Death Of Mother Intensifies Effort To Find Missing Girl
Relatives and friends are hoping that the death of a Redmond woman early this month might at least bring information about her missing daughter.
``We wanted to get the message out,'' said Lee MacGregor, former husband of the dead woman and father of the missing girl.
The woman, who died Feb. 2, was 41-year-old Annie Schubert.
The missing girl is her daughter, Erin MacGregor, 18, who was last seen in September.
Annie Schubert choked to death during a meal at her Sahalee home Feb. 2.
If she's alive, Erin apparently doesn't know about her mother's death. MacGregor said he and his ex-wife's friends are hoping that if Erin does learn about her mother's death, she might be prompted to contact her family or authorities.
Erin had grown up in the Sahalee house, which the MacGregors had built in 1974. Erin graduated from Redmond High School in June 1990 and had been planning to attend Bellevue Community College last fall.
Lee and Annie divorced in the 1980s; both later remarried.
Erin's college plans had been delayed last fall, her father said, because she waited too long to apply. Instead, she was planning to go to work, and on the day she disappeared in September, she had three job interviews scheduled. She never showed up for any of them. Her purse and money were left at her house, making it appear unlikely she had planned to run away.
The only further development in Erin's disappearance came when her car was found abandoned in Seattle's Rainier Valley.
Since her daughter's disappearance, Annie Schubert had worked tirelessly to try to find her and as late as last month had appeared on television programs trying to develop information about her daughter.
On the night of Feb. 2, Annie Schubert returned home about 7:30 p.m. from her job as a real-estate agent and began having dinner. She choked to death on a piece of meat, her former husband said.
The MacGregors' other daughter, Aimee, 15, had been on a date and found her mother dead when she returned home about 10:30 p.m. Medics tried to revive Annie Schubert then but estimated that she had died about three hours earlier.
Since the deaths, Aimee has been under counseling and is now living with her father and his wife.
Lee MacGregor says he hopes that if Erin is alive, she might try to contact the family because of her mother's death.
``If she's out of state, you never know,'' he said.
Erin's disappearance is under investigation by King County Police, and anyone with information about her whereabouts should contact the department.