FBI offering reward in 2005 Hillsboro disappearance

ST. LOUIS -- The FBI and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office are offering a $20,000 reward for evidence in the continuing search for a Pevely woman who disappeared nearly a decade ago.

Federal investigators on Tuesday unveiled a new missing-person poster of Amanda K. Jones, who was almost nine months' pregnant when she disappeared in August 2005 at age 26.

Jones went missing after meeting with a man she had identified as the father of her unborn child; the man has since denied being the father. The two met and talked about an hour at the Hillsboro Civic Center in central Jefferson County to discuss the man's future role with the baby, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The man has said he last saw Jones in her car in a different part of the parking lot at the center, apparently talking on her phone, according to the newspaper.

Her empty, unlocked car was found at the center later that day.

Jones' 13-year-old daughter, who was 4 when her mother disappeared, spoke publicly for the first time at the FBI news conference. The teen broke down while her grandmother spoke to reporters and managed only a few words on her own before crying again.

"If anyone deserves to hear answers, it's her," said Jones' mother, Bertha Probst. "She's waited long enough and suffered enough."

Sheriff's Lt. Doc Coombs said, "I have my own theories," when asked at the news conference if he knew who was responsible, but added that he needed "specific information" to help locate Jones or find out what happened to her.

It is the second award to be offered in the case. After Jones disappeared, an anonymous donor later identified as Philadelphia businessman and philanthropist Joe Mammana offered $100,000 for information. FBI Special Agent Mike Christian would only say Tuesday that the first reward was no longer available.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the FBI's St. Louis office at 314-589-2500.