'Time to get answers': Family, friends renew search for information in Windber girl's 1987 disappearance

Oct. 2—WINDBER, Pa. — Thinking of her daughter who's been missing for more than 30 years, Marcie (Smith) Vitko recently shared her grief on Facebook — which set off a cascade of events and renewed efforts to find out what happened in April 1987.

"I put her picture up and put 'I miss my baby girl,' " the Stoystown resident said.

What is known is that her daughter, Alicia Markovich, at the time a 15-year-old Windber Area High School student, left on Sunday, April 26, 1987, to visit her father, John Markovich, at his home in the 100 block of Dunn Avenue in Blairsville.

Vitko said she received a phone call from her ex-husband around 1 a.m. Monday morning to inform her that their daughter had left the house after an argument and not returned. Alicia was initially categorized as a runaway, and an investigation began.

"She had no reason to leave," Vitko said.

Vitko said her daughter was a good student and they shared a great relationship. Vitko called Alicia a teenager who enjoyed being home and loved her life.

After about three years, authorities upgraded the case to a homicide, but Vitko said no reason was ever provided. Throughout the past 34 years, not much has come to light, and it's believed Markovich is deceased.

'After all these years'

Thinking about her beloved daughter is what led Vitko to post on Facebook. A neighbor who saw the post encouraged her to renew the search.

With the help of Markovich's childhood friend, Chrissie Boyer, Vitko is renting a billboard along U.S. Route 22 in Blairsville, to be ready on Oct. 4. They hung fliers and planned a basket party to raise funds for additional efforts, and the "Alicia Markovich Remembrance Page" was established on Facebook.

"We've been doing so much," Boyer said. "We have so many people involved."

The group was able to raise more than $950 in two days to pay for the billboard to be posted for four weeks. They left the request up and were then able to collect enough for eight weeks.

A hotline was created — 814-290-0090 — and the website, justiceforaliciamarkovich.com, is live. T-shirts and other memorabilia are being created, as is a banner to be hung on the Route 56 overpass outside Windber.

"That's so great after all these years," Vitko said.

She added that the support from Boyer and the others is sometimes overwhelming.

'So many uncertainties'

To date, the only tip that has been received was a letter that was sent to John Markovich around October 2000 from a New Hampshire address with a possible location for his daughter's remains.

Vitko said police went to the home, but it was a dead end — the people living at the address had no information about Markovich and didn't even know where Blairsville was. Investigators also searched a section of the Conemaugh River that was alluded to in the letter, but they ultimately found nothing.

In 2011, another request for anyone with information to come forward was made by Pennsylvania State Police in Indiana County.

DNA evidence from Markovich's baby teeth was being studied, and the results were to be submitted to the FBI's combined DNA index.

"This will allow for any unidentified human remains to be analyzed for a positive identification," Trooper John Matchik Jr. said in 2011, according to The Tribune-Democrat's coverage of a press conference held then.

However, even then the police didn't have a suspect — although, they said, no one had been ruled out either.

"At this point, there are so many uncertainties," Matchik said. "The only thing we have is the report that she was involved with a disagreement with her father there at his residence in Blairsville. She left that residence and was walking to a friend's house, under the presumption that she would return later that evening."

Lt. Brad Shields, the Indiana state police station commander in 2011, noted at that time that Markovich "could have been a runaway that met with foul play later on, anywhere in the country."

"She could have been picked up by a truck driver," he said. "She could have been anywhere and met with foul play."

Now, 10 years later, Vitko and Boyer are still searching for answers, which is why they began consulting with Leah Altemus, owner of the Black Raven Metaphysical Shoppe in Windber. Altemus is a former out-of-state police officer who specialized in missing-persons cases. She is also a psychic-medium.

Boyer said a friend had recommended Altemus, and she and Vitko were skeptical but decided to contact her. Altemus was familiar with the case and actually had a personal interest in it.

"As a former police officer, I know something didn't sit right with this case," she said.

For Altemus, there seemed to be a lack of participation in trying to find Markovich.

"It really started to have me raise some questions," she said. "It's time to get answers."

After consulting with Altemus, Vitko and Boyer are confident that they are going to uncover answers with this push to find out what happened.

"We want this solved," Altemus said. "Everybody wants this solved."

John Markovich did not respond to a message from The Tribune-Democrat.