Missing Kinston mother Photos Release

Missing Kinston mother Photos Release - Laura Jean Ackerson of North Carolina was last seen on the night of July 13, 2011. According to a police report, a friend reported her missing after she failed to pick up her children from her ex-husband's house on Friday. Today Raleigh police released two new surveillance photos Friday they hope will help them find a Kinston woman who went missing more than a week ago during a visit to the capital city. The photographs — extracted from a security camera’s video recording — show Laura Jean Ackerson, 27, the morning of July 13 entering an elevator in the lobby of what appears to be an office building or apartment complex.

Investigators with the Raleigh Police Department did not identify the business where the surveillance photos were taken, but said, at the time of the recording, Ackerson wore a brown sleeveless blouse and tan Capri pants. She carried a black leather bag with white lettering and a brown Liz Claiborne purse.

Ackerson was last seen later that evening around 9:30 p.m. in her 2006 Ford Focus after she dropped off her two sons at their father’s Raleigh home. Associates said the owner of GoFish Graphic Design and co-owner of Fork and Spoon Marketing, each based in Kinston, was also in Raleigh for business.

The four-door sedan turned up in Raleigh early Wednesday morning parked near the Camden Crest Apartments complex at 5400 Summit Manor Lane with no evidence available inside to suspect foul play in Ackerson’s disappearance.

At the request of the Kinston Department of Public Safety, the Raleigh Police Department has assumed the leading role in the investigation of Ackerson’s disappearance.

Laura Jean Ackerson is described as a white female who stands approximately 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs about 135 pounds. She has brown hair and hazel eyes. Detectives noted Ackerson’s hair is believed to be shorter and darker than the photograph released at the onset of its investigation, showing her in a blue, red and turquoise blouse.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Laura Jean Ackerson or who believes they may have seen her recently is asked to contact Raleigh Crime Stoppers tip line at 919-834-4357.

Friends of the missing woman call her “reliable” and consider her disappearance suspicious. They say the mother of two has a close relationship with her children and never goes anywhere without letting others know her whereabouts.