Katharina Buczek
Alicia Amanda Stokes, also known as Mandy, grew up in North Carolina before moving to California to further her education. There, she attended John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill and studied psychology.
She and one of her brothers had an apartment in Oakland, located on Merritt Avenue. But, in the fall of 2007, 33-year-old Alicia ultimately took a semester off from school due to some personal struggles.
At the time, she was still battling grief over her father’s death – who passed away four years before. Additionally, Alicia was struggling with alcoholism and taking a medication known as Antabuse as part of her addiction treatment.
She was also in a relationship with her boyfriend, whom she’d met during a vacation to Las Vegas two years prior. In early November of 2007, Alicia and her boyfriend traveled to New York. Throughout their trip, they visited restaurants, went camping, and enjoyed exploring the city.
Yet, once Alicia returned to Oakland, she reportedly experienced a “mental breakdown.” She supposedly had plans to relocate to the East Coast so she could be closer to both her boyfriend, who lived in New York and her mother, who was in Atlanta, Georgia.
However, Alicia was still struggling with grief surrounding her father’s passing, as well as worries about her employment status and overall future.
Then, on November 25, 2007, she vanished.
That morning, Alicia and her brother reportedly had a disagreement and got into an argument inside their apartment. Not long afterward, she got in her car and left the apartment sometime between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Alicia reportedly told her brother, who’d been showering at the time, that she would be back soon.
After Alicia drove away from her residence, she reportedly spoke to her boyfriend on her cell. But the call abruptly ended since Alicia’s cell phone either got turned off or lost service.
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