 18-year-old kids.

Then I said, I killed Aunt Reba last night. I thought she had killed you guys. My mom said, what? And then she broke down and started crying. My father said, oh my God. What did you do? Why? Then I started to cry hysterically and I couldn't talk anymore. My parents moved back to Philadelphia. The district attorney offered me a plea deal for killing my aunt. I would have to spend at least a year in prison and spend 10 years on parole. I accepted the deal and I was expected to report to prison on January 2nd. I thought to myself it was like I made a deal with the devil in exchange for getting my family back. Prison was as miserable as I thought it would be, but at least my family visited me once a week. I have served six months so far and it feels like 20 years.

At least my parents were visiting today, I thought. I was happy to see my parents. As backwards as their parenting style as at least I had them. We were finishing up our meeting and my mother said, sorry dear we are not going to be able to visit you for a while. I said, why? Then my mother said, well with the money we got from your aunt's house we are going to travel the country. Then it hit me. My head starting to spin like I was in a different galaxy. I regained my senses and said, You fucking snakes. You planned this from the very beginning. You lined everything up to make me

think Aunt Reba killed you guys for your house, but instead you set me up to kill her. You gutless rotten snakes. I hate the both of yous. Then they both facetiously grinned at me and my mother said, Goodbye dear. The end.