COLUMBUS, Ohio — Wednesday marked 25 years since Ohio State University student Stacey Colbert went missing back in 1998. She was found dead in Delaware County six years later.
Her friends and family want to keep her name alive, and are using social media to find the person who murdered her.
Sorority sisters Paula Shupe and Ashley Knott say the phrase “We live for each other” is Alpha Delta Pi’s motto, but they never thought they would be fighting for one of their own, 25 years later.
“We didn't take this lightly, and so that's what we're doing right now, we're living for her and we're going to keep the promise to keep when she joined our house,” says Suhpe.
Together, the sisters continue to support each other, share information and work together to find Stacey’s killer.
“A lot of our sisters are helping out with this, behind the scenes, we're all getting together and supporting each other,” shares Knott.
The sisters have created the social media campaign, “Finishing Stacey’s Fight,” to continue to gather attention and bring awareness to the cold case.
"We are hoping to exploit the way that the internet shares information, the way that it spreads,” says Shupe. “"We are absolutely convinced that there is someone who knows what happened to Stacey, who has been hiding this for 25 years.”
The ladies say the community should still care about this case, because this could happen to anyone. Colbert had recently graduated from OSU and secured a position at AEP before she was murdered. Friends describe her as vibrant and positive.
They want to warn community members to speak up when you see something suspicious.
“It's better for 911 to get 25 calls than in like this case, none. When the police arrived at Stacey's apartment, they were three days behind the murderer,” says Shupe.
Shupe warns residents and law enforcement to move quickly on missing persons’ cases and to take every tip seriously.
“With law enforcement, take every suspect seriously, all of them. Even if your gut's telling you it's this guy, look at all of them, seriously,” says Shupe.
They are urging community members to come forward if they have any information related to the case. The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office says this is still an open investigation and Colbert will never be forgotten.
“We can't get to the finish line ourselves, we need our work to influence somebody else,” says Knott.
"We're gonna fight, until we draw our last breath,” says Shupe.
