Ali Lowitzer

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3:04Today I'm discussing the case of 16-year-old Allie Lowitzer, who was last seen on a Texas school bus on April 26, 2010. That Monday night, Allie's mom Joanne thinks that her daughter went to her part-time job after school, but when Joanne arrives to pick her up, Allie is nowhere to be found. That night, Allie's reported missing, starting a tireless search to bring her home. This is the case of Allie Lowitzer. Allie Joy Lowitzer grows up in Spring, Texas, a suburb about 25 miles outside of Houston, and she's involved in a lot of what her neighborhood has to offer. Allie enjoys playing softball and being a Girl Scout.

3:46Other than that, she loves being at home. When Allie gets together with her friends, she spends time with them in her house most of the time. She loves watching movies like Anastasia, Rent, and High School Musical. Allie is also extremely fond of animals. She enjoys the pets inside of the Lowitzer home and outside of it. In 5th grade, she took care of a bird's nest and eggs they found inside the family's outdoor grill. She also takes up a lot of creative pursuits, like making crafts with her mom and spending time in her room drawing and painting. Her biggest canvas so far is her grandmother's garage, where she spray-painted a sunset mural on an exterior wall.

4:24Outside of art, Allie adores music and choir. In 8th grade, she overcomes her shyness to sing the national anthem solo on stage.

4:37By all accounts, Allie is a budding artist and just adored by her classmates. During Christmas in 2009, she gets what every teenager dreams of, her very own cell phone. And of course, she uses it all the time. She primarily communicates with her friends through a lot of text messages, about 4 ,000 a month. Allie turns 16 on February 3rd, 2010. And like a lot of teenagers, she dyes her hair dark red, has a nose piercing, and wears black eyeliner. Allie also wears a lot of black clothing. Honestly, she sounds like most to my friends growing up. She's also looking forward to planning an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party for one of her best friends.

5:19Now, Allie also has this really cute daily tradition with one of her schoolmates at Spring High School. At the end of the day, as they board their respective school buses and they start to pull away, they shout to each other, I love you, see you tomorrow. And in April 2010, Allie adds something new to her after-school routine, her first job. It's a fast food restaurant called Burger Barn and it's about a quarter a mile away from her home. Now Allie had actually been trying to get a job for months so she's super excited about this. And to make the deal even better apparently Allie really loves hamburgers.

5:56And then finally on April 26th her hard-earned paycheck is ready to be picked up. But first she has to go to school. Joanne recently described that morning on her TikTok account. It was a typical Monday, you know, um, I got up and got ready for work. Um, I woke Allie up to get ready for school and she was in her room getting ready and I was in my room getting ready. And, um, we really didn't have, you know, uh, much of a conversation other than, you know, So, bye mom, you know, okay, bye Allie, have a good day. And that was about it that morning. Allie rushes to the bus stop and makes it just in time.

6:47After the short ride, the sophomore has a typical day at spring high school, going to classes and seeing her friends. As school winds down, Allie calls her mom and tells Joanne that she needs to pick up her paycheck at Burger Barn. Allie wants to do it after school, and while she's there, maybe even work a few more hours to earn some extra money. But Joanne reminds her that her grandmother, who usually drives her to Burger Barn, is busy that day. So basically, she's gonna have to wait to pick up her check until tomorrow. But I think we've all been there. This is her first check, she's super excited, and so she begs her mom to please let her do it.

7:21And Allie has a plan. She says that she'll take the school bus home, then just walk the quarter mile to Burger barn alone. But Joanne is naturally a little hesitant to this. She recently recalled this conversation on her TikTok account. You know, after me telling her no several times, she begged and begged and begged. And, you know, she's like, Mom, please, you know, she says, I'll be careful. I'll text you when I get there. I'll let you know if I'm going to stay at work because she also, you know, wanted to see if she could work. Um, the, it was a weird schedule. It was kind of like a day by day schedule.

8:01So anyway, um, teenagers know what buttons to push, um, to talk their parents into getting what they want. And Allie definitely knew mine. It was a sweet talking me and say, please, please, please.

8:22So I gave in. I gave in and that was the worst decision of my entire life. After some back and forth, Joanne reluctantly agrees. At 2.25 p.m., Allie exits Spring High School walking out with her schoolmate. They each board their respective school buses home and yell to each other, I love you, see you tomorrow, just like they always do. But this would be their last time. When Allie's bus arrives in her neighborhood, it stops about three houses away from her own. She and two boys step off the bus at the same time. The boys see Allie walking toward her home, but she lingers behind them a bit because she's texting.

9:03Then Allie walks past her house and away from her neighborhood. At 2.57pm, she texts a friend. I don't know what that message says or if this was related to the previous text, but remember that Allie is an avid texter. She sends a lot of text messages, but by 3pm all communication stops, and her cell phone is no longer pinging off local cell towers. It's the last time anyone sees or hears from Allie. Two and a half hours pass. At around 5.30pm, Joanne Lowitzer arrives home from work and there's no sign of Allie. Now, Joanne isn't instantly alarmed. She figures Allie probably stuck around the burger barn to work a few hours just like she said she might.

9:48Maybe Allie will call or text when she's on a break. Then another hour and a half passes with no word from Allie. But still, Joanne doesn't want to interrupt her daughter in the middle of working the dinner rush. So at 7pm, she texts Allie to see if everything was alright. Then another hour goes by. It's 8pm now and Joanne is worried. The burger barn is about to close in an hour at 9pm, and she still hasn't heard from Allie. And Joanne says that it's really not like Allie to go this long without communicating with her mom. Joanne starts to wonder if maybe there's a problem with Allie's cell phone.

10:25Now, Joanne was usually the person that picked up Allie from burger barn after work, so she goes there right before 9pm, right before close. But when she drives up, Joanne sees that the burger barn lights are off and all the doors are locked. Allie is not there waiting for her. This episode of Voices for Justice is brought to you by Quince. I love giving gifts, and Quince really does make that so easy. They have something for everyone, from soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters for$50 that look and feel like designer pieces, silk tops and skirts for dressing up, perfectly cut denim for everyday wear, and outerwear that actually keeps you warm.

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13:10They jump into action. They start calling Allie's friends. They start checking out her favorite local hangouts. But Allie is nowhere to be found, and no one knows where she is. After hours of searching, Joanne and John call the police and report Allie missing. And here they face another nightmare that is all too common in cases of missing teenagers. This officer arrives at their house, looks at Allie's room for a little bit, and is instantly skeptical that Allie is missing at all. She doesn't take down a report or give any guidance. Instead, she just tells Joanne and John to call the precinct when Allie returns home tomorrow.

13:49Now, of course, naturally, this is really frustrating for parents who are beyond worried about their young daughter, who is under 18. But this officer doesn't rush to investigate or start a police search at all. Joanne asks her, quote, what do we do if she doesn't come home? End quote. The officer responds to call them, and that's it. She leaves without taking any further action. The Lowitzers are disappointed, but determined. The next day, Joanne and John wake up, and Allie still isn't home. Her room is still exactly the way she left it the previous morning. Her cell phone charger, clothes, makeup, money, and jewelry are all still there.

14:33So they don't wait for police, they mobilize themselves to search for their daughter and spend the day calling everyone they can think of. Joanne also posts a message on Facebook, which attracts a really helpful response. Joanne described it on her TikTok recently. I was a Girl Scout co-leader and one of my friends with Girl Scout Council had messaged me and wanted to help and she told me to contact the Laura Recovery Center. I had never heard of the Laura Recovery Center. I didn't know what they were. so after, you know, she kind of told me about what they do, I contacted them that evening. The Laura Recovery Center is a non-profit organization in Friendswood, Texas, another suburb located around 25 miles outside of Houston.

15:31Friendswood is where the center's namesake, 12-year-old Laura Kate Smither, was abducted and killed in 1997. A year later in 1998, Laura's parents, Bob and Gay Smither, founded the Laura Recovery Center. They aim to prevent kidnappings and recover victims of abductions. Knowing that, Joanne calls the Laura Recovery Center to see if they can help. And the next day, the center arrives in Spring, Texas, organizing Allie's friends and family. They even helped urge law enforcement to take action, and the police start their investigation. Of course, law enforcement wants to speak with the boys who got off the bus with Allie and her Burger Barn co-workers.

16:10Joanne told me that Allie's dad was actually the one to recover surveillance from the Burger Barn and a local gas station, and that law enforcement had actually lost the video from the gas station at one point. However, officials do obtain the surveillance video from Spring High School and the school bus. These are the last known images of Allie. They also check Allie's cell phone records and find, like I told you, that her cell phone stopped pinging on towers at 3pm. And then, law enforcement goes back to Allie's family and says that there's no evidence of foul play or a crime. And there would be no Amber Alert issued.

16:47So, let's talk about Amber Alert laws. Back in 2010, the Texas Amber Alert required law enforcement to believe a child had been abducted, kidnapped, or the victim of a crime to send out the message. And here, the police make it very clear that they don't think that that's the case. They conclude that Allie simply ran away from home. This is obviously disappointing and devastating for the Lowitzer family. Joanne knows her daughter better than anyone, and she knows that she wouldn't just run away. She also believes that the police are judging Allie as some kind of rebel based on her style, when that wasn't the case at all.

17:28Allie loves being at home, and she's been looking forward to the future, her friend's birthday parties, softball tournaments, getting her braces off, and learning how to drive that summer. Not to mention, she left behind all these teenage essentials. Her cell phone charger, money, jewelry, makeup, they were all still there. On April 30th, Allie Loitzer has been missing for four days. So the Laura Recovery Center immediately sets up a command center and launches search teams. They really do what the police should have been doing. They deploy search dogs, ATVs, boats, community volunteers. They're searching wooded areas, creeks, and houses in the region.

18:11But they don't find Allie anywhere. So like we see a lot of families do, Joanne turns to social media. She starts a Facebook page, and at the time, over 3 ,000 people follow. She also creates a website, but still no leads are coming in. The trail unfortunately goes cold for many years, but Joanne doesn't give up. She keeps updating her Facebook page and website about Allie. She refuses to move to a new house just in case Allie returns, because this is the home that Allie loves and remembers. Joanne also keeps paying Allie's cell phone bill Keeping her phone number active in case she calls And eventually, the Lowitzers raise enough money for a$25 ,000 reward for whoever finds their daughter Unfortunately, with the good attention comes the bad John and Joanne have to fight off calls and visits from so-called psychic detectives Who falsely promise that they can find Allie They also have to deal with other scammers who claim that they'll find Allie if they get their reward money.

19:15By 2014, Allie's been missing for four years. And really, there are no new leads or progress in this case. So Joanne takes action herself, hiring a PI named Amber Kamek, who lends her help to the family pro bono. Soon, Amber gets a lead that gives the Lowitzer family renewed hope. And then, it fizzles out fast. Amber believes Allie was the victim of sex trafficking, and later received a tip about a woman who matched Allie's description. They say she's in a brothel all the way in Columbus, Ohio. Amber passes this information on to law enforcement, and police raid the location. But Allie wasn't there either.

19:56Of course, throughout the case, there are a few other false leads, but they're sightings of lookalikes and minor blips that don't amount to much. Allie is still missing. One day, Joanne is watching the local news, and a reporter hosts a national Blueberry Day segment, going through recipes for the fruit. For many, that would have just been another report on a random social media holiday. But for Joanne, it gives her an idea. She thinks about how that news segment could have been better used to draw attention to missing persons cases, like a local missing persons day. And the rest is really history.

20:33Joanne starts a petition and garners the support of local organizations for a Houston Missing Persons Day. And it would be on Allie's birthday, February 3rd. And it's not like this happened overnight. After several years of emails and phone calls, Joanne's campaign works. In 2015, then-Houston Mayor Anise Parker proclaims February 3rd as Houston Missing Persons Day. The first one is held in honor of Allie Loitzer. Along with a volunteer search and the recovery non-profit Texas EquiSearch, Joanne holds a ceremony that day at the Houston City Hall. And Joanne doesn't stop there. She spends two more years contacting people and assembling support for a statewide initiative.

21:17A missing persons day for all of Texas. This time it would be on April 26th, the day Allie went missing in 2010. By 2017, Joanne makes it happen. The state celebrates Texas Missing Persons Day at the state capitol in Austin. Joanne is there for the ceremony, where she's joined by other families of missing people. Both days are still honored in Texas and the city of Houston. Another local Missing Persons Day is established as Southeast Texas Missing Persons Day.

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23:32Four years later, Joanne makes a big decision. She cancels Allie's cell phone line. It's a hard decision, but Joanne feels it's time. Unfortunately, the Lowitzer family knows as much about their Allie's whereabouts as they did in April 2010. Allie got off her school bus and never made it to work or home. This is another one of those cases. It's incredibly frustrating that basically no credible leads have materialized in the 14 years since Allie's been missing. No one seems to have any idea what happened to her. There have been no suspects or persons of interest named in this case and no arrests have ever been made.

24:13That's pretty much where her case is today. Joanne believes her daughter could still be out there, so she continues to bring awareness to Allie's case. She appears on the local news often, and recently joined TikTok like a lot of families. There, she shares old memories and videos of Allie, along with important information on her disappearance. She's garnered quite an audience of 34 ,000 followers and counting. I, of course, encourage you to follow her, and we'll have the link to that in the episode description. which brings me right to our call to action. Share Allie's case, share this episode, and share her mother Joanne's social media pages for her daughter.

24:54And if you'd like to help even further, her family is accepting donations to Allie's recovery fund via PayPal. I'll have the link for that in the description as well. As always, please let's rally around Allie's loved ones and show them the support that they need.