How Robin Murphy's 1995 disappearance still haunts her family
More than 30 years ago, 17-year-old Robin Murphy vanished after meeting up with a friend at a New York shopping center where she worked.
"I got the call. I was at work. And they said my sister never came home. And I got a gut feeling something was wrong. I felt something was off," Jamie Murphy said of his younger sister's disappearance in a new interview with "20/20."
The Carmel, New York, teen's April 9, 1995, disappearance remains a mystery to family, friends and law enforcement.
A new "20/20" episode, "Hiding Beneath The Surface: The Putnam County School Girls" airing Friday, Nov. 13, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu, follows correspondent John Quiñones as he examines multiple cases.
You can get more behind the scenes of each week's episode by listening to "20/20: The After Show" weekly series right on your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by "20/20" co-anchor Deborah Roberts.
"On April 13, four days after she goes missing, Robin's coworkers and friends organize a civilian search of the woods behind the ShopRite," investigative journalist Paul Solotaroff, told "20/20." Solotaroff is also the host of a new podcast about Murphy’s disappearance, "Bone Valley Season 6: Devil's Quarry II."
Searchers stumbled upon a work schedule and paystub belonging to Murphy. Later, her wallet and ID were found near a dumpster located behind the same shopping center.
"It was good to find something, but that was like a stab in the chest because now it's getting real," Jamie Murphy said.
Carmel police canvassed the shopping center, speaking with Murphy's coworkers and employees and friends who worked at various other businesses -- this led them to interview Howard Gombert.
Gombert worked at a laundromat in the same shopping center where Murphy was last seen. They became friends through Gombert's girlfriend at that time.
When police interviewed Gombert in 1995, he said he had met with Murphy at the shopping center for 10 minutes the night she went missing, that she then walked toward a fast food restaurant where her boyfriend worked and he returned to the laundromat. He denied knowing what happened to her.
In 2000, Gombert came onto Carmel police's radar when he was arrested and convicted for sexually assaulting his former girlfriend. He was sentenced to four years in prison. He was later also convicted of sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl in Connecticut. He was sentenced to 30 years total for the two crimes.
During a search of Gombert’s residence, police said they discovered a tan suitcase that contained Ziploc bags of various women's underwear and more.
"Cops found troves of jewelry, of ladies' handbags, of purses," Solotaroff said.
Police submitted the underwear found for DNA testing and said one was a conclusive match for Robin Murphy.
"I found out that they found my sister's underwear and that totally caught me off guard," Jamie Murphy said. "It was sickening."
Gombert denied that the underwear was his, or that he had gotten it from Murphy. As for the other items police said they seized in the search, Gombert has offered conflicting explanations over the years, including that they were acquired from a thrift store.
Carmel police publicly identified Gombert as a suspect in Murphy's case in 2000 but he was never charged.
In an email to "20/20," he denied any involvement in Murphy's disappearance. He is set to be released from prison no later than January 2027.
A multi-agency task force was recently formed to reinvestigate the Robin Murphy case. Representatives declined a "20/20" request for an interview. But the task force issued a statement stressing how seriously they are taking this case and that they understand Murphy's family wants answers.
After 30 years, Jamie Murphy hasn't given up on the possibility of finding his sister.
"You get the hope and then it knocks you down," he said. "It's an emotional rollercoaster that I don't wish on anybody."
