Name: Alice Kristina Hummel
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: October 6, 1990
Location Last Seen: Bellingham, Whatcom County, Washington
Date of Birth: February 18, 1944
Age: 46 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 140-240 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: nee Wehr; Kristy
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not available
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
When Alice Hummel vanished from her Alabama Hill home in October 1990, her husband told the couple’s children their mother had left them for California or Texas in search of work. The kids received correspondence from their mother for years afterward, including birthday cards and possibly wedding presents.
When the adult Hummel children were unable to locate their mother in 2001, they filed a missing persons report with Bellingham police, telling investigators what they could remember.
Investigators discovered disability checks for Alice were going into her husband's bank account. Police found him in Montana, where he admitted taking the payments. Hummel told them that he had last seen Alice when he took her to the airport in October 1990, and had last spoken to her in 1991.
After he was caught collecting her disability payments, he told investigators Alice committed suicide.
He sent his children and police a letter saying he'd come home that October day and found Alice had committed suicide. There was a lot of blood and a note saying 'don't tell the children,' so he says he built a raft and brought his wife's body out to Bellingham Bay.
The day before Alice disappeared, one of the daughters told Alice that the husband was molesting her. The children also recalled their father doing some work on the home’s foundation around the time their mother vanished. Police believes when confronted, the husband killed Alice and made up a story to tell his children.
He has since been captured and is serving 27 months for taking those disability payments.
Police say their are several inconsistencies in the husband's story, but he maintains his wife committed suicide. Police examined the house for traces of blood and searched the property with cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar, to see if Alice had been buried there or entombed in the foundation. No evidence was found.
Agency Name: Bellingham Police Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: (360) 778-8800
Agency E-Mail: police@cob.org
Agency Case Number: 01B31039
NamUs
King5 News
The Bellingham Herald
Washington State Missing Persons
Added: 12-14-2007; Last Updated: 12/03/2023 - By: kc
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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