Both seemingly disappeared into thin air and have been missing for over a dozen years.
Tammy Rothganger, Eldon, 25 years missing
Tammy Rothganger disappeared May 16, 1984. She was 15 then, today she would be 41 years old.
No one has seen or heard from Tammy in 25 years. She was last seen walking to Eldon High School from her house across the street.
I asked former Eldon Chief of Police Bob Hurtubise, who was the last person to Tammy alive?
"That we can confirm, definitely was Marty Priest," says Hurtubise.
Marty or Martin Priest was Tammy's mother's live-in boyfriend.
He is now serving a life sentence for killing a woman in Kansas.
Marty tells investigators that when he saw Tammy did not go into the high schol doors, he pulled his car up along the sidewalk to see where she was going.
"He told us he was going to take her to Rock Island Park, that that's where she was going," says Hurtubise.
"But you all can't confirm that she ever made it to the park?" I asked.
"Never," says Hurtubise.
Investigators checked with Tammy's friends at school to see if any of them had plans to skip class and meet Tammy at Rock Island Park, a popular hang out then.
But no one did.
And after investigators learned more about Marty Priest's background, their hopes of ever finding Tammy alive dwindled quickly.
Just a few years before Tammy disappeared, Marty Priest was convicted of murder.
A jury said he was guilty of killing a girl whose mother he was dating.
But on an appeal, the Missouri Supreme Court threw out Priest's conviction, saying there was too little evidence to find him guilty
Investigators from Eldon have traveled several times to the Kansas prison where Marty Priest is housed.
They've offered him a deal: say where Tammy is and you won't face prosecution.
But Marty Priest still won't talk.
"So you really don't think there's probably any chance that Tammy's alive out there?" I asked.
"Never," says Hurtubise. "No."
The Rothganger family is not the only mid-Missouri family left wondering.
Kristina Bishop, missing from Columbia for 15 years
Life changed for Kristina Bishop's family 15 years ago after Kristina disappeared October 19, 1994. She was 13 and would now be 28 years old.
"It started out a normal school day," says Columbia Police Department Spokesperson Jessie Hayden.
"Kristina got up that morning, and she got ready for school and she left to walk the short distance from her home to Jeff Jr. High School where she was attending."
But by 10 o'clock that night Kristina hadn't come home. And school officials later told Columbia Police she never came to school that morning.
Columbia Police tell me Kristina had run away from home a few months before she disappeared after having a fight with her mother.
But Kristina's mom tells investigators they were not arguing the day she went missing
Missing posters say Kristina may be with a male friend or boyfriend. But police are not sure that's the case.
"To this day, we're still not sure if she was in town for a while by herself or in somebody else's company, or if she left town by herself or if she left town in somebody else's company," says Hayden.
"We just still aren't sure."
Columbia Police say they do not have any suspects or persons of interest in Kristina's case.
Investigators say they have every reason to believe Kristina could still be alive.
Authorities ask for tips, information
If you have any information about what happened to Tammy Rothganger, you are urged to call the Eldon Police Department at 573-392-5611.
The Columbia Police Department asks you give them any tips or information you might have about what happened to Kristina Bishop. You can call them at 573-874-7652.
You can also follow the links below to review both Tammy and Kristina's missing posters, as well as the poster information for several other people missing from mid-Missouri.
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