Erin Marie Gilbert

• Missing Since 07/01/1995
• Missing From Girdwood, Alaska
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 05/04/1971 (53)
• Age 24 years old
• Height and Weight 5'11, 145 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A black leather jacket, a black and white-striped shirt, black jeans and brown mountain boots.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Gilbert's hair was cut in a short bob at the time of her disappearance. She has a tattoo of a large blue flower on her chest; a photo of it is posted with this case summary.

Details of Disappearance

Gilbert was last seen during the evening hours of July 1, 1995 at the Girdwood Forest Fair in Girdwood, Alaska. She was on a date with David Combs, a man she'd met the night before.

Combs stated that at 6:00 p.m., they went to his car and the vehicle would not start because he had left his car lights on. He told Gilbert he would walk to a nearby friend's house for help. Combs walked for two hours but was unable to locate his friend's residence, so he returned to the car.

Gilbert was gone by the time Combs got back, and he thought she might have returned to the fair. When he tried the ignition again, the car started. He went to the Girdwood Forest Fair and searched for Gilbert until 1:00 a.m. but couldn't found her. At 7:00 a.m. he called her sister, whom she lived with, and asked if she'd made it home.

She hadn't, and Gilbert's sister and her family drove to Girdwood and had her name announced onstage at the fair, and searched the festival and the nearby woods. Then they called the police. An extensive search involving dogs and helicopters turned up no sign of her. Combs is not being called a suspect in her disappearance.

Gilbert's loved ones described her as a responsible person and stated it is uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning or to go off into the woods by herself. She was employed as a nanny in Anchorage, Alaska at the time of her disappearance, enjoyed playing basketball, and was an aspiring novelist. She planned to enroll in cosmetology school.

Gilbert had resided in Alaska for only a year prior to her disappearance; before that she lived in San Francisco, California and Everett, Washington. Her family believes she met with foul play and is deceased.