COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Seven years after a recent Ohio State University graduate vanished, her remains were found along a Delaware County highway. Her death was ruled a homicide, and over two decades later, her loved ones are still pushing for justice. 

Stacey Colbert was 23 years old when she disappeared in March 1998. Colbert had graduated from Ohio State with a degree in marketing the previous year, and had been working at American Electric Power for about six months. 

“She had this spirit about her, she was so determined and such a light and her personality — incredible,” said Colbert’s older sister, Danielle Nusbaum. “She was very creative, and she lit a room whenever she went in. … She really was a fierce friend and she would defend you to the ends of the earth.”

Colbert and Nusbaum grew up together in Illinois, before Nusbaum moved to Columbus in 1991 to go to Ohio State. Attending the university was a family tradition, Nusbaum said. A couple of years later, Colbert also enrolled in the university, and joined the sorority Alpha Delta Pi. Colbert’s sorority sister and friend Paula Shupe described her as “the purest heart” and “super trusting.”

Colbert loved her job and everything seemed to be going well for her, Nusbaum said, until Tuesday, March 24, 1998, when Nusbaum got a phone call around 5 p.m. An employee at Colbert’s job called to say she had not been to work that week, nor had she called in sick.

“I immediately called my parents and all my red flags were up, and I knew that this was a crisis at that point,” Nusbaum said. “Like that’s just she’s so driven, she would never miss work unless something horrific happened.”

While Nusbaum had not communicated with her sister in days, she was not worried up until the call, as Colbert had recently discussed potential travel plans for work. The last thing the sisters did together was see the movie “Titanic,” which was up for 11 awards at the March 23 Oscars. Nusbaum ringed her sister and left multiple messages about the Oscars in the days prior to the call from her employer, with no response.

After finding out her sister had not been to work in days, Nusbaum immediately drove to her apartment in the 1200 block of Waterford Drive in the Knolls West neighborhood, then called the police. 

When she got to Colbert’s residence, she noticed her car, wallet and all of her belongings were there, except for her cat, who was missing. She noticed a box of mostly uneaten breadsticks on the counter, which had a receipt dated March 21, 1998, at 5:58 p.m., according to a Columbus police report. 

“I noticed that the refrigerator door is wide open and that there’s a pizza box on the island,” Nusbaum said. “There’s milk on the island, some cabinets are open, the TV was off. It was just what the heck happened here? Something terrible happened here.”

Nusbaum’s suspicions that something was wrong were confirmed when officers arrived and began to investigate. A couple that lived in the unit above Colbert told detectives that about two days prior, on Sunday, March 22 around 4 a.m., they were awoken by “horrible screams” that sounded like “someone was in trouble” and banging noises, according to the police report. 

The neighbors did not call the police. However, one of them knocked on her door later that day at about 2 p.m., and received no answer. The neighbor found Colbert’s cat outside, who was adopted by Shupe. 

After this disturbing discovery, the search for Colbert was on. Nusbaum said Columbus police immediately took action to investigate Colbert’s disappearance, and a vigil was held for her at Ohio State.

“There was over 5,000 people who came to pray for her safe return,” Nusbaum said. “It was a beautiful tribute. … A team of her amazing sorority sisters got together and started an effort to put up flyers and try to get the word out to as many people as possible.”

Nusbaum also started to do her own digging. She went through Colbert’s phone book and called every single person in it. 

“I was panicking,” Nusbaum said. “I had no idea where she was, and I was imagining, obviously, the worst. Even at that point, still hoping for the best, but imagining the worst.” 

Everyone was kind and talked to her, she said, except one person who refused to take her call. Instead, his roommates would answer, asking why Nusbaum was “bothering him.” Nusbaum described him as a friend of Colbert, who had recently helped her move to her apartment. Nusbaum believes he liked her sister romantically, and is suspicious he was involved. 

“I just thought for somebody who was so willing to go across the city and help her move to not even say, ‘Oh, you know, I haven’t seen her,’ nothing like that, made absolutely no sense to me,” Nusbaum said. “All the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I just thought that was a really weird reaction to have.”

Despite Nusbaum and police’s efforts, seven years passed without a break in the case. Until one day in 2004, Nusbaum saw on the news that human remains were found in Delaware County. On Nov. 27, a hunter looking for a lost dog in a wood line near the Scioto River on State Route 257 discovered the body, about 40 minutes from Colbert’s apartment.

Despite original reports that the remains belonged to a woman in her 40s, Nusbaum’s intuition told her otherwise — that it was Colbert. She soon got a call from Columbus police confirming the remains were her sister’s. 

The case was transferred to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, because of where the remains were found. Captain Kevin Savage with the sheriff’s office, who has been involved with the case for two decades, said Colbert’s cause of death could not be determined due to the condition she was found in. 

To this day, no one has been held accountable for Colbert’s homicide. Nusbaum said her entire life has revolved around Colbert’s disappearance and death. 

“I would not wish my situation on my worst enemy,” Nusbaum said. “They murdered her in cold blood and they’re still out there. Other people could be having to go through the same exact experience and it’s traumatic.”

Savage said cold case homicides at the sheriff’s office, including Colbert’s, have recently been reassigned to a team of new detectives for a “fresh set of eyes.” 

“It is our belief that this case is a solvable homicide,” Savage said. “We believe that we have spoken to someone who has knowledge of this crime. The [sheriff office’s] goal remains to provide justice for Stacey and her family. We are hopeful we can continue to be successful as we have been in the past in solving cold cases.”

Nusbaum and Shupe started a Facebook page called “Finishing Stacey’s Fight” in 2022, as a renewed push for justice. They also both believe someone knows what happened to Colbert, and asked that person to come forward. 

“If you know what happened to Stacey, it’s not too late to be the hero in her story, to come forward and get this monster off the streets,” Shupe said. “All this time has passed, you might tell yourself, ‘maybe it doesn’t matter anymore,’ or ‘what difference does it really make?’ But it still matters a lot. It still matters to us.”

Anyone with information on the homicide of Stacey Colbert may contact the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office at 740-833-2800 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers‘ anonymous tip line at 614-461-8477.

If you’re a family member of an individual with an unsolved missing persons or homicide case in Ohio, reach out to aboldizar@wcmh.com.