Dateline: Who is Alissa Turney? Details of the 2001 disappearance, explored

NBC's Dateline aired a two-hour special episode titled 'The Day Alissa Disappeared' on June 13, 2025. The episode featured the 2001 disappearance of Alissa Turney.

Alissa Turney was a 17-year-old girl in Phoenix, Arizona, who lived with her stepfather, Michael. In May 2001, Alissa went missing from her home on the last day of her high school. While her stepfather believed that she had run to California, the police began an investigation.

The official synopsis for the Dateline episode reads as follows:

''When 17-year-old Alissa Turney is reported missing in Phoenix, it takes years before detectives treat her case as a homicide; a new investigation unearths dark family secrets.''

The Phoenix police were unable to find Alissa's body, and her case remains unsolved to this day. While her stepfather was tried in court in 2020, he was soon acquitted of the crime due to a lack of physical evidence.

More on Dateline: The Day Alissa Disappeared in our story.

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Who was Dateline victim Alissa Turney? Exploring the details of her 2001 disappearance

Alissa Turney was born in Phoenix, Arizona, to Stephen Straham and Barbara Farner. However, the couple divorced three years after Alissa was born, and Barbara remarried Michael. While Michael had three kids from his previous marriage, the couple had another child named Sarah.

When Dateline victim Alissa was nine years old, Barbara passed away due to kidney cancer, and Michael raised his children as a single parent. However, it was reported that Michael was an obsessive and insecure father who even had surveillance cameras set up to monitor Alissa's actions.

Till 2001, Alissa was in high school, working a part-time job, and even had a boyfriend named Jon.

On May 17, 2001, it was Alissa's last day of junior high school, and she stopped by her boyfriend's workshop at around 11 am. The couple had lunch, and Alissa was dropped off at home around 1 pm.

However, she was never seen again after that. Her step-father, Michael, was the last person to have seen her, who told the authorities that Alissa had run off of her own accord.

However, the Phoenix Police did not believe this story as Alissa's clothing, jewelry, car, and the $1,800 balance in her bank account were untouched.

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Dateline victim Alissa's step-father Michael, was initially found guilty of her disappearance

Since the police did not have enough evidence, Alissa's case was initially closed.

However, her stepsister Sarah and boyfriend petitioned to reopen the case in 2008, and the authorities investigated Alissa's family members. Michael was the only person who did not cooperate with the police, and it was also reported that he was verbally and s*xually abusive to his step-daughter.

On searching Michael's residence, the police found 19 firearms, two silencers, and a 98-page handbook detailing Michael’s plot to commit mass murder at his work, which made him the prime suspect in Alissa's disappearance.

Thanks to Alissa's stepsister's efforts, Michael was charged with second-degree murder in August 2020. During his trial, Detectives working on Dateline victim Alissa's case, Sarah and her boyfriend provided their testimonies.

However, since Alissa's body was never discovered, charges against Michael were dropped due to a lack of physical evidence. Even after many years, the disappearance of Alissa Turney remains a mystery.

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