Vanished in North Carolina: The Mysterious Disappearance of Frances Apperson in May 2022

Where is Frances Apperson?Photo byWhere are they? Podcast

Frances Apperson was looking forward to spending time with family and doing some hiking in the North Carolina mountains. She enjoyed the mountains but really and truly loved spending time with her family.

It was May of 2022, and the weather was becoming warmer and the sun was staying out longer. Summer was on the way.

Frances was supposed to meet her family for a nature hike near Hawksbill Mountain Trailhead, but she never showed up.

Frances, at age 67, lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Hawksbill would be about a 2-hour drive from her apartment in the city. At first, the family thought maybe she changed her mind, however, continued calls to her cell phone went unanswered.

Frances was deaf but had been deaf since she was a baby and navigated the world just fine.

Pretty soon, the family started to search for Frances, and after a few days of not finding her, she was reported missing on May 21, 2022, to the Mecklenburg County Police Department. Mecklenburg County is the county where Frances resided.

An alert for Frances was put out, as was a BOLO - be on the lookout- for her car, which was also missing.

That would change nine days later when authorities finally received Frances’s cell phone ping locations. Following those pings, law enforcement was led to the Linville Gorge Parking Area up in Burke County, over two hours from Charlotte and nearby where she was supposed to be hiking on May 17th.

And there in the parking lot, was Frances’ 2013 Hyundai,

But there was no sign of Frances.

Where is Frances Collett Apperson?

Frances AppersonPhoto byFamily Photo

Frances Apperson was born in New York City on July 22, 1954. She was raised by her loving parents alongside six siblings.

At age 6-weeks, it was learned that Frances was deaf, and a new way of life for her would begin. But it never slowed her down.

Her family would move to North Carolina, and when she was ready to start school, France would attend Clark School for the Deaf in Charlotte, North Carolina. She excelled in school, and went to college in Washington D.C., graduating with a degree in American History.

For a few years, Frances worked as a Teacher’s Aide. After marrying and having two daughters of her own, she decided to be a stay-at-home mom.

Frances was also known to be a volunteer within her community and is usually described as someone who radiated kindness and a desire to help others. She was a woman who loved cooking, knitting, and reading.

Frances was always known to be a wonderful mom, a family woman, and just a generous person to everyone who knew her.

In 2022, Frances lived in an apartment in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. She had two grown daughters, and her family continued to mean the world to her.

Frances AppersonPhoto byFamily Photo

THE DISAPPEARANCE.

On May 17, 2022, Frances was supposed to be meeting some family members at Hawksbill Mountain Trailhead, near Linville Gorge, to do some hiking. This area is a popular hiking spot for the outstanding sunrises and sunsets, and the 360-degree views once on the summit at Hawksbill. Alternatively, Linville Gorge is just as beautiful- known for a rougher terrain, but a beautiful landscape that creates plunging canyons all the way down to the Linville River.

This trailhead is in the Blue Ridge Mountains and just over a two-hour drive to the north from where Frances lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.

There are several options for hikes in that area, some easier than others. It isn’t 100% clear which trail she was planning on doing with the family. We do believe she was planning on driving up there by herself.

But Frances never showed up for this hike as planned.

Now some of the specifics are unclear, as to who exactly she was meeting and what their plans were. Also, what time of day this was? We will learn a little more about her timeline later, but it’s unclear when she was meeting family and how long they planned to stay out.

Without knowing that, it’s hard to speculate as to why it took four days to report Frances as missing. She is a 67-year-old woman, and for some reason, it must have not been too alarming when she didn’t show up on May 17th for their hike.

Four days later, on May 21, 2022, Frances was officially reported missing to the Mecklenburg County Authorities, the county in which she resided.

Law enforcement did act swiftly, likely due to the wilderness of the area she was thought to be in, and possibly because of her age and the fact that she was alone.

We don’t always see quick reactions- so I am grateful anytime that happens.

Frances AppersonPhoto byFamily Photo

THE SEARCH.

Media alerts were put out, and a BOLO was also issued for her car. A BOLO in law enforcement terms is a ‘Be on the Lookout’. Not only was Frances missing, but her 2013 Hyundai was also unaccounted for.

For the next several days, the family searched and law enforcement did their own searches and investigation.

On May 30, detectives received the results on Frances’s cell phone and they knew could follow a trail of cell phone pings. Before this, they had very little to go on and no idea at all where to search.

These pings led them to a parking lot area at Linville Gorge Hiking area in Burke County, and there they found Frances’ vehicle parked. There was no sign of Frances's anywhere, and nothing looked amiss with her car. It simply looked as if someone had just parked the car there and headed off on a hike.

It was noted that authorities believed her car had been there for several days because it was fully covered in a yellow layer of pollen, something that is extremely common in May in North Carolina.

Frances Apperson's VehiclePhoto byPhoto Courtesy of CMPD

Finding her car at the Linville Parking area sparked an urgent search for Frances on the trails. The fear was that she became lost and/or injured and was in need of immediate help.

Search and Rescue teams converged on the area.

While search and rescue hit the trails for any sign of Frances, law enforcement searched Frances’ car for any clues. At first, they didn’t think they found anything of any significance. That is, until, search and rescue teams came back with a small angel they had found on the trail. Immediately it was noted that there was an identical angel found in Frances' car.

The search intensified. It was now believed that Frances possibly took that angel and went for a hike on her own.

Why she would do that, however, is unclear. And since this was the same area she was going to meet the family to go for a hike on May 17, was it possible that she had been out there since that day two weeks earlier?

So, so many agencies came out to help search, including Burke County Emergency Management, Burke County EMS, Burke County Emergency Services Special Operations, Burke County Sheriff’s Office, North Carolina Emergency Management, Linville Central Rescue Squad, Caldwell County EMS Special Operations, Kannapolis Fire Department, Pineland Resources Inc., Salisbury Fire Department, Haywood County Rescue Squad, Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, Spartanburg County Search & Rescue, and U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement.

Despite more aggressive searches in that area of Linville Gorge, no additional signs of Frances were discovered.

Investigators did come across one more clue to help them build a timeline. They did learn that Frances was at the Banner Elk Cafe in Banner Elk, at 3:44 p.m. on the afternoon of the 17th.

The Banner Elk cafe is 45 minutes from the Linville Gorge trail. And even more mysterious, it is 45 minutes further north, meaning if Frances drove up from Charlotte, she passed Linville Gorge and drove on for an additional 45 minutes to go to this cafe.

Was she alone there? I don’t know. How do they have this timestamp information? I also don’t know. It seems it has to be a paper trail of some sort- not a video surveillance or anything like that. Perhaps her cell phone pings or even a credit card charge.

So if she was at the cafe around 3:44, she must have headed to Linville Gorge from there.

Google. Map Image of Linville Gorge, NCPhoto byGoogle Maps

LINVILLE GORGE, NORTH CAROLINA.

There are a couple of points of interest here, but since Frances’ car was found at the Linville Gorge parking area, I think the focus should probably be there. Of course, it’s still possible that Frances isn't there, but if that’s the case, she could be anywhere.

Linville Gorge is located off of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina.

It’s a popular destination for hikers and nature enthusiasts, and is often referred to as ‘the Grand Canyon of the Southeast’. This is because the gorge is the deepest and most rugged in the eastern United States. At the bottom of the gorge runs the ever-flowing Linville River, and a short two-mile hike can take you to the stunning and cascading Linville Falls.

Linville Gorge is also the third largest wilderness area in the entire state of North Carolina. It covers an area of over 11,780 acres.

Linville Gorge has become so popular in recent years, that the Park Rangers have had issues with cars and parking. The Linville parking area is limited, but visitors flock to the area prompting Rangers to start issuing parking citations for the first time in 2017.

This is something they have said they don’t want to do, but it became a danger to have cars parked all over roadways and causing roadblocks and dangerous one-way roadways.

This is what Wikipedia had to say specifically about the terrain and the hiking at Linville Gorge:

Due to the nature of the terrain, hiking in the Linville Gorge can be a strenuous and challenging activity. Maps of the trail system are available through United States Forest Service offices and information facilities in the area, but it's important to remember that due to the Wilderness area designation, trails in the gorge are not the improved, well-marked, cleared and graded paths that visitors to state or national parks become accustomed to. Beginners and those without land navigation training would be well advised to stick to the basic and shorter hiking trails.

While the focus is on the Linville Gorge area, there are many questions that arise when thinking about how Frances’ car got there.

It’s presumed that she drove it and parked it, but why didn’t she meet up with the family as she had planned? Why did she go by herself?

Did Frances often go off hiking alone?

And knowing this hike was more than two hours from her home, does that make these circumstances even more bizarre?

THEORIES & POSSIBILITIES.

It seems the main theory here, is that Frances went off on a hike and either became injured or lost.

But remember, Park Rangers have talked about how popular this area was with visitors. Is it possible that no one saw her?

I still find it troublesome that she planned to meet people there, and then didn’t show up, but then also decided to take a hike on her own. A hike that is notoriously in a tough terrain and area. A hike that was two hours from her home in Charlotte.

And when did she take this hike?

She was known to be in the Banner Elk Cafe on May 17th, the day she was supposed to meet the family. It would make sense that she went to Linville Gorge on that day since she was so far from home.

There are definitely more questions here than there are answers.

And what I find most baffling, is that so many organizations, over a dozen in fact, came out and grid searched the area and found nothing, except that angel.

Does that angel confirm that Frances was on the trail? Why did she leave the angel behind? Was it a sign of distress, or did she simply drop it?

A judge did declare Frances Apperson deceased, and a memorial was held for her, with her date of death being May 17, 2022, the last day anyone can confirm hearing from her or seeing her.

What do you think happened to Frances Collett Apperson?

Frances is described as a Caucasian woman, about 5’2” tall and weighing around 130 pounds when she was last seen in May 2022.

She has brown shoulder-length hair and brown eyes.

Frances is also deaf, which certainly could hinder the search process in dense wooded areas as calling out to her wouldn’t be effective.

Frances also was known to go by the nickname ‘Dell’ to those who knew her.

Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Frances Apperson, or if you were in the area of Banner Elk, Linville Gorge, Hawksbill Mountain Trail and/or Sugar Mountain, please contact the Burke County Sheriff's Office at 828-397-4600, or the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department at 704-336-4978.