ANCHORAGE — A missing persons case with a Wasilla connection is now being investigated as a homicide, the missing woman’s mother said.
Jael Hamblen, 20, at the time of her disappearance in October 2014, left behind a now 1-year-old son named Joel and lingering questions.
Layn Bosman, Hamblen’s longtime friend, and adoptive mother Colleen Vague, who is currently caring for Joel. Hamblen’s car was left in the driveway of the house she lived in, and Joel was with friends for the evening. Hamblen had appeared upbeat at a family dinner that night, her family said.
Hamblen attended Teeland Middle School and the Valley Career and Technical High School.
New evidence has emerged, Vague said, which has led the case to be shifted from the missing persons department within the Anchorage Police Department to homicide detectives. Police are being judicious about which information to make public, Vague added.
“I found out about a week ago,” she said. “There’s been some additional things found that indicate that it’s now a homicide.”