Thirty-six years after 13-year-old Elisa Roberson vanished from Texas, an Idaho judge declared her legally dead, but with no body found, the case remains open.
IDAHO, USA — Thirty-six years after 13-year-old Elisa Roberson vanished from her hometown, her family, now living in Idaho, is still fighting for closure.
“We’ve been fighting so hard. We have to stand up and put our armor on and fight these forces,” said Ruby Roberson, Elisa’s sister. “The only thing that matters is that I still feel her, but I just feel like there’s still more fight, there’s still more that needs to be done in this case.”
Elisa disappeared in 1989, after leaving home to meet a friend. She was last seen shortly after church that Sunday evening.
“She was an actual person, a sister, a daughter, just a beautiful person,” Ruby said. “It’s been really hard losing her.”
Decades later, the case remains open. The family’s private investigator said tips continue to surface, but authorities have yet to provide access to critical records.
“I’ve had tips from a couple dozen people,” the investigator said. “Either way, they want to know what happened to her. I want to know what happened to her.”
This August, an Idaho judge declared Elisa legally dead, granting a request from her family. The ruling allows them to hold a memorial and secure a burial plot in her name, even though her body has never been found, and no credible evidence shows what happened to her.
Under Idaho law, a person missing for five years with no explanation can be declared legally dead. However, the law does not close the case, and investigators can continue pursuing leads indefinitely.
“It’s certainly not closed, not in my mind and not in the minds of the authorities,” the private investigator said. “There’s no statute of limitations on that, so it’s still an open case. Without access to all the information they’ve collected, we’re kind of flying blind.”
For the Roberson family, the fight is far from over.
“We just want our sister, we just want our daughter, our child’s remains, so that we can honor them and keep them,” Ruby said.
KTVB reached out to the Texas agency leading the case, but did not receive a response.