On January 8, 1984 Sandra Kay Ross disappeared from Apex, Wake County, North Carolina. She was 31 years old and the mother of a young daughter.
Her case was entered into the NamUs database on July 15, 2009 (#MP2482 link below).
There is very little information online about Sandra’s case except for some repeated content.
If we ever wish to find answers we need to place Sandra back in the spotlights so all the more reason to make hers the Case of the Month and have her kick off a new year of blogging about the unsolved.
NamUs
The following details are from NamUs:
Sandra is a white woman, 5’4”, and approx. 120 lbs. She has brown hair and brown eyes. There is a mole on her left lower cheek. Other than that, NamUs does not list any other distinct body features. She was last seen wearing tan coloured corduroy pants with a burgundy coloured sweater. She had a wine coloured purse with her.
Case
Sandra was last seen on January 8, 1984. Her husband, Robert Ross, told the authorities that she left home to go to the local drugstore. This was around noon. They needed medication for their young daughter, Jennifer, who was sick. An hour passed and Sandra was still not back home so her husband went looking for her. He found her car in the parking lot of the Cary Village Mall which is now called the Cary Towne Center.
At the time that she went missing, Sandra worked as a medical technologist at Rex Hospital.
According to her family, she would never leave her child alone without others knowing what was going on. Sandra’s mom has hinted there was something wrong but she never elaborated on that publicly. I hope she did give that information to police. Sandra’s husband has since remarried.
Questions
- Who reported Sandra missing and exactly when?
- How far away from their house was that drugstore?
- Who looked after that sick child while both parents were out of the house?
- It is not clear to me if Sandra’s husband also went inside the drugstore to talk to the pharmacist to see if Sandra had actually been inside the drug store.
- Was there a prescription for the sick child or was Sandra going for an OTC product? If there was a prescription when did they visited the prescribing doctor? Did they notice anything such as fear?
- What did police find inside her car? Any traces, dragging signs, receipts, prescriptions?
- Any available surveillance tapes from nearby banks or gas stations?
- Did Sandra ever express concern for her safety or the wish to separate/divorce?
If you have any newspaper articles about this case, please contact me so I can update this post accordingly.
Contact information
The Wake County Sheriff’s Office website does have a cold cases page but Sandra’s case isn’t on it. She should be for SEO purposes and to raise awareness that her case is still unsolved.
If you have any information, please call the Wake County Sheriff’s Office at 1-(919) 856-6815. All information may be submitted anonymously. Sandra’s NCIC File Number is: M-114171592.
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In the series “Case of the Month” I highlight old cold cases. These posts are not an in-depth analysis and of course, often more information can be found online and in newspaper archives. The goal of these posts is to get the cases back in the spotlights, to get people talking again, and if anything to make sure that we do not forget the victims. Just because their cases are unsolved does not mean that we can forget about them.
If you have any thoughts about this case I encourage you to post them on your own social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. Every time that we mention Sandra Kay Ross’ name online we enhance her digital footprint.
We must make sure that she keeps her web presence if we ever wish to find answers in her case. You can help by linking to or sharing this post.
Thank you for remembering Sandra Kay Ross with us.