On Aug. 22, 1998, Tera Smith, then 16 and the high school homecoming queen of the freshman class, left home in Redding, California, dressed to go jogging.
She was never seen again.
Sherri Papini — a mom of two and former schoolmate of Tera’s who disappeared 18 years later during a jog in Redding about two-and-a-half miles from where Tera vanished — had a luckier outcome: She was found alive, but beaten and chained, on Thanksgiving morning following an apparent abduction.
Papini’s case continues to baffle investigators — and it bears some seemingly baffling similarities to Smith’s case, though Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko tells PEOPLE investigators “have not developed any evidence the two cases are linked.”
Still, several days after Papini disappeared, her husband, Keith Papini, reached out to Smith’s father for advice.
“Keith came to me, and we spoke for about an hour,” Terry Smith tells PEOPLE. “I just told him to stay strong for his kids and not assume law enforcement has the answers and to push them.
“It was obvious Keith was torn up,” Terry says, “and I believe he was confident he’d get his wife back.”
Sherri’s case “brought back some very vivid memories and our hearts went out to Keith and his kids,” Terry says. “We know how it feels. That hopelessness and having nothing to go on is familiar.” Tera’s sister Kyra, was in the same grade as Sherri; Tera was a year older.
When Sherri was found the Smiths were elated, Terry says: “I can’t tell you how thrilled we were. It’s bittersweet. We didn’t have that kind of outcome.”
Despite the strange surface similarities between Tera and Sherri’s disappearances, “there are notable differences,” Terry says.
While authorities are still piecing together why and by whom Sherri was abducted, Tera’s case is not so mysterious: Terry claims he knows who is responsible for his daughter vanishing — a man who has never been charged and denies involvement, but who remains a person of interest.
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