Within a year of her disappearance, Alison Thresher was declared dead. Montgomery County police had ruled it a homicide, and the judge’s ruling allowed her family to start collecting Social Security benefits to be held for her two children.
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But then, two years after Thresher went missing in May 2000, a child support check made out to her in March 2000 and bearing her signature was deposited into her bank account.Police have never determined who deposited it or how they came to be in possession of the check, which was deposited in a night box at a Chevy Chase Bank in Old Town Alexandria in April 2002.
The 45-year-old was last seen on May 23, 2000, at her Bethesda apartment. Her family called authorities the next day after she fa
iled to show up on her first day as a part-time copy editor for washingtonpost.com. Her family has said that she was excited about her job and it would be uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning.
On May 25, 2000, police found her copper-colored 1997 Volvo station wagon abandoned on the corner of Ridge Drive and Broad Street in Glen Echo. Authorities searched the area, but found no sign of her.
For the next nine months, police classified her case as a missing person. In February 2001, however, they changed it to a homicide, saying they had always considered foul play and nothing else could explain her disappearance.
Her family has said Thresher would never have abandoned her children and told reporters in 2001 that they had expected authorities to conclude she had been murdered.
Then came the check, and new questions were raised about what may have happened. The $647.08 check was endorsed by Thresher, and authorities learned it had been deposited when the check was returned to her family because it was outdated.
But there has been no progress on the case since then.
Anyone with information is asked to call Montgomery County Crime Solvers at 1-800-673-2777.
