HOUSTON — March 23, 2023 marks 25 years since Catherine Hammel went missing in Houston. She was a young mother who friends knew as Cathy Ann.
“Cathy Ann was a very spirited, well-loved girl, she had many friends," said Catherine Henderson, her mother.
At 28 years old, life was full for Hammel. Police said she was living in west Houston with her boyfriend and their three-year-old daughter. Her mother told KHOU 11 she was working two jobs to make ends meet.
“She would never, never leave her child," said Henderson.
Hammel disappeared on March 23, 1998. In KHOU 11 archive video, friends can be seen fanning out to search and walk along Buffalo Bayou near where she lived.
On the day she disappeared, Houston police said a co-worker gave her a ride home from her job at 24-Hour Fitness around 2 p.m. The last person to see Hammel, investigators said, was her boyfriend at their apartment on Wilcrest. He told police he left for a short time and when he came back, Hammel wasn’t there.
"I stayed there (at the apartment) for 3 months, I was down there on a Thursday, she disappeared on a Monday," said Henderson. "Everything was still there.”
Over the years, detectives who’ve worked the case have told KHOU 11 that all their leads have come up dry.
“Everything we’ve done we’ve got nowhere with it," said Detective Abbey Abbondandolo, who was with Houston police at the time.
“I just want Cathy Ann to know that I haven’t stopped wanting to find her," said Henderson.
Now, 25 years later this mother is hoping to raise the reward.
“I would love for someone to say, 'OK, I know something.' I started a Go Fund Me page,” she said.
At 71 years old, she’s made the trip from New York to Houston for what could be the last time and she's desperate to find out what happened to her daughter.
“I’m just tired, tired of not getting answers, tired, I want her body," said Henderson. "So I can take her home and put her to peace – I want to know where that part of her is."
We called Houston Police to get an update on the case. A spokesman told us their homicide division is still handling it and it’s also one of their cold cases featured online.
There is a reward at Crime Stoppers and detectives are asking anyone with information to call 713-222-TIPS (8477).