Jessica O’Grady disappeared nearly 20 years ago, but investigators are still hoping to find her body

It’s been nearly 20 years since Jessica O’Grady was last seen or heard from, but authorities say in a new interview with PEOPLE that they still intend to continue searching for the aspiring teacher who disappeared the night she planned to tell her husband that she was pregnant with their child.

“Although this case is closed, we are still searching for the remains of Jessica O’Grady,” Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Henson confirmed in a recent interview with PEOPLE. “We hope to continue to receive tips and leads from the public with information they may know in order to bring closure to the family and return Jessica’s remains.”

PEOPLE are remembering the 2006 case as it gained attention on social media nearly two decades later. Here’s what happened.

The night Jessica disappeared

O’Grady, a 19-year-old restaurant worker, disappeared late on the evening of May 10, 2006, after driving to visit a colleague with whom she had recently become romantically involved. The teenager was on her way to tell then-Omaha Police Detective Eric Nordby, a co-worker, Christopher Edwards, that she was pregnant with his child. said in an interview in 2019.

Court records showed O’Grady texted her longtime friend Keri Peterson moments before she disappeared: “No tricks for Jessica,” she wrote to Peterson, who told Peterson in a Nebraska courtroom during Edwards’ trial in 2007 that it was a coded message that meant she wasn’t planning on having sex that night.

In a 2019 interview with the U.S. Army website, Nordby said he interviewed Edwards about O’Grady’s disappearance shortly afterward, initially believing the missing woman’s boyfriend was helpful. But then he began suspiciously deflecting questions and making false statements about their interactions that night.

“He claimed that he and O’Grady decided not to meet on the night of May 10,” Nordby said. – He said that she did not come to his house. On May 11, he sent her a text message to find out why she did not come.”

But phone records showed that O’Grady’s last phone call was an outgoing call to Edwards on the evening of May 10, and that Edwards never texted O’Grady the next day, as he claimed to police. Nordby then helped search Edwards’ home, finding bloody towels hidden in trash bags in the garage and blood trails all over his bedroom that had apparently been washed away.

Edwards was involved with another woman

Investigators later discovered that Edwards was involved in another serious relationship at the time records from the Nebraska Supreme Court. According to the court order, Edwards met Michelle Wilkin in 2005 and she became pregnant in January 2006, about four months before O’Grady disappeared on the night she planned to tell him she was also pregnant with his child.

Wilkin once asked Edwards why he was being investigated in the case of O’Grady’s disappearance, and Edwards admitted that he had slept with O’Grady. At trial, Wilkin testified that Edwards told her that “at some point he heard (O’Grady) was pregnant,” according to state Supreme Court records. “But Wilkin said that Edwards told her that after Wilkin and Edwards discussed marriage, he met with O’Grady at his home to tell O’Grady that he and O’Grady would no longer be in a relationship.”

Local KMTV reported that a year later, Edwards was found guilty of murdering O’Grady and sentenced to 100 years in prison. However, Edwards refused to cooperate with investigators, who have yet to find O’Grady’s remains nearly two decades later.

The search for O’Grady’s body continues

In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Sheriff Hanson said that investigators “do have a strong suspicion as to where Jessica’s remains are, however, based on a lot of factors in this area, it’s virtually impossible for them to be where we suspect they are. “.

“We hope that as time goes on, the quality of ground and concrete radars will improve, that this technology will also improve so that we can confirm or disprove our suspicions once and for all,” the sheriff added, noting that the location where researchers believe the O’Grady’s remains, “are physically unavailable for many reasons.”

“This will require a very specific and high-tech ground and concrete radar presence,” the sheriff added. “Now we’re hoping that the technology will exist, and if it does, we’d love to have any private entities that would be willing to approach the sheriff’s office and offer their services.”

Nearly 20 years later, Edwards has exhausted all possible appeals against his prison sentence, the sheriff said. However, Hanson said the convicted murderer has so far shown no interest in cooperating with investigators to tell them where O’Grady’s remains are.

“Obviously, if Christopher Edwards wants to help the family get closure on this matter, we’d be happy to take his testimony on that so we can do that,” Hanson said.

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The sheriff adds that investigators have reason to believe that others besides Edwards know where O’Grady’s remains may be. “There’s always reason to believe that,” the sheriff said, noting that his office continues to “receive anonymous or known tips” and hopes to hear more.

“That would be very helpful,” Hanson added. “So the public needs to know they are safe if they want to contact the sheriff’s office and help bring closure to the O’Grady family. They can call our tip line at 402-444-6000 and contact Omaha Crime Stoppers.”