() A mother gave her teenage daughter permission to walk from her school bus stop to her job for the first time, only for her daughter to disappear.
At 16, Ali Lowitzer wasn’t afraid to take center stage. She loved to sing, play softball and volleyball, fish with her family and be silly with friends.
But her real passion was art, and her mother, Jo Ann Lowitzer, has saved many of her daughter’s pieces. Now, they are a source of pride and pain.
“It’s been 15 years, and I look at her artwork, and I’m like, I still have all of this that she left, that still exists,” Jo Ann Lowitzer said. “Ali is in every single room in my house.”
Ali Lowitzer disappeared on her way to work
The last images of Ali were taken moments before she got off her school bus on April 26, 2010, at her normal stop in Spring, Texas.
Ali had begged her mom to let her walk the short distance from the bus to her job at Burger Barn so she could pick up her paycheck and maybe an extra shift.
She had never walked the busy street before, and Lowitzer had conditions that she communicated to her daughter.
“You’re going to walk straight to work. You’re going to text me, let me know that you’re there, and you’re going to text me and let me know if you’re going to work,” Lowitzer said.
But Lowitzer came home to an empty house and no text from Ali.
“I just thought, okay, well, she must be busy with work and she can’t get back immediately,” Lowitzer said.
Searching for Ali Lowitzer
She sent several more texts with no response by 8 p.m. Then 8:30 came and then 8:45, 15 minutes before Ali’s work closed.
“I went up there and I was going to tell her what was what, you know, and I pulled up right in front of the doors and the lights were out and all the chairs were on the tables,” Lowitzer said. “No one’s there.”
Panicked, Lowitzer called the police and Ali’s father, John Lowitzer, who lived nearby.
“My thought was well, she’s just being rebellious and she’s probably out with somebody and didn’t want to tell you,” John Lowitzer said.
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An age progression photo shows how Ali Lowitzer might look today. (Center for Missing and Exploited Children) -
A surveillance photo showed Ali Lowitzer at school. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Surveillance photos also showed Ali Lowitzer on the school bus home. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer diappeared on her way to work. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer loved to sing. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer diappeared in 2010. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer disappeared in 201. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer’s boss and coworkers said she never made it to her job. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer’s parents have been searching for 15 years. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer loved to play softball. (Jo Ann Lowitzer) -
Ali Lowitzer took the school bus home and was to walk to her job,. (Jo Ann Lowitzer)
That changed the next morning.
“Ali was the type who loved to go to school. She didn’t want to miss school,” he said. “That’s where all of her friends were. For her not to be there to get ready for school was a huge red flag for me.”
Did Ali Lowitzer make it to work?
The big question for her parents was whether Ali ever made it to Burger Barn.
The owner and several other workers said the same thing.
“He said that no, that she didn’t show up, that he hadn’t seen her,” John Lowitzer said.
Jo Ann Lowitzer has traced her daughter’s route hundreds of times.
“She stopped right there, sent a couple of texts,” she said.
Lowitzer has followed the steps Ali would have taken as she got off the bus, where she stopped to text her boyfriend and then turned to walk the short distance out of their housing development down the busier, quarter-mile stretch to the first intersection and strip mall where the Burger Barn used to be.
Detective Timothy Hayes said officers looked for anything to show them where Ali went.
“Video surveillance was looked for in the area, and there was nothing in the immediate area that would point us in the right direction of which direction she went to or if she left with somebody,” he said.
Sheriff’s investigators say it wasn’t unusual for the restaurant to close early if it wasn’t busy.
“The owner and the employees who worked there at the time and even prior employees who worked there, they were all cooperative and cooperated with our investigation,” Hayes said.
No sign of Ali Lowitzer
Months of searching the woods around the neighborhood yielded no clues.
Ali’s colorful backpack and cell phone were gone, and her parents were left staring at that stretch of road.
“It’s a straight shot to the strip center where the Burger Barn was. So you really couldn’t get off the beaten path, so to speak,” John Lowitzer said. “I strongly believe that somebody knew exactly what they were doing and they did it fast.”
A bench at the local park honors Ali’s memory, and her birthday, Feb. 3, is now recognized as National Missing Persons Day.
After 11 years, Jo Ann Lowizter finally brought herself to paint over the chalkboard walls of Ali’s bedroom, but she treasures her other walls filled with Ali’s art.
“My baby did this, and it makes me really proud,” Jo Ann Lowitzer said. “On the other hand, it makes me very sad because I literally will daydream about what she would have created if she was still with us.”
Ali Lowitzer is described as a white female with blue eyes and brown hair that was dyed black. At the time of her disappearance, she was 5 feet, 2 inches and weighed around 150 pounds. Anyone with information on her case should contact the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
