Kathy Shaw: Exclusive Interview With North Carolina Abduction Victim

Kym L Pasqualini
8 min readApr 6, 2023
Kathy Shaw (far right) is on a mission to find a killer.
Kathy Shaw (far right) is on a mission to find a killer. Photo courtesy of Kathy Shaw.

It was the summer of 1981, Kathy Shaw, 23, was with her sister and friend in the rural county of Rockingham, North Carolina. What happened that summer haunted Kathy all her life and led her on a mission to find a monster.

Kathy and her sister were residents of Jacksonville, Florida. She and her sister drove seven hours north to Reidsville, North Carolina, to visit her sister’s friend.

It was a warm afternoon and the rain was drizzling as Kathy, her sister, and her friend approached a small tavern located at 1086 NC 65. It was loud there, with patrons yelling and cussing, and it sounded chaotic inside. Kathy turned to her sister and told her she didn’t want to go in.

Ignoring her plea to go somewhere else, Kathy’s sister and friend went inside, leaving Kathy outside. As the rain continued to come down, Kathy angrily began walking on Highway 65 to find a payphone.

As she passed a church, she prayed for God to guide her to a payphone but she was in the country and there were no houses or stores in sight. It was now getting dark.

The Abduction

As Kathy walked up the street in an unfamiliar town, she could suddenly hear the loud noise of a truck motor behind her. The truck was bluish-green but looked like…

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Kym L Pasqualini

A veteran crime victim advocate who loves to write. Founder and CEO of the National Center for Missing Adults from 1994–2010.