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One year later, still no sign of missing Mansfield mother

Rumors have flown about Crider's disappearance and where she might be.

MANSFIELD — Holly Crider was reported missing one year ago, on March 30, 2017.

One year later, her family still worries about where the Mansfield resident and mother of three could be.

"It just doesn't seem like anybody cares because nobody will come forward with anything," said her mother, Lisa Martin, who lives north of Danville. "And somebody has got to have seen something."

Crider, whose 39th birthday was on Dec. 15, was reported missing by her husband, Jason Crider. She was last seen in her apartment at 531 Allison Ave.

Martin estimated her daughter moved into the Allison Avenue apartment complex around October 2016.

Jason Crider, who lives in Butler, called Martin on March 29 — Martin's birthday — to say he couldn't get in touch with his wife.

He was trying to get the electric service turned over in his name, and he needed Crider to approve the company doing so, but he couldn't reach her.

Jason Crider waited until the next day to report his wife missing. She'd left for short spells before, and he thought she could have done it again.

But this time was different. He hadn't seen his wife since mid-March, and no one could reach her by phone.

Martin said the last time she saw her daughter was at calling hours for Martin's father and Crider's grandfather, Lloyd Martin, on Dec. 15, 2016, which is also Crider's birthday.

Martin estimates the last time she talked to Crider on the phone was late January or early February 2017.

"I cry all the time. My nerves are shot. I work all the time to keep my mind off it, but it doesn't work," she said. "I'd never wish that on anybody, and now it's on me."

Who is Holly?

Crider grew up across central Ohio, earning good grades in school but growing bored easily, as her mother often taught her at home.

"The older she got, the more she just wanted to go where the fun was," Martin said. "Her friends was the ones where she could have fun with. That's all she wanted."

Martin, who's worked at Mansfield Plumbing for nearly 30 years, said she and her daughter were close, talking on the phone often.

On the phone, Crider would always say, "Hi mom, I love you" in a sing-song voice, Martin said, something that showed her personality.

"Her personality was so sweet," she said. "She just had that special personality that she could almost talk anybody into doing anything."

Jason Crider said his wife is spontaneous yet caring and fun-loving, making him stop to help drivers pulled over with flat tires or pull over while driving to get out and dance with her.

The couple met through family friends as teenagers. Oct. 2 marked the couple's 19-year wedding anniversary.

Jason Crider said he and his wife, who eventually settled in Butler to raise their three children, are best friends who talked on the phone often.

"We were pretty close," he said. "To the point to where we knew what each other was thinking."

Jason Crider said he and his wife made a pact when they were younger — if they were ever not together, they'd both look up at the moon.

"'Talk to it, and maybe I'll be talking at the same time,'" Jason Crider said his wife told him. "So I do that."

What happened to Holly?

Rumors have flown about Crider's disappearance and where she might be, including a rumor saying she only had a few months to live.

Martin said although Crider's health was poor and she needed a lung transplant, her doctors never told her she only had a few months left. She used oxygen but was often able to go without it for short spells, Martin said.

Jason Crider said his wife was not suicidal, and he said although possible, he doesn't think it's likely drug use was involved in her disappearance.

Martin doesn't think her daughter overdosed, either. She fears the case isn't being taken seriously because of her daughter's past drug use.

"They can't just throw her under the table...just because she was on drugs because she wasn't always on drugs," she said.

Martin thinks Crider met foul play and doesn't think her daughter is still alive.

Martin said she has a "gut feeling" something happened to Crider on March 24 or 25.

"We know that she's not here," she said. "Whoever did this to her, let her go."

Martin said she's still offering a "substantial" cash reward for any information that leads to her daughter's discovery. She encouraged neighbors in Crider's apartment complex to come forward with any information they might have.

"We already know it's gonna be bad news," she said. "At least it's news."

Martin said if Crider is out there and comes home, she'll give her the reward money. She also asked Crider to call her grandparents' house phone, a number she knows by heart.

Mansfield Police Detective Rich Miller, who's investigating Crider's disappearance, said the department received information at the end of last year that she may have traveled to "places in the country" somewhere in Ohio before she went missing.

Miller said several locations have been checked, and the department is checking other possible locations that fit the description.

Miller described the location as "a place that she had an occasion to be at."

Martin said she knows her daughter didn't travel, and Jason Crider agreed.

Miller also said none of Crider's medications or new oxygen tanks have been picked up, with all of her oxygen tanks returned to the company shortly after she was reported missing.

The company, which serves the Mansfield and Newark areas only, has not received any new requests for service, Miller said.

Miller said there is one person of interest, believed to be the last person to see Crider before she went missing.

Police have no suspects in Crider's disappearance.

How to help find Holly

Crider, who police report as 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 170 pounds, could be traveling to the Newark area, according to police.

Martin said Crider is 5 feet 5 inches tall and 185 pounds, although she lost a lot of weight when she stopped taking her medication.

Martin said her daughter wore glasses, had a tattoo of a Grateful Dead blue bear on her wrist and a nickel-sized brown birthmark on the inside of her left foot between the arch and ankle.

There was an unconfirmed sighting of Crider leaving an East Main Street church in Newark around March 29, police reported, and another unconfirmed report of Crider being seen in an apartment on the city's south side over the summer. Police found nothing stemming from either report.

Anyone with information about Crider's current whereabouts is asked to call the Mansfield Police Department at 419-522-1234 or Miller at 419-755-9758. Tips can be reported anonymously.

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