13 Y/O Vanishes While Out For A Walk To Calm Down

Born on December 26, 1991, Bianca Noel Piper was the third daughter of Shannon Tanner and David Piper. The couple divorced in 1993, and David moved to Fredericktown, Missouri, to work as a truck driver. In 2004, Shannon and her daughters moved to Foley, Missouri, with her partner, Jim Felt.

Bianca spent part of her childhood hospitalized and had been in counseling since the age of 4. She suffered from ADHD and bipolar disorder, resulting in mood swings, aggressive tendencies, anxiety attacks, and self-control issues.

Although she had the mental capacity of a second-grader and was attending special education classes at Winfield Middle School, Bianca was a regular 13-year-old girl in many ways. She loved the color purple, Barbies, and animals, particularly horses. She was also obsessed with Hilary Duff and wanted to become a singer.

On March 9, 2005, Shannon returned home from work to find Bianca with her bags packed. She could feel herself losing control and wanted to go to the hospital. Bianca had been hospitalized in the past because her daily medication needed adjusting.

Instead, Shannon asked Bianca to try something her counselor had recommended when she felt her aggression taking over. Shannon drove her daughter to a bridge down the street from their home on McIntosh Hill, a remote and gravel road. The objective was for Bianca to walk back home by herself, giving her space and time to calm down.

The method worked. She returned home feeling much better and no longer wanted to go to the hospital.

The next evening, Bianca became aggressive when requested to do the dishes, so she asked her mother to drive her down the road again. It was 6:15 PM when Shannon dropped her off about a mile from their house.

Shannon returned home and started making dinner. Twenty minutes later, Bianca had still not returned. She began to worry and drove down the road looking for her. Along with her partner Jim, Shannon searched the area and knocked door to door, asking if anyone had seen her.

Bianca was reported missing at 8:20 PM. The 13-year-old had been carrying a flashlight and wearing tennis shoes, jeans, and an Adidas hoodie when she vanished.

At first, authorities assumed Bianca had gotten lost. She would likely succumb to the elements during the night as temperatures dropped below freezing and it was snowing.

An extensive search of Foley was conducted with the help of hundreds of police officers and volunteers. Helicopters and search dogs were also employed. After combing through 270 square miles, authorities feared the young girl had been abducted.

Shannon has come under fire for letting her agitated daughter go for a walk unsupervised — she admits it was a mistake. Shannon and Jim were questioned for several hours and passed polygraph tests. Bianca’s father, David, was also interviewed. Authorities do not consider any of Bianca’s family members suspects.

Local registered sex offenders were questioned, and their homes searched. A few child molesters, such as Michael Devlin, were looked at during the investigation, but authorities could not find any link between Bianca’s disappearance and other child abuse cases.

In May of 2005, police received a call about a domestic dispute between Shannon and Jim. She filed for a restraining order but dropped it when they reconciled shortly after.

Merely a month later, authorities were called to the family’s house. When they arrived, Shannon was on top of her 18-year-old daughter, Tiffany, holding her face to the ground.

Tiffany, who had a large bump on her forehead, told police her mother had hit her with a curling iron and threatened to tie her up and lock her in a bedroom. She tried to call the police, but Shannon ripped the phone from the wall.

Shannon claims the argument started after Tiffany had thrown a glass dish at her. Suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, Tiffany had stopped taking her medication. Shannon says she was trying to prevent her daughter from harming herself.

The 38-year-old mother did not follow authorities’ orders. She shoved one of the officers and reached for a piece of broken glass. Only after the officer tased her did she comply.

Shannon was charged with domestic assault and sentenced to two years probation. Her 15-year-old daughter, Amber, moved in with her grandmother.

Authorities do not believe these incidents are related to Bianca’s disappearance.

In 2012, Tiffany Piper was arrested for selling two high school girls for sex. The 22-year-old had been sold into prostitution when she was younger and was now managing an elaborate sex trade. She would place ads online and invite men to meet young girls at a St. Peters Extended Stay America location.

St. Charles County Prosecutor Tim Lohmar elaborated on the situation,

“There’s a spectrum in these cases where someone can go from victim to perpetrator and that’s what we have in this case. At some point she was no longer a victim in this case, because she perpetrated the same crimes that were perpetrated upon her.

Anytime you have an operation like this that is fairly complex, you always have different roles, different participants. Her role in this particular case, she was the enforcer as you said. She is the person who made direct contact with the girls who were working with her as a prostitute. She made contact with the customers, so to speak, so she was definitely the face of the organization.”

Tiffany refused to tell authorities the name of those who had forced her into the sex trade. She was sentenced to eight years in prison. Her accomplice, Demond Day, was sentenced to five years.

51-year-old David Piper passed away in 2009 from a heart attack. Shannon and Tiffany are still searching for closure and try to keep Bianca’s name out there,

“Whether we pass out fliers or sit at home and grieve, we still have to go through the emotion of what the day is, and I’d rather be out there trying to make sure everybody remembers her.”

Bianca has been missing for 17 years. If alive, she is now 30 years old.