A Student Disappears After Enrolling On A Summer Photography Course

In 1997, 18 year old Kristen Modafferi was studying at North Carolina State University. To the great pride of her parents, she had graduated from high school a year early and earned a full scholarship to study industrial design.

After completing her freshman year, Kristen decided to spend the summer in San Francisco. She had enrolled in a photography course at the University of California, an opportunity that would not only allow her to embark on her first solo adventure but also complement her major at NC State.

Before leaving, Kristen had arranged accommodation through an online forum, securing a room in a shared house in Oakland. There, she would be living with four male roommates — an arrangement that reflected both her independence and her trust in new experiences.

She arrived in the city on June 1st — her 18th birthday — ready to begin her summer adventure. Not long after, she found part-time work at Spinelli’s Café, located inside the Crocker Galleria mall in downtown San Francisco.

Eager to immerse herself fully in student life, she also enrolled in dance classes. With her photography course not beginning until June 24th, she had several weeks ahead of her to explore the city and settle into her new surroundings.

On June 23rd — the day before her photography course was set to begin — Kristen worked her usual shift at Spinelli’s, finishing at 3pm. Before leaving, she reportedly told a colleague that she planned to visit Lands End Beach.

However, approximately 45 minutes after clocking out, Kristen was seen again inside the Crocker Galleria. Co-workers spotted her on the second floor of the mall, this time in the company of a blonde woman they assumed was a friend.

The sighting struck them as unusual. Kristen was known for leaving promptly after her shifts, eager to get outside and explore the city rather than linger at the mall.

After that moment, Kristen Modafferi was never seen or heard from again.

The following day, Kristen failed to attend the photography class she had been eagerly anticipating — a course she had paid nearly $1,000 to enrol in.

Her absence, however, did not immediately raise alarm. Her roommates, who barely knew her, assumed she was simply away. They later explained that she often kept to herself and was “gone quite a bit.”

Meanwhile, back home, Kristen’s parents had been leaving messages on her answering machine. Each call went unanswered. As the days passed, their concern deepened. Eventually, one of Kristen’s roommates returned their call and revealed that she had not come home.

The news was devastating. Alarmed and desperate for answers, her parents boarded the first available flight to San Francisco, determined to find their daughter.

Bob and Debbie Modafferi reported their daughter missing, but because Kristen was legally an adult, authorities were initially hesitant to treat the case with urgency. Investigators suggested she may have left voluntarily, and little immediate action was taken.

Frustrated by the lack of progress, the Modafferis began conducting their own search — retracing Kristen’s steps, speaking with her roommates and co-workers, and distributing flyers across the city.

As media attention surrounding her disappearance began to grow, pressure mounted on law enforcement to respond more decisively. Eventually, search dogs were brought in to attempt to trace Kristen’s scent, marking the first significant step in the official investigation.

Search dogs were able to trace Kristen’s scent to Lands End Beach. However, she had already visited the area on June 21st to attend a party, making it impossible to determine whether the scent indicated a return visit on June 23rd or was simply residual from her earlier trip.

As days turned into weeks, investigators interviewed everyone in Kristen’s orbit. Her roommates, co-workers at the coffee shop, and acquaintances were questioned and gradually ruled out, one by one.

Yet one figure remained unidentified — the blonde woman last seen with Kristen inside the Crocker Galleria. Despite efforts to track her down, police were unable to determine her identity. To this day, she has never been located or come forward.

Eventually, investigators conducted a thorough search of Kristen’s bedroom in the Oakland house she had been renting, hoping to uncover anything that might indicate where she had gone.

It was there that they discovered something unsettling — a clipped personal advertisement from the San Francisco Guardian.

The small newspaper ad immediately caught their attention and led officers to consider the possibility that Kristen’s disappearance may not have been voluntary.

The ad read:

By the time investigators uncovered the clipping, the newspaper had already purged its records of the individual who placed the advertisement. As a result, authorities were unable to determine who had written it.

It also remained unclear whether Kristen had placed the ad herself or had cut it out with the intention of responding to it. That uncertainty introduced a troubling possibility: the mysterious blonde woman last seen with Kristen may have been connected to the ad — perhaps even someone she had met through it.

Without records or a confirmed identity, the lead quickly grew cold, leaving behind more questions than answers.

Frustratingly, the investigation soon began to stall. One by one, potential leads dried up, and progress slowed to a standstill.

Then, on July 10th, the case took a bizarre turn.

A local news station received a phone call from a man who identified himself only as “John Onuma.” Speaking calmly, he claimed to know exactly what had happened to Kristen — and suggested that her disappearance was no accident.

For the first time in weeks, there was a new thread to follow.

John went on to claim that two women he knew were responsible for Kristen’s death, alleging that they had killed the young student in what he described as a “jealous lesbian rage.” The news station immediately alerted police.

When investigators tracked John down and questioned him, however, his story quickly began to unravel. He panicked and attempted to dismiss the entire call as a prank. According to John, he had fabricated the accusation out of anger, claiming the two women had recently fired his girlfriend from her job.

Despite his retraction, detectives chose to interview the women he had named. As they dug deeper, the situation became even more unsettling.

The women were ultimately cleared of any involvement in Kristen’s disappearance. However, they told police that John had been abusive toward them. They further alleged that he had a disturbing pattern of using women he knew to befriend and lure other women to him.

These claims immediately raised red flags. Investigators began to question whether John himself could be connected to Kristen’s case — and whether the unidentified blonde woman last seen with her might somehow fit into this alleged pattern.

Adding to the unease, one of John’s former girlfriends later came forward, recalling a chilling remark he had once made: "The same thing that happened to Kristen could happen to you."

This ex-girlfriend also kept a diary — but she later discovered that John had torn out pages from it around the time of Kristen’s disappearance. Further investigation revealed a disturbing pattern: John had a history of placing personal ads targeting women across the Bay Area, only to manipulate and coerce them into sexual encounters.

These revelations added a chilling dimension to the case, raising the possibility that Kristen’s disappearance might be linked to John’s predatory behaviour.

Unfortunately, with no concrete evidence linking him to Kristen’s disappearance, John was released. Shortly afterward, he inexplicably relocated to Hawaii, leaving investigators with little to follow.

With his departure, the trail went cold, and the case gradually slipped into dead ends and unanswered questions.

In 2015, police received a tip that prompted cadaver dogs to search the Oakland home Kristen had rented that summer. Chillingly, the dogs indicated the presence of human decomposition.

Investigators also discovered traces of blood in the basement, but forensic testing was unable to confirm whether it belonged to Kristen.

It has now been 27 years since Kristen Modafferi was last seen. While foul play is strongly suspected, if she were still alive today, she would be 45 years old — a life forever shadowed by unanswered questions.