Autumn Marie Traub

• Missing Since 09/13/2006
• Missing From Lakeland, Florida
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 03/21/1973 (51)
• Age 33 years old
• Height and Weight 5'2, 225 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A purple shirt with images of dogs on it, red sweatpants with paint stains, and flip-flops.
• Medical Conditions Traub suffers from seizures.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Traub has a tattoo of a dolphin with seven hearts on her right calf. She may use the last name Niles.

Details of Disappearance

Traub was last seen in Lakeland, Florida on September 13, 2006. Her stepfather, Roy Phillip Ballard, picked her up at her home between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m., and claims he dropped her off at a Walgreens store in the 300 block of east Memorial Boulevard between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m.

Traub has never been heard from again. She left behind a husband and a fourteen-year-old daughter.

A photograph of Ballard is posted with this case summary. He and Traub's mother took care of her daughter when Traub was incarcerated prior to her disappearance. After Traub was released from jail, she took her daughter back, and Ballard was upset about it. He asked for custody of the girl, but Traub refused. Once she was returned to her mother's care, Traub's daughter accused Ballard of molesting her.

In October 2006, the month after Traub disappeared, Ballard was arrested and charged with her murder. Authorities believe the custody issue with Traub's daughter was the motive for the alleged homicide.

Spots of Traub's blood were found on some bags in the trunk of Ballard's 2004 Saturn, along with plastic shopping bags, duct tape, gloves and a dirty shovel. Ballard claimed he needed the shovel to dig at his workplace, but the dirt on the shovel was not consistent with the soil where he works. Ballard's own blood was found in his car's interior.

He is also known to have purchased an 18-inch steel pipe and duct tape on September 2, eleven days prior to Traub's disappearance; investigators believe these items were used in her kidnapping and murder.

At Ballard's 2008 trial, Traub's daughter testified against him and said he had sexually abused her and told her he wanted to marry her. One of Ballard's cellmates testified that Ballard had told him how he killed Traub, knocked out her teeth and disposed of her body.

Ballard maintained his innocence, but he was convicted in July 2008. In October, he was sentenced to death. In 2011, the death sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole.

Traub's body has never been found. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.