LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL) — The family of a missing Texas teen believes there may be a connection between her disappearance and Brandon Scott Lavergne, the man accused of killing Mickey Shunick and Lisa Pate.

16-year-old Ali Lowitzer disappeared on April 26, 2010, in a county near where Lavergne’s white truck was found burned. Mac Sanford, a private investigator hired by the family, says he received tips from people who say they saw a white truck similar to that of Lavergne’s.

“We had two tips come in saying two separate times, both of them saying a white domestic Chevy truck with a male driver trying to lure in Ali on the side of the street where she went missing,” Sanford says.

Those tips also included pieces of a license plate number. Sanford says those numbers very closely matched those of the plate on the white truck Lavergne owned at the time.

“So from there everything just kind of started kind of falling into place,” Sanford says. “I feel really confident that we have a huge link here.”

Sanford says Lavergne frequented that area of Texas because he had family there.

The Hope for Ali; Alexandria Joy Lowitzer Facebook page says she got off the school bus the afternoon she went missing. There has been no communication with her ever since.

Lavergne will appear in court Friday morning. Assistant District Attorney Keith Stutes says the purpose of the hearing is for the “perpetuation of testimony,” indicating a witness will provide some sort of testimony.

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