On 5 August 1989, Tracy Kroh, a 17-year-old honor student at Halifax Area High School, left her home at Enterline, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, to deliver some items to her sister who lived north of Halifax, Dauphin County. She was never seen again. Her locked car was found in the town square at Millersburg, several miles north of her sister’s home.
This post is part of a series chronicling the efforts to find out what happened to her. To date, although nothing conclusive has been determined, she was most likely the victim of foul play. The case of her disappearance remains unsolved to this day.
This story is told through news articles appearing in regional newspapers available from Newspapers.com.
For all other blog posts on Tracy Kroh, see: Disappearance of Tracy Kroh at Millersburg, 1989.
The article presented here from November 1991 tells of the efforts of the Kroh family to continue to search for their daughter, including the enlisting of a volunteer group from New York State that specializes in missing persons.
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From the Pottsville Republican,14 November 1991:
Krohs continue search for daughter
Halifax family turns to New York state volunteers
By Karen Hube, The REPUBLICAN
The family of a Halifax girl missing for more than two years is turning to a volunteer group from upstate New York to aid police in their search.
Ivan Kroh and Ellen Kroh recently started working with Adirondack Search and Rescue, Albany. The Krohs hope the volunteers can help them solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of their daughter, Tracy, missing since 5 August 1898.
Tracy’s car was found parked and locked on the Millersburg square, with no apparent clues or hints of foul play.
“We just don’t give up hope. We go through our minds thinking – is there something we’re missing somewhere? Mrs. Kroh said. “We just hope she will show up one day alive.”
The rescue group, formed about 21 years ago and certified with the National Association of Search and Rescue is working in cooperation with police, sad Sgt. Lynn E. Hess of the state police barracks in Lykens.
The group’s procedure in investigation a case – extensive interviewing and searching – is similar to techniques used by police but is more intensified and specialized, said Marilyn A. Greene, Albany, one of the founding members of the group.
“Police specialize in law enforcement, we specialize in lost persons – the more you do a particular task, the better you get at it,” she said.
In Kroh’s case, the group conducted ground searches near her home about a year ago, but have come up with no leads, Greene said.
Richard W. Umholtz, Westerlo, New York, a volunteer with the group, said he and other volunteers have been interviewing the Krohs and her friends and acquaintances.
“We’re finding out anything and everything about Tracy. I want to know her like I know myself,” Umholtz said.
Greene told of a recent case where a man was reported missing from a nursing home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
After learning he had Alzheimer’s disease and frequently becomes disoriented, volunteers realized he probably had not wandered more than a quarter mile from the nursing home, she said. Someone with the disease who does not frequently lose his bearings would probably be about 2 ½ miles from the home.
The group conducted an intensive ground search and found the man, Greene said.
Separately, police are again interviewing people questioned after the girl was reported missing, Hess said.
“I feel someone out there has some information, “he said. “I think it’s going to come out, but when? I don’t know.”
Hess said he is considering everything from “foul play to someone helping her run away.”
Tracy would now be 19.
Photo caption: Ellen Kroh keeps a photograph of her missing daughter, Tracy.
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