Eight years later, family still searching for answers for Lauren Wallace

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - “As a mom, knowing that my child laid there for that amount of time just hurts and makes you feel like, 'Where were you? You didn’t protect your kid like you should’ve,'” says Paula Wallace who sat in a kitchen telling FOX 26 News what happened in 2010.

It was Labor Day and Lauren Wallace had just finished working a shift at her job at a local nursing home. Her mother says Lauren’s boyfriend needed a ride home from a party, so at about 10:30 p.m., Lauren went to pick him up.

Records show she did and that several hours later at 2 a.m., a tow truck driver found her car near the intersection of Normandy and the East Freeway. The driver's side door was right up against the guardrail, her wallet was inside, her phone was missing and the passenger door was open.

Paula says Lauren and her boyfriend got into an argument and that she believes when he got out of the car, she ran after him. 

“Not until around 7 a.m. did someone find her there," says Wallace. "They were getting onto the highway and saw her laying there and they called 911.” 

Now after all these years, Lauren's mother is still searching for whoever did this, putting out flyers with the help of Crime Stoppers of Houston.

"I cannot tell you the pain, grief and agony that this family is...and not just losing the 19-year-old, Lauren, just in the prime of her life, but the fact that not knowing what happened and who did it eight years still, there's still no answers,” says Andy Kahan, the director of victim services and advocacy for Crime Stoppers.

“I want the driver and I want to know what happened too, do you know what I mean?," asked Wallace. "I want the driver to come forward but I also want to know what happened on the highway. I want to know what happened.”

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward out for information that leads to arrest. If you know anything, please contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 713-222-8477 (TIPS).