Terry Lynn Tersak

Terry, circa 2011

  • Missing Since 06/01/2009
  • Missing From Asheville, North Carolina
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 04/08/1976 (48)
  • Age 33 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'1, 100 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Terry's maiden name is Pendergraft. She has an extra fold around the inner circumference of her left eye, and an episiotomy/perineotomy scar on her abdomen with three dark freckles; together the scar and freckles resemble the constellation Orion. Her ears are double-pierced and her navel is pierced. Terry colors her hair with henna.

Details of Disappearance

Terry was last seen in Asheville, North Carolina on June 1, 2009. She called her cousin in Garner, North Carolina that day and said she was driving over with her son to visit. Garner is 250 miles east of Asheville. Terry never arrived and her family hasn't heard from her since.

Terry's husband, Stefan T. Tersak, said Terry left with a woman named "Jen" the day after she spoke to her cousin. Stefan was supposed to pick her up on June 20, but the address she gave him turned out to be nonexistent.

When Stefan returned home from his attempt to pick up his wife, he said, he discovered someone had been through his storage unit and cleaned it out. He said he called the police about it, but they refused to take a report.

In October 2009, Stefan claims, Terry stopped by the apartment he'd moved into after her disappearance. They had a brief conversation and she told him she'd been staying in Boone, North Carolina. Then she left and he never saw her or had any contact with her again.

She was estranged from her family and her father and brother didn't file a police report of her disappearance until May 2011, nearly two years later.

Stefan described Terry as a drug addict who was planning to go into a rehabilitation program. She was on probation for a 2007 misdemeanor marijuana conviction and had previously worked as a stripper, but hadn't done so in over a year prior to her disappearance. He stated he believes she deliberately abandoned him and their son, who is autistic.

One of her friends said that while Terry did smoke marijuana, but she was not addicted to it and she did not drink much alcohol. She left behind the vehicle she'd just purchased, and Stefan traded it in after she vanished.

Since Terry's disappearance, there hasn't been any activity on her Social Security number, bank accounts, credit cards and driver's license. Her family believes Stefan may know more about her disappearance than he's disclosed, but he maintains his innocence and says she simply left him and is probably alive and in hiding. He has set up a website about Terry's case. Her disappearance remains unsolved.

Updated 3 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated January 6, 2018; date of birth added.