Family friend helped solved decades old missing persons case

PRINCETON, N.C.

Angie Toler was last seen by her Johnston County family in 1992 before she moved to Virginia with her boyfriend. For decades, her family had no idea what happened to her until a family friend was in the right place at the right time.

That family friend is the supervisor of the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons. She happened to spot a picture that looked like Toler among multiple pictures of unidentified victims which were flashing across a screen during a presentation.

Even though it wasn't the same as the picture of an unidentified woman found dead along train tracks in Virginia, Nona Best knew that the dead woman was Toler.

"In just a split second, a couple of seconds maybe two, I saw it and then it was gone," said Best. "I kind of got myself together and said, 'I really think it's her.'"

Best spotted the picture during a presentation on the new NamUs program that helps connect the families of the missing with law enforcement working unsolved cases.

She contacted Toler's family, collected DNA and found out just last week that the woman discovered in Virginia nearly 20 years ago was indeed Toler.

While the confirmation is providing her family some closure, her sister told ABC11 this weekend, she still has questions about her death.

"There hasn't been a time that goes by that I don't think about her," said Toler's sister, Cora Prince. "I really miss her. And for her sake, I just want justice to be served for her sake."

Toler had moved to Virginia with her boyfriend, who later returned to North Carolina without her and without any information for her family.

Meanwhile, Best feels she was in the right place at the right time. She believes NamUs is the right tool to help other families of the missing to finally solve their case.

"If we can get family members and law enforcement to use the system and submit the DNA, maybe we can get a name to a lot of unidentified," said Best.

Prince said the family will hold a memorial service this Sunday at 4 p.m. at Haskins Funeral Home in Goldsboro.

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