Copperas Cove woman found safe after missing-person search in Austin

Police ended a tense cross-city search Thursday after the Austin Police Department located Chrissy Hill safe and Copperas Cove police rescinded her missing-person status. The 38-year-old Copperas Cove woman had been missing since Sunday, June 14, setting off a multi-day effort that stretched from Coryell County into Austin and drew heavy attention from neighbors, relatives and officers.

Hill’s husband, Aubrey Hill, said she left home on June 14 in the family’s 2005 white Dodge Ram 2500 with Texas license plate FFX-7663 and did not return. He also said she had gone to a nearby gas station for a soda before disappearing, a detail that helped define the early search and frame the concern around her last known movements.

The clearest lead came Tuesday afternoon, when Hill was last seen around 3 p.m. at Marlow’s Fitness in Austin, inside a strip mall on N. Cross Drive. From there, Austin police took over the locating effort and later found her safe, closing the gap between the last confirmed sighting and the final confirmation that she was alive and accounted for.

Copperas Cove police said the case drew an overwhelming response from the public and partner agencies, a reminder of how quickly a missing-person report can mobilize people in a community where family ties run deep and news spreads fast. Hill’s story resonated in part because she is a wife, a mother to a 10-year-old son and a stepmother to two young daughters, making the search personal for many who followed it in Coryell County.

For local families, the case underscores how missing-person responses can cross city lines within hours when the last known location shifts away from home. In this case, Copperas Cove police, Austin police and the public all played a role in narrowing the search until Hill was located safely, bringing relief to a family that had spent days waiting for answers.