Amateur Detectives Try To Crack Case Of Missing Washington Woman Nancy Moyer At CrowdSolve Event

A Washington woman has been missing for more than 10 years, and her family and law enforcement hope that about 250 strangers can help crack the case.

The amateur detectives are at Crimecon CrowdSolve in Seattle, an interactive event where attendees and law enforcement experts team up to potentially generate fresh leads and gain new insight on two cases.

The event kicked off Thursday night with the premiere screening of “Searching For Nancy Moyer,” part of a new original series on Oxygen.com. The documentary takes a look at the 2009 disappearance of the 36-year-old mother of two.

After the screening, a panel took place that included “Hide and Seek” podcaster James Baysinger, who has brought the case into the national spotlight, as well as retired U.S. Marshall Art Roderick, lead case Det. Mickey Hamilton with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, Moyer’s ex-husband, Bill Moyer, and her daughter, Sam Moyer, criminal profiler Maurice Godwin, and mayor of Tenino, Washington, Wayne Fournier.

“You don’t get this very often where police departments or sheriff’s departments will open the files,” Roderick said during the panel. “Kudos to Thurston County for saying, ‘Let’s get some fresh eyes on this.’”

Det. Mickey Hamilton with the Thurston County Sheriff's Department, right, and his wife at Crimecon CrowdSolve. Photo: Crimecon

Det. Hamilton said he welcomes the help.

“If I can look at this case and see a couple things that can be done, imagine what 300 eyes can see,” he said.

Bill Moyer told Oxygen.com that he and his daughter were willing to give crowdsourcing a try because they had already pursued other methods of getting attention on the case, including TV news and the podcast.

Not knowing what happened to Nancy Moyer has been a constant question for the family for the last decade, he said at the panel.

“It’s a cloud that hangs over you and does affect our day-to-day and relationships, and I think an answer would help that go away,” he said. “I think this is going to be a great event. I’m hoping things happen for a reason and this moves us all in a positive direction.”

During the next few days, participants who have signed non-disclosure agreements will get a peek into the case files of Moyer as well as Karen Bodine, who was discovered murdered alongside a Rochester, Washington highway in 2007. They’ll also hear from experts about building a perpetrator profile, how to analyze suspect statements, and details of persons of interest in the cases. They’ll break out into teams and work on the cases and present their findings to law enforcement.

Nancy’s daughter, Sam, gave a reason for everyone to keep working on the case and find answers during the panel. 

“When people ask me how the last 10 years have been, it’s waterworks. They’ve been hard,” she said as she choked up. “You’ve got to stay positive. I don’t think I’ve always been positive that whole time, and that drags you down.”

For case updates and to help us dive into these disappearances, join the Searching For Facebook group.