Kittanning Police Seek Person Of Interest In Woman's Disappearance
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KITTANNING (KDKA) -- It's been more than three days since anyone has seen or heard from a young Kittanning mother of two.
Katie Stoner, 27, was last seen around 6:30 Thursday evening.
Kittanning Police have released the name of a person of interest in connection with the young women's disappearance.
KDKA's Lisa Washington Reports:
The man Kittanning Police are looking for is the young mother's ex-boyfriend and police say he is wanted by other law enforcement agencies as well.
Katie's emotional family spoke to KDKA News Sunday. They say while Katie was battling an addiction, her disappearance is unusual and extremely troubling.
"She was trying to take the footsteps in the right direction," said Katie's sister Kellie Nemchek.
Stoner's sister and mom sat down with KDKA to talk about the disappearance.
They say while she was battling mental illness and an addiction to opioids that began after the onset of migraines, she was in a program at an area women's shelter and wouldn't have just walked away.
"All her things were there, all the pictures, everything was there and she had important meetings to go to that next day that she was excited about," Linda Prestopine, Katie's mom, said.
Her family says Katie left her hometown of New Castle two months ago, committed to sobriety, so she could raise her little girls.
Kellie showed off photographs of the two -- loving, silly pictures the sisters had taken together. Katie had just been at her sister's house before she disappeared.
"She was here hugging my daughter, who she hasn't seen in a long time, telling her how much she loved her," Nemchek said.
Kittanning police have named 30-year-old John Colbert, of New Castle, as a person of interest in the case and say he is wanted by other law enforcement agencies. He is the ex-boyfriend of Stoner.
Even though family didn't specifically want to talk about Colbert they say Katie has been through a lot.
"When you're a woman that succumbed to someone abusing you, it changes your whole demeanor," Katie's sister told KDKA.
Katie's family's is holding on to hope they'll hear from her.
"You just think about it every minute," Katie's mom said as she was overcome with emotion during the interview.
Her sister finished by saying this about Katie: "She knows if all this were going on and we were looking for her, she would have reached out and said hey, I'm OK."
Police says Colbert is just a person of interest at this time.
Colbert is 6-feet-3-inches tall and weighs about 185 pounds.
He has brown hair and blue eyes.
Police say he has a tattoo that says "loyalty" on his right forearm and an unknown tattoo on his right shoulder.
Police said Katie has a cut on her left eye and burn marks on her wrists.
Anyone who sees Colbert or Stoner or has information on their whereabouts should contact Officer Bartosiewicz at the Kittanning Police Department at (724) 543-1538 or call 911.
