USPS Driver Vanished on Her Route in 1997 — 7 Years Later, the City’s Canal Gets Drained…

The morning sun was already hot over the Rio Grande Valley as Irene Martinez adjusted her blue USPS cap and climbed into her delivery truck. Seven years—she thought, as she did every morning—seven years since her sister Colby disappeared on the same route, leaving nothing but questions and a house that felt too big for one person.

Colby had been the ambitious one, a nursing student just two semesters from graduation, pregnant and planning a new life with her boyfriend, Robbie. That Saturday in 1997, she’d left the house in her uniform, smiling, excited for the future. She never came home. No body. No evidence. Just an empty mailbox and a sister’s aching heart.

Irene had tried to keep going, but the weight of not knowing was too much. She dropped out of school, took Colby’s full-time USPS job, and slipped into a routine that felt like sleepwalking. Every day, she retraced her sister’s steps, haunted by the same streets, the same mailboxes, the same memories.

Then, on a sweltering June morning in 2004, everything changed.

The Canal Gives Up Its Secret

Irene’s radio crackled as she sorted mail at a gas station. “Irene, call base immediately. Use the Chevron payphone.” Her supervisor’s voice was tense. Hands trembling, she dialed. “Irene,” he said, “the police just found a USPS bicycle in the city canal. They think it might be Colby’s.”

The world tilted. Irene barely remembered the drive to the canal, where yellow tape cordoned off the muddy banks. Detective Ray Ooa, older but still sharp, met her by the water. City workers had drained the canal for overdue maintenance—the first time in years anyone had seen the bottom. Wedged in the silt was a blue USPS bicycle, its frame caked in mud, but the mail baskets and faded logo were unmistakable. Colby’s bike.

Robbie arrived, breathless, his face pale with old pain. “Seven years,” he whispered, staring at the bike. “It’s real now.”

Detective Ooa was clear: “This is the first real lead we’ve had. We’ll keep you updated.” Irene’s supervisor offered her time off. She nodded numbly, feeling both hope and dread for the first time in years.

A Ghost in the Surveillance Footage

That afternoon, Irene visited Robbie’s house to collect Colby’s things—boxes of nursing textbooks, baby clothes, and memories. Robbie’s new girlfriend, Josephine, was moving in, her pregnancy obvious beneath her blouse. Irene felt a pang, but helped with the boxes anyway. Josephine handed her a package to mail—addressed from her old apartment at 4782 Industrial Boulevard.

Just as Irene was leaving, Detective Ooa called. “We found old traffic camera footage from 1997. You need to see this.”

At the station, Irene watched grainy video of Colby, in uniform, wheeling her bicycle into a building on Industrial Boulevard. She never came out. Hours later, a hooded woman—taller, with long, wavy hair—pushed a USPS bike out the door and toward the canal. The camera caught her dumping the bicycle in the water.

“Who is she?” Irene asked, her voice shaking.

“We intend to find out,” said Detective Ooa.

Suddenly, Irene remembered Josephine’s package—the sender’s address matched the building in the footage. Her heart pounded as she rushed to the apartment, package in hand.

A Web of Lies Unravels

At 4782 Industrial Boulevard, the building manager, Dolores, confirmed Josephine had lived there for years—once with long, wavy hair, now cut short. Security footage from 2000 showed Josephine in the same oversized hoodie as the canal footage. Dolores, visibly nervous, tried to brush it off, but the pieces were falling into place.

Detectives called Robbie and Josephine, but both phones went to voicemail. They’d missed their OB/GYN appointment. A neighbor reported seeing them leave in a hurry. The police issued a BOLO and searched both their home and Josephine’s old apartment.

Irene returned home, only to find her front gate open and the door ajar. Inside, she found Josephine hanging from a rope, struggling, and Robbie unconscious on the floor, drug paraphernalia nearby. Irene cut Josephine down, saving her life as paramedics and police arrived.

Among Josephine’s belongings, they found Colby’s keyring and a chilling suicide note: “You’ll spend the rest of your life wondering, just like I did. Enjoy your nightmare.”

The Terrible Truth

Under pressure, Dolores confessed: Josephine had been obsessed with Robbie, jealous of Colby’s happiness. On that fateful day in 1997, Josephine lured Colby to her apartment under the pretense of a package pickup. She killed Colby, with Dolores helping to cover up the crime. They buried the body in the mountains, but three years ago, Josephine dug up the remains, keeping Colby’s bones in an urn as a twisted trophy.

The package Josephine had given Irene to mail—addressed to her mother in Colorado—contained Colby’s uniform, her sun hat, her mailbag, and the urn with her ashes. She was trying to erase the evidence, to finally move on with Robbie and her unborn child.

Aftermath

Josephine survived her suicide attempt and was arrested, as was Dolores for her role in the cover-up. Robbie, who had loved Colby and struggled to move on, was left shattered but alive.

For Irene, the nightmare was over—but the pain remained. She finally had answers. She could lay her sister to rest, and justice would be served for the woman who had haunted her every day for seven years.

As the sun set over the Rio Grande Valley, Irene sat by Robbie’s hospital bed, keeping vigil. She promised herself and Colby that she would see this through, that Josephine would pay, and that, at last, Colby would have peace.

Sometimes, the truth doesn’t set you free. Sometimes, it just lets you finally mourn.

What would you have done in Irene’s place? Would you have kept searching, or tried to let go? Share your thoughts below.