Search continues for woman missing since October

WASILLA — Facebook posts instead of phone calls have hampered the search for a missing Wasilla High School graduate and mother of an infant child, family members said.

Jael Hamblen, 20, disappeared early in the morning of Oct. 12, leaving her now 9-month-old son, Joel, with a roommate and her car in the driveway of her Anchorage residence, family members and friends said. The last activity on her phone about 3:11 a.m., according to family members.

In the months since, someone — the obvious hope would be for it to be Hamblen — logged into Hamblen’s Skype account, said Hamblen’s mother Colleen Vague. However, instead of notifying the proper authorities, one of her Skype contacts posted the information on Facebook. Within moments of the Facebook post, whoever had signed in abruptly signed out, according to Vague.

Vague herself called police after seeing posts about the login about an hour later.

Hopefulness about that incident is somewhat tempered by the nature of the electronic log-in, Vague said.

“It could have been anybody who had her password,” she said.

Nevertheless, Vague retains a little hope about the situation.

“The detective and I have spoken about it, but I’m taking the position that no news is better than bad news,” she said.

The Skype incident echoed the early days of Hamblen’s disappearance, when several acquaintances did not contact police for 48 hours while she was missing, Vague said. Vague herself eventually filed the missing persons report.

“When I called the police, I asked if anyone else had called them,” she said. “They were like ‘No, nobody’s called.’ That’s crazy. How do you sit there and not call police? There were a lot of Facebook messages: ‘Has anybody seen Jael? She hasn’t been seen for a day and a half.’”

The weekend Hamblen disappeared is marked by a series of grim lasts. The last time Vague saw her daughter was at a family dinner before she left. The last contact she had with Hamblen was a text message the afternoon before she disappeared — a photo showing hair dyed pink for breast cancer awareness month, Vague said.

The sudden disappearance doesn’t jibe with a dedicated mother who had recently found a possible apartment on her own.

“She seemed pretty upbeat,” she said. “She was determined to be the perfect mother. The baby was an infant. She was devoted to her baby.”

Another detail that doesn’t sit well with Vague: the car.

“My understanding is that her car was at her residence,” she said. “She did not walk. It was one of the first cold nights of the year.”

Data for Anchorage show the low temperature on Oct. 12 would have been about 37 degrees, according to weather information website Weather Underground.

Because someone likely drove her away from her house, it means someone else, knows something about Hamblen’s disappearance, Vague said.

“There’s been a lot of speculation,” she said. “Police are following up with leads from people that may have talked to her. Somebody has to know something. There are people who know things, but they’re afraid. Somebody took her away from the residence.”

While the waiting continues, Joel has grown his first teeth, Vague said. He was given a clean bill of health at a recent doctor’s appointment, and appears to be developing normally. Jael’s best friend, Layn Bosman, has started a page at the popular crowd-funding website GoFundMe to raise money to help pay for diapers, wipes and other needed items. Bosman sends the money to her mother, who then buys the items and delivers them to Vague, and posts the receipts online.

Vague says she didn’t ask for the page to be created.

“Any help is nice, but I also know there are other people with immediate needs out there,” she said. “I haven’t really put out that I have requested anything. At this point, I’m doing all right.”

The page has only raised enough money ($800) to help out with small things, for now, Bosman said. If the fund took off and raised more money, the surplus could potentially be set aside for long-term things like a college fund, Bosman added.

Jael Hamblen is 5’5”, 170 to 180 pounds, and has pink hair and green eyes. Anyone with information about Hamblen’s whereabouts can contact the Anchorage Police Department at (907) 786-8900.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.