AVERY COUNTY, N.C. — In the months following the disappearance of her mother, Kim Ashby, in the floodwaters of Helene, Jessica Meidinger visited the Avery County site where Ashby was last observed. For Meidinger, the natural recovery of the landscape since September 2024 was evident.

“My brother and I went up there for Mother’s Day,” Meidinger shared. “We walked through much of the river and the areas we had once searched, and it’s astonishing how swiftly Mother Nature reclaims her territory.”

For Meidinger, moving forward is not as simple.

“Facing the reality that a year is approaching and feeling as though this is still surreal,” she expressed. “I mean, I still catch myself thinking about calling her.”

On the morning of Sept. 27, 2024, Ashby, along with her husband Rod, woke up in their newly built retirement home in Avery County. They had traveled to the High Country to secure the property, and the nearby Elk River had swelled overnight due to rainfall, even before Helene touched down in the Carolinas.

“They heard a cracking noise,” Meidinger recounted. “Something had struck the house, and one of its footers had come loose. Consequently, the entire house slid into the river.”

As their home careened down the swollen river, Rod tried desperately to save Ashby and their dogs.

“He was able to navigate the debris to reach her,” she stated. “They collided with a large tree and were sent in opposite directions. That’s the last moment anyone saw my mom.”

Rod survived the ordeal, but Ashby was lost to the raging waters.

In the days that followed, family, neighbors, and complete strangers joined together in an extensive search effort. Thousands shared her picture online and donated recovery funds for the family. A GoFundMe page, which remains active, raised $78,000 out of its goal of $100,000.

“Just so much beautiful humankind, caring-for-one-another kind of people came out,” Meidinger said of the community response. “A lot of western North Carolina — they took care of their own 100%.”

But week by week, every search turned up empty-handed.

In November, the family made the difficult decision to hold a celebration of life for the teacher of more than 20 years, knowing she was still out there somewhere.

“Some of her students came out, which is wonderful, and other teachers,” Meidinger said. “We wanted it to be a celebration of life, of all the good and all the kind things that she put out in the world and how much she helped kids grow.”

Just before Thanksgiving, on the property where her mother once dreamed of having her first white Christmas, Meidinger and other loved ones decorated a tree. The gesture was an effort to make a loss that Meidinger calls “surreal” more tangible.

“It felt emotionally like it wasn’t a real thing because to be able to see a body or to be able to know that that exists, I think, unlocks something in your brain, unlocks something emotionally that allows you to kind of process in a different way,” she explained.

Now, on the first anniversary of the day her mother was taken from her, closure feels complicated for Meidinger, much like the mountain land that brought her family so much joy and loss.

“Maybe this is meant to be her final resting place,” Meidinger said. “If we were to find her in the future, great, but if not, we can be at peace knowing that she’s in a place that she loves.”

As of April 2025, a report from the National Hurricane Center showed at least five people remained missing in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee due to Helene.

Vanessa Ruffes: Contact Vanessa Ruffes at vruffes@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.  

Download WCNC+ on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV or Samsung device, and stream the news that impacts you for free.