GLENPOOL, Okla. — It’s been 32 years since Marsha Chastain got to hug her daughter Tracy or even hear her voice.
Tulsa police said the Glenpool wife and mother of two children simply vanished in February of 1997 without explanation, leaving her family heartbroken and with so many unanswered questions.
“You are kind of in denial for a long time, hoping that the phone is going to ring, and it would be her calling from some other state, and that never happened,” said Chastain.
The family said she told them she was going to a job interview that day, but the last time she was seen alive was at the Cherry Hill Apartment complex.
Witnesses told officers she was last seen getting out of a vehicle and climbing into a white pickup truck with a man with brown hair.
“I think we can probably assume that she’s been murdered, and I think that’s the way it’s been worked since that time. Unfortunately, we don’t have a definitive answer on that,” said Tulsa Police Lt, Brandon Watkins.
Marsha said it’s taken years for her to be able to talk about Tracy’s disappearance without completely falling apart.
“It’s like watching a TV show. Missing persons, and you don’t think that sort of thing is going to happen to anybody you know, let alone your own family, so it’s been hard over the years. I used to not be able to talk about it without crying, so I think I can make it through this,” said Chastain.
Tracy is tribal, and in May, the Muscogee Nation put forth a concerted effort to bring the missing home.
“For us, there can really be nothing that’s more important than finding our missing and murdered Indigenous people, our brothers and sisters that are out there and so for us, it’s something that we take a lot of pride in to put that tool in our belt,” said Muscogee Nation Press Secretary, Jason Salsman.
Tracy is one of 29 precious souls featured on a billboard that sits along Highway 75 in Glenpool.
Local News
Muscogee Nation making concerted effort to find missing people
For Marsha, the billboard is just one more way to help keep her daughter’s case alive.
“I’m very happy that that has taken place, and hopefully, if we don’t get information on her, then maybe the others. You just want somebody to come forward and share what they know,” said Chastain.
If you have any information about the disappearance of Tracy Samuels, you are asked to contact the Tulsa Police Department or the Muscogee Nation.
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