NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — It’s been more than four decades since Veda Lou Powers left her Nashville home to start her daily morning routine only to never be seen again.

Powers was 29 years old when she vanished on May 26, 1982, leaving behind two young daughters. Her disappearance has largely been shrouded in mystery, but despite tips running dry for several years, investigators are still looking for a break in the case.

Metro Police Cold Case Detective Matt Filter reopened the case about two years ago and started revisiting the evidence to see if there might be some “little piece of information” that got overlooked. Even the smallest clue could be key in solving the 41-year-old case, he said.

“You’ve got to look at some of these old cases like this that are 40, 50 years old, and you really got to look at them hard because this might be the last shot we have in solving it,” Filter said. “10 or 15 years down the road, the odds of it ever being solved is very slim.”

‘She never went and picked up her kids’

As per her usual routine, Powers left her home on 9th Avenue South the morning of May 26, 1982, to drop her two children off at day care. She then picked up her sister and took her to her new job at the Continental Insurance Office on Murfreesboro Road.

Powers told her sister she had taken the day off from her own job at St. Thomas Hospital and was going back home to bed, but after she left, Powers was never heard from again. Her sister is still the last known person to have seen her.

“She never went and picked up her kids, or contacted anybody at all,” Filter said. “On May 28, the family finally made a missing person’s report on her, and then police got involved searching for her. May 30, they got their first big break.”

‘What they found was rather disturbing’

On May 30, 1982, her orange 1975 Chevrolet Monza was found abandoned several blocks from her home on 14th Avenue South near Edgehill Avenue. Filter said there wasn’t any particular reason for her car to be parked there, and in fact, it looked like someone had tried to conceal the car.

“It was unusual,” he said. “I don’t remember who exactly found it, but it was obviously parked there so it wouldn’t get found, at least not right away.”

When investigators looked inside the car, Filter said “what they found was rather disturbing.” Her eyeglasses had been left in the backseat.

According to her family, Powers had very poor eyesight and wouldn’t have been able to get around without her glasses.

That information has led investigators to the conclusion that foul play is “highly likely.” Filter said there’s a couple of people who police suspect may have been involved in her disappearance, but there has not yet been enough evidence to move forward with charges.

Police looking for more info from friends, coworkers

“Probably one of the biggest things that we’re looking at now looking at this case 40 some years later is there isn’t a whole lot of information that appeared to have been obtained from people that knew her back then,” Filter said.

Most known information has been provided by her family, but police believe some of Powers’ former coworkers or close friends may know more details that could help them bring her back home. Many would now be around 60 to 70 years old.

“The people that would’ve been close to her and maybe known some things about her, things that you don’t always share with your family; or you might confide in a really close friend; or might talk about with coworkers, that’s the kind of information that we really don’t have,” Filter said.

‘They missed out on having a mom’

Powers has been described as a reliable employee and devoted parent who was very close to her two children and family. At the time of her disappearance, Powers was about 5-feet 4-inches tall, weighed about 110 pounds and had black hair and brown eyes. She would be 70 years old today.

“Her daughters were very young and unfortunately they didn’t really get to know their mother all that well,” Filter said. “So, they missed out on having a mom most of their life and I think if we could at least find out what happened to her and maybe bring her home to her daughters that would at least help give them some peace.”

Anyone with information regarding the case is asked to contact the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Cold Case Unit at 615-862-7329. Anonymous tips can also be shared by calling the police department’s Crime Stoppers Division at 615-74-CRIME (615-742-7463).

“We welcome any tips at all, even if you don’t think it’s important, we would appreciate a phone call,” Filter said. “Because sometimes things that other people don’t think would be all that important end up being a big deal to us.”