Kansas City College Student Sent Cryptic Text Just Before Disappearance: ‘OMG Just Got Pulled Over Again’

Toni Anderson: Student's Death Ruled Accidental

A 20-year-old Kansas City woman mysteriously vanished early Sunday morning after being pulled over by police after work — and her family is growing increasingly worried and confused.

“None of it makes sense,” Toni Anderson’s mother, Liz Anderson, says of her disappearance. “She could be anywhere at this point.”

Toni left work at the Chrome Club shortly after 4 a.m. to meet up with a friend, Kansas City police tell PEOPLE. But she never made it.

She was pulled over at 4:30 a.m. by a North Kansas City, Missouri, police officer — a separate jurisdiction from Kansas City — for a routine traffic stop for an illegal lane change, which resulted in a warning.

She then stopped for gas, police confirm. Liz Anderson tells PEOPLE her daughter’s debit card was declined at 4:33.

At 4:42, she texted her friend, “OMG just got pulled over again.” It is not clear if she was referring to the 4:30 traffic stop or a subsequent one. She has not been heard from since, though she received an incoming call at 4:53.

The investigation is being handled by Kansas City, Missouri, police. A spokesman tells PEOPLE there are no signs of foul play, and that they believe the text message refers to the traffic stop by North Kansas City police.

But he says, “As time goes on, it is concerning.”

To Toni’s mother, the phrasing of that final text does not sit well with her.

“I don’t understand why she would write ‘I’m getting pulled over again’ in the same night,” Anderson says. “It just keeps resonating in my brain ‘again,’ ‘again’ … that’s just odd to me.”

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The day after she went missing, someone on a local Facebook community page warned other users about a person allegedly pretending to be a police officer driving around.

“I called 911 as he scared me half to death and almost caused several accidents. Who knows what would have happened had this person gotten someone to pull over and stop,” the woman writes.

“When in doubt … call 911 for verification that the vehicle is a police officer. This person clearly was not,” she continues.

Toni’s friend, Roxanne Townsend, received the scrutinized text that morning, Anderson tells PEOPLE.

“We’ve called every police station, every jail, every hospital, and no one seems to have her,” Townsend told KSHB.

‘You Can’t Imagine the Horror’

Anderson’s family, friends and colleagues are cooperating with investigators, according to police. Police say they have heard no reason to believe Toni is in danger other than the fact that she has no history of running away.

“She’s just a beautiful, smart, intelligent, hard working, kind and loving person,” Anderson says. “We just want her back home.”

Toni is a sophomore at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where she studies marketing. In her free time, she reviews music festivals around the country for blogs, Anderson says.

According to Anderson, her daughter’s 2014 Ford Focus had a tracking device that sent out pings every eight or 10 seconds for insurance reasons. On the morning of her disappearance, the tracking device sent out its final ping from the gas station.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Anderson says. “I have no clue — it’s just bizarre.”

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After several days of searching, Anderson tells PEOPLE she is choosing to stay positive for Toni’s sake.

“You can’t imagine the horror of your child missing until you go through it,” she says through tears. “You just don’t know, and we’re just trying to get her message out there, trying to get her face out there to as many places as we can.

“I’m trying to just focus on that, I don’t want to focus on my feelings,” Anderson continues. “I’m trying to be strong for my daughter.”

Toni has blonde hair, green eyes and is roughly 5 feet 5 inches tall. She was last seen driving her 2014 black Ford Focus. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is urged to call police at 816-474-TIPS.