Andrea Knabel’s family host vigil to celebrate her 41st birthday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - A Louisville woman has been missing for years, but her family is still searching for answers.

They are using days like her birthday to keep that hope alive.

Andrea Knabel disappeared in August of 2019.

She was last seen walking between her family’s houses in Audobon Park.

Her family is still hopeful they will see her again.

Saturday would have been Andrea’s 41st birthday and her family hosted a vigil for her as they continue their search.

Celebrating another year, a life is something Andrea shared with her younger sister. While they’re not able to spend this one together, the family still has hope that they will have that chance again.

It’s been 1,243 days since Andrea Knabel’s family saw her last.

In a situation where most would have already given up hope, her father Mike says his family will continue to search.

“We sustain each other,” Andrea’s father Mike Knabel said. “We keep each other high and pick each other up when we’re not. We celebrate the family we have that’s here, the friends and the thousands of people that are praying for us.”

But it’s not always easy. Mike said the search for his daughter has reached a halt and has made their glimmers of hope, at times, harder to hang onto.

“Make no mistake, we have our down days, and usually for me it’s around holidays and birthdays and things like that. It gets really emotional,” Mike said.

Days like Saturday are emotional for Andrea’s sister Erin too.

She shares a birthday with her big sister and treats those days like holidays.

For her, including Andrea in the festivities is the only way she wants to celebrate.

“The way I feel is the next best thing to having her here with me is doing something about it to bring awareness and bring her home,” Andrea’s sister Erin Knabel said. “So this is my way of continuing to celebrate our birthday together.”

Mike Knabel said that Erin’s constant work doesn’t just stop with her sister. He said she is a part of several search organizations and has even helped a family find their missing teenager.

In the meantime, all Erin asks is for the community to keep supporting them, in hopes to one day help them find Andrea.

“Even the smallest thing you do that might seem insignificant, even something like sharing a missing poster,” Erin said. “That’s what solves missing person cases everyday is just sharing a missing poster. So I would say just keep doing what we’re doing and we see it and we appreciate it.”

Andrea’s missing persons poster has not only been across Louisville but around the country and her family says they won’t stopping spreading it until they find her.

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