Family hopes new photo will break 15-year-old Salt Lake County case

Stephanie Amandia Cook was only 5 when her mother disappeared, but she remembers everything about her.

"We were like best friends. She never went anywhere without me," Cook said. "I remember so much about her. I remember everything about her."

Cook's mother, Bobbi Ann Campbell, disappeared nearly 15 years ago and has seemingly vanished without a trace.

A few days before Christmas 1994, Cook said her mother, who was 24 at the time, dropped her off at a friend's house while she went to run a few errands including the bank and the grocery store. Her mother said goodbye, then walked out the door, got into her car and drove away. It was the last known time anyone has seen her.

Campbell never made it to the bank or any of the places she said she was going.

Campbell's car was found about a year later near the Jordan River. Everything she had kept inside the vehicle was still there, Cook said. But the case went nowhere for investigators, which is where it remains today.

"It is cold and has remained cold," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Don Hutson. "There has been no activity on her credit cards, no activity with any of her financial devices or anything. It's a mystery disappearance."

Today, Cook is 19. She hopes a new age-progression photo created by the group "Project Jason" will spark new leads in the case.

"It's been 14 years. It gets harder everyday not knowing. It's hard to take care of," Cook said. "I think about her constantly. I look at her pictures, watch the home movies of her every day."

Investigators compared the remains of a woman found near Saltair in 2000 with Campbell's DNA and dental records. But officials determined the so-called "Saltair Sally," who remains unidentified to this day, was not Campbell, Hutson said.

Cook said the photo gives her new hope. She encourages anyone who sees anything, "no matter how small," to contact the sheriff's office at 801-743-7000.

When she disappeared, Campbell had blondish/light brown hair and blue-green eyes. She was 5 feet 1 inch tall, 105 pounds and had a two-inch scar on her right shoulder. She also had a tattoo of a rose on her left calf and a mushroom and sunbeam on her right leg.

Project Jason is a non-profit group aimed at helping family members find missing loved ones. It was started by a woman whose 19-year-old son went missing eight years ago.

E-MAIL: preavy@desnews.com