Angela Hamby
“It’s the mystery of Wilkes,” said Wilkesboro Police Chief Jason Delbert. “You could walk anywhere in Wilkesboro and mention her name and people will start talking.” Delbert is talking about the kind, popular, dependable young woman: Angela Hamby. She was a fixture in her family and among friends, but in 1982, she vanished. “When you get into the case, it kind of consumes you,” said Delbert.
He’s one of a handful of investigators who had the Hamby case passed down to them since the 80s, working it from 2019 until he became chief. “When I got into it, when I first read it, I sat there for days and…you think I can figure this out and then there’s so much information,” he said.
The case starts simply.
On Oct. 29, 1982, Hamby left her home around 9:30 a.m., according to her mother. She was going to North Wilkesboro to run to the bank and do a few other errands before going back home to pick up her mom to go shopping. Someone saw her in a clothing store in North Wilkesboro that morning. Hamby wasn’t as friendly as normal, but left the store.
The last place she was seen was a Wilkesboro institution, Glenn’s Restaurant, which sits almost frozen in time today.
“She was in a vehicle, according to eyewitnesses at the time, a male was driving the vehicle and she was in the passenger seat,” he said. A person at the restaurant told police it looked like the pair was fighting. Hours later, when they came out of the restaurant, the car was still there with no one inside and all of Hamby’s belongings were lying there. “We think she probably went with someone she knew…we don’t believe it was a random person that snatched her out of the car and off they went.”
Police have a sketch of the man who was in the car they’ve distributed, but it hasn’t helped track anyone down. Over the years, the Wilkesboro Police Department has received hundreds of tips and alleged sightings. From as close to home as Ashe County and along I-77 in Charlotte, to as far away as South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Maryland.
The chief sends the little physical evidence they do have to the state DNA lab every so often for testing. Delbert says this wasn’t a violent crime scene, so there isn’t much to test. “It shows we have multiple sources of DNA, but as far as here’s your suspect, that ‘ah ha’ moment hasn’t happened for us yet,” said Delbert.
It’s tough for Hamby’s family to talk about the case, which is why they and many others who know her didn’t want to speak to FOX8 for the story. They’ve accepted she might always be gone.
“I don’t know that you could, could you ever give up hope on a family member?” he said. “I don’t think you could, I don’t think I could, I don’t think most people could.”
Delbert believes the answer to this case could be right next door, walking the streets every day or hidden in an old family story.
“Someone in this county knows something,” he said. “No one has come forward to tell us.”
This story courtesy of WGHP TV