This story was updated at 10:33 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2021, to include a comment from a Montgomery County police spokesman.
A Gaithersburg woman who went missing 19 years ago is now believed to be dead, according to Montgomery County police.
In the early morning of March 4, 2002, Ganignunt Aiemsakul — known as “Felicia” to friends and family — left her boyfriend’s house after an argument, according to police. She has not been seen since, and the case has not been solved.
In a news release Thursday, the police department wrote that it recently received a tip about the case and “detectives now believe that she is deceased.” No additional information about the tip was given.
Officer Rick Goodale, a Montgomery County police spokesman, told Bethesda Beat on Friday that police received the tip some time in 2020. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the tip and who passed it along, saying that he could not discuss details of the ongoing investigation.
Aiemsakul was 19 years old, studying at Montgomery College and working at the Red Lobster on Shady Grove Road in Gaithersburg when she disappeared, according to police.
About a month after Aiemsakul went missing, police classified her disappearance as “suspicious” because there had been no activity on her phone or credit cards, which she used frequently.
Aiemsakul’s family has created a Facebook group in her memory and to encourage the community to continue pushing for answers.
Posts in the group ask people to “help bring Felicia home and closure for her family and friends.”
“She was a daughter, sister, and friend to many!” one post said. “WE WON’T STOP UNTIL JUSTICE IS SERVED FOR FELICIA!”
Administrators of the group did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
At the time of her disappearance, Aiemsakul was about 5 feet 4 inches tall and 125 pounds. She had long black hair and brown eyes, according to police reports.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@bethesdda-remix.newspackstaging.com