Updates On This Missing Mom Have Been Few & Far Between — But Not For Long

Kristal Anne Reisinger missed her daughter's first day of school. There are no "first day" photos of Akasha, now about six years old, with Reisinger hugging her tight before a tearful drop-off. That's because the young mother has been missing for over three years. Even worse? There hasn't been a single update regarding her mysterious disappearance since Nov. 2018. But the investigation into what happened to Reisinger hasn't stopped thanks to true crime podcast host and producer, Payne Lindsey, who promised an update is on the way.

"It's a case that we are still very closely tied to. I mean, the CBI called me yesterday," Lindsey told Romper during a phone call in late October, referring to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. "Things have been happening behind the scenes. Even though there hasn't really been any podcast updates, we've been furthering the story quite a lot this whole year, and we have been documenting it."

Reisinger was 29 years old when she vanished without a trace in July 2016, leaving behind her beloved daughter. At the time of her disappearance, Reisinger was living in the small town of Crestone, Colorado, (known for its "hippie" culture), where her landlord was the first person to contact authorities after noticing Reisinger's unusual absence. When police came to investigate the apartment, they discovered several personal belongings were left inside — including her cell phone.

For the second season of Up and Vanished, Reisinger's disappearance took center stage as Lindsey and the Tenderfoot TV team dived into the case hoping to uncover what happened to the missing mother. Several of Reisinger's family and friends were interviewed for the podcast, fully supporting Lindsey and his team as they headed to mysterious Crestone to investigate. The last place anyone saw Reisinger was at a Full Moon Drum Circle gathering on July 18, according to several residents. After that, the trail to finding Reisinger went cold rather quickly.

"There's going to be an update that people probably aren't expecting," Lindsey said, though he wasn't clear on whether or not that meant new episodes of Up and Vanished were on the way.

Lindsey and the Tenderfoot TV team have been busy churning out hit podcast after hit podcast since the success of Up and Vanished, including To Live and Die in L.A., Culpable, Sworn, Insomniac, and Monster. Even though Up and Vanished hasn't been updated in nearly a year, Lindsey told Romper that it is still very much on the table for a third season. They just haven't found the right story to tell yet.

"I think that Up and Vanished is a really powerful thing, and we feel like we should totally do a season three," Lindsey said. "We still get sent hundreds of cases all the time. So we're keeping our eyes and ears out there for a potential season three case."

While waiting for updates on Reisinger's disappearance, you can listen to Tenderfoot TV's latest podcast, Radio Rental, also hosted by Lindsey. The new podcast, released on Halloween, is all about the chilling true stories of everyday people... whether they experienced a close call, something supernatural, or something else.