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It's just something that you think that, okay, this can't be real. Okay, she's gonna pop up. She'll show up and maybe an hour away, but it may be a week or two, but like this is just outrageous.

I know it happens a lot, but when it happens to you, it's just real, and you just can't believe that all these people can just disappear.

I just couldn't believe that something like this could happen. She came in this beautiful space and had just ripped away and taken from me from her grandkids.

I love their grandma so much. It's just so heart-wrenching.

In 2018, 56-year-old Terry Ackerman was living in Locke-Bouy, Colorado with her husband Dale.

Terry spent much of her time babysitting her two grandchildren whom she adored. On Thursday, August 23rd, 2018, Terry was at her daughter's home watching the kids.

She left that evening, hugging everyone goodbye, stating that she would see them again in the morning.

What no one knew at the time was that this was the last time they would see Terry.

Terry called her daughter Amber when she got home to let her know that she made it there safely.

Everything seemed fine. Later that night, Terry called Amber back again and seemed upset, but didn't go into much detail.

She said that she wouldn't be able to watch the kids the following morning. Amber never heard from her mother again.

Amarissa and from Wondery, this is Episode 295 of The Vanished. Terry Ackerman's story.

I'm Candace Dillon, host of the podcast Killer Psychie.

In our newest season, we dissect the thoughts and behaviors of the most violent figures in history. Follow Killer Psychie on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.

Or you can listen early and add free by joining Wondery Plus on Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app.

In order to understand where Terry was in life when she disappeared in 2018, we're going to take a look back at her life and the experiences that shaped who she became.

I spoke to Terry's younger sister Kim, who gave us some background information on Terry's younger years.

We are three years apart. We both were adopted. She was the first to be adopted in Spain. And then my dad was relocated to Diasir Forest Base in Appling, Texas, where they adopted me.

And then we went back to Spain and we adopted my parents adopted my 20 younger brothers and the orphanage. My sister was very nurturing. She always enjoyed playing with baby dolls, pretending like she was a mother.

And we had a pretty good relationship. She, I think, had something in her where she was always longing to locate her biological mother, who was Spanish and had actually gotten involved with the service man. And I think it was Madrid.

So that kind of haunted her a lot while growing up and she had a little somewhat tumultuous relationship with my mom. So she and my mother weren't very close, but as time went by and they shut older, they became closer when she became a mother.

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