Family searches for daughter who disappeared from DFW Airport

By Bill Hanna

billhanna@star-telegram.com

Edward Rysiewicz couldn't have been happier.

It was Sept. 15, and he was with all of his children at a reception in Fort Worth for his oldest daughter, Renee Farrar, who had been married in Germany.

He even coaxed his 26-year-old daughter, Jeanne Rysiewicz, who had been tired and subdued during the visit, onto the dance floor at the Southside Preservation Hall.

But the next day, while waiting in line with her parents to board a plane at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, Jeanne vanished.

"I went from elation to getting the wind knocked out of me -- all within 24 hours," Edward said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Crown Point, Ind.

As her parents and sister Amanda, who was using a wheelchair, pre-boarded a United Airlines flight to Chicago, Jeanne drifted to the back of the line.

"She just looked at us," her father said. "She just gave us a funny look. She must have made up her mind to split."

When Jeanne did not board, her mother, Barbara Rysiewicz, got off of the flight and began searching for her daughter. Renee, who had a later flight to Colorado, also began searching the airport grounds.

Now, almost a month later, family members still have not seen or heard from Jeanne.

Cellphone left behind

Authorities at DFW say that surveillance cameras recorded her getaway.

At 6:01 p.m., Jeanne was seen walking past a Terminal E food court toward an exit, according to a police report. She was pulling one roller bag and carrying another.

At 6:02 p.m., surveillance cameras saw her exiting the terminal.

At 6:24 p.m., DFW Airport police responded to call of a bag being discovered in the same area. The roller bag was placed in lost and found since no one knew Jeanne was missing at the time. Investigators believe she consolidated the contents into one bag and abandoned the roller bag.

At 7:55 p.m., the family called police.

The following evening, Jeanne's cellphone was found in the Terminal E infield parking lot.

While the disappearance is puzzling to family members, DFW authorities say there's not much they can do.

"From a legal standpoint, there's not a lot more we can do until we get better leads," said DFW Airport spokesman David Magaña. "To our trained detectives, it looks like she left on her own."

Airport police did place a welfare concern about Jeanne in the national missing person's database in case she comes in contact with law enforcement. But as an adult, she can request that her family not be notified.

That leaves friends and family trying to figure out why she left and wondering if they'll ever hear from her again.

Family members say there is no history of psychiatric problems and she wasn't taking any medication, leaving them at a loss to explain her abrupt departure.

In Crown Point, Jeanne had lived with her parents while working as a waitress at two restaurants. On the day she was scheduled to fly home, she texted the manager at the House of Kobi Hibachi restaurant and said she was feeling "blah" and asked not be put on the schedule until later in the week.

'It's a scary thing'

Family members have searched for clues on her Facebook account and her credit card records, and have talked with her boss and friends. Nothing, family members say, indicates anything was wrong.

Her older sister, Renee, said she has been playing "Sherlock Holmes," searching for clues to make sense of what happened

"I think she walked out on her own," said Renee, who now lives in Boulder, Colo. "It's been enough time that hopefully she had a plan. I write on her Facebook wall every day and so far, she hasn't responded. All of her very close friends have been doing the same thing."

Family members said they also found religious materials in her abandoned suitcase and said that she had become interested in the pro-life movement, leading her father to speculate that she might have joined a church or a religious group in Texas.

Her parents also learned that she had paid off her credit cards.

"It's a scary thing not to have your daughter," her mother said. "But I think she was trying to get her head going in the right direction. I'm thinking she's safe."

But until she sees her again, Barbara will remember the expression on Jeanne's face as they boarded the plane.

"When I looked at her, I didn't like the way she looked," Barbara said. "As her mother, I've gotten that look before, and you don't know what she was thinking. You just don't know."

Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698

Twitter: @fwhanna

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