Still missing! FBI joins search for missing North Carolina Starbucks employee

The FBI has joined the search for an employee at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) Starbucks who has disappeared.

Allison Cope, 24, has been missing since Monday afternoon when she clocked out for her scheduled break around 3 p.m. Her longtime friend and roommate, Sarah Kosinski, texted with her friend earlier in the afternoon asking if she had left her car registration paperwork in Cope’s car.

Kosinki told ABC News she believes her friend went to the car during her break to see if the paperwork was there.  A 3:00 p.m. badge swipe shows Cope clocked out for her break. She left with her car keys and a debit card, leaving her purse and cell phone behind.

Cope did not return from her break and was reported missing to RDU police around 7 p.m. that night.

Investigators believe Cope left the parking lot in her 2014 silver Ford Fusion. Surveillance cameras show her about an hour later at a Shell gas station in Wake Forest, about 25 miles from the airport, reports ABC News.  Law enforcement officials who have viewed the footage do not believe Cope was in distress at the time.

An RDU police spokesperson told ABC11 on Wednesday, “I can’t emphasize enough that this is a very active investigation.”

FBI spokesperson Shelley Lynch confirmed the agency’s involvement in the investigation to ABC News on Thursday.  The FBI is assisting our local law enforcement partners with the RDU airport police. It is standard practice for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement partners when we may have a technique or tool that could be useful in their investigation.”

Cope is described as having blonde hair, is 5’6” and approximately 180 pounds. She was last seen in her silver 2014 Ford Focus with the North Carolina license plate EHA 2771. Her vehicle has a window wrap for “Change of Heart Pit Bull Rescue.”

Police are asking anyone with information to call (919) 840-7510.

[Feature Photo: Police Handout]