KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City woman whose remains were found this month was preparing to be an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, court documents say.
Family reported Abbi Schaeffer missing on May 30, 2022. She was last seen on May 23, 2022. At the time, police released an image from video footage showing the 22-year-old just before she disappeared.
Then on April 1, 2023, Kansas City police were called to the area of 95th and Blue River Road where someone discovered human remains. They were soon identified as Schaeffer’s.
Newly released court documents have now detailed more about the days leading up to and the circumstances of her disappearance.
According to a search warrant application from June 2022, Schaeffer’s mother last saw her on May 22 or May 23 and spoke to her via text message on May 24.
When her mother reviewed surveillance footage, she discovered that multiple times on May 23, Schaeffer left the home, walked toward the street, then later returned.
Around 6 a.m. May 23, Schaeffer’s mother saw a gray BMW parked across the street. Schaeffer went to make contact with the driver but later went back inside, repeating this several times.
Just after noon, she went out to the car again — but this time she didn’t go back inside. It’s not clear when the BMW drove away.
Court documents say Schaeffer told her mother she was involved in a federal investigation involving drugs. At the time, her ex-boyfriend was in jail on drug charges.
Schaeffer’s mother told detectives she was preparing to speak to the FBI about others involved in the drug ring. KCPD contacted the agency, who confirmed there was an ongoing investigation.
FBI agents said they believed the gray BMW belonged to an associate of Schaeffer’s boyfriend, and data showed the car’s license plate pinged in several areas of south Kansas City.
Schaeffer’s mother also used the Life360 app to determine the last known location of her daughter’s cell phone. When police checked the south KC apartment where the phone pinged, the tenant said he had just moved in after his sister — the girlfriend of the BMW owner — moved out.
Police also found Abbi’s cat at the same apartment building.
When Kansas City police located the gray BMW, the owner and his girlfriend both initially denied to officers that they knew Schaeffer. But the man later said knew the 22-year-old through her ex-boyfriend.
The man said he went to check on Schaeffer at her ex’s request — but left her home alone, court records say.
KCPD detectives’ search warrant requested to search the gray BMW and seize any cell phones or other evidence.
Before Schaeffer’s body was found, the driver of the BMW and the woman left the state, The Kansas City Star reports. The man was charged last year in Florida with one count of participating in a conspiracy to distribute fentanyl.
Last week, Kansas City police told FOX4 they are considering Schaeffer’s case as a death investigation and are working with the medical examiner’s office to determine cause of death.
No one has been charged in her death at this time.
