What happened to Abbi Schaeffer? Missing Missouri woman found dead nearly a year after disappearance

The Kansas City police found the skeletal remains of 22-year-old Abbi Schaeffer on April 1, 2023, nearly a year after she was reported missing. Schaeffer was reported missing by her family on May 30, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri. However, nearly a year later, when the police responded to a call near 95th Street and Blue River Road, in south Kansas City, they found her skeletal remains.

Abbi Schaeffer, who was 22 when she went missing, was last seen by her family at around 12:30 pm on May 23, 2022. She was reported missing a week later on May 30, 2022, and within three days of that, on June 2, 2022, police asked the public for their help in locating the 22-year-old woman.

According to reports, Abbi was last seen in a doorbell cam footage wearing a tan long-sleeved crop top with black leggings and Nike sandals. Following her disappearance, police expressed concern for Schaeffer’s safety and well-being.

While an investigation into her death was launched as soon as police discovered Abbi's body, the cause and manner of death are yet to be determined.

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Abbi Schaeffer's family says that she was part of an FBI drug probe

Abbi Schaeffer, who was adopted by her parents, Belinda and Jason, left her Northland Kansas City home on May 23, 2022, with her purse and her black-and-white cat, Izzy. Before she went missing, Schaeffer told Belinda that she had information about a drug trafficking operation and was supposed to talk to the FBI.

With this information, detectives assigned to Abbi's case found out about a drug probe of a drug ring in Kansas. The people involved were allegedly Schaeffer's associates, who were considered to be the "targets" of the investigation.

Schaeffer was part of an FBI probe (Image via Kansas City PD)

However, before Schaeffer could talk to the FBI about the drug ring, she disappeared, seemingly without much of a trace. Her phone was also unreachable and was last tracked near an apartment complex in southern Kansas City a week before she went missing.

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What happened before Schaeffer's disappearance?

Schaeffer told her mother that she was involved in a federal investigation involving drugs like fentanyl. A few months before she went missing, four men, including Abbi's ex-boyfriend Joseph Burgess, were arrested after the alleged fentanyl trafficking ring was busted.

However, according to The Kansas City Star, Abbi Schaeffer maintained contact with her ex even after he was arrested.

The day Abbi went missing, according to her mother, she saw a gray BMW parked across the street from her house at around 6 am on May 23, 2022. Belinda said that she saw Abbi approach the car but went back inside the house soon after. However, when Schaeffer went back to talk to the driver later in the afternoon, she didn't return.

Detectives believe the car could belong to someone who knew Abbi Schaeffer's ex-boyfriend. They identified the BMW owner as 25-year-old Jacob Block, and that the apartment where Abbi's phone was last tracked, belonged to Jacob's girlfriend. However, the girlfriend had moved out of the apartment and her brother lived there.

Officers also found Abbi Schaeffer's cat, Izzy, in the same apartment building. Interestingly, when the Kansas City Police questioned Jacob Block and his girlfriend, they denied knowing Schaeffer.

However, Block later admitted that he knew Schaeffer through her ex-boyfriend, Burgess. He also claimed that he met Schaeffer at Burgess' request.

Before the Missouri woman's body was found, Jacob Block and his girlfriend left the state, according to a report by The Kansas City Star.

So far, police have not made any arrests or charged anyone in connection with Abbi Schaeffer's death, which is currently under investigation.