Behind black sunglasses, Laurie Jernigan sniffled and raised a tissue to her face Tuesday as her husband announced a $50,000 reward in the case of her daughter, Ebby Steppach, who disappeared more than a year and a half ago.
Steppach was reported missing to Little Rock police in October 2015, police said. She was 18 years old at the time.
Outside Little Rock police headquarters Tuesday, Steppach's family gathered to announce the increase in reward money, from $15,000, and asked the public to step forward with any information about her disappearance.
"We don't know where she is, so we need to get this out across the nation," Jernigan said Tuesday.
Little Rock Police Department's homicide unit previously investigated Steppach's case, which is now being investigated by a part-time cold case squad staffed by four retired detectives, officials said. The squad was created earlier this year by the Police Department.
Cold case unit detective Tommy Hudson said her case is being investigated as a missing persons case. He said investigators are looking into several leads and are working with the FBI.
"We follow up on any tip that comes in. We get tips that come from across the United States and even outside the United States on her case," Hudson said.
Police believe there are people who were with Steppach a day or two before her disappearance who might have information, he said.
Late last year, investigators spent days searching a wooded area near Chalamont Park in west Little Rock. Steppach's car was found in the parking lot of the park about a week after she was reported missing, officials said.
On Tuesday, Hudson declined to say whether investigators found anything during that search.
Jernigan last saw her daughter on Oct. 24, 2015, two days before she reported Steppach missing to police, according to a Little Rock incident report.
Steppach spoke with her brother on Oct. 25, but she declined to say where she was and hung up the phone, according to the report. Jernigan said her son remarked that Steppach "sounded like she was high on drugs," according to the report.
Jernigan told police that her daughter had moved out about three weeks before she was reported missing, the report said.
Michael Jernigan, Steppach's stepfather, spoke at a news conference outside Little Rock police headquarters Tuesday. He thanked law enforcement officials who have worked on the case.
"So many have contributed to our efforts to find Ebby," he said.
He said the $50,000 reward is for information that leads to the whereabouts of Steppach. The money for the reward is made up of private donations and family sources, he said.
Laurie Jernigan said she believes the higher reward will lead to answers in her daughter's case.
"I see what increases in rewards have done for families recently," Jernigan said.
She mentioned the homicide cases of 3-year-old Acen King and 2-year-old Ramiya Reed, who were both fatally shot in separate incidents while riding in vehicles with family members late last year.
In both cases, higher rewards -- $40,000 in the King case and $50,000 in the Reed case -- were offered before police were able to make arrests in those killings.
Metro on 06/28/2017