Miss Colorado USA Pageant Participant Hopes To Use Platform To Spotlight The Case Of Her Missing Mom

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) – As more than 100 young women and teenagers gather in Northern Colorado for the annual Miss Colorado USA and Miss Teen Colorado USA pageants, one first-time contestant says the crown isn't her greatest desire of the competition. Ellie Green, 20, is competing for Miss Colorado USA as a way to bring attention to her mother, Angela, who has been missing for more than two years.

Angela Green went missing in the summer of 2019 near Kansas City. The Chinese immigrant, and mother of one, vanished and left no trace behind.

Ellie, a college student, was away from home at the time of her mother's disappearance. Her father, Geoff Green, at first claimed Angela was forcefully taken by a mental health hospital. He then told Ellie that Angela had died at the hospital.

However, after calling hospitals in the region, nobody had any evidence Angela had been admitted. When Ellie searched for a death certificate in both Missouri and Kansas one could not be located. In secretly recorded phone calls with her father, Geoff Green changed his story saying Angela was alive and had ran away from home.

Angela has not been seen since 2019. Ellie believes her father was directly involved in her mother's disappearance.

Now a student at Colorado State University, Ellie hopes her candidacy for Miss Colorado USA will help bring light to her mom's case, while also highlighting the importance of prioritizing missing persons cases as a whole.

"The excitement and the reason I'm doing this cancels out (all of my) nerves," Green told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.

The Miss USA pageant system has long served as a springboard for many young women. Beauty, elegance and talent are only some of the qualities needed to win. But, a promise to further a good cause is what many of the contestants cherish most.

Ellie hoped competing in the Colorado competition would give life back to missing persons cases that are growing cold.

"I am advocating for my mom because she doesn't have a voice. She disappeared two years ago and I still don't know where she is or what happened to her," Green said. "It's not okay to brush someone's life under the rug like that."

Law enforcement in Kansas and Missouri have followed more than 150 different tips in Angela Green's case. Search warrants for multiple properties were recently executed but did not produce results.

Ellie believes her mother has died and is now seeking answers. Answers her father either dances around or refuses to answer.

Ellie said her mother would be proud of her, especially knowing her independent daughter is pursuing dreams they always shared.

"My mom and I watched every pageant together when I was little," Green said.

Ellie said her mother always aspired for her to become a pageant queen. Her mother said she "had it all." Looks, talent, intelligence and joy. But, what the family didn't have was the money needed to travel and compete.

Now, thanks to donors and the support of her new home state of Colorado, Ellie is checking off a goal with her mother's spirit alongside her.

"I always dream of her tucking in my pageant gown and my fly always, and taking a million pictures," Green said. "With the support of the Colorado community I have now been able to do this and be a part of the dream my mom and I always had."

Future Productions is the company that oversees and hosts the annual Miss Colorado USA pageant. Executive Director Denise Wallace said contestants like Ellie make the pageants special and purposeful.

Contestants who win Miss Colorado USA are given the opportunity to compete in Miss USA. The winner of Miss USA then competes in Miss Universe.

"The beautiful thing about the Miss Universe organization is they have created platforms across the world for their titleholders to do exactly that. To spread a message, to build awareness, and to try and be a change," Wallace said.

Ellie said she hoped her mother's case, and cases of other people still missing, will be impacted by the platform the Miss Colorado USA platform provided her. She also hoped the judges and audience would recognize her desire to bring attention to mental health and empowering Chinese immigrants.

"I hope people walk away knowing more about my mom and the person that she is," Green said.