A lifetime of waiting: Idaho Falls woman refuses to give up on sister who vanished over 35 years ago
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IDAHO FALLS — When 13-year-old Blanca “Elisa” Roberson left home on the evening of Aug 6. 1989, her family expected her to return a few hours later. But she never came back and now, over 35 years later, loved ones are still desperate for answers.
“I remember that night vividly,” Ruby Roberson Hall, Elisa’s sister, tells EastIdahoNews.com. “My mom and I stayed up all night looking out the window, waiting for Elisa to walk down the street. I kept thinking she would just turn the corner and say, ‘I’m home, Mom.’ But she never did.”
Elisa disappeared that summer evening from the small coastal town of Aransas Pass, Texas — a tight-knit shrimping community where everyone knew each other. It was still light outside when she left home for Kieberger Elementary School just six minutes away, where she was supposed to meet a friend named Debbie.
“She never made it back,” Hall says. “We believe she made it to the school and maybe a little beyond. Bloodhounds followed her scent just past the school — and then it stopped. We think that’s where she was picked up.”
A mother’s panic and a family’s loss
That night, the Roberson family contacted police after Debbie called to ask if Elisa was still home. The teenager was reported missing around 9:30 p.m. But instead of launching a full-scale search, officers filed Elisa’s case as a runaway — a decision Hall says cost valuable time.
“Back then, it wasn’t unusual for them to assume a teenager ran away,” she says. “But those lost 12 hours were critical. That delay may have changed everything.”
By the next morning, police began searching. Neighbors were questioned, and volunteers combed nearby fields and waterways. But there was no trace of Elisa.
Her father, a shrimper working in the Gulf of Mexico, was called home. Her mother, who spoke little English, relied on Hall to communicate with investigators.
“I was 12, but I had to be my mom’s voice,” she says.
Journey to eastern Idaho
Throughout the years, persons of interest have been examined, but ultimately, the case has gone cold, and investigators and the family fear foul play. Hall believes her sister knew her abductor.
“There was no sign of a struggle, no one heard anything,” she says. “It was someone she trusted.”
The pain of Elisa’s disappearance shattered the Roberson family. Her parents divorced, her father eventually moved to Alaska, and her mother relocated to Idaho Falls for a fresh start.
“We had help from a local bishop and his wife who said, ‘If you want to get away from here, we’ll help you,’” Hall says. “So we came to Idaho. My mom just wanted to keep her kids safe.”
Still searching for Elisa
In 2016, Texas EquuSearch combed several properties in Aransas Pass but found nothing conclusive. Hall says she’s spent the past few years fighting to obtain Elisa’s police records and urging law enforcement to reexamine the case.
Her persistence paid off. The Texas Attorney General’s Office is now assisting in the investigation.
“It shouldn’t take a family this much effort to get help,” Hall says. “But we’re not giving up.”
In August, a judge in Idaho declared Elisa legally dead after reviewing evidence that she had not been seen or heard from in more than 30 years.
“When you have ambiguous loss, you’re kind of left in limbo,” Hall told KIII TV. “Somehow deciding to do this makes it more tangible for us as a family when it’s on paper…It makes it real for us, and it can bring us some sort of peace.”
Hall manages social media pages dedicated to her sister’s case and is connected with advocacy organizations like Season of Justice and the Gabby Petito Foundation.
Ruby is determined to find answers and believes someone out there knows what happened to Elisa.
“I believe my sister was picked up by someone she trusted,” she says. “I believe she was taken for someone else — maybe to hurt my mom. But I also believe the truth is still out there. Someone knows. And I won’t stop until we find out.”
Anyone with information about the disappearance of Blanca “Elisa” Roberson is asked to contact the Aransas Pass Police Department or the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
Watch our entire interview with Ruby Hall in the video player above.