LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Nearly two weeks after a New York woman vanished in Las Vegas, her family is grieving her death and searching for answers about how she ended up in an embankment near Harry Reid International Airport.
Alisa Goods’ disappearance has gained national attention since she went missing for nearly two weeks earlier this month. She was last seen near a CVS pharmacy near Harmon before her body was found near Harry Reid International Airport’s Terminal 1.
Alisa Goods in Las Vegas (KSNV)
Kristen Goods, Alisa Goods’ daughter, said the family was notified her mother had been found dead about two weeks ago.
“We were informed that they found my mom. And that she, at that time, was deceased,” Kristen Goods said.
NY grandmother reported missing in Las Vegas found dead, family says (Kristen Goods)
Kristen Goods spoke with News 3 on Monday, Aug. 31. August began with her mother in her life and on a trip to Las Vegas, but about a week later, she was never seen or heard from again.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Alisa Goods’ body was recovered after more than a week and a half of her being missing.
“We are still grieving. We are still hitting walls, in which, we have not learned anything factually,” Kristen Goods said.
63-year-old Alisa Goods (Kristen Goods)
The family has been receiving calls and updates from the Clark County coroner, Las Vegas Metro and others, including that Alisa Goods was last seen on airport surveillance video. The family has also learned she was seen walking on other cameras as well.
Kristen Goods said the family was told the surveillance video showed her mother appearing to struggle in the heat before going down the embankment.
“She kind of looked like she had a heat exhaustion look to her and that she sat down and she then threw her bag that she was carrying over that embankment and proceeded to take herself over the embankment. We were a little bit taken aback by that,” she said.
Kristen Goods said walking miles alone in extreme desert heat would be out of character for her mother, and the family wanted to see the video themselves. She said they received a response that did not provide access.
“We got an email that, was very generic, just basically said, ‘Sorry for your loss. The video footage has to be dispersed or be reviewed through the Aviation Department,’” she said.
The airport told News 3 that a subpoena is required to access surveillance video. Requests for video from multiple locations have run into barriers: Metro said to contact the places with the footage, CVS said it only releases footage to law enforcement, and the airport said a subpoena is needed.
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Kristen Goods said her mother was found with a fanny pack. Questions remain about her phone, which has been central to the case for multiple reasons, including concerns it may have sent texts after Goods’ death or may have been spoofed. It remains unclear whether the device was collected from the fanny pack by the coroner.
Alisa Goods Cell Phone (KSNV)
In the meantime, Kristen Goods said her family is trying to hold onto memories of her mother.
“Every day is a new memory that we want to bring back because we want to remember the happy times that we had with her,” she said.
“We are not even going to get the opportunity to have that last chance to see her as she once was as a person, as a grandmother, as my mother. We are never going to see her again,” she said.
Kristen Goods said the family has been told the autopsy report will take six to 12 weeks to be completed. That means the case, which began in the beginning of August, may not have more answers until as late as the end of November. The family providing News 3 with a GoFundMe link for viewers interested in assisting with funeral expenses and transportation of Goods’ remains. You can find that link by clicking here.
While Goods’ disappearance has made headlines, former investigators said missing-person cases are common in Las Vegas. Metro police said about 683 missing persons reports are filed in Las Vegas each month. Metro has about 100 current cold cases, a number that has been cut in half since the department made its cold case database available to the public last September. The database dates back to the 1960s. Metro’s current missing persons unit has about 10 members.
Former FBI agent Greg Rogers said cases involving adults without known health issues may not be prioritized immediately.
“A well-situated adult that does not have any sorts of mental health issues, has not told anybody they feel like they are in danger and they just come up missing for a few days, they are not going to the top of that stack,” Rogers said.
Former FBI agent Ray Johnson said adults have broad freedom to make their own decisions.
“The law allows us to look into things but also we are allowed to do what we want to do when we are adult people,” Johnson said.
Johnson also said the case likely did not have any press conferences or highly publicized search parties to avoid spamming tip callers.