Two decades later, her case remains one of the most baffling unsolved mysteries in the state.
No one knows what happened to Bianca.
Was she abducted?
Did she get lost?
Or is the answer closer to home?
Let's take a deep dive into the details of this cold case.
Background: A Troubled Childhood
Bianca Noel Piper was born on December 26, 1991, in Foley, Missouri.
She was the youngest of three children with two older sisters, Amber and Tiffany.
Their parents, Shannon Tanner and David Piper, divorced when Bianca was just a baby.
After the split, their father moved two hours away for work, leaving the girls with their mother in Missouri.
From the time she was four years old, Bianca showed signs of serious mental health problems.
By middle school, doctors had diagnosed her with severe ADHD and bipolar disorder.
These conditions made her life incredibly hard, as she suffered from sudden mood swings that could turn violent.
Without her daily medication, she would hallucinate and become disorientated.
At school, Bianca attended special education classes.
Her teachers remembered her as a sweet girl who loved to draw, but her mental health issues made learning nearly impossible.
Life a home became more complicated in 2004 when Shannon's boyfriend Jim Felt moved in.
While we don't know exactly how Jim treated the girls, court records would later show that violence was part of their family life.
At the time of Bianca's disappearance, her oldest sister Amber had already moved out and was dealing with her own troubles.
This included drug problems and multiple run-ins with the law.
Tiffany, the middle sister, had been a victim of sex trafficking, and years after Bianca vanished, she was arrested for trafficking underage girls.
These disturbing details made the family dynamics complicated.
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| Bianca Piper |
Bianca's therapist had suggested an unusual way to handle her angry outbursts.
The therapist told her mother that whenever Bianca was upset, she should drive her a short distance from home and have her walk back alone.
The idea was that the quiet walk would help calm her down.
They had tried this once before and the outcome was successful.
Bianca had returned home in better spirits after her solitary walk.
But on March 10, 2005, when Shannon used this method again after an argument, Bianca never came home.
The walk that was supposed to help her instead became the last moment anyone would ever see her.
The Day Bianca Piper Vanished
On March 10, 2005, thirteen-year-old Bianca Piper disappeared during a cold winter evening in Foley, Missouri.
After dinner that evening, Bianca refused to wash the dishes, leading to a heated argument with her mother.
Following advice from Bianca's therapist, her mother Shannon decided to use the calming technique they had tried before.
Around 6:15 PM, Shannon drove Bianca about a mile from their home.
She dropped Bianca off on McIntosh Hill Road with a flashlight, expecting her to walk back alone as she had done previously.
Bianca wore a lime green shirt under a gray Adidas hoodie, with blue jeans and white sneakers.
The straight road home should have taken her about twenty minutes to walk, but she never returned.
When Bianca didn't come home by 8:20 PM, her worried mother filed a missing person report with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department.
Tragically, that brief walk home became Bianca's last known moment.
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| Bianca Piper |
The Search and Investigation
When she was reported missing, her mother told authorities that Bianca left her daily medication at home.
She needed them to manage her ADHD and bipolar disorder and without her drugs, Bianca could experience hallucinations
This made the police start searching right away.
That same night, police officers from Lincoln County Sheriff's Department searched McIntosh Hill Road where Bianca was last been seen.
They used flashlights to check the sides of the road and the nearby wooded areas.
Neighbors came out to help too, calling Bianca's name but she was nowhere to be found.
By the next morning, the search operation became much larger.
More than one hundred volunteers from the community joined police and rescue teams to look for the missing girl.
Some search teams walked carefully through the thick woods on both sides of the road.
Others rode horses to cover more ground in the rural area.
Police helicopters flew back and forth over the search area, giving searchers a view from above that might help spot anything unusual.
Despite these efforts, Bianca's whereabouts remained unknown.
Specially trained search dogs worked along the road, trying to pick up Bianca's scent from where she had last been seen walking.
Police officers set up checkpoints along nearby roads and stopped cars to ask drivers if they had seen anything unusual the previous evening.
They handed out flyers with Bianca's photograph and description to people in Foley and surrounding towns.
Dive teams checked the creek under the bridge where Bianca's mother had dropped her off, while other searchers looked through abandoned buildings, barns, and drainage ditches in the area.
But, the search came up empty.
As days passed without finding any sign of Bianca, the search area expanded to cover more ground.
Investigators were especially concerned because they knew Bianca needed daily medication for her condition.
Without it, she could be disorientated, making it hard for her to find help.
Despite the extensive searches, nothing concrete came up.
The complete lack of any trace of Bianca - not her flashlight, not any footprints leaving the road - made investigators suspect foul play.
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| Bianca Piper |
Possible Suspects in Bianca Piper's Disappearance
Over the years, investigators have looked closely at several people who might have been involved in Bianca's disappearance but no one has ever been charged
1) Family Member: When a child disappears, investigators always look closely at the family members.
When the police couldn't find Bianca, they decided to search her home for any clues or red flags that might explain her disappearance.
Detectives searched her bedroom and talked to family members multiple times.
Both Bianca's mother and her mother's boyfriend took lie detector tests, which they passed.
Police also collected Bianca's hairbrush and other personal items that could provide DNA samples for forensic investigations.
When police didn't find evidence of a crime at the house, investigators started considering the theory that she was abducted.
However, seven months later, a domestic violence incident between Shannon and Bianca's sister Tiffany made detectives to look again.
Tiffany had called the police and reported that Shannon hit her with a curling iron during an argument.
According to police reports, the responding officers found Shannon on top of Tiffany when they arrived at their home.
Shannon reportedly became violent with the officers and they had to use a taser before they could take her into custody.
While this incident was unrelated to Bianca's disappearance, Shannon's actions that night raised eyebrows.
Due to this, police looked into the theory that Bianca was hurt by her mother that night as she was the last person to see her.
However, she was ultimately cleared by the police after passing a polygraph test.
2) Michael Devlin
The 2007 arrest of Michael Devlin brought new attention to Bianca's case.
Devlin was a local pizzeria manager who had kidnapped two boys - one missing for four years.
A special task force spent months investigating whether Devlin might have taken Bianca.
They examined his work records, vehicle history, and known movements in 2005.
While Devlin's crimes showed he was capable of abducting children, investigators found no evidence placing him near Foley on March 10, 2005, or connecting him to Bianca.
The task force dissolved in late 2007 without filing charges.
3) Sex Offenders: Investigators interviewed multiple registered sex offenders in the area following Bianca's disappearance.
One notable individual was a convicted sex offender who lived less than 5 miles from the Piper home.
Records showed he had a prior conviction for assaulting a teenage girl.
Detectives questioned him multiple times and verified his alibi for March 10, 2005.
While he remained a person of interest for several months, police ultimately found no connection to Bianca's case.
Another man police investigated was a registered offender known to frequent rural backroads in Lincoln County.
He drove a white work van similar to one reportedly seen in the area that evening.
However, after reviewing his work records and interviewing his employer, detectives confirmed he was working a construction job 30 miles away when Bianca disappeared.
Authorities also looked into a group of transient sex offenders who had been camping near the Mississippi River that winter.
These individuals were known to travel between Missouri and Illinois.
While their proximity raised initial suspicions, forensic analysis of their vehicles and belongings turned up no evidence linking them to Bianca.
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| Bianca Piper's mother |
Potential Theories About What Happened to Bianca Piper
Nearly two decades after 13-year-old Bianca Piper vanished in rural Missouri, investigators continue to examine several possible explanations for her disappearance.
1) Abduction by Stranger: Many investigators believe this theory is the most likely scenario.
The complete lack of any trace (no dropped items, no signs of struggle) suggests a quick, efficient abduction, possibly by someone in a vehicle.
This theory gained some support when serial kidnapper Michael Devlin was arrested in 2007, though no direct connection was ever proven.
The sheriff's department said they interviewed "every registered sex offender living within a 15-mile radius" in 2005.
None could be placed near McIntosh Hill Road that evening, and all voluntarily provided DNA samples for comparison against any future evidence.
The possibility remains that Bianca may have encountered an opportunistic predator not previously known to law enforcement.
However, no concrete evidence has proven this theory.
2) Got Lost and Succumbed to Elements:
Initially, authorities considered the theory that Bianca might have become disoriented and wandered off the road since she was without her medication which prevented hallucinations.
The freezing temperatures that night would have made survival unlikely if she had become lost.
However, extensive searches by ground teams, helicopters, and cadaver dogs found no trace in the surrounding woods.
Bianca's walk home was supposed to be simple - just one straight road about a mile long.
This makes it unlikely she simply got lost unless she experienced a severe mental health episode that disoriented her.
3) Voluntary Runaway: Police briefly considered this possibility but quickly dismissed it.
Bianca had no history of running away, no money or supplies, and was dependent on daily medication.
Her family insisted she had no reason to flee, and no verified sightings ever surfaced after her disappearance.
The bitter cold weather also made an intentional disappearance extremely unlikely.
4) Family Involvement: While Bianca's mother Shannon was cleared after passing polygraphs and thorough investigations, some people still speculate that she may be involved.
At the time of her disappearance, Bianca had several scars on her body including one on her abdomen.
This made some people wonder if Bianca was previously abused by her mother just like the violent incident with Tiffany.
Additionally, criminal investigators later discovered that Bianca's sister Tiffany was involved in sex trafficking when she was young.
When Tiffany was asked who her trafficker was, she refused to give investigators a name.
This raised disturbing questions about whether Bianca might have been victimized by someone in their circle.
However, law enforcement maintains there is no evidence supporting family involvement, and the complete lack of physical evidence at the home makes this theory unlikely.
Also, Shannon never stopped searching for her daughter.
Even after moving to St. Charles years later, she kept Bianca's room intact and participated in annual vigils.
This ongoing devotion and lack of physical evidence vindicated her though some online sleuths still question her story
5) Accidental Harm Followed by Cover-up:
A more speculative theory suggests Bianca might have been accidentally harmed (perhaps hit by a car) and the person responsible hid her remains.
The rural setting with its many abandoned buildings, waterways, and vast wooded areas could conceal such evidence.
However, no suspicious vehicle damage was ever reported locally, and the snow that evening would have preserved tire marks or other signs investigators might have followed.
6) Connection to Other Cases
Investigators explored possible links to other missing children in Missouri and neighboring states, particularly after Devlin's arrest.
The similar disappearance of 13-year-old Kara Kopetsky in 2007 (later solved as a murder by a boyfriend) prompted some to look for similar patterns, but no connections were found.
The isolated nature of Bianca's disappearance makes this theory difficult to support.
As the years pass without answers, these theories remain open for consideration.
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| Age progression picture of Bianca Piper |
Ongoing Efforts and Recent Developments in Bianca Piper's Case
Two decades after Bianca's disappearance, investigators continue working to solve the case.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office maintains an active file and follows up on all credible tips that come in.
In February 2023, authorities conducted a significant new search at the Piper family's former home on McIntosh Hill Road.
This suggested that the police may be considering the theory that a family member was involved in her disappearance.
Forensic teams brought in heavy equipment to completely drain and examine the property's septic tank.
Investigators collected samples from the tank contents for advanced DNA testing at Othram Labs, a specialized forensic laboratory.
While officials have not publicly released results from this testing, the effort demonstrates their commitment to exploring every possible lead with modern technology.
The case remains officially open.
Detectives periodically review the entire investigation file, looking for any missed connections or opportunities to apply new forensic techniques.
They maintain contact with Bianca's surviving family members and keep evidence preserved for future testing.
Authorities encourage anyone with information about Bianca's disappearance to contact the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office or Crime Stoppers.
Even small details about the area from March 2005 could prove important as investigators continue piecing together this puzzle.
While answers have remained elusive, law enforcement emphasizes they have not given up on finding the truth about what happened to Bianca Piper.
They continue to pursue all available avenues to provide closure for Bianca's family and solve this longstanding mystery.
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