NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A family is perplexed that one of their own is missing and hasn't been heard from since last summer.
Carla Sullivan said her cousin, Jennifer Bell, was taking steps in the right direction. She saw her in July.
"She and her boyfriend at the time had had a spat or whatever, so she came to stay with me for a few days. Then I guess they made up, and she asked me to go take her to meet him and I did. She got in a vehicle with him, the same vehicle was located in Alabama a few days later —abandoned," Sullivan said.
On July 24, the SUV Bell was occupying was found hundreds of miles away in the Salem area.
However, family didn't report her missing until February 2024, which has delayed the investigation, according to police. The Metro Nashville Police Department is working with the Lee County Sheriff’s Department in Alabama on the case.
“I just kind of feel like somebody should be able to do something as far as finding out where my cousin is,” Sullivan said.
Then in April, Jacob McCord — who was dating Jennifer around the time she went missing — was arrested on unrelated charges. He was in a stolen truck and tried to run away from police in Nashville, according to a report. A missing persons detective tried to meet with him in jail, but he refused to speak to them, according to a spokesperson with the police department.
“It’s excruciating. You wake up every day and you wonder: are we going to get good news, bad news? It’s on everybody’s mind. It never goes away. It’s a constant stress," Sullivan said.
Sullivan fears the worst has happened.
"We deserve closure. We deserve to know what happened to Jennifer," Sullivan said, "It’s not fair to her family or her children."
If you know where Jennifer is, call Metro police or the Lee County Sheriff's Office in Alabama.
"Nobody should be ripped away from their family, not like this," Sullivan said.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
