Disappearance of Bianca Piper

Bianca Piper
Born	Bianca Noel Piper (1991-12-26)December 26, 1991 Foley, Missouri, U.S.
Disappeared	March 10, 2005 (aged 13) Foley, Missouri, U.S.
Status	Missing for 19 years, 8 months and 13 days
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Mother	Shannon Tanner

Bianca Noel Piper (born December 26, 1991) is an American missing person who disappeared at the age of 13 in Foley, Missouri, on March 10, 2005. She is believed to have been abducted.

Background

Bianca Noel Piper was born in Foley, Missouri, on December 26, 1991. During her early childhood, she was hospitalized due to suffering from ADHD and severe bipolar disorder. Piper required daily medications to prevent disorientation and hallucinations.

At the time of her disappearance, Piper was an eighth-grader at Winfield Middle School. She was in special education classes due to her short attention span and repeated absences.

Prior to her disappearance, Piper's therapist had recommended that her mother, Shannon Tanner, drive her a certain distance from home and have her walk back on her own, giving Piper time to deal with her own aggression.

Disappearance

On the evening of March 10, 2005, Piper and her mother had a dispute over doing the dishes. Having found the activity her therapist recommended helpful, Piper requested that it be done again, wanting her mother to drop her off at an even further distance. Piper was last seen at 6:15 pm that evening, when her mother dropped her off at McIntosh Hill Road about a mile from her home.

At the time of her disappearance, Piper was wearing a lime green blouse, a gray Adidas hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers. She also had a flashlight in her possession.

Hours later, when Piper still had not returned home, her mother reported her missing at 8:20 pm.

Investigation and developments

Although it was initially believed that Piper had simply gotten lost on her way back home, following an extensive search, authorities came to believe that she had been abducted. Piper had no prior history of running away from home.

Piper's mother passed a polygraph test, as did her mother's boyfriend. Her biological father was also extensively interviewed. Nobody in Piper's family ever became a suspect in her disappearance.

In 2007, a multi-jurisdictional task force was created to investigate Michael J. Devlin for a possible connection to Piper's disappearance, as well as those of other children between 1988 and 1991, after two missing teenagers—Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby—were discovered in Devlin's residence. Hornbeck and Ownby were abducted in 2002 and 2007, respectively. The task force was dissolved in October 2007; no evidence of Devlin's involvement in Piper's disappearance was discovered.

On February 3, 2023, a septic tank near where Piper was last seen was drained. The sheriff's department of Lincoln County is working with Othram Labs, a forensic genealogy company, in an effort to solve Piper's case.

Aftermath

Piper's mother now lives in St. Charles, Missouri. The investigation into Piper's disappearance remains open, though it is now considered a cold case. Her fate and whereabouts remain unknown.

See also

• List of people who disappeared
• Michael J. Devlin, American serial kidnapper and rapist who abducted at least two other children in Missouri between 2002 and 2007

External links

• Bianca Noel Piper at The Charley Project
• Bianca Noel Piper at the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
• 3750DFMO – Bianca Noel Piper at The Doe Network