It's been more than 24 years now and the whereabouts of Heidi Allen are still unknown.
Heidi disappeared from a convenience store in Oswego county in 1994.
A year later, Gary Thibodeau was convicted in her kidnapping.
in 2014, Thibodeau began what would be a series of appeals to overtun the conviction.
The latest reaching New York State's highest appeals court.
But, the attempt for a new trial was denied.
“The court’s opinion although split 4 to 3 was absolutely correct in all respects," said Greg Oaks, Oswego County District Attorney.
“I’m devastated and disappointed and very sad for Gary. I’ll have to go to him again with very disappointing news,” said Lisa Peebles, Defense Attorney.
Thibodeau's attorney argued that not all evidence was turned over during the first trial.
They also presented what they believed to be new evidence that pointed to other possible suspects.
“When you look at what they introduced Gary to prove his guilt the evidence that we came forward with, the new discovered evidence is 20 times more compelling and has been corroborated through various other sources..Not to mention none of the ppl who came forward had any connection to Gary....In fact some of the ppl who came forward to testify in this case had reached out to law enforcement years before,” said Peebles.
But prosecutors say the defense’s evidence was not reliable, there were no violations and there was key testimony linking Thibodeau in the first trial.
“Most notably, the defense called a witness mr. Nelson at the trial and me. Nelson testified that he had a conversation with Gary thibodeau...During that telephone call, Gary thibodeau by name indicated that Heidi Allen had been abducted from the store...At nine and 10 am of that morning, there’s no public information disclosing that Heidi Allen was the victim of that case. In fact it wouldn’t be identified that it was a store clerk until later in the day and her name was not broadcast in the media,” said Oaks.
While the court denied Thibodeau's appeal, it's still only a small win for Heidi's family whose questions still go unanswered.
“Every appeal is stressful and it takes the focus away from Heidi in the sense that she’s still missing and we don’t know where she is. It’s the unknown,” said Lisa Buske, Heidi Allen's sister.