NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — What started as a routine day for Veda Powers turned into a 40-year-old mystery, and one of the oldest unsolved missing person cases in Nashville.
Powers, 29, disappeared on May 26, 1982. Metro Nashville Police Department officials said she left her home on Ninth Avenue S. in Nashville and took her two kids to daycare, and picked up her sister and took her to work. She told her sister she had taken the day off from her job at Saint Thomas West Hospital and was headed home. She never picked up her kids at daycare or was seen again.
Four days later, on May 30, her car was found abandoned at 14th Avenue S. near Edgehill Avenue. Her glasses were left inside the car, which led investigators to believe foul play was involved.
"We knew Veda had bad eyesight and had a hard time getting around without her glasses," said Detective Matthew Filter, with the Metro Nashville Police Department. "Right away, that told us something wasn’t right and something bad had happened to her."
Yolanda Powers was just 10 years old when her mother disappeared, but she remembers the day clearly.
"At the time I didn’t know what was going on," said Powers. "I didn’t get picked up from daycare on time. My mom would never just leave us and not come, or call my grandmother or aunt and let them know what was going on."
Powers said as days turned into weeks, concerns grew.
"It got to be difficult because Mother's Day was coming, and her birthday, and I wasn’t able to do a lot of mother-daughter things," said Powers.
Powers remembers talking to detectives and doing everything she could to help.
"I just want an answer for myself, my brother, his children, my children, and her mom," said Powers.
Filter said there is a person of interest in the case, but investigators need more evidence to connect him to the crime. He hopes that will come in the form of a tip from the public.
"A lot of times there is one person out here that holds a key piece of evidence or information that would help open up this case," Filter said.
"The damage has already been done," added Powers. "I just want you to be respectful enough for her children and her mother, to just give us closure."
If you have any information on what happened to Veda, please call the Metro Police Cold Case Unit at 615-862-7329, or Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-74-CRIME.
