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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Detective Deb Soren, (360) 651-5050 Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1999 Police seek new leads in 2-year old case of missing Marysville woman MARYSVILLE - It has been two years since Lisa Noel Sledge failed to return from a night of four-wheeling with a friend on the Tulalip Reservation, and now police are making another plea to the community for help in solving Marysville’s only active case of a “missing person under suspicious circumstances.” Sledge, who was 28 at the time she disappeared, was last seen about 5 p.m. Dec. 12, 1997 after a four-wheeling outing in a pickup truck with a companion, Erik Lauren Mattison, 21, in a thickly wooded area of the Tulalip Reservation along Quilceda Way (27th Avenue NE), says Detective Deb Soren. The outing came to an end when the vehicle apparently got stuck in the mud, and she left to seek help. Mattison was questioned as one of a few “persons of interest” at the time, and was later released. He told authorities that he and Sledge arrived at the home of an acquaintance seeking help with their stuck vehicle, but were unsuccessful. Mattison returned to the house again in the early morning hours of Dec. 13, this time alone, and again asking for help that wasn’t provided. Family members reported Sledge missing on Dec. 12, four days after her birthday, and told police it was extremely uncharacteristic of the mother of two children to not have returned home or contacted someone with regards to her whereabouts. “For the sake of the Sledge family and the two children who have been without a mother for two years, we are turning our investigation toward the public once again, and are asking anyone who has information about Ms. Sledge’s whereabouts to come forward,” Soren says. Marysville Police, aided by Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office’s K-9 Unit and Search and Rescue teams conducted a thorough search of the area where Sledge was reported missing, Soren says. The truck was eventually located in a wooded area east of Marine Drive and north of Waterworks Road, stripped and believed to be stolen. Sledge is described as Caucasian, 5-feet-6-inches tall, weighing 175-200 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Seattle/King County Crime Stoppers is offering up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. If you know of Sledge’s whereabouts, please call Detective Soren at (360) 651-5050 or the Crime Stoppers line at (206) 343-2020. Callers do not have to provide their name, and all calls are confidential. # #