Amber Whitmer: Missing in Springfield, Ohio (2016) — Case File
Everything we know about the disappearance of Amber Marie Whitmer — updated as the investigation continues
Amber Marie Whitmer
Born: May 6, 1986
Last seen: May 28, 2016 — Springfield, Ohio
Last known contact: June 16, 2016
Age at disappearance: 30
County: Clark County, Ohio
Status: Missing — reported May 9, 2017 (case no. 17-20544)
Investigating agency: Springfield Police Division — tip line 937-324-7685
Database references: NamUs MP38124 · Charley Project (Amber Marie Whitmer)
Last updated: June 15, 2026
They call Springfield the Champion City — a name forged in the clamor of foundries that once built the machines that fed the world. This is the story of its other ghosts: the lost women of Springfield. At the center of it is a single, haunting question — what happened to Amber Marie Whitmer? When she vanished in the late spring of 2016, her absence was met with a year of official indifference; she was treated not as a missing daughter but as a “known prostitute” whose disappearance was an occupational hazard. For decades, women like Amber have been vanishing from this same environment, their cases collecting dust in the cold, quiet archives of unsolved crimes. This is the case file. We will keep it open, and we will keep it current, until there are answers.
The Case File
This page is updated as each one goes live or when we have an update in the case.
The investigators’ journals
There's No Turning Back Now — Beth Donahue on how this investigation began.
We Posted 41 Names. They Came for Beth. — Jimmy Steward on what happened when we published the cohort, and what it means
The investigation
The Black Heart of Ohio — The city and the system that made Amber's disappearance possible.
A Life on the Move — Amber Whitmer's documented descent: family, addiction, and the Springfield arrest record that ends in her 2016 disappearance.
The Two Angelas — The women who taught Amber the streets.
The Lost Year — The year Springfield refused to look — and the evidence that decayed before anyone filed a report.
Have information?
If you know anything about Amber Whitmer’s disappearance — however small — submit it at tips@unsolvedohio.com. Your name will never be published without your explicit written permission.
Unsolved Ohio reports from public court records, official registries, documented media reports, on-record interviews, and open-source analysis using Artificial Intelligence and Social Network Analysis. A documented association between two people is a starting point for investigation — never proof of a crime — and naming anyone as a subject of investigative interest is not an accusation of guilt; any person not convicted of a specific crime is presumed innocent. This is an educational publication and not legal advice; read our full sourcing standard, presumption-of-innocence framing, and corrections policy in our Disclaimer.