A trail to a mud hole
Behind the Damron family's home on West Road in New Sweden, Maine, a trail runs through the woods. Stefanie Damron's father, Dale Damron, told WABI where it goes: to a mud hole where the local children catch tadpoles.
On September 23, 2024, Stefanie walked out of the house and into those woods. She was 13 years old, five feet tall, about 130 pounds, with shoulder-length brown hair and green eyes. Her family said she was wearing blue jeans, a long-sleeved blue shirt, and black Harley Davidson hiking boots. Her fourteenth birthday was less than two weeks away.
She had argued with her sister before she left. Dale Damron said that, according to what he was told, Stefanie argued with her sister and then took off through the woods. People assumed at first, he said, that she had cut through the trees, followed the trail, and played at the mud hole.
Then the family returned home, Dale Damron said, and Stefanie was not there.
The Damrons had moved to Maine from Texas in 2020. Stefanie was homeschooled, according to the FBI, and had limited access to social media. She did not have a cell phone, Maine State Police Major Scott Gosselin said. Investigators believed she left without any electronic devices at all.
The first call
Dale Damron said he contacted authorities before 24 hours had passed, possibly after about 12. The sheriff's department came to the home first, he said, and Maine State Police arrived within ten minutes. The family formally reported Stefanie missing on September 24, the day after she was last seen.
Gosselin explained why the family did not call the moment she walked out. Stefanie had gone missing previously, he said, and that behavior had not been uncommon, which was why her family waited before immediately calling police. This time she did not turn up, and Gosselin said investigators gradually increased their resources as the hours passed without her.
The federal government moved in quickly. Kimberly Milka, assistant special agent in charge with FBI Boston, said the bureau brought its Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team into the case immediately after Stefanie was reported missing. By September 27, four days after Stefanie was last seen, the FBI was formally assisting local authorities. New Sweden sits near the Canadian border, and Milka said the FBI should be involved in missing-person cases near the border.
Hundreds of hours in the woods
The search began close to home. Investigators conducted a neighborhood canvass and a video search. The Maine Warden Service and Maine State Police ran an expansive grid search using canines. People in the area organized searches of their own, and those produced no results. According to Maine State Police, Stefanie's disappearance prompted one of the largest search efforts Aroostook County has ever seen.
The state police enlisted the Warden Service because so much of the search area is wooded. The wardens work systematically: teams cover each grid block, examining the ground and everything at eye level, until the block is fully searched. Searchers carry GPS devices, and the Warden Service uploads their track logs into a database that documents what has been covered and shows what remains.
The effort continued in organized pushes. One search was scheduled to run from a Friday through Sunday in New Sweden, its timing shaped, state police said, by improved weather conditions and the coordination of available resources. The public was told to expect a large law-enforcement presence in several areas. Teams searched on foot, by vehicle, and with drones, with the Warden Service and volunteer search-and-rescue organizations taking part. Alan Curtis of the Maine Warden Service said state, local, federal, and volunteer personnel were working through the weekend to find Stefanie or to gather information, intelligence, and evidence that would lead investigators toward her. Adrian Marquis, a sergeant with the Warden Service, said searchers were hopeful they would find something, though they would not know what it was until it was revealed.
By the time the case was months old, state police and the FBI had spent hundreds of hours searching the woods. Investigators conducted dozens of interviews and followed leads across Maine, elsewhere in the United States, and in Canada. Police released new photos of Stefanie in hopes that someone would come forward.
No credible sightings
What happened after Stefanie walked into the trees has never been established. Gosselin said there had been no credible reported sightings of her since her disappearance.
The tips that have come in point in no single direction. Maine State Police Lieutenant Darrin Crane said some public tips suggested Stefanie may have had a social-media friend or acquaintance around the time she disappeared; that has not been confirmed. Crane said every possible scenario remained under consideration, from Stefanie simply being missing or a runaway to the worst situation, because investigators lacked concrete leads pointing one way. Milka said the same thing from the federal side: investigators had not ruled anything out or eliminated any possibility.
For months the family said almost nothing in public, following guidance from investigators. Dale Damron said investigators limited the information released because someone could use it against the investigation or become frightened by it. Lisa Damron, Stefanie's mother, said investigators were primarily concerned that someone might harm Stefanie.
Where the case stands
A year after Stefanie walked into the woods, her family said they were still holding on to hope. Dale Damron described the disappearance as seeming like an alien abduction. He said the family does not know whether Stefanie left on her own, was kidnapped, is in a ditch, or is living with someone, and that the family needs to know what happened. He urged Stefanie to come home regardless of what happened, saying nothing was worth keeping her away. He said the family's efforts were for Stefanie and the children, and that if he and Stefanie's mother were gone in 15 or 20 years, those efforts would then be for the children. The family asked the community to focus on Stefanie rather than on rumors circulating online, and to support them rather than judge them while the search continues.
The case is open. Maine State Police is handling the investigation, and the FBI said it would continue assisting with technical and analytical support. The bureau is offering a reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to Stefanie's safe return or to the arrest and prosecution of anyone involved in her disappearance. Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said Stefanie's family desperately wants to know where she is, and that the FBI is committed to helping its law-enforcement partners use every investigative resource to bring her home. Milka asked the public to review Stefanie's missing-person poster and share it on social media, and said any detail, no matter how small, could help.
Anyone with information about Stefanie Damron's whereabouts is asked to call the Maine State Police Houlton Barracks at 1-800-824-2261 or 207-532-5400, or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Tips can also be submitted at tips.fbi.gov.
