Laurie Lucas went missing in 1990 and was last seen in Aurora, Colorado, where she was residing at the Weekly Motor Inn with a man named William James Bannister. Lucas's mother reported her missing on January 8, 1991, stating that the last communication she had with her daughter was in June of the previous year. Bannister told authorities that he last saw Lucas in September or October 1990, when she left with a roofer named Mike, purportedly on her way to Texas, and he never saw her again.

Bannister's criminal history is noteworthy. In 1978, he murdered his girlfriend and served five years in prison. In 1986, April Cooper, his neighbor's six-year-old daughter, disappeared while in his care. He was later sentenced to sixteen years for attempted murder after he attempted to strangle his son's girlfriend in 1993. Bannister was finally convicted of April's murder in 1998 and given a life sentence without parole, though the child's body was never found. While authorities suspect he may have had a hand in Lucas's disappearance as well, there is insufficient evidence to charge him, and he now refuses to cooperate with the police.

Lucas's disappearance remains unsolved, and it is believed that foul play may have been involved. Unfortunately, her mother has since passed away, leaving the case without any immediate family members to advocate for answers.