Alissa Turney: What happened to her, and has she been found?

‘ date-mark NBC,’ the longest-running primetime serial in NBC’s history, is now in its 33rd season. Anchored by Lester Holt and featuring correspondents Blayne Alexander, Andrea Canning, Josh Mankiewicz, Keith Morrison, and Dennis Murphy, the show returned Friday night with another haunting case: the 2001 disappearance of 17-year-old Alissa Turney.

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Alissa Turney was just 17 years old when she vanished from Phoenix, Arizona, in her junior year in high school. It was 17 May 2001, and no one knew it would be the last time they'd ever see her.

For years, Alissa was labelled a runaway. A note left behind in her room suggested she’d headed to California to live with her aunt. But that explanation didn’t sit right with her loved ones for long. Alissa had left behind everything: her cellphone, makeup, car, and nearly $1,800 in her bank account. Her aunt also said she never arrived.

“I wasn’t worried,” Alissa’s younger sister Sarah told People Magazine in 2020. “I was under the impression she was going to be back. I don’t think her being gone forever was anything that ever crossed my mind.”

Born on 3 April 1984, Alissa grew up in Phoenix in a blended family. After her mother died of cancer, her stepfather, Michael Turney, became her sole guardian. While he officially adopted Alissa, she often confided in friends that he was controlling, so much so that he installed surveillance cameras around their home.

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The last person to see Alissa was Michael. He later told police that they had lunch that day and got into an argument before he dropped her off at home. A few hours later, he reported her missing, claiming she had run away.

Surprisingly, police did not immediately search the house or question Michael. Later, he told authorities he received a call from Alissa on a payphone in California, but nothing ever came of that lead. Years went by without any developments.

“Nobody looked for her,” Sarah later said in a TikTok video. “Not anybody in my family. The police didn’t do anything despite her being reported missing. Nothing really happened until 2006.”

That year, the case was reopened, and Michael Turney became the primary suspect. In 2020, after tireless advocacy from Sarah, who turned to social media to demand justice, Michael was arrested. But the case fell apart in court, and in 2023, a judge acquitted him of all charges due to a lack of evidence.

“I have no idea where Alissa is, alive or dead,” Michael told NBC’s Dateline.

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Till today, Alissa’s body has never been found. The case remains open, and Sarah continues her search for answers.

“In my heart, I feel certain that Alissa is gone,” Sarah told The New York Times in 2020. “It took me a very, very long time to come to that conclusion, and there was so much guilt there when I did.”

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