Years have passed since a south-central Kansas woman was reported missing. Kendra Nystrom was last seen on May 4, 2017, in Wichita.
When her case popped up, there was significant interest in finding her.
Texas Equusearch’s: Kansas Chapter helped with a public search for Kendra Nystrom in July 2018 in Sedgwick County. About 30 people helped look for clues as to what happened to Nystrom. She was seen walking away from her parents’ home near 29th Street North and 119th Street West. She was out with her dog, but she left personal items behind, like her ID, car and cell phone.
“After months of searching, we now believe it is highly probable that Kendra’s disappearance was not voluntary and, with regret, we believe that she is likely deceased,” Maize Det. Jeff Piper shared with me back then.
Piper said the two pieces of physical evidence discovered by the Kansas Chapter of Texas EquuSearch lead his department to a “working theory” that 30-year-old Kendra waded into the flooded Cowskin Creek the day she went missing and drowned, the Wichita Eagle shares in July 2018. She has been missing for 15 months.
The search group includes volunteers who searched for Lucas Hernandez earlier in 2018. They’ve been chartered as a part of Texas Equusearch, which has helped investigate many high-profile missing persons cases. The group is not giving up hope, said volunteer Julie La Force at that time.
“Kendra’s been missing for over a year now, “La Force said. “We need to start turning our focus onto her. We can’t let her slip through the cracks. She’s like all the other ones who are slipping through the cracks as well. We found out that, through Lucas, that the more you keep them in the headlines the more attention comes out. Possibly new leads can come out.”
CLUES FOUND IN SEARCH
The group did find something. Two days into the search, the group found a pair of pants and another small item that had her DNA on it “entangled in the tree limbs” at the high water mark where the water would have been on the day she went missing, the Wichita Eagle shares. “The pants are similar to the pair she was wearing when she disappeared, Piper said. He would not say what the other item was, because Maize police ‘don’t want anyone taking the information that we give today and essentially creating a new story for us to follow-up on.'”
Piper, however, did say that it is “highly probable that Kendra went into the flooded creek on May 4 and likely drowned.”
Yet, due to lack of human remains, the case is an open missing persons case.
THEORIES ON WHERE KENDRA IS TODAY
There had been a lot of tips, back then, including a possibility that Kendra was in Mexico.
“Most tips have included some sort of foul play,” the Wichita Eagle documents. “A tipster in May said Kendra was being held in Iowa. A video surfaced later that month of a homeless woman in Mexico named Kendra. In total, Piper said Maize police dealt with nine different tips all involving foul play.”
Nystrom has a large family, and they’ve also helped assist with the search, La Force said.
“They want to bring her home,” she said. “Just like we want to bring her home and bring some kind of closure to the family.”
In September 2017, a neighbor captured an apparent altercation about a mile-and-a-half from her parents’ home. Police were looking to speak to a man and a woman who were seen on camera on May 10, 2017, near 37th Street North and 135th Street West. They have not found the people involved.
KENDRA LEIGH NYSTROM
Missing from: Maize, Kansas
Missing since: May 4, 2017
Age when reported missing: 30
Height: 5’4’’
Weight: 100 pounds
Hair: Red/Auburn
Eyes: Blue
Distinguishing features: Pierced ears; the initials “R.J.” tattooed on left ring finger
If you have information that could help in the case, you’re asked to call Maize Police at (316) 722-1433; Crime Stoppers at (316) 267-2111; or the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (785) 296-4017 – even anonymously through the KBI.