Two Coasts, Two Missing Nurses

Aug. 21, 2007 — -- Neither of the two nurses showed up for work. Of the similarities in the cases of two women missing on opposite sides of the country, that may be the one that most closely links the searches for Mindy Schloss and Kelly Gorham.

In each case, the woman's failure to arrive at work earlier this month was an immediate signal to family and friends that something was wrong.

Schloss, 52, failed to report to her job as a psychiatric nurse in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Aug. 5. She was last seen outside her South Anchorage home two days earlier and police believe she was the victim of foul play.

Meanwhile, three days later, on Aug. 8, the 30-year-old Gorham failed to arrive at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she works in the X-ray department while she finishes her nursing degree — an achievement that was expected after a final fall semester of school.

While there's no concrete tie between the cases, both women are now at the centers of searches in rural parts of the country where police have identified "persons of interest," are interviewing dozens of witnesses and collecting evidence that may help solve the mysterious disappearances.

Kelly Gorham — Alfred, Maine

Pauline Gorham, Gorham's mother, says there's no way her daughter would have abandoned her four dogs, who were left at Gorham's apartment in tiny Alfred, Maine, the day she disappeared. Her car was also found in her driveway.

"She would not leave them unattended," Pauline Gorham told ABC News, listing her beloved pets as a 12-year-old German shepherd, a mixed breed, a collie and a Rottweiler.

She also said her daughter would never just skip work.

A weekend ground search covered four towns and more than 250 miles of land. Items belonging to Gorham were discovered near her apartment, but it was unclear whether they were related to her disappearance, according to Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine State Police.

"We do have persons of interest," McCausland said, though he declined to say exactly who they were. Dozens of people, he added, had already been interviewed.

Her mother, meanwhile, is convinced that someone knows exactly what happened to her daughter, whom she described as "energetic, enthusiastic, bubbly and very, very conscientious."

"We're just hoping," Pauline Gorham said. "We know that someone, somewhere has knowledge of where she is."

Mindy Schloss — Anchorage, Alaska

More than 4,500 miles away in Anchorage, Alaska, the search for Schloss intensified Monday after police announced they were looking for a suspicious man caught on an ATM camera in the early morning of Schloss' disappearance.

Though careful not to call the man a suspect, police released a photo of the man in the hope that someone may identify him. The man on the video is wearing a bandana on his face, and according to Anchorage police he did not use his own bank card when making the transaction.

Schloss' red 2000 Acura hatchback was found parked on a frontage road near the airport in the days after she was reported missing.

"We suspect foul play based on the totality of the circumstances, not on a single fact," Paul Honeman, a spokesman for the Anchorage Police Department, told ABC News.

Like Gorham, Schloss was known by friends and co-workers as a reliable person with no obvious reason to take off.

"We had no indication that she had any indication of wanting to disappear or being away from others voluntarily," Honeman said.

The FBI is assisting Anchorage police with the search and flew dogs into Alaska from Virginia specifically to help hunt for Schloss. Divers entered a lake across from Schloss' home, but found no evidence of the missing woman.

Honeman said authorities hope the surveillance footage may produce concrete leads and put an end to the search.