Louise Tume was just 18-years-old when she went missing in 2005. Today she would be well into her 30s but her sister has not heard from her since a mysterious phone call a year after she had been reported missing.
"Becky - it's me - I'm okay," Louise apparently said, before the line went dead. Her younger sister Rebecca had answered the call at her foster parents' home and she has been determined to find out the truth of what has happened to Louise ever since.
At the time of the phone call, Rebecca did not even know that 'perpetual runaway' Louise had been missing. After a difficult childhood they had been separated and placed into care.
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Going a year without hearing from Louise was not unusual and Rebecca had not been told about Louise's disappearance at the time because she was sitting her GCSEs. It was only after the line went dead that her foster parents sat her down to explain.
Rebecca, is still desperate for answers and recently took part in The Missing podcast on Amazon. Manchester Evening News' sister website YorkshireLive have taken a look at Louise's story. Here is what is known about her disappearance almost two decades on.
Louise and Rebecca's childhood
Louise Tume was born in Leeds in 1987 and was the middle child of three. Her father's involvement in the criminal world - namely dealing drugs and guns - meant the family moved around frequently as he went in and out of prison.
They eventually settled in Edge Hill, Scarborough - a council estate which has since been knocked down. Rebecca, who was seven when the family arrived in Scarborough, said her and Louise, then nine, were "really close" as children.
She told The Missing podcast: "I used to follow her around everywhere. She was a little bit more wild than most kids and was a bit of a bad influence as well. She once made me stand on a railway track with stones; she wanted me to wait until a train came."
Despite settling in a home, the trio's childhood did not get easier. Their dad used the family home as a place for his illegal business, meaning they were often exposed to drug addicts and guns.
He was violent and would often beat their mum, which on one tragic occasion led to her having a miscarriage. Louise's mum eventually left her dad and moved out of the family home. The children stayed with their dad as the marriage had taken such a toll on her mental health that she 'was not capable' of looking after her children.
According to Rebecca, Louise began running away from home shortly after her mum left - often to visit her. Louise gained a reputation as a "perpetual runaway" and was eventually taken into care when her dad said he could not cope with her.
Over a year later, police raided her dad's home after an anonymous tip-off and Rebecca and her brother were also taken into care. The trio were split up and sent to different foster families.
Life in care
Rebecca eventually settled with a foster family in North Yorkshire, but Louise was not so lucky. "Louise was in care home after care home," Rebecca told The Missing podcast. "She kept running away and whenever she ran away she had a purpose: she ran away to see her mum."
She told how the three siblings would sometimes meet up after arrangements were made by their foster carers, but that these meetings were often cancelled at the last minute. As she approached the age of 16, Rebecca was making plans to enter the army. But one phone call in 2006 changed everything.
The phone call and missing appeal
"I received a phone call in 2006 and it was from her [Louise] on a payphone," said Rebecca. "She just said 'Becky - it's me - I'm okay'. And then that was it, the phone went dead. That was the last time I've ever heard from her."
Bewildered, Rebecca sat down with her foster mum, Sonia, who told her that Louise was considered missing. "She had gone missing in 2005 but they did not tell me for up to a year," said Rebecca. "I wasn't told because I was doing my GCSEs."
Louise was last seen in Darlington - where she had moved into her own flat at the age of 18 after leaving the care system - on June 10, 2005. The last reported sighting of her came a week later in Islington, North London.
A missing persons appeal was released by police, in which Louise was described as a slim girl, around 5ft 6ins tall, with brown eyes and reddish/ brown shoulder-length hair. She wore her hair in a bob and was wearing blue embroidered jeans, a blue denim jacket and pink sandals.
"The police tell me very little," said Rebecca. "They just tell me there is no trace of her. They have interviewed a number of people from London - they don't tell me who they are."
The suitcase
After speaking to the authorities, Rebecca was given a suitcase containing Louise's belongings after she disappeared. In it was a letter from a Lee James. The letter was addressed to Louise and had been sent from HMP Wormwood Scrubs in West London.
"I hope you are doing well and that you are staying away from London... I do not want you having anything to do with your old way of life," the letter read. Rebecca said she feels the letter infers that "there was something going on in London" and that "there were high risk people that she [Louise] should not have been around."
Rebecca also found a contact book in Louise's suitcase where the number for a restaurant had been written down. "Years ago, when she was living at this flat, her family support worker had come out to see her and she had taken her to this restaurant," said Rebecca.
"These guys were not particularly good men, apparently. Social services had told me this. My family support worker thinks they were trafficking young girls."
Rebecca did what she could to influence the investigation into her sister's disappearance, including setting up a Facebook group. "I either think she's being held against her will, or somebody has killed her," she told The Missing podcast. "She was so good at running away as well - and she always ran back to her family."
Unexpected leads
Rebecca joined the army but left in 2018, reigniting her commitment to find out what happened to her sister. Turning her attention back to the suitcase, she decided to redial a number that had been registered to Louise. When Rebecca had dialled the number in the past, the line had beeped three times before disconnecting.
But on this occasion, someone answered the call. Rebecca 'freaked out' and the phone was put down on her. Police later confirmed the number had been reassigned to someone else.
A few years ago, there was an unexpected development in the search for Louise. "My family support worker told me that the social worker had gone out and met Louise in London," said Rebecca.
The alleged meeting had happened in 2006 - over a year after Louise went missing. Rebecca said she could not make sense of the baffling development and that it left her with more questions. Police found no evidence of the meeting.
"They have got no leads and that is basically all they have told me," said Rebecca. But she is convinced that someone can help her solve the case of her missing sister.
A missing persons appeal remains live on missingpeople.org.uk. It says Louise may also be known as 'Anya Ford'. Information can be given anonymously by calling or texting 116000.
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