Group spotlights Gail Palmgren case after Signal Mountain woman missing six months

Friday, January 1, 1904

photo Gail Palmgren. Contributed Photo

IF YOU GOWhat: A Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons rally that is part of the Road to Remember National Tour. The event will focus on missing Signal Mountain resident Gail PalmgrenWhen: 1 p.m. today * Where: Pruett's Parking Lot, 1210 Taft Highway, Signal MountainGoal: To raise awareness about the Palmgren case and those of other missing people

ABOUT GAIL PALMGRENGail Palmgren was last seen driving a crimson red 2010 Rubicon Jeep with a tailgate tire cover that reads "Life is Good," adorned with a daisy. She also had a personalized Alabama tag, "EAZY ST." Palmgren and her husband, Matt, owned a home near Titus, Ala., on Lake Jordan.She is 5 feet 8, weighs 135 pounds and has blond hair and brown eyes.Anyone with any information is asked to call Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at 423-209-8940.

It's been nearly six months since anyone saw 43-year-old Gail Palmgren.

Palmgren, a mother of two children, was last seen dropping her children off at her home at 40 Ridgerock Drive on Signal Mountain.

Since then, neither she nor her crimson SUV have been found.

To bring awareness to her case, members of a national missing persons organization will host a rally as part of the Road to Remember Tour. Organization members visit cities where people have been reported missing. Palmgren's case will be in the spotlight here and featured in other cities on the tour.

"We want to keep her face and name alive out there so people will hopefully come forward. Someone in the community knows something," said Monica Caison, founder of Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons, which is based in Wilmington, N.C.

On Friday afternoon, Palmgren's friends and neighbors passed out fliers in restaurants, neighborhoods and parking lots.

"I was just getting to know her," said Jennie Carroll, a neighbor. "We would go walking and we would do lunches. I miss her. When I pass out fliers, most people are like, 'I can't believe she's still missing.'"

Arlene Durham, who has a home near the Palmgrens' Alabama house on Lake Jordan, said she feels her friend is dead.

"I've felt that for months. I don't feel like she would have been away this long from her kids and be gone without contacting somebody," Durham said. "I want more media. That's what I'm hoping for. I feel like as long as we keep it in the media and as long as we have people [like Caison] coming here, it will stay out there."

Hamilton County Sheriff's Office investigators said there is no evidence of foul play in Palmgren's disappearance.

Matthew Palmgren, Palmgren's husband, has consented to searches of the couple's Signal Mountain home, their Alabama lake house, his mother's apartment and a Red Bank storage unit, but he has not given a statement to authorities.

He has placed the couple's Signal Mountain home on the market for $669,000.