an older article with more information
Unsolved Mystery Brings Pain -- Newlywed Woman From Edmonds Has Been Missing Since March | The Seattle Times
Unsolved Mystery Brings Pain -- Newlywed Woman From Edmonds Has Been Missing Since March
Jul 17, 1992
Vanessa Ho
EDMONDS - Two weeks after her wedding, Christy Bell-Fisher disappeared.
The 44-year-old woman left no clue to where she went - or was taken; no sign of a struggle or a suicide note. She left behind her keys, purse, green Volvo, all of her clothes.
The only thing missing from her home was her husband's .38-caliber revolver.
Four months later, Bell-Fisher still hasn't turned up. It is the longest active missing-persons case in Edmonds and detectives believe they are no closer now to solving it than on March 20, the last day Bell-Fisher was seen.
Theories abound, from suicide to murder to an extended trip. Bell-Fisher has been described as outgoing and even silly, a pretty, artistic mother who liked to square dance, make jewelry and work with children.
She was also suicidal, swung wildly into depression and slipped in and out of multiple personalities, said her husband and police. One possibility considered by police is that she assumed another personality and simply walked away.
Her husband, Tom Fisher, thinks she committed suicide or was murdered.
Fisher last saw her the morning of her disappearance when the two had an argument. Bell-Fisher was in her robe, drinking coffee in their kitchen. When Fisher returned that night, she was gone.
Bell-Fisher was last seen in an Edmonds grocery store the night of her disappearance. An old roommate saw her and chatted. It was 15 minutes after Fisher reported her missing. But if Bell-Fisher killed herself, as Fisher suspects, police wonder why her body hasn't turned up.
"It's pretty tough to hide yourself when you kill yourself," said Edmonds police Detective David Honnen. "I think there may be a real possibility she's not alive but we're not ruling anything out."
Police are so frustrated with the case that they've consulted a psychic, a first for the department. Other law-enforcement agencies have consulted psychics on difficult cases, with varying results.
Oregon psychic Laurie McQuary believes Bell-Fisher was strangled and buried in a remote logging area 25 miles north of her house. Two men were involved, she said. But McQuary concedes her psychic vision is not foolproof and she has been wrong in the past.
Based on her advice, Edmonds police searched an area near Granite Falls with bloodhounds. They found nothing.
For Bell-Fisher's daughter, Lela Bell, the emptiness and loneliness have been overwhelming. Bell-Fisher was a single mother, and the two women have always been close.
"I would give anything to talk to her again," said the 21-year-old University of Washington student. "Sometimes I cry so hard I think I'm not going to stop."
Visions of her mother haunt Bell. Once she followed a woman across campus, thinking she might be her mother.
Bell-Fisher is 5-feet-7, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and blond hair. Police ask anyone with information to contact Honnen at 771-0200.
