Piedmont Triad's Forgotten: What Happen to Ronald Ross?

Winston-Salem, N.C. — For the past 43 years, the disappearance of Karen Scales' older brother, Ronald Ross in 1978 has been a mystery.

" I see these 40-year-old cases being solved," said Scales. "I'm staying hopeful."

Scales was 17 years old when Ross left for a trip and never returned.

Scales' told ABC 45 News that she remembers her last conversation with her brother, who was 22 at the time.

"He said, "'sis, I’m moving to Washington, DC,'" said Scales.

His sister said he got into a car with men who were all unknown to the family, and once the car pulled away, Ross was never heard from again.

"I did make a phone call," said Scales. They said, "Maybe he doesn’t want to be found, and that’s how people looked at things back then. Some people did leave home and didn’t want to be found. "

That would be the last time any effort was made to find the missing 22-year-old.

"I honestly think there’s foul play involved," said Scales. He would never just leave like that. He was a mama‘s boy. I think some things were going on that he couldn’t reveal to the family. "

Scales said her mother didn't call the police because she thought he might have wanted to start over.

"I think her faith kept her going," said Scales. I didn’t want to bring it up. At the end of the day, in hindsight, we were just hurt, but at the same time, we were still hopeful. "

But, after her mother passed away, the mystery of her brother's disappearance grew.

"I didn’t want to hurt her," said Scales. "I didn’t want to move forward with something without her consent. So I waited until she passed away. That’s when I started my quest to look for him.

In 2010, determined to find Ronald, Karen submitted her DNA and information about her brother's case to NAMUS.

Who recommended an official missing person case be filed.

"Now that we have some of the family's DNA uploaded to NAMUS, authorities in those areas can compare results in the NAMUS database," said Detective Greg Dorn of the Winston-Salem Police Department.

There's been one person of interest, an African-American man who went by the nickname of "Sparky."

However, it's believed Sparky has since died.

"I've got to keep going," said Scales. "I'm not going to stop. I will not stop looking for my brother. "