Journey back to 1970, Richard Nixon was in office as the Vietnam War was still going strong with protesters marching in DC with their signs held high hoping it would make a difference and bring the War to end bringing their family members home safely. The first Boeing 747 would take off headed from New York to London carrying 332 passengers and 18 crew members. If that’s not your jive maybe heading out to the disco in your go go boots and hotpants or bell bottoms dancing the night away to Staying Alive, Boogie Oogie Oogie or Ring My Bell is. After the disco, hop in your Ford Torino and listen to some Iggy Pop, Ramones or The Clash while heading home to enjoy some pineapple chicken or that leftover pasta primavera while catching the latest episode of Soul Train before nestling in your bed for a sweet slumber. One young woman would not get the luxury of that as her life was taken on a brisk September night, changing the lives of those involved forever.
Georg Ann Reiter was born on November 8, 1948 to parents George and Joan, Georg and was a twin to Geo Ann and had an older brother George III. Growing up Georg Ann was considered a tomboy; she loved to go camping and play softball, her brother said she was a natural musician; she could pick up any instrument and play it. As Georg Ann grew into a young lady she would graduate highschool and begin her journey into adulthood getting a job but still making time to play on adult softball leagues in the Hamilton, Ohio area. In August of 1970 George III would come home from the Vietnam War and get to spend just over a month at home before tragedy would strike their family.
Park along OH-128 in 1970
On Wednesday September 8, 1970, Georg Ann and her friend Melvira were cruising in her cherry red dodge charger when the pair pulled over at a roadside park off SR 128 in St. Claire township around 11 pm. Some articles say the pair pulled over to get a drink of water. However, it is unclear what actually made them pull over or why, but this area was known as a popular hangout for young adults at the time. The roadside park is no longer there today. As the friends were sitting in the vehicle a man approached and according to Melvira he knocked on the window with what appeared to be the butt of a rifle telling the women to get out of the car because he was going to take it and he needed the keys. Georg Ann and Melvira would exit the vehicle however in a frantic state Melvira dropped her keys in the gravel. The man who Melvira said was dressed in a button up collared shirt with a sports jacket which were popular at the time told the girls to get to the back of the car, when they did he asked for the keys. Melvira told him she had dropped them, this upset the gunman and he ordered the two women to walk towards the back of the park area which was much darker than where they were. According to Melvira the gunman yelled out to someone over by a tree telling them to get over here and help him, indicating he had an accomplice. It is unclear if Georg Ann or Melvira saw another person that night. After the gunman yelled for his accomplice, he began shooting at the women. He would hit both Georg Ann and Melvira in the back as they were walking. Melvira passed out from the gunshot wound to her back. She would come too; however she did not know how long she had been unconscious. She began to look for Georg Ann but could not see her friend, however she heard Georg Ann moaning in agony. Melvira saw her car was still there with the headlights still on. No longer seeing the gunman, Melvira got up and headed to her car as she knew she had to get help she began looking for her keys. Once she found them, she got in her vehicle and drove out onto 128 where she saw headlights and flagged down a semi-truck. Melvira would tell the truck driver what happened, and he would go to the roadside park telling her to face her car with the headlights pointed in the direction of where Georg Ann was heard, once they had found her the truck driver helped Melvira place her in the passenger’s side of the dodge charger. It is unclear why the truck driver did not place her in his truck and take her to the hospital. Once in the car Melvira would drive to Mercy Hospital in Hamilton the truck driver followed her there however Georg Ann was pronounced dead on arrival.
The call would be placed to her family who were in shock and devastated. Her brother George III recalls thinking how he was in the war being shot at daily and had made it back home only to have his sister taken from him by a bullet. The news hit hard. The family wanted to know who did this and why. Georg Ann was a kind woman with no enemies so who could have done this. An investigation was underway.
Composite Sketch of man seen that night.
Melvira would survive her bullet wound and after many surgeries and a long stay at the hospital she would recover. The police would go on her description of the gunman and bring a sketch artist in to draw a composite of the man. Melvira’s account of that night was what police had to go on until a witness came forward. A bit after 11 pm the witness was on his way home from work at Fernald, a local factory when he saw Melvira’s vehicle parked with the lights on and a man pacing close by dressed in a sports jacket or suit. When the police checked this out it was said there was a wear pattern on the grass as if someone had been walking back and forth. Could this witness have seen the gunman that night? It is possible however all the BCSO have to go on is a handwritten interview done in 1970 and are unable to reinterview him as he has since passed away along with the truck driver who helped Melvira that night.
The police never recovered the rifle and in the old reports it says it was a newer .22 model. The police were able to recover shell casings from the scene and retrieve the bullets in Georg Ann and Melvira however to date nothing has come from this. As the years pass by the case continues to grow colder. With only what Melvira has told them some people including law enforcement do not believe it adds up. Some believe it sounded like the plot of a movie then and now. Some have questioned if there was even a man there that night? Georg Ann’s brother is not so sure. He believes his sister was involved in a lesbian love triangle and was lured or taken to the roadside park that night. It was a different time and same sex relationships were not viewed as they are today so when George III heard this he did not believe it at first but over time he believes his sister was involved in some sort of love triangle and she lost her life over it. If this is the case, who was the person that fired the gun if not the man Melvira described to police. Was there a third person in the park that fateful night and if so who was it?
Georg Ann’s case has been reopened a handful of times in the hope that someone would come forward with new information. That has not happened yet. Melvira now lives in Florida and when police went to reinterview her, there she clammed up and didn’t want to talk about the events of that horrible night. It should be noted that over the years she has maintained the same story she originally told police back in 1970. It is possible Melvira doesn’t want to talk about the incident as it would bring up all the awful memories of so long ago or is it that she was viewed as a suspect by police and others in the community for so long she doesn’t feel she needs to talk about it to anyone anymore.
Another photo of the park.
As in most cases there were rumors going around and one of them was that a small argument had taken place between some of the women on the softball team, could this have been what led to the killing of Georg Ann? Were these the women involved in the love triangle that caused a family to lose their daughter and sister. It is unclear if there was a love triangle or if a man really did want to steal Melvira’s car that night. It is a bit odd that the car was left behind. Some believe it is because the gunman could not find the keys Melvira had dropped. However when Melvira went for help she seemed to locate the keys very easily. Is it possible she never dropped the keys and only wanted the man to think she had that night?
Over the years someone has lived with the grief of knowing what really happened that September night, and as time goes on police believe a deathbed confession is what it will take to solve this case. Georg Ann’s parents and twin have passed away and her brother hopes to know what happened and see his sister’s case solved before he passes away. If you have any information, no matter how small please help give this family closure and call Det. Dan Turner at 513-785-1238.
Journey back to 1992 a time when technology was in its infancy with the 2G mobile phone being launched and allowing the first sms text to be sent. Not everyone was as savvy back then as we are now with handheld devices and most kids and teens were not glued to their cell phones and instead they were living life outside enjoying the outdoors and hanging with friends at the mall rocking their new styles whether it was bright and colorful or grunge. There was a sense of freedom that came with being out cruising in your parents Ford Taurus drinking the all new Arizona Tea and cranking up your favorite tunes on the ride home to enjoy some hot pockets and catch an episode of Roseanne before tucking yourself into a slumber and getting up to start all over again in the morning. Leigh Occhi would not get to experience all this with her family or her friends as she vanished one morning during a tropical storm never to be heard from again.
Leigh Marine Occhi was born on a Honolulu, Hawaii military base on August 21,1979 to parents Donald Occhi and Vickie Felton. The pair had met in Montgomery, California at The Defense Language Institute Center where they were both stationed at the time. Vickie was there studying Korean as she was already a trained interrogator, she was highly intelligent, and the pair hit it off. They were married in 1978 the marriage would only last until 1981 when the pair divorced citing irreconcilable differences as the reason. When asked in an interview to elaborate on this Donald would not. After the divorce Donald would go overseas for the military while Vickie went back to Tupelo, Mississippi where her parents lived and set up roots with young Leigh in tow. Leigh who was growing everyday loved horses, pizza and playing. She was a friendly child and did not know a stranger. Vickie would eventually meet a man and remarry now Leigh would have a stepdad whose name was Julian Barnette Yarborough Jr. who went by Barney. They would move to a home located on a nice cul de sac on Locust Drive in Tupelo. Here Leigh would ride horses just up the road and go to the local pool daily in the summer where she would meet her first boyfriend Jordan Morris who was eleven turning twelve when Leigh turned thirteen in 1992. The kids would talk nightly on the phone and talk about what happened at school that day as Jordan attended a different school than she. He always wanted to talk to her but found it odd that her mom would only let her talk for ten minutes before she had to be off phone, however Jordan could call back, and she could talk for another ten minutes. This was odd he thought but he loved talking to her, so this was ok with him. In an interview Jordan recalled one time being on the phone with Leigh and she was crying. He asked her what was wrong and all she would tell him was she was afraid of Barney he asked why but she would never tell him. By this time teachers and classmates had noticed her coming to school with bruises and one time a black eye, Leigh would always tell them it was from the horses, and everyone knew how much she loved horses and how often she rode so they assumed she was telling the truth. This had gone on for a while and while some kids would question this nothing was ever done to find out what was really going on in the home.
Leigh would see her dad on occasions and he would ask her how things with her mom were and she would always tell him fine. However Donald knew something was not right. He would say in an interview that Leigh never told him how her mom or Barney treated her because she knew he would be in jail. He also said it was like she wanted to tell him what was going on but just wouldn’t as if she had been told not to. He knew Vickie had a temper and was an extreme neat freak on top of that she was strict with Leigh. There was not too much he could do about Vickie but he did tell his daughter if anything was wrong or she was being mistreated at home to let him know and he would take care of it. Leigh would never mention anything she was going through at home to him or anyone, it was almost like she knew not too.
Leigh would turn thirteen on August 21,1992 and to celebrate she had a party where she got new clothes and undergarments. She was happy and excited to be a teenager now. Little did she know just six days later she would vanish from her home changing the lives of everyone who knew and loved her.
Vickie and Barney had separated shortly before Leigh’s birthday, he had moved out of the family home, very little is known about Barney who is now deceased. Hurricane Andrew was making its way to land that week and by August 26th it had reached Tupelo now classified as a tropical storm. Heavy rain was coming down and Leigh hated storms so that night she slept in the bedroom with her mom. The next morning Vicki had to go to work a short 15 minutes away, so Vickie awoke at 6:45am where she saw Leigh was still asleep, she went on to get ready and by 7am she was outside getting the morning paper and waiting on Leigh to join her for breakfast. Around 7:35 am Vickie would leave for work, this was the first time she claims Leigh was ever home alone. Some neighbors would come forward and say that Leigh was left on her own a lot at home this was not the first time. Leigh had plans of her own that day even with the torrential downpour she had planned to go to the open house at school as it was almost the start of a new school year. Her grandma would be coming by later that afternoon to pick her up and attend with her and they had plans to go to Taco Bell for dinner, something Leigh was super excited about. However, those things would never happen because by 8:30 am Leigh was nowhere to be found.
Vickie was apprehensive according to her about leaving Leigh especially in the storm. Vickie would arrive at work around 7:50 am and by 8 am she heard on the radio there were tornado watches which prompted her to call home to check on her daughter. Vickie would call, let the phone ring twice, hang up and call back. This was their special ring to know it was Vickie calling, many think it seems odd to have a special ring if this was the first time she was ever left alone. Vickie got no answer, this worried her. She would then leave work and go home to check on Leigh arriving around 8:30 am some accounts say 8:45am. Many have claimed this to be an odd behavior many would say why go back home to check on your daughter so soon after you left or why even go to work if you are that worried, but if she was strict she was probably overprotective as well and wanted to make sure Leigh was ok and the storm had not frightened her to much.
When Vickie arrived home, she noticed the garage door was open and the light on meaning someone would have just opened it prior to her arriving, although Vickie has said she is not certain if she shut the garage door that day she just could not remember. Vickie would head to the front door to find it was unlocked. She would go inside and call out her daughter’s name, there was no response then she saw blood on the walls and on the carpet, she looked around for her daughter everywhere but found no sign of Leigh. It would be around nine am when Vickie called the police to report Leigh missing.
The police would arrive on scene fairly quickly and discover no sign of forced entry and that there was blood on the hallway carpet that was pooling and still wet, they would discover Leigh’s nightgown with blood on the upper half in the laundry hamper and the master bathroom appeared to have blood on the sink but it looked as though someone tried to clean that up with a rag, the rag was never located. The police would also locate blood and hair on the door frame by the kitchen. The blood was O positive the same as Leigh’s. The police stated it looked as though someone had sustained an injury and it was more than likely Leigh. As extensive of a search that could be done during a tropical storm took place with bloodhounds being brought in to try and track Leigh but because of the storm they were unable to pick up anything. What had happened to Leigh police wanted to find out but that would prove more daunting than they first thought.
When Donald got the call from Vickie two days after Leigh was reported missing she downplayed the situation not telling him of the blood found in the home she just said Leigh was missing, he would tell her she will be back thinking maybe she had run away because of her mom. The next time Donald heard from Vickie he would realize the severity of the situation when he was told about the blood being found. This would prompt him to take emergency leave from the military and leave Virginia where he was stationed and rush to Tupelo to aid in the search for Leigh.
Home where Liegh and her mom lived at the time of her disappearance.
Donald was questioned at the station when he arrived and took a polygraph passed and was easily cleared as he was in Virginia at the time. Barney would also talk to police and take a polygraph and he would pass thus being cleared of any involvement in Leigh’s disappearance. Vickie was asked to take a polygraph and she agreed she would fail; the FBI would administer two more polygraphs to her; she would also fail these. Vickie was now a person of interest.
Donald OcchiLeigh’s dad.
Vicki Felton Leigh’s mother.
When the police talked to Vickie, she would tell them that Leigh’s things were missing which included her new undergarments she had got for her birthday, her glasses and in some reports an old sleeping bag. Vickie also told them what she thought Leigh could be wearing based on what was in her closet, police thought this was odd as they had teens and would not be able to tell what was missing from their closets, this and the fact that both police and Donald have said Vickie showed little to no emotion about Leigh being missing really made her look like she knew more than she was telling. Donald would say she did not participate in any of the searches for Leigh which is odd. Was this because she had something to do with her daughter vanishing or was this just a mother who did not know how to show emotions because she was trained not to. We may never have the answer to that question.
The police believed they got a break in the case when in early September 1992 Vickie called the police and told them she just received a package in the mail containing Leigh’s glasses. When police got the package there were six, twenty-nine cent stamps on the envelope more than there needed to be, the envelope was addressed to B. Yarborough and the address was spelled 105 Hony Locust Drive with Honey being spelled wrong. B. Yarborough was how Barney was listed in the phone book and this package had been sent from Booneville, Mississippi, a town thirty miles north of Tupelo. Police would send the envelope off and find out that the stamps were put on using water, no DNA was found, and handwriting was block style that could not be linked to anyone at the time. Years later police would resend in the envelope hoping with the advancements in DNA technology something would be found but there was nothing. The police have said they believe the glasses were sent to throw them off as Barney was cleared and no longer living at the address; it was as if someone was trying to make it look as though he had something to do with Leigh’s case.
Vickie believes a man by the name of Oscar McKinley “Mike” Kearns was responsible for Leigh’s disappearance as he attended the same church as Leigh, and he was a Sunday school teacher who would also help with Vacation Bible school. This is not the only place Oscar saw Leigh as he rode horses and frequented the same stables as Leigh did. Oscar would be incarcerated on a similar crime. In May of 1993 Oscar would drive to Memphis, Tennessee and kidnap a ninth-grade girl he had met through the Tupelo church; he had told her parents he would drive her to school that morning. He instead took her to a motel room and sexually assaulted her. After he was done, he then drove the fifteen-year-old to school. Where she immediately reported what had just happened. He was arrested and would plead guilty to rape and was sentenced to eight years in prison however he would serve less than half of this. When he was released, he kidnapped a married couple and raped the wife in front of her husband thus sending him back to prison for twenty years, he was released in 2019 and passed away in May of 2021. Police did try and question him in Leigh’s case both times he was incarcerated. He refused to say anything about Leigh. Now that he has passed there is no chance of him giving any information, Vickie still believes he was involved someway. She is also well aware that people believe she was involved and to that she lets people believe what they want as she has always maintained her innocence in the case. Donald believes Vickie killed his daughter the night before she vanished and buried her body although he has no clue where that might be. He holds onto the feeling Vickie has the answers, as he has said when he was searching for Leigh people came forward and said she was seen at a car wash the night before and cleaning the front door the morning Leigh vanished although that is not confirmed he is entitled to his own opinion on what happened.
Years later the Open Podcast would cover this case and interview a woman by the name of Joanne who had actually called police with a tip that she possibly saw Leigh on the morning she vanished, that tip was never followed up on in 1992. On the podcast she stated she was on her way to work as she and her husband owned a local Garden Center nearby. Around 8am is when she would have seen Leigh, which would have been before Vickie returned home or alerted police Leigh was missing. Joanne stated she saw a young lady and a man walking in the rain. Being the good-natured woman she was she was going to give them a ride and as she drove up North Frost drive and got beside them, she had a bad feeling and kept driving. She recalled the female did not appear to be injured in any way, as she drove by slowly the man wrapped his arm around the female and pulled her close to him. Joanne was able to get a look at the man whom she described as a shorter man not heavy set but thick wearing an army type jacket which was not camouflage with a hood on it, he had grayish brown hair and looked as though he had not shaved in a few days. After the podcast the information was passed along to the police department. The police did contact Joanne so she could finally tell what she saw that morning, it has not been released what if anything came of this. It should be noted that the description of Barney did not match the man Joanne saw that morning as he was five foot seven, one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty pounds with brown hair. Oscar’s description could possibly match as he was five foot ten inches weighing one hundred and eighty pounds who was usually wearing a military type of jacket and had graying brown hair. It does make you wonder if he was involved in Leigh’s case. If he was, did he kill her? Even though it seems that was not his modus operandi as he released his victims or were there far more that are unknown. With him passing the answers will more than likely remain a mystery.
Leigh’s mom and dad hope one day they learn what happened to Leigh. She was a bright young lady with her whole future ahead of her. Hopefully one day soon they will have the answers they so desperately seek.
At the time Leigh Vanished she was thirteen years old, standing four foot ten inches and weighing ninety-five pounds, she was wearing a nightshirt and green/yellow silk boxers. Leigh has blonde hair and hazel eyes with a strawberry birthmark at the base of her skull, with some scratch scars on her right leg and bumps on the skin on both knees. Her ears are pierced, and she has a left lazy eye, she wears glasses. If you have any information on Leigh’s case, please contact the Tupelo Police Department 662-841-6491 or the Federal Bureau of Investigation 202-324-3000.
The year was 1974, the recession was still hitting the working class hard. Gas prices were on the rise, much like today. Richard Nixon would resign as president due to the Watergate scandal, stepping in as our new 38th President was Gerald Ford, a man liked by most. Social Security Income also known as SSI would come to fruition making income available to the blind, aged and disabled. The World Trade Center would open for business and hold the title of world’s tallest building at the time with a towering 110 stories. Pocket calculators were introduced to the world. The Way We Were and Seasons in the Sun played on the radios as cheese logs and deviled eggs were consumed at all the summer barbecues. The seventies brought a lot of new and groovy ways of living, however one family was growing up missing their daughter and sister and no one seemed to talk about it. The mystery would begin to unfold many years later when Brenda’s baby sister Lisa would begin to ask questions. What she found was a puzzle that she is still trying to piece together today.
Brenda Sue Davidson was born in Woodbridge, Virginia on March 8, 1960. She was the oldest of four children. Brenda had brown hair and eyes standing five foot seven inches weighing 135 pounds in 1974, looking much older than 13 at the time. She lived with her parents and three younger sisters and brother in Gleaton’s Mobile Home Park. She was an eighth grader at Fred M. Lynn Middle School where she seemed to have a lot of friends and do well. Growing up she and her sisters were only about a year apart with Brenda being born in 1960, Barbara being born in 1961 who everyone calls Sissy, Janet who went by Jan was born in 1962 and finally the youngest of the girls at the time was Lisa who was just seven years old when her sister vanished. Home life was not ideal; they had a roof over their head and the essentials they needed, but their father was an alcoholic and an abusive one at that, something Lisa would find out more about on her journey to find Brenda.
Growing up the youngest, Lisa knew her dad was a very strict man, but she could never know the horrific way he treated her sisters. The older three girls attended the same school growing up and had most of the same friends at the time, this did not seem to be an issue for the girls.
It was Monday morning March 4, 1974, an ordinary day by all accounts, everyone was waking to start their week, Brenda would have a shirt that she wanted to iron so she headed off to her parent’s room where the ironing equipment was kept and began to iron her top for the day ahead. According to her mom, she would take one hundred dollars from her father’s wallet before heading off to school that day. Brenda’s dad would discover his wallet in the wrong pocket of his pants knowing then someone had been in it. This made them none too happy as that was a large amount of money at the time. What on earth would a teenager need with that kind of cash? That is a question that has not been answered. Brenda’s mother claims her daughter attended school that day and never returned home after, to which she would call and report her daughter missing, however police and her parents thought it was likely she had run away. However Brenda did not have a history of running away, but rather Barbara the second oldest would tend to take off and go to her aunt’s (dad’s sister) house and stay, however their dad would always go and retrieve her most of the time blind drunk.
Candid church photo.
A seven year old Lisa remembers the day her sister vanished, she recalls her dad sitting on the bed and crying his eyes out saying my baby’s gone my baby’s gone. Lisa then was taken along with her brother to the neighbor across the street who was also her mothers best friend. Lisa says after they returned home they went to bed and when they woke up the next day no one spoke of Brenda and all of her belongings were gone. To this day she does not know what her parents did with Brenda’s belongings. As Lisa grew into a young woman and then an adult she began to have questions about things her mom did not want to answer. Lisa was 20 years old when she decided she wanted to investigate what happened to her sister. If she ran away, where was she and why had she not come home? Had something far more sinister taken place and what if anything did her parents have to do with it. As Lisa began investigating more and talking to old friends and people who lived in the area she soon found out what her mom told her did not match up to what she had been uncovering. Why the inconsistencies? Lisa began to think her mom knew more than she was telling and that her father possibly did something to her big sister. Lisa would begin to recall memories from her childhood and this memory always stood out, her mother and siblings would always attend church on Sunday and Wednesday’s, her father would be somewhere getting drunk, however not long after Brenda vanished her father showed up and was bawling in the back of the church. This was something out of character for him. Lisa said she doesn’t know what her dad told the preacher, if he possibly confessed something to him, the only thing she does know is her dad never went to church and she still doesn’t know why he was there that night. It is another piece that somehow fits into the intricate puzzle of Brenda’s life.
Lisa said she doesn’t have many good childhood memories of the family going places where it didn’t end with her dad being completely drunk out of his mind and ruining the fun. Lisa also has no memories of looking for Brenda, this is something she asked her older sister Barb about and she doesn’t recall looking for Brenda either. However their mother would say she would take them in the car and drive for hours looking for her daughter. Was this something she had told herself so many times that over the years she began to actually believe? Perhaps so, or perhaps she did go looking for her daughter after her husband passed out, believing or knowing he had harmed Brenda. She set out looking for places her daughter could be. As Lisa was so young when her sister vanished, she only wishes she could remember more of that day. Over the years she has talked to several classmates, and they have all told her something completely different than what she was told, this was perplexing as the mystery just continued to deepen on what happened that horrible Monday in 74’. Lisa would track down two classmates her mother told her walked Brenda to the bus station during school hours. As it is thought but not confirmed that Brenda went and purchased a bus ticket, her destination unknown as the teller who was female could not recall where the girl was going or if she even got on the bus. This was odd as it was believed based on what the teller told police that the girl believed to be Brenda went with the female teller to run errands to the bank, as the teller was worried about her being at the bus station alone. The oddity here is if she was worried enough to take the young lady with her to run errands why was she not worried enough to see that she boarded a bus and note to where the destination was, or a crazier thought call the authorities and report the child as she was only 13 years old, even though many teens at this time would run off and start new lives this was not thought to be the case with Brenda. When Lisa talked to the classmates, they told her they never walked Brenda to the bus station that day. They also told her that when they had not seen their friend in a few days they assumed her dad was punishing her as he often did, making her stay inside or doing far worse like chopping off her beautiful brown hair in clumps and making her keep it that way as a form of torture. The boys who were now men were not the only ones who would recall just how evil of a man their father was. The boys from the day Brenda vanished and allegedly walked her to the bus stop have still not been questioned by the police. The police early on deemed Brenda a runaway and the mother unfit, yet none of her other children were removed from the home. Lisa would continue on her search for the truth digging and digging very slowly chipping away at the mystery, that was her family.
Brenda’s age progression to 46 years old.
Lisa would soon uncover more unknowns about her family. Lisa would ask if they remembered anything about Brenda or when she went missing, a family member told her she never liked their father. He was a nasty man but their mother was a wonderful kind person. This family member told Lisa that she believed Brenda was sexually abused by him, as she was over babysitting them one time and their dad backed her into a corner and put her hands behind her back, she told him go ahead and try something, her dad would kill him, and he let go of her and went back to his drinking. This is where she found out there was more than likely domestic abuse going on, as the family member believed that was the case, recalling their mom living with them on and off. Lisa would also find out her mom did not have a great home life and would run off to live with her aunt just as her daughter Barbara had tried to do. Another family member would come forward and say she believed Brenda’s father harmed her. All of these family members believed this yet not a single soul did anything to try and stop this nor looked for a child when she seemingly vanished.
As the years went on Lisa would not give up the quest to find the truth, she would be contacted by a woman who turned out to be Brenda’s best friend. She would tell Lisa that there is no way Brenda had any plans to run away, she would have told her and she had made plans with her bestie for her to stay all night at Brenda’s as it was her 14th birthday. Once again this is another small piece of a bigger puzzle. The more Lisa dug more of the pieces would come to light but deciphering truth from rumors would be the daunting part. Lisa’s Uncle would tell his wife who would later have a conversation with Lisa discussing the day Brenda vanished, her Uncle said he was told there had been an argument that day and Brenda snuck out after bedtime. Which leaves all wondering did she actually go to school at all that Monday?
Growing up after Brenda vanished was not as hard on Lisa and her younger brother, because by this time their dad was not in good health, he was in and out of the hospital for lung cancer treatment. When he was not in the hospital he was in his room on oxygen until he died in 1985. When this happened their landline phone would ring with no one saying anything on the other end, wanting it to be Brenda they would all tell her their dad was dead and could not harm her anymore it was safe to come home. If it was Brenda, she chose to stay away from home for reasons unknown. After their dad died, their mom would begin to drink despite not liking her husband drinking when he was alive. She started off drinking wine coolers and then went to vodka and orange juice. Was she drinking to numb the pain of losing a daughter and a husband or knowing that the reason she lost a daughter was because of her husband? This is something that we will more than likely never have the answer to. Before her mother passed away in 2015 Lisa would ask her what happened to Brenda, her mother told her that shortly after she left the police located her sister at nearby Lake Ridge and she told them she did not want to go home. Even though it was a different era it’s highly unlikely the police would let a 13 year old make the decision to not come home and live on their own without being emancipated. Could she have been taken in as a homeless child and put into the foster care system? The possibilities of what could have happened could go on forever. Lisa only wanted to know why her mom said this and why was she so ok with Brenda being gone? It would also come to light that Brenda kept two diaries, one real one and one fake one in a case found by her parents, mainly her father. It was told to Lisa by a friend of Brenda’s she had wrote about having sex with a boy. Lisa would track this boy who was now a man down and he would tell her that he and Brenda did not have that kind of relationship. The truth may never be known as Brenda is not here to corroborate that. It seems he has never been questioned by the police either. Is Brenda alive somewhere? The police have never disclosed a lot of information possibly because they have little to go on or they know a lot more than they want the public to know. Either way Lisa continues to investigate and will not stop until all the pieces to the puzzle fit and she knows what truly happened to her big sister Brenda all those years ago. Lisa began hiking the Appalachian Trail in honor of her sister and to spread awareness on her case in hopes someone somewhere knows something. (NOTE: Her YouTube channel will be linked below please help support a sister on her journey to find out the truth.) Lisa has tried several times to get Brenda’s case files from police, but she has been denied every time. Come forward and help a little sister find out why she had to grow up without knowing her big sis. If you have any information on this case please contact the number below one tip could be all it takes to break the case.
DISCLAIMER: The Certified Roarikle would like to thank all sites that the information came from and state that in no way is copyright infringement intended.
Thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog,
The Roarikle
Lisa Davidson (Brenda’s little sister) is on a journey for the truth. Please hit the link below and subscribe to her channel. If we all share, maybe there will be Justice for Brenda Sue, and some closure for her family.
Please be on the look out for The UNFOUND PODCAST who will be covering this case with interviews from Lisa Davidson. Click the link below to follow and watch.
The year was 1987, Johnny Carson was on Late Night giving a little comedy relief to the homes of many after a long day and night. Faith by George Micheal was on everyone’s radio. Meanwhile at the movies The Princess Bride, Lethal Weapon and a movie that would have everyone saying “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” called Dirty Dancing was selling out on the weekends. Red Bull would debut and years later would become very popular with the slogan Red Bull gives you wings. Jenga, Koosh Ball and Pictionary were what all the kids asked Santa for. Garbage Pail Kids was made into a live action movie. Making headlines: Baby Jessica fell into a well in Midland, Texas. She was rescued two days later but it was a story that captivated America. Especially when only half of Americans had access to 9-1-1 emergency services. In odd news a man wearing a Max Headroom mask took over Chicago’s broadcasting network for two minutes and to this day no one knows who or why this was done. 1987 was filled with awesome and odd new things, for one husband he would not care about any of that as one July evening he came home from work to find his wife was not there. He would have his world shattered a month later when a body was found.
Barbara Lee Fisher was born on November 27, 1956 to parents Herbert (Herb) and Lois in Argyle, Wisconsin. Barb was a lovely child. She was cheerful, helpful and very smart. She would graduate from her high school as the Salutatorian in 1975. Barb had two sisters Judy and Gayle. (NOTE: Some places state she had three sisters. I could only find information on Judy and Gayle.) While in high school Barb would meet her future husband Tom Blackstone. Tom lived in Ohio and he had come to visit a friend in Wisconsin. The friend was none other than Barb’s cousin. Tom would see Barbara and fall in love instantly. It is also said he fell in love with the state of Wisconsin as well. Three years after they met the two would marry and move back to Ohio so Barb could attend The Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. Barb would earn a business education degree. After Barb finished college the couple would save money to move back to Wisconsin. When Barb was in her mid twenties, they would find a patch of land roughly 80 acres in Lyndon Station and would hand build their home on the property. It was a labor of love and something they had built together. A place to spend a lifetime of happiness. Little did they know tragedy would strike and change their course forever.
Barbara would get a job teaching Business education and computer programming to teens at the New Lisbon High school a twenty minute commute from her home. She did not mind as her students were her world. She cared for them and took the time to help and see each for who they were. Other teachers recall students always being in her classroom, before, during and after school. Barb was also advisor of the year book, something she loved. Students recall her working on the homecoming parade floats with them and staying as long as they needed her too because she cared. Barbara was an all around great person who was loved by so many.
With their home complete a party was in order for friends and family as many had not seen the home completed. It was located on Delmore road. School had let out for summer break in June and the warm weather was in full swing that July, the perfect time for a soiree.
Patch of land on Delmore road in Lyndon Station.
(NOTE: I do not know if this is part of the 80 acres that the Blackstone’s owned, this patch of land is online as lot #4 Delmore road.)
Thursday July 9th started off as most other days had. As Tom headed off to work at his landscaping job that morning, Barb was going to start mowing the lawn in preparation for the party. Tom headed off to work telling his wife he loved her and would see her later, never knowing he would not. The home they had built set quite a ways off the main road in a very rural area. That morning sometime around 11:30 am Barb talked to her sister. It was a normal conversation, Barb seemed excited about the party and was preparing for it that day. Around 1:40 pm Barb would be spotted at a filling station, she would fill her vehicle up and a five gallon gas container for the lawn tractor. This is the last confirmed sighting of Barbara. Barb would make it back home; the events that transpired after that are speculation. It is known that her husband Tom arrived home around 6 pm. He went inside to find the dog and no sign of Barb, he went outside noticing her car parked where it normally was. Inside the car was her purse and the keys in the ignition. Tom walked over to the tractor to see if it had gas in it, it was empty. This was odd. Where had Barbara gone? She had not left a note or anything, something she would do if she was going to a neighbor’s house or somewhere else and knew she would not make it home before Tom. He began calling all her friends and family to see if anyone had heard from her when they had not, he knew something was wrong. Tom would call the police at 9:30 pm and report his wife missing. At the point Barbra came up missing two other women in the area had also gone missing a few weeks prior to Barb, the town was on edge believing a serial killer may be involved. The police were doing all they could to keep the panic down and the community safe. The police had very little to go on in Barbs’ case.
The police saw no sign of a struggle in the home and nothing was missing. The only thing left behind was the couple’s dog. They had one witness who drove past the Blackstone home around 2:30 pm. The witness stated they saw Barb’s car parked by the shed but no sign of Barbara around that they could see. The police would estimate Barb was abducted between 1:45 and 2:30 pm. Without much else to go on police began digging and found Barbara had been pulled over a year and a half prior to vanishing. Could this be related? It is said she was going 50 mph in a 30 mph zone. When the officer asked her why she was speeding she told him she was being followed by a suspicious vehicle that had been following her for 20 miles. The officer issued Barb a speeding ticket and also issued the vehicle behind her a ticket for following too closely. The article above stated the man was now 30 years old and from Baraboo. The officer would hand the information he found over to detectives. It is unclear if this lead was ever followed up on. Could this person have been involved? Did Barb have a stalker she had failed to tell anyone about as she did not want to worry those she loved? These are questions we may never have answers to.
With law enforcement at a loss, they decided to conduct a meeting with all agencies that included the FBI, Wisconsin State Police, and law enforcement representatives from five other Counties. This took place on August 7, 1987. Just as the meeting was about to begin a call would come in. A body had been found by a 25 year old man out scouting hunting locations in Blanchardville. The farm he was scouting was 75 miles away from the Blackstone home and only 10 miles away from Barb’s childhood home in Argyle. The body was in bad decomposition and there was no soft tissue left to determine a cause of death. (NOTE: Some places state that the body was found nude and tied to a tree. Other sites claim she was found placed on her back with no sign of any belonging around her. One site said she had sustained severe trauma to her body.) Tom Blackstone became a suspect as he was the last to see Barb that day besides the clerk at the filling station. However it was proven Tom was at work all day at his landscaping job. Herb (Barb’s father) believes the motive was money. He believes the reason her body was found so far away is because she had a bank account she kept in Argyle. Herb believed that his daughter had told her killer she would give them the money in exchange for her life. None of this can be confirmed; this is all speculation on her dad’s part. Tom was devastated and could no longer stay in the home they had built together. He stayed with his brother for a while before moving back to Ohio for good. Herb remained obsessed and sad over his daughters murder until he passed away in 1994. Lois, her mother, would pass away in 2000. Both passed on never knowing who murdered their loving daughter.
The cases of the other two women who went missing were solved. A man named Kim Brown had committed one of the crimes and a man by the name of Joseph D. Schmitt was convicted of the other murder. Kim Brown was a suspect in the murder of Barb but it was proven he had an alibi and was not in town on the day she was killed. Some online sleuths believe a man by the name of Donald Blom could be responsible for Barbara’s murder. No one has ever been convicted in Barb’s case. In 2009 her case was reopened and a $25,000 reward was offered by a former student Marc Andreesen who founded the Netscape web browser was offered. Marc said she was his first computer teacher and he wanted to help find her killer. At the time she was killed it affected her students greatly. No new leads would come from this offering and the case would grow cold. Not much information is out there on this case. Although her parents have passed on, her husband, remaining family, friends and former students would like justice for someone they held so dear to them, Barbara Blackstone. If you have any information on this case please call the number below and help get closure for this family.
Juneau County Sheriff’s Office
608-847-5649
Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office
608-776-4870
Wisconsin Dept. of Justice, Criminal Div.
608-266-1671
DISCLAIMER: The Certified Roarikle thanks all sites the information came from & states that in no way is copyright infringement intended.
As always thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog.
The year was 2019, the Masked Singer debuted in America while The Big Bang Theory ended its run. Trending on Instagram was an Egg with over 54 million likes, meanwhile Jennifer Aniston set a world record when she joined the social media site getting over a million followers in a little over five hours. In other social media news the 10 year and bottle challenge were taking over and making many people go viral. A rare albino panda was spotted in China while the US would sell rice for the first time ever to the country. Frozen II and Toy Story 4 hit theaters and families everywhere were racing off to see the new animated flicks. Old Town Road by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus broke the music charts, while Greta Thunberg was making headlines for climate change. 2019 was a year full of events, some crazy and some heart felt, but one family was lost, as a little girl they loved so much had vanished from a playground on a warm September day.
Dulce Marie Alavez was born on April 25, 2014 to Noema and Edgar Perez. Dulce grew up in Bridgeton, New Jersey, a small town with Hispanic roots and a good sense of community. Dulce was a happy and healthy five year old, who resided with her grandparents and her brother Manuel who was born in 2016. Noema was very young when she had Dulce and her mother thought it best if she give her custody of Dulce. Dulce grew up in a loving home , Noema was still very young, just 19 at the time, she would live in an apartment close by, she was also five months pregnant with her new boyfriend’s child. Dulce’s biological father had been deported in 2018. Noema was able to see her children as often as she wanted and could also relax and focus on herself at the end of the day. (NOTE: Remember Noema is only 19 years old at the time and on her third pregnancy, she is more than likely overwhelmed and did need some time to figure her life out before the new baby came into this world. Just my opinion not fact.) Dulce and Manuel were being raised more as siblings than as her children and some would see a disconnect between mother and child and say it was hard to form a bond as most mothers do.
Dulce began kindergarten in August and was enjoying school and making friends. Like so many little girls her age she loved the movie Frozen and would dress up and sing the songs, dancing her days away, carefree and innocent. On Monday, September 16th Dulce got up, did her morning routine and headed off to school with her eight year old aunt. The day was normal. Around 3:30 pm Noema picked the girls up from school, and three year old Manuel was with her. She asked the kids if they would like to go to the park. Which was something that they normally did not do. Of course the children said yes, so Noema gave them a choice of which park to attend. They could go to Bridgeton City Park, which Dulce called the big park or they could go to a park closer to home. Dulce picked the big park, so after heading home to change into play clothes they headed off to the park. Along the way they would stop at a Sunoco gas station to get some ice cream for the kids and some scratch off lottery tickets for Noema. Little Dulce danced about before they headed out the door in pursuit of the park, not knowing the day would take a turn from fun-filled to horrific in a short time.
Arriving at the park Noema decided to park near the basketball courts with a view of the park the kids would be playing on. The only part she could not see were the swing sets as they were blocked by a hill. The park was rather large and in sections with lots of activities, the park was over 1100 acres with trails and ponds. Once parked, with icecreams in hand Dulce and Manuel took off running to the playground. Noema and her eight year old sister would stay in the car. It was a hot day and Noema was pregnant. She was also helping her sister with homework while scratching off her lotto tickets. Looking up to check on her kids from time to time. Noema was not too worried as she claims there were not a lot of people in the park that day, she only claims to have seen a man leaving with possibly two children and four girls playing basketball on the courts. (NOTE: Some people have claimed there were more people than that in the park, some articles claim the police say there were more people there as well. Remember it was a nice day so it is plausible there were several people in the park that day.) About ten minutes had gone by when she no longer saw her children when she looked up. She was not worried they had more than likely gone to the swings to play. Noema and Camila would get out of their vehicle and head to the swing sets expecting to see Dulce and Manuel playing. The sight they came upon was anything but that. Manuel was on the ground crying with his ice cream laying beside him. At first Noema thought Dulce had knocked his ice cream to the ground and was hiding so she did not get in trouble. Manuel was non verbal so when Noema asked him where his sister was he could only point to the location. Noema looked up to see Manuel pointing to two out buildings that housed sporting equipment, the buildings were located near the baseball fields. Noema now thought Dulce was playing hide and seek, so she began calling out her daughter’s name in hopes she would emerge. Dulce did not. The buildings were locked so Noema knew her daughter had not gone into them. She then headed to the girls playing basketball, she asked them if they had seen Dulce and they told her they had. The girls had seen Dulce running around the equipment buildings and when they saw her she was alone. The girls had also seen a Black man near there. (NOTE: Some articles state that the girls saw two men, one Black and one Hispanic.) They also saw a red van near the buildings. It was then Noema realized there was another entrance and exit to the park. The girls said it was possible she was taken. This is when Noema would call the police and report her daughter missing.
Noema would call the police at 4:51 pm. (NOTE: The call can be heard here NJ.com) In the call Noema is asked what Dulce is wearing and can only remember her pants and shoes. A lot of people would criticize her for not knowing, however a lot of parents can not tell someone what their child has on that day especially if they did not dress them. She would also tell the police they said someone probably took her. We can only assume Noema is talking about the girls on the basketball court. The police would arrive while Noema was still on the phone with dispatch. A search was underway. Police would find nothing, not even Dulce’s ice cream cup and spoon, this meant she had to have taken it with her. By this time, Norma and her son (Noema’s brother) were at the park as Noema had called them and told them that she could not find Dulce. Norma was in shambles and inconsolable. As she was more like Dulce’s mom than her grandma. Police would continue to search and question patrons of the park. It would not be until September 17th that a person would come forward with a description of a man and vehicle, thus allowing an Amber Alert to be issued for Dulce. The Amber Alert would state police were looking for a light Hispanic male, with a thin build standing between 5’6” and 5’8”. He is clean shaven with acne on his face. Wearing orange sneakers, red pants and a white baseball cap. He was driving a red van with sliding doors and tinted windows. Noema told police she had taught Dulce about stranger danger and what to do if someone tried to take her. Noema said Dulce knew to scream until someone came for her, or run away screaming and to never go with anyone. When patrons of the park were questioned no one recalled hearing anyone scream that day. This led police to believe Dulce had known who took her or she had wandered off on her own and was lost. However the police were beginning to cast suspicion on Noema as she seemed to be showing little to no emotion over her daughter going missing.
It was not just the police who thought Noema was involved in her daughter’s disappearance, it was the public as well. Volunteers were even given Noema a hard time, she recalls a member of the search team coming up and asking her why she was eating when her daughter was missing. Noema sat quietly not knowing how to reply. She should have said she was eating because she is human and she was five months pregnant at the time. She was keeping her unborn baby healthy as she had not eaten since her daughter had vanished. After this Noema stayed out of the public as best she could, and off of social media only casting more suspicion on her. While police still kept an eye on Noema they were looking for Edgar Perez, Dulce’s birth father, it had recently come out that he did not think Dulce was his when she was born but as she aged he could see she looked like him and wanted custody of his daughter. Edgar did not pursue this for reasons unknown. By this time the FBI was involved in the search. They would manage to track Edgar down, he was still living in Mexico and seems to have had an alibi for the day Dulce went missing. (NOTE: Some people would still believe he was involved and thought he could have sent someone to get Dulce she possibly knew.) Two weeks in, the police would ask the public to come forward with any video or photos they had taken that day. Also if they were in the park on September 16th they would like for you to come to the station and answer questions. A $3500 reward was offered. Nothing would come from this as many who lived in the area feared they would be deported as they were undocumented. This was making it hard for law enforcement to gain leads. Two months would go by with no sign of Dulce. Family and the community would hold a vigil at the park in hopes it would bring little Dulce home.
Noema holding a photo of her daughter Dulce.
Noema would go on the Dr. Phil show in 2020, he would ask her numerous questions to which she would answer accordingly. He would then say she was very flat emotionally when it came to her daughter being missing. Noema told Dr. Phil, she did not show emotions; it was how she had been since she was little. This would cause more people to speculate that Noema was somehow involved in Dulce’s disappearance. Which is a question she was asked on the show to which she replied she had nothing to do with her daughter going missing but she does feel she is still alive. The public was brutal towards Noema but something they failed to take into account was the language barrier. Noema could speak English however she did not understand certain things in English well. She spoke Spanish and when she gave interviews in Spanish there was a lot more emotion as she could get out what she was trying to say and finally be understood. (NOTE: Norma had a translator named Jackie who would become the family spokesperson.)
In 2020 the police would issue a press release, giving immunity to anyone who came forward with information involving Dulce’s disappearance. With the thought of deportation out of the public’s minds police believed someone would come forward. This did not bring anyone forward, leading some to believe whoever took her was not in this country. Police were still working on Dulce’s case going over all surveillance video they could, trying to find something that would lead them in a direction to find Dulce. CCTV of Noema and the kids in the gas station is available to the public and many online sleuths have noticed a man in the surveillance video watching Dulce. (NOTE: I do not know if this man has been looked into but he should at least be questioned.) 2020 would bring more crazy elements to Dulce’s case. Letters would begin showing up in Ohio, some would reference Dulce and others would not, most were illegible. (NOTE: Some articles say they were index cards and police believe it was a game someone was playing but one of the letters police would take seriously.) One letter was sent to a library in Austintown, Ohio. The librarian immediately turned it over to the police. Most of this letter was illegible but the parts that were deciphered included the names Dulce and Dr. Phil. The second letter was sent to a Manager at Hollywood Gaming. In this letter the writer says “76 truck stop, dead end street, entrance woods, Please look.” The area was snowed over at the time however a search was still conducted and turned up nothing, it is unknown if police researched the area when the snow thawed. The third letter turned up in a mailbox of a roadside ice cream shop that was closed for the season. It was retrieved when the owner stopped to get the mail, something she did not normally do when the shop was closed. This letter mentions Dulce by name but does not lead to any new searches. The fourth and final letter is sent to the post office box of Jackie the family spokesperson. It included seven slips of paper scribbled with phrases. Her husband seemed to think it looked like something a child would have done. Jackie was freaked out as it was hitting closer to home for her now and she worried her family may be in danger. The library letter and the one sent to Jackie were postmarked from Cleveland, Ohio. The letter at the ice cream shop had no postmark or return address and the last letter was confirmed to be delivered by a postal worker and although you could not see the postmark the zipcode was traced back to Culiacan, Mexico the same city Edgar Perez was living in. Police however feel the letter likely did not come from Mexico. The letters would turn up nothing and police would say they had no evidence that Dulce was in Ohio. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.
Picture of Dulce at the time she vanished.
The case would grow cold once more until Dulce’s 7th birthday on April 25, 2021. Her father Edgar who had yet to speak publicly decided to post a YouTube video of him and his daughter. Now that the public had seen this they believed he was not involved which took some of the hope away that she was going to be returned safely. The police have said they believe Dulce is still alive as there has been no evidence of foul play found. Noema had her baby a girl the sister Dulce so desperately had wanted in 2020 and went on to have another daughter in 2021. Noema and her family have not given up hope that one day they will have Dulce back, she would be 8 years old now. If you have any information on Dulce’s disappearance please call the number below and help bring Dulce home. There is now a $75,000 reward and still immunity for anyone who comes forward in the case.
DISCLAIMER: The Roarikle thanks all sites the information came from & states that in no way is copyright infringement intended.
As always thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog.
The year was 2004, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series for the first time since 1918. Shrek 2 had families swarming to the cinemas for a fun filled family time. Book readers were flocking to get their hands on a copy of The Da Vinci Code, while music lovers were glued to the television watching American Idol. Gamers were excited at Microsoft’s release of Halo 2. Meanwhile teens were listening to Usher’s all new song Yeah and Drop it Like it’s Hot by Snoop Dog. Dressed in hip huggers and sporting any color eyeliner in your all new blazer you were headed over to a friend’s to be one of the 22 million people who tuned in to watch the last episode of Friends. Finally Facebook was launched from a Harvard dorm room, making way in the future to help parents like Brittany Phillips spread awareness about her daughter’s case and one day get the justice she deserves.
Brittany E.S. Phillips was born in St. Petersburg, Florida on October 4, 1985. Brittany had a brother Josh who was a mere 15 months older than her, growing up they were close as they attended school and knew many of the same people. Still they were siblings and with that comes the usual sibling rivalry and fights. Brittany was delivered by cesarean section and would suffer some complications at birth, she would make a quick recovery and grow into a lovely little girl with flowing blonde curls who love to participate in dance and gymnastics. Her mother Dr. Maggie Zingman said Britty, as she calls her, was fearless, very smart and beautiful. Brittany had lived in Florida when she was born however her mother moved to Kentucky to be with her father before divorcing him and taking Brittany and Josh and settling in Tulsa, Oklahoma where she would be a single mom. She and her daughter were close and as she grew the bond would only strengthen. It amazed Brittany’s friends how open she was with her mom. As she entered high school, she would be in the top of her class receiving a full ride scholarship to Eckerd University in St. Petersburg, the same college her mother had attended. Brittany was excited and nervous to start school. She had graduated at only 17 years old because when she lived in Kentucky, she was able to start kindergarten a year early. Most would have thought she would be hindered academically but she was not. She thrived and did better than most in school. When she decided on a major, she settled on chemistry as her paternal grandmother had passed away due to cancer during her senior year and it was hard on Brittany, she vowed to devote her life to finding a cure for the disease. She was on her way to doing just that before tragedy struck.
Brittany as a child with her long curls.
While Brittany was away at Eckerd she made friends and got a job as a waitress, however she wanted to be home and longed for it. After she finished her freshman year she decided she wanted to come back to Tulsa, this was great news, her mom and brother were happy she was coming back home. Maggie (mom) had taken a job as a psychiatrist at a woman’s correctional facility in Chandler, Oklahoma an hour away from Tulsa. The plan Brittany had made was to move back to Tulsa and take some classes at the local college and earn credits before moving up to Chandler with her mom. Things were going as planned, Maggie and Brittany went to look at the GlenEagles Apartment Complex located at 9416 East 65th street, after looking at some apartments and Maggie checking the area for crime and sex offenders both of which were extremely low, Brittany and her mom decided it was a good fit. She knew the area and Union high school was right across the street from the complex the same school she and her brother had graduated from. The beginning of May 2004 Brittany would move into the 2nd floor unit located on the end of the building with a private balcony located off the bedroom just beyond the french doors. It would even have enough room for all her clothes and shoes as it featured a walk in closet every young girl dreams of. As she settled into her new apartment she would begin working at a local restaurant and taking 16 hours of classes at college a week. Brittany had a group of friends whom she would hold study sessions with and each week someone would host at their home where people usually stayed for the night. Brittany had also begun dating as she was a very beautiful young lady, she had modeled here and there when she was a teenager and was even signed by a modeling agency and asked to move to New York, however Maggie said no that she did not want that lifestyle for her daughter. This did not seem to bother Britt. Shortly after being back in Tulsa Brittany would go on a date with a security guard who was strange and creepy, something she would call her mom and tell her after the date. The man would keep pursuing her after she had told him she did not want to see him anymore. He would continue to call her to the point she had to block his number. Maggie said she was relieved when Brittany brought a nice young man she was dating out to Chandler on a visit. It was nice to see the security guard was gone. As the months passed her routine was the same and she was looking forward to the weekend and a visit to see her mom. That visit would never come.
Actual apartments Gleneagle now called Somerset at Union Apartments.
Floor plan to a one bedroom 2nd story with balcony apartment.
Monday September 27, 2004 was a routine day, Brittany had classes and her seasonal allergies were bothering her horribly. She decided to head to the Urgent Care to get something for this, however she waited hours and she still had not been seen, frustrated she left never seeing a doctor. She was so upset she called her mom and told her what was going on, Maggie told her daughter not to fret she would get her into the doctor in Chandler when she came up on Friday, Brittany agreed to this and told her mom she had a late class to attend then she would drop her friend off and head home and go to bed as she was not feeling great, before hanging up the two exchanged I love you’s never knowing it would be the last time.
After hanging up from her mom, Brittany picked her friend up and headed to the college. Once there she ran into her brother Josh and they talked briefly before they made their way to class. Around 9:45 she dropped her friend off and headed back to her apartment still not feeling well from allergies; she just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep. On Tuesday September 28th Brittany was not in class, her friends did take notice but knew she had not been feeling well so they thought that was why she did not show. Maggie also tried to call her daughter. It rang and rang with no answer, a voicemail was left telling Brittany to call her back. At this point Maggie was not worried she figured she had gotten busy and would hear from her later. They usually talked daily but sometimes when classes or work was busy they may not talk everyday, Maggie believed this was the reason her little girl had not answered. On Wednesday September 29th she was still not showing up for classes which now was super out of character for her. She had also not called her mom back which was giving Maggie cause for concern. Maggie would call and leave another message for Brittany telling her to call back immediately that she was probably ok but she wanted to make sure because she had not heard from her. This was not like Brittany; she was always punctual to class and she would not go without talking to her mom. Where was she and what had happened to Brittany?
Thursday September 30, 2004 when Brittany was not in class her friend began to really become concerned. Maggie was also becoming more worried about her Britty. She would try to call her around 9 pm and once again she received no answer and like before she told her to call her back right away as she was worried that she had not heard from her. After Brittany’s friend finished classes that night she headed over to check on Britt, her dad was the district attorney and former police officer so while she walked up the stairs she called her dad. As she knocked no one answered, she would then check the door and see if it was unlocked and shockingly it was something that gave a fright to her as she knew Brittany would never leave her door unlocked. Her dad was still on the line and told her to not go into the apartment, she did what he said however she did open the door a crack before shutting it. Her father told her he would send the police over to do a welfare check on Brittany. The friend would wait until the police arrived, which was a little before ten pm not too long after she had arrived at the apartment. When the police officer went inside nothing was amiss until he went into the bedroom where he found a lifeless young female lying on the floor. (NOTE: If the friend opened the door one would think that she may have smelled something was off, I am not sure if she did and told her father and that was something that has not been released.) The officer would state the female was lying on the ground with her head away from the headboard. She was wearing a sleeveless shirt and underwear. The officer and detectives would say these looked as if they were put on her after she was deceased. The body of the young girl would be identified by police using her driver’s license. Maggie was not alerted before the body was taken to the medical examiner’s office. Maggie was notified when an officer in Chandler knocked on her door and very coldly told her that her daughter had been murdered and she needed to go call Tulsa police department. Maggie was in shock surely it could not be her daughter, they had to have the wrong person. She would get in her vehicle and rush to her daughter’s apartment that was an hour away. When she pulled up all she saw were flashing lights and she knew then it was true she had lost her baby girl. A mothers living nightmare. Maggie would ask an officer if it was true and when he confirmed it she told him she wanted to see her daughter, to her surprise she had already been taken to the medical examiner’s office.Maggie raced to the medical examiner’s office and there she demanded to see her daughter, the ME would allow this but not her face, he would cover it with a thin white towel, he told Maggie she would not recognize her and he did not want her to remember her loved one like that. Maggie did not remove the towel, instead she went over to her daughter and lovingly rubbed her thumb down her forehead, down the bridge of her nose as she had done so many times before to comfort her daughter. This would be the final time she was able to do this and with that she told her daughter goodbye.
Maggie has been on a mission to catch her daughter’s killer.
Jeff Felton who was the lead homicide detective on the case found an abundance of forensic evidence at the scene this is great he thought. It would be an open and shut case, he could not have been more wrong. They would take a bed sheet from the bed that was believed to have a urine stain on it however when it was tested they found it was semen. A very small speck of blood was found on a wall leading out of the bedroom. (NOTE: I have read and heard elsewhere there was a towel found next to the body, however this is not confirmed.) All four windows were missing their screens, that was something odd as it was believed they were all there when she moved it. Fingerprints were lifted but were too smudged to come back with a match. The police also believe the killer may have taken them out to stage the scene to look like a break in, as there were no signs of forced entry into the apartment. This led them to believe she may have known her attacker and willingly let him in. They also believe he left out the front door as it was unlocked. Nothing had been stolen and the only sign of anything out of place was in the bedroom where police said it looked as if she had been shoved up against the wall opposite from where she was found, she had put up a fight against her attacker. Her fingernails were scrapped and it was found she had blood underneath them but it was not enough to get a DNA profile. Police would begin focusing on the semen and small blood found on the wall. Brittany had been dead for three days before she was found, no one at the complex had seen or heard anything during this time, nor did anyone complain of an odor. Someone had sexually assaulted the young woman although there was not enough semen left to extract, then they strangled her and left her there going on to live life, while destroying someone elses whole world. Who had done this and what was their motive?
On October 4, 2004 on what would have been Brittany’s 19th birthday she was laid to rest with family and friends paying their respect to the girl next door that everyone loved so much. Meanwhile the police were getting mouth swabs from all of her friends and family, testing to see if someone matched the crime scene DNA, when no one matched they extended the search further to neighbors in the complex she lived at and class mates both in Tulsa and Florida. No one was a match, the young man she was dating was questioned and his DNA tested it was not a match and he was cleared. Maggie remembered the creepy security guard and told police about him, when they asked for DNA he refused this was a red flag, they would get a court order for his DNA however he did not match either. The DNA was even run through CODIS and nothing came back. It felt as though the case was growing colder by the minute and Maggie would not let that happen. She wanted justice for Britty and she was going to do everything she could to get her daughter’s story out there in hopes of catching her killer. Meanwhile the police were also following a lead on how the killer got in. On the second day of the investigation it was found that there was access to the attic via Brittany’s walk-in closet, which could have been how the killer gained entry. Police wanted to know, did he come into her apartment before she was home or after she got there? That is something unknown to this day. With nothing new coming in by 2007 police would hold a press conference and release new information, a pale purple pillow case was left behind at the scene. Police believed it did not belong to Brittany as she had no others like it. Nothing would come of this and police now believe perhaps it was Brittany’s as hers was the only DNA found on it. This would be the same year Maggie would get her van wrapped in Brittany’s favorite color purple and place her photos all over with hopes of someone knowing something about that night. Maggie would call her tours, Caravan to Catch a Killer and would travel for three weeks trying to gain national attention for her daughter. At this time only 15 states took DNA upon arrest; the others only took it if a conviction was made. Maggie felt that DNA should be taken upon arrest and that would stop crimes and also help solve them. She was on a mission to spread her daughter’s case and let everyone know the importance of DNA. By 2017 Maggie would get the bill signed into law that upon arrest in Oklahoma DNA be taken. However due to the lack of funding this is still not being done. It was a win and a loss for the case and state. Maggie would not give up and the caravan traveled on.
Parabon Nanolabs DNA snapshot of the suspect.
With advancements in DNA police were hopeful once again that they were going to solve this case. In 2018 Parabon labs would phenotype the DNA found and create a snapshot based on this, while it would not be an exact match it would give an idea of what the suspect looked like. The police said the suspect was a white male of Northern European descent, he had dark blonde or brown hair, with blue or green eyes. His age was unknown although the snapshot is aged around 25 years old as that is the standard age done with DNA snapshot. Maggie nor Josh (brother) recognized the man in the snapshot, however Maggie said this was someone her daughter would have found attractive. Could she have been seeing someone secretly? It is possible but not likely she would cheat on someone she was seeing as it was mentioned she had a boyfriend of sorts. The image would generate around 200 tips and nothing panned out. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) would put Brittany’s face on a playing card with a brief description of her murder, these were sold to prisoners in hopes of someone talking about one of the crimes on the cards. This would turn up nothing as well, everywhere they turned and everything they tried was a dead end. The case was cold once more, but Maggie was still on a mission in her van to spread information to any and everyone she could. It was on one of her tours she received a phone call that should have been excellent news, but once again it was not.
By 2019 Detective Felton had retired and Detective Eddie Majors had taken over. The DNA that was found and phenotyped was run through GED ( DNA genealogy service) to see if they could get a match to a close relative and go from there to find the suspect. When ran through GEDmatch and an exact hit came back, the suspect had entered his DNA to an online ancestry service. Around this same time someone recognized the man in the photo and called the police with a name, it was the same name that matched the DNA. (NOTE: This link on Reddit has some interesting things to say about the man turned in.) The man was quickly brought in to be questioned. He told them he and his girlfriend had stayed there the weekend before and they had slept in Brittany’s bed and had sex that is why his semen was there. (NOTE: I do not know why he told police the speck of blood was found.) The police would go on to question him extensively and felt because they did not find his DNA on her body he was not the killer. There was no airtight alibi for him just he did not do it based on this the police released that for fifteen years they had been tracking the wrong person and now the killer could be anyone even someone they had cleared in the past.(NOTE: It is not known why the friend never came forward when the photo was released, it has been said she thought the semen was found inside Brittany and not on the sheets.) It seems now the killer’s description is unknown; he could be of any age and race. This was devastating news for Maggie she thought the call was going to be we finally got the guy instead it was we found him and cleared him. Maggie will not give up; she is on a journey to spread awareness of her beautiful daughter’s case because you never know who holds the key to solving this. Maggie is still traveling today and will continue until Britty’s case is solved. There are as many unanswered questions as they have answers to and now it seems it’s back to the drawing board as the case remains unsolved. If you know anything about this case no matter how small you believe it is please call the number below. Help solve this case and bring closure to all those involved.
Huge thank you to Dr. Maggie Zingman for allowing me to help spread awareness on her amazing daughter’s case. Please help her continue her journey on The Caravan to Catch a Killer tours, click the link to DONATE TODAY.
DISCLAIMER: The Certified Roarikle would like to thank all sites that the information came from and state that in no way is copyright infringement intended.
As always thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog.
The year was 2011, President Obama would announce the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the American people would rejoice. A series of earthquakes hit Japan causing a devastating tsunami. Friday Night Lights and Oprah would air their last episodes causing fans great sadness. Snapchat was founded and while people were only spending 2.5 hours online a day at the time, that would change in a few years and everyone would be using the cool, funny snapchat filters. Chromebooks went on sale and along with, LeapFrog LeapPad, Nintendo 3DS, and the Amazon Kindle Fire, these were what everyone wanted for Christmas. Wicked and The Lion King were taking over Broadway. Planking had taken over and everyone had to have their photo taken while planking in the most ridiculous places. OMG and LOL became official words as they were entered into the English Oxford dictionary. While the year was full of exciting and great things one family would have given all of it up for the chance to find their loved ones.
Timmothy James Pitzen was born on October 18, 2004 to James (Jim) and Amy. He would be the only child for the couple, his mom even decided to spell his name with two m’s because she felt he was so special and wanted to set him apart from everyone else. Timmy was a happy and loving 6 year old who stood four foot two inches and weighed 70 pounds, he had brown hair and eyes. Timmy attended kindergarten at Greenman Elementary school. Timmy was a mama’s boy and Amy loved her son more than anything. No one could know the amount of pain and sorrow she would soon cause her family.
James, Timmy and Amy.
James would meet Amy at a party, the two hit it off and would start a relationship. However the two did not live in the same states, so for the first year it was a long distance relationship. Amy would tell James, she had recently gotten out of a relationship. (NOTE: Amy had been married three previous times.) Amy would also let James know she suffered from severe depression. James did not seem to mind and told her they would work on it together and she would be alright. At the time James was going through chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. After a year of long distance the pair decided to get married. They would begin to fight often over finances and other strains of a marriage. Then a miracle would happen Amy became pregnant with their only child. James did not think he would ever be able to have children because of his cancer treatment, he was overcome with joy, Amy on the other hand was worried, she did not want to hand her mental illness down to her child, and she was not ready to be a mom, expressing her own concerns with her mother. On October 18th when her son was born, Amy knew he was the greatest gift the world could give her. She was happy, he was her everything and she wanted to be better for him. For awhile she was, her depression was under control with medications and she was taking care of her son and living life with her family. As we all know mental illness is an ongoing battle and while she was great for a while, Amy began sinking into a dark place again. The couple were in a fight over a birthday mini vacation she had taken with her best friend without telling her husband. Amy had threatened to divorce James on many occasions and just like all the other fights this one was no different, she told James she was going to divorce him. However Amy was terrified if she did divorce James he would get custody of Timmy due to her mental state. Amy had previously tried to commit suicide, during one of her previous marriage’s, when a fight ensued. She had driven her car and placed it on the train tracks, she moved before she was hit and immediately checked herself into a facility for help. This is where she was prescribed medication for her depression. The second time Amy had tried to commit suicide she was married to James and she had went off to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and taken a bunch of pills, she then passed out and fell off of a cliff, she was not seriously injured and the hospital thought it was an accident, however friends and family knew otherwise. Amy was unstable to say the least, and she required more help than James understood, and no one could have foreseen just how much help Amy would need.
On Wednesday May 11, 2011 James, Amy and Timmy all got up and started their day like normal. Amy was having some car issues so James drove her to work before dropping Timmy off at his school around 7:15 am. James went to work knowing he would have to pick his son up early as kindergartners were only going to be in school half the day. What James would not know until he went to pick his son up, was that his wife had already picked him up. James was a little confused when his son was not at school, the front desk told him Amy had picked Timmy up around 8:30 am citing a family emergency. James did not immediately panic, if his son was with Amy he was fine she would never do anything to hurt him she loved him far too much and everyone knew this. James headed home to see if they were there, to his shock they were not. James would then call his wife’s work, they told him Amy had not shown up for work. How could that be he dropped her off and watched her walk inside. Now he is beginning to worry, so he calls her mom and dad, they have not seen Amy. James believed Amy was mad at him over a previous fight they had, however he is not sure exactly what is going on, but his wife was known to just take off and come back home, so James waited until morning thinking his wife and son would be back home. When they were not panic set in and James called the police and reported his son and wife missing. Where had Amy and Timmy gone? Why was she not answering when James called? These are questions that only have partial answers.
It is believed on May 11th after James dropped Amy off at work she then walked back to their home and got her SUV before driving to the school to pick up her son. From there the two went to an auto repair shop in Lagrange, Illinois arriving around 10 am. While at the repair shop an employee drove them to the Brookfield Zoo a short distance away. (NOTE: According to Google maps it is an 8 minute drive from the auto shop.) The mother and son had a great day at the zoo before heading back to pick up Amy’s 2004 Ford Expedition. (NOTE: It is unclear if they had a ride back to the repair shop or if they walked as it was not too far away.) Once Amy has her car she and Timmy head to the Key Lime Cove water park in Gurnee, Illinois. Almost an hour away from the zoo they were at and even further from their home. They stayed there overnight and checked out the following morning. All was captured on CCTV. On May 12th Amy would drive her and Timmy to the Wisconsin Dells where they would stay at the Kalahari water resort. On her way there she detoured to Racine, Wisconsin, where they stopped at a Shopko and purchased toys and clothing for Timmy. Had she taken him out of school on a whim just to have a fun few days with her son? It was looking like that until May 13th when Amy and Timmy left the Kalahari water resort and would head back to Illinois. Was she finally going home or did Amy have something else planned? James was worried sick about his wife and son, he continuously tried to call his wife, every time being sent to voicemail. Where were they and when would they be back home? James would wait and wonder.
Amy and Timmy arrived in the Rock Falls/Sterling area of Illinois around 1:30 pm. Here Amy would call her mom and let her know she and Timmy were ok and she needed some time to figure things out but they would be home in a couple of days. Amy would then place another call to her brother in law, she told him the same thing only she added that Timmy belonged to her and no one else. James’ brother said he talked to Timmy and he sounded happy and fine. This is something that would stick out in James and his brothers mind. Why would she have said this? No one really knows other than she felt very strongly about her son not being taken away from her that she was willing to do anything to keep that from happening. The area she placed the calls from was an hour and a half away from where she lived. What was she doing out there? It was later found out that Amy did not know anyone out there and her family was unsure why she would be there. When James found out Amy had been in contact with his brother, he was mad and hurt why had she not called him and why was she not answering. James did not know the answers, all he knew was he wanted his son home along with Amy. Timmy was seen on CCTV up until the night of May 13th.
Amy would resurface on CCTV around 7:25 pm where she was seen going into a Family Dollar store in Winnebago, Illinois. This was an hour and a half away from the Rock Falls area where she had made her phone calls. (NOTE: Where was Amy, from the time she ended the phone call with her brother in law, until she appeared on CCTV in Winnebego? There are almost six hours unaccounted for.) While inside Amy purchased a pen, notebook paper and envelopes. She would then enter a Sullivans Store and purchase milk and crackers around 8 pm. Amy would leave the store and head somewhere for three hours before checking into the Rockford Inn around 11:15 pm. Amy is not seen leaving her room once checked in. The next morning Amy is found by staff with her wrist and throat slashed in the bathroom of the hotel around 12:30 pm. Amy had left a note, she apologized for the mess, she also said Timmothy was safe, with people who loved him and would care for him, she also said they would never find him. Amy mailed two letters out, one to her mom and one to her best friend. When did Amy mail these and from where? If she had to purchase stamps where did she do so and was she captured on CCTV doing so?
James would receive a knock on his door an agonizing three days after Amy and Timmy had vanished, it was the police. James thought maybe they had been found. The police informed him his wife had been located, she was deceased and the cause appeared to be suicide. Then they told him his son was not with her. Where was his son? The police did not have the answer for him. Along with Timmy all of his belongings were gone, his new toys and clothing and his spider man backpack he had with him the entire trip. Along with the I Pass transponder and cellphone that belonged to Amy. (NOTE: An I Pass transponder is a device you place on your dash or window, and as you drive through the Toll Booths instead of stopping to pay it bills you.) The clothing Amy was last seen in was missing as well and no items have been found to this day.
In the room with Amy was a bottle of water with most of the bottle drank, and an almost empty bottle of Triaminic children’s medicine. The suicide note along with pictures of Timmy were laying on the bed. Amy’s cell phone was found in 2013 by a woman. It was on the side of the road on Route 78 just north of Mount Carroll, Illinois. The woman who found the phone had it activated and let a relative use it. Police recovered the phone but found nothing on it. Why was the phone found in such an odd place? Amy did not know anyone there. Had she driven this way after she placed the 1:30 pm calls on May 13th, and threw the phone out the window so she could not be found? It is a possibility however there are so many other possibilities as well it is truly hard to say or know exactly why her cell phone ended up where it was found. The other question that everyone was waiting to be answered was, where was Timmy? What had she done to him? Was he with someone or had she done something far worse to keep him away from James? The police and family wanted these questions answered and began retracing every step Amy made with Timmy.
The police would find out from Amy’s I pass records, that she had made the trip to the Rock Falls/Sterling area at least two other times. Was this premeditated? Police were beginning to believe so. Amy had gone once in February and stayed for around four hours leaving at 3:58 pm and returning at 9:44 pm. Amy’s second trip was in March where she stayed for around five hours leaving at 9:11 am and returning at 4:30 pm. This is all according to the IPass records. The police would ask friends and family if they knew why Amy had gone there? No one did, Amy had no friends or family to anyone’s knowledge in that area of Illinois. It is also unknown if Timmy was with her on these trips. It is possible that if she was going to give him away she would take him to meet the people beforehand. The police then went over the suicide notes, there had been one in the hotel room, one mailed to her mom and another mailed to her friend. Below is what the note her mother received said:
“Mom, I know you are hurt and frustrated, and I wish I had something better to say than I love you. But I don’t. I’ve never really felt like I belonged here. I’ve tried very hard to fit in, to be happy, to be good to those around me, but somehow I’ve always felt apart from everything. Tim helped with that for a while, and maybe if Jim and I had been better I would have been OK, but everything fell apart this time and there were just too many pieces for me to pick up again. I can’t take the chance of Jim hurting Tim because of my choices. So I have taken him somewhere safe. He will be well cared for and he says that he loves you. Please know there is nothing you could have said or done that would have changed my mind. I’m sorry for the hurt and difficulties I know you’re going to face. I just hope you will be able to forgive me one day. Please let Brian, Kathie, Natalie, Adam, Cara, Sydney and Phoebe know that I do love them, and it was just time for me to say goodbye. I love you mom. Amy.”
Age Progression to age 16 years old.
Her family believes Amy gave Timmothy away and so does James. Who did she give him to? Could Amy have known someone that no one else knew about? It is possible, James had found out that Amy had been talking to an ex husband, was this who she was going to see or had she set up an illegal adoption? We may not know these answers but one thing is for certain Amy did not want James to have custody or even be around him anymore. In the note a lot of sleuths believe Amy was having an affair and Timmy did not actually belong to James. This is based on the chemotherapy which is known to cause infertility. Was Timmy someone elses son and James found out or was on the verge of finding this out? The police and family do not believe this was the case, however you have to wonder given the fact she was caught talking to an ex husband and making plans to meet while James was out of town. The police would do a deep analysis on her suv. Based on sediments and plant material the police believe Amy stopped her suv for an unknown amount of time. They believe she stopped on a wide gravel shoulder or a short gravel turnout adjacent to or just off of an asphalt secondary road. This road was once treated with glass road marking beads. (NOTE: Glass road marking beads are used to make the lines on the road reflective when lights hit them.) They believe Amy backed her suv into a grassy meadow or field to a spot that was nearly treeless. They concluded that birch and oak trees were in the area as well as queen anne’s lace and black mustard plants. There was no corn growing in the area indicating it was not an area used for farmland. It was determined the grass found on the suv had not been cut and there was a strong likelihood there was a small pond, stream or creek nearby where the suv was parked. Scientists who analyzed the suv believe the area she parked to be located in the Northwestern Illinois area. Lee and Whiteside Counties were the most logical locations. However they did not rule out Carroll, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties as other areas she could have parked. What was Amy doing in a meadow or field, some believe she was handing Timmy off to someone others believe she was burying his body. Police would scour different locations they thought they may find Timmy or any sign he had been there, nothing was ever found. Why was Amy so hell bent on James never having custody of their only son? Was there something going on behind closed doors that no one knew about, or was Amy’s mental state playing tricks on her causing her to believe James was evil and would hurt their son? We will never have the answers to this as the one person who could provide them is no longer with us.
Age progression of Timmy and a person claiming to be the lost boy in 2019.
The theories would come in abundance as everyone had some point of view on what happened to the lost child. Some believed he was alive, others felt she had killed and buried him. Amy and James’ family all believe Timmy is still alive and she loved him far too much to ever hurt him. Police believe since he was not found with her body there is a chance he could still be out there somewhere. As the years passed and there was still no sign of Timmy, many people started to wonder if he was in Canada or possibly with the Amish community. There was even talk she had given him to a cult that was prominent in the Wisconsin Dells area at the time. No matter what you thought or believed the only truth was Timmy was still missing. The case was growing colder and as the years passed James always held fast that his son was alive and out there somewhere and one day he knew he would see him again. It seemed like that day was going to be sooner than expected.
On April 3, 2019 a woman in Newport, Kentucky spotted what appeared to be a teen walking alone in the streets, he then took off in a full run across the bridge over the Ohio River, he was now in Cincinnati. Who was this person and what was he running from? The woman would drive over the bridge and ask him what was wrong and if he needed help. She was not prepared for what happened next. The person told her he was Timmothy Pitzen and he had been missing for seven years. He just ran from two men who were built like bodybuilders from a Red Roof Inn. He was not sure where he was. The teenager was taken to the hospital where he refused to give his fingerprints to the police. So DNA was taken however it would take 24 to 48 hours before the results were in. The woman who found Timmothy said he appeared cold, scared and bruised up. Police would go to all Red Roof Inn’s in the area even having other counties check their area. They found no men matching what the teen had told them. When the DNA would come back it would reshatter a family who thought they had their loved one back. It turns out “Timmy” was actually 23 year old Brian Rini who had just been released from the Belmont Correctional Facility in Ohio less than a month before he was now claiming to be Timmothy. He had watched a TV special on the case and told the media he wanted someone to love him the way Timmy’s dad loved and cared about him. This is the only explanation he ever gave for impersonating Timmy. It was a cruel thing to do to a family who had been through hell and back trying to find Timmothy. In 2020 Brian was sentenced to two years in prison for impersonating Timmy. The family does not understand why this man chose to do this to them. They still believe Timmy is alive and does not know who he is. James has never given up hope that he will one day be reunited with his son. He said when he is, it will be the greatest day of his life.
This case has so many ups and downs twist and turns it leaves you with more questions than answers. The one thing we know is Timmothy is still missing and his loved ones want him home where he belongs. As always if you have any information on this case please call the number below and let’s bring Timmothy home where he belongs.
DISCLAIMER: The Certified Roarikle would like to thank all sites that the information came from and state that in no way is copyright infringement intended.
As always thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog.
The year was 1998, MTV was debuting more than just the latest music videos with shows like Total Request Live better known as TRL and Celebrity DeathMatch. Sex and the City debuted on HBO and would be come and overnight sensation. Brandy and Monica were taking over the charts, when they chose to collaborate and duet with The Boy is Mine. Sony unknowingly sold the Handycam, a camcorder with night vision that also allowed you to see through other people’s clothing, it was quickly recalled and taken off of the shelves. Consumers everywhere were Thinking Outside the Bun with Taco Bell’s all new campaign, while the folks at Apple wanted you to Think Different. The Barenaked Ladies released the song One Week setting them off into stardom. Furbies were released and it instantly became the number one selling toy of the year. Meanwhile Koko the Gorilla was making history once again, becoming the first gorilla to have a live inter-species chat online. This took place on April 27th. Teen People premiered its debut edition with Jennifer Love Hewitt on the cover and all the teen girls had to have it calling each other on their Nokia 6120 phone that 22 million people were carrying at the time. Google was founded and the MP3 player was released making 1998 a good year to be a teen just on the cusp of technology taking over but still able to disconnect long enough to enjoy the world around you. If only the Lyall family could have focused on the awesome things going on in the world, instead they were focused on finding their daughter and making sure laws were put in place so if another student went missing from campus the security would know exactly what to do.
Suzanne Gloria Lyall was born on April 6, 1978 to Doug and Mary, she had an older brother Steven and an older sister Sandee. Suzanne, who went by Suzy, was considered the baby of the family and described by her siblings as the darling of the family. From a very young age Suzy’s parents noticed she was very intelligent and would write poetry, as if she was wise beyond her years. Suzy was also technologically advanced in computers, when she was around 9 or 10 she began taking computers apart and rebuilding her own, she learned how to write code and eventually learned programming as well. Suzy was quite shy and did not have a large social circle as she was considered to be very socially awkward. Most girls in high school were worried about the latest gossip or makeup, Suzy was more interested in being on a computer or working on one. She spent a lot of her time on bulletin boards online, what we know today as forums. While on one of these online bulletins she found a computer group that was set to meet at a local restaurant and discuss computer technology, codes and programming. Mary (mom) did not think it was a great idea as she had no idea who the people in this group were. Somehow Suzy convinced her dad to take her to meet with this group. Some of the people, mainly males, were much older in the group, another detail Mary did not approve of. The leader of the computer group was a 17 year old named Richard “Rich” Condon. He attended a catholic high school not far from where Suzy attended school. The two would become better acquainted when Suzy discovered Rich was an expert in computer programming, something she wanted to learn. A friend in the group would introduce the two and tell Rich how Suzy wanted to learn to program and asked if he could show her, to which Rich agreed. As the two teens spent more and more time together a romance insured and before long the two were dating. Something that many believe changed the course of one family’s lives forever.
Suzy and Richard.
After graduating with honors from high school, Suzy set off to attend State University of New York, in Oneonta, New York (SUNY). This was 2 hours away from her parents home. Mary felt this was a good opportunity for Suzy to spread her wings and learn how to live away from mom and dad. Possibly allowing her to open up and make friends and come out of her shell a little bit. Suzy was at SUNY for two semesters when she called her mother and told her she was smart enough to teach the classes and knew more than everyone there. Suzy felt she was not being challenged enough. After the semester ended Suzy decided she wanted to transfer to SUNY, in Albany, New York. They had more challenging classes and as a bonus she would only be 30 minutes away from her family and only a short 10 minute drive from Rich, whom she was still in a relationship with, although rocky at times the couple were coming up on three years together. When Suzy confided in her mother she was transferring this did not please Mary. She felt the closer Suzy was the more dependent she would be on them, she also felt the relationship Suzy had with her boyfriend was toxic and if she was away from him it would be for the better. Suzy had confided in her mom that she and Rich had not been getting along and on several occasions she had attempted to end it with him, only to have him become super emotional and manipulate her into staying with him. Suzy then tried to write him Dear John letters to end it, as she would not have to see him thus making it easier for her to end things. According to Mary this did not work either, within an hour of Rich receiving a letter the home phone would ring and once again he would convince her not to end things. Mary would say Rich was controlling, jealous and possessive of her daughter. Rich also had full remote access to Suzy’s computer, meaning he could access all of her files and emails, really whatever was on her computer from his computer at home. This was something that bothered Mary as she thought it was very controlling. Mary worried like any mother would about her daughter.
Suzy was working two jobs while attending SUNY, Albany. One in Troy, New York at a computer company and another in the Crossgates Mall two miles from her school campus at a computer store called Babbage’s. Suzy was a very goal oriented person and she had made a comment to her boss Garland one night she hoped working at Babbage’s wasn’t a mistake, as she felt she could have used the time to study.
On Sunday March 1, 1998, Suzy would talk to her mom and discuss that she was having money issues, her mom asked if she would like her to loan her money, to which Suzy said no she would be ok she could make it until she was paid on Thursday. Mary said Suzy seemed in good spirits, she knew her daughter had a midterm exam the next day and she seemed a bit stressed over this. Suzy would go to work like normal, her boss Garland would report that Suzy seemed off that shift, when he asked her what was wrong she told him she was worried about the exam. Suzy had to ace this test to keep her GPA what it was and her grades high. Garland told her not to worry he was sure she would do great. Suzy agreed and the night went on as normal,at five til closing, Suzy started her normal routine. She would head to the bathroom and change out of her work clothes into her regular clothing. Her mother would say this is something normal as she would arrive early and change into her work clothes before a shift started. Mary said she has no idea why Suzy did this but it was a routine she had that she never faltered from. Suzy would then head out the back door of Babbage’s and into the dimly lit corner of the parking lot where she would catch the #12 bus back to the college campus. Upon arriving at her room which was a quad room, it was one apartment with four separate rooms and a common area. Suzy would email or call Rich and her parents to let them all know she had made it safely back to her room. Suzy was a creature of habit, she had the same routine nightly and rarely if ever deviated from it. Could this have been something that got her stalked and led to her vanishing? That is a possibility police have looked into as it was reported but could not be corroborated that Suzy had told a female co worker she was being stalked by an unknown male. The co worker said Suzy did not appear to be afraid or worried about this so the co worker did not press the issue. If Suzy was being stalked why was she not worried? Did she perhaps know the person? Why was the female coworker the only one told? Some of the questions there will be no answer to until someone comes forward.
Monday, March 2, 1998 started off like any other day for Suzy, she attended all of her classes that day. Around four pm when her last class ended she headed back to her room to drop off her school books and pick up the clothes she needed for work. Suzy then boarded the number 12 bus and headed into work at Babbage’s. Suzy arrived a few minutes early as she usually did, she then headed to change before starting her shift. Garland Nelson (boss) asked Suzy how she thought she did on the exam. Her reply was she thought she had done ok. Suzy seemed distracted, something was on her mind. To Garland she seemed off again, he would say she just was not her normal self. Her mom had gone shopping with her daughter a week before and on the way back to campus, Suzy asked to stop at Richard’s as she had something to give him. Mary assumed it was a late Valentine’s card, but in the back of her mind she wondered if it was another Dear John letter. Mary never asked and looking back now she should have. Suzy’s shift ended at 9 pm that night. She changed and headed for to catch her normal bus 12 and go back to campus. The bus picked her up around 9:20 pm and arrived back at the Collins Circle bus stop on campus around 9:45 pm. Suzy would exit the bus and vanish into thin air.
That night when Richard did not receive a call or email from Suzy he began to worry and called her several times and sent emails as well. However he never called the police, her parents or alerted campus authorities that she was missing. Rich also never went to the dorm which was only ten minutes away to check and see if everything was ok at the campus. It would be the next day when the Lyall’s were getting ready to go out to lunch with their oldest son Steven the phone would ring. Mary answered and it was Rich who said something to the effect of you know Suzy didn’t come back to her dorm last night. Mary was in disbelief and a little bit shocked, she handed the phone to her husband who got what few details he could out of Rich. Doug (dad) took off to Albany to look for his daughter, Mary would stay behind in case Suzy called or showed up there. When arriving Doug contacted the campus security to let them know his daughter was missing. They checked her room and found nothing a miss, by all accounts it looked as if she planned to return. They then went to her first class, there was no way Suzy would miss class, she had another exam to take that day and was always on time if not early everywhere she went. When she did not show up to class, panic set in Doug knew something was terribly wrong, and he was determined to find his daughter.
Mary and Doug Lyall, Suzy’s mom and dad.
Campus security told Doug not to panic, Suzy was more than likely asleep at someone else’s place or had taken off for a short time but they seemed confident she would return on her own. Doug knew better his daughter did not go to parties nor did she drink or do drugs, if she went somewhere she always let her parents or her boyfriend know. (NOTE: It is possible that Suzy had broken up at this point, perhaps that is why she never called or emailed him that night.) Campus security began to question her dorm mates and friends around campus. Her roommates said they did not hear her come in that night, usually they would hear Suzy’s key ring jangling as it was said to have contained a lot of keys. They did not hear anything other than the phone ringing that night. So they assumed Suzy did not return home after her shift at Babbage’s.
On Tuesday March 3rd, when Garland arrived at Babbage’s he was informed that Suzy was missing, he thought little of it at first. She had been stressed out about exams and sometimes college students had to get away for a while to escape the pressures of life. Garland would contact the mall security desk and ask if they noticed anything unusual from the night before. They reported back that nothing was unusual from the night before. Where had Suzy gone? Had she left on her own to escape the pressure of college or had something far worse happened?
While Doug is with campus security on Tuesday, Mary gets an idea while sitting at home waiting on any word from anyone about Suzy. She decided to call the bank and speak to an ATM agent, if her daughter had run off it was likely she used her ATM card. (NOTE: In 1998 it was not called a debit card, they were ATM cards used to withdraw money or a slip that you redeemed for your money at the cashier.) At 3:50 pm as Mary was talking to an agent there was a hit on the card. The pin number was entered correctly on the first try. Mary asked where it was used, however the system took 24 hours to process and send information back to the ATM agent, she informed Mary she would call first thing tomorrow and let her know where the ATM card had been used. With no other choice Mary agreed, thanked the agent and hung up the phone. Was her daughter out there just cooling down after a hard exam? Mary was determined to find out. Doug would come back home Tuesday night with no luck in finding Suzy. Campus police had still not alerted the local nor state police and felt Suzy would come back on her own despite everything they had heard from the family and her friends.
Suzy (bottom right) with her brother Steven (back) and sister Sandee (front left.)
Wednesday March 4th, the ATM agent called Mary and reported the ATM that had been used was located two miles from campus, and in an area she would not have gone by herself. The card was used at a store called Stewart’s, it was a convenient store. There was no reason for Suzy to have been there, and lots of people believe she was not at the store nor did she take the money out that day. Suzy had taken $20 out of the ATM near the Collins Circle bus stop on Monday March 2nd, then she took out an additional $20 when she arrived at the Crossgates Mall before she started her shift at Babbage’s and now another $20 had been taken out a day later at a small convenience store. This was very odd as Mary knew how frugal her daughter was. Suzy did not like to use the ATM as it charged fees and she was trying to save her money. With this new information the Lyall’s had given campus security, they finally called the New York State police. Mary and Doug were not pleased they had waited 36 hours to do so. She could be anywhere with anyone or worse she could be dead. There were no policies in place that enforced the campus security alert the state police of a missing person at this time. Something the Lyall’s would change in the years to come.
The NY state police would go to the mall and interview people Suzie worked with and neighboring businesses. Other officers were sent to the bus station to find out more information. They were able to locate the bus driver from the night Suzy vanished. He would confirm she did get on the bus at the Crossgates mall stop, however he does not remember where she got off at. (NOTE: There are no stops from the mall bus stop to the Collins Circle bus stop where she would have gotten let off that night.) The driver said he is certain she did not get off at the last stop of the night which was downtown. While police were talking to students on campus they came across a young lady who knew Suzy. She told the police that she saw Suzy exit the bus at the Collin’s Circle stop around 9:45 pm, she saw her in passing as she was getting on the bus Suzy was exiting the bus. There were no other witnesses to this, as the temperature that night was around 26 degrees Fahrenheit. The police would however conclude this as the last confirmed sighting of Suzie. At this time all of the buildings on SUNY’s campus required a key card to gain entrance, the system was reviewed and it was found Suzy had not used her card to gain access to any location on campus the night she vanished. This caused many to believe she had not made it back to campus and the woman the acquaintance saw was someone who looked like Suzy rather than actually being her.
When Officer Kamp who was now the lead investigator on the case found out about the ATM withdrawal at the Stewart Convenience store he went to ask some questions and review CCTV if they had any footage. No one recognized Suzy when shown a picture, leading police to believe she was not the one to make the withdrawal that day. The police would go through hours of video footage, locating everyone who had gone near the ATM that day. They accounted for everyone except a black male in a Nike baseball cap. He would come to be known as the Nike Man. It would take the police a year to locate him, once a composite sketch was drawn tips came in from the man’s family. When the man was questioned police felt as though he had nothing to do with Suzy’s disappearance and was cleared as a suspect. However so much time was focused on finding this man because the public opinion was he was involved and took precious time away from finding Suzy.
It should be noted that Suzy and Rich had a favorite movie they would watch all the time together called Hackers starring Angelina Jolie. Click the link to read the synopsis of the movie. In one particular part of the movie the hackers make an ATM spit out money. This was interesting as it seemed that the ATM at the Stewart store had done that same thing only with a $20 dollar bill. Was this actually possible to hack an ATM? It is in fact one hundred percent able to be done and has been proven to be able to be done. Is it possible someone close to Suzy or perhaps Suzy herself had hacked the ATM machine as it was known to be a cash only ATM and make it spit out a twenty to throw off the case? Police were baffled and decided it was time to talk to Richard Condon.
Richard and Suzy.
Richard Condon lived with his parents while he attended a local Poly-tech school. The police went to ask him a few questions about Suzy. Rich told police Suzy had never mentioned anyone she was having problems with and he noticed nothing out of the ordinary with her. He would go on to tell the police he and Suzy were the only two who knew the ATM pin number. He also told police he and Suzy had been engaged secretly. This was something new to her parents. His alibi on the night she went missing is a very weak one at best, he told police he was at home playing a computer video game with his friend. When police went to corroborate this, the friend said he had been playing a computer game that night with Rich. When asked how he knew it was Richard he was playing, his response was he had been playing games with him for years and knew the style in which Rich played and he was playing the way Rich would have. Police were not too sure about all this. Remember Rich was an expert computer programmer, was it possible he programmed the game to play while he was not there, absolutely only in 1998 the police did not know how to find that kind of information out from someone’s computer. Mary informed the police that Suzy and Richard’s relationship was rocky. She told them how Suzy had made multiple attempts to break up and how possessive, jealous and controlling he was of her daughter. This would prompt the police to go back and ask Rich a few more questions, however this time Rich was less cooperative. He refused to answer any more questions, he was then asked to take a polygraph he declined and got a very expensive lawyer and to this day has not spoken to the police. However his father has on multiple occasions.
It is documented that after Suzy vanished, Richard’s father would tell police he had seen Suzy on multiple occasions. Police were dumbfounded by this. Rich’s dad was a truck driver and he told police he had gone to this little cafe everyday to get coffee and he saw Suzy sitting on a bench there everyday. The police took this seriously; they told him to call them when he saw her again and gave him a department cell phone to use. The police would also put two undercover officers on the case to follow the dad and see what he was up to. A few days went by when the dad took his phone out and called police to tell them he was looking at Suzy sitting on the bench. The undercover officers would report no one was on the bench. Why was he calling the police and telling them this? Mary would say he must have been mentally ill as he would claim to see Suzy again with it being unfounded. When talked to, Rich’s dad and mom would claim they were not close with Suzy and barely knew her, which would turn out to be a lie. Suzy was close with Rich’s dad as she spent most weekends at their home where Rich’s dad was always around the two. Mary could not understand why they were lying about this. They had even showed up when Suzy had gone away to college for the first time, they drove two hours to see her and spend time with her while her parents were there. Mary thought this was super odd. She also thought it was super odd that Richard’s dad told police he knew what happened to Suzy. He said, one day when he was driving he saw a car that looked exactly like his son’s down to the same stickers, he pulled up beside as he was going to wave a hello to his son. Only to see that it was someone who looked just like his son but was not. He told police this man must have been in the parking lot when she got off the bus and hollered at her, she thought it was Rich and when she got close the man grabbed her. The police were in disbelief that this man kept claiming to either see or know what happened to Suzy. Richard’s dad was never charged with anything in Suzy’s case. Most wonder why he was not charged with interfering with an open investigation.
In May of 1998 two students walking near the bus stop at Collins Circle would notice what at first they thought was a credit card laying in the grass nearby. Upon further investigation they found it was the missing college student Suzy’s. The police were called and the badge was taken. The police and family were baffled as this location had been thoroughly searched, how had they missed the name tag. The state police would have it analyzed but came back with nothing useful. The police would ask Garland about the name tag, when he saw it he told police it was one of their old name tags as this one had a pin on the back, the ones employees wore now were around their neck on lanyards. How did Suzy’s name tag get there? It was possible she had lost it prior to vanishing but that poses the question why was it not found during the initial search of the area? This was truly difficult for the family as they just wanted Suzy back. Police were working hard on the case but it was growing colder by the minute. Six months would go by before the police would get a break or so they thought.
A cold case unit was working on a case from 13 years before Suzy vanished. Karen Wilson vanished on March 27, 1985 from SUNY, Albany’s campus. Karen was walking back to the same dorm room that Suzy lived in when she vanished. She was last seen at 7:20 pm leaving the Tanning Hut to walk back to campus. There was no evidence found that could link the two crimes together nor was there anything that could rule out they were connected. Neither case has been solved. Was it possible the man was incarcerated for 13 years and when he was released he went back to commit the crime again. Of course it was but there was no proof linking anyone to either crime. Over the years tips would come in and leads were followed but ultimately the case was cold. Doug and Mary were frustrated with campus security; they felt they should not have waited to involve law enforcement. The parents decided to get a law passed so this would never happen to another family again. In 1999 the New York State College Safety Act of 1999 was passed and signed into state law in 2000. This law required all state colleges and universities to have a plan in place when a student goes missing and follow a protocol. In 2008 this would become a federal law renamed the Suzanne Lyall College Safety Act, and all campuses were required to have a plan in place if this happens. In 2003 Suzanne’s Law was put into place allowing the National Missing and Exploited children’s site to include students ages 18-21 to be included on their site as missing, thus allowing them to help with posters and age progression photos. The Lyall’s took their awful experience and turned it into a way to help ensure other family’s did not have to endure what they did if their loved one should go missing. Doug passed away at the age of 73 years old in 2015, he never found out what happened to his daughter but he helped so many families because of his daughter’s disappearance, he will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Mary is still alive as of this blog, advocating for others and still hoping to know what happened to her daughter one day. Steven and Sandee want justice and answers, they want to find out what happened to their darling baby sister. After all these years police do believe foul play is involved. The family wants answers, as always if you have any information on this case please call the number below.
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As always thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog.
The year was 1984, Prince released Purple Rain, the release of the album and movie in the same week would launch Prince into stardom. The longest game in Major League Baseball (MLB) at the time was played, lasting for 8 hours and 6 minutes. Consisting of 25 innings, and took two days to play. It ended when the White Sox defeated the Brewers 7 to 6. Leggings, jean jackets, short skirts and big hair was all the craze. For Christmas the number one toy kids everywhere wanted was a cabbage patch kid, along with transformers. Trivial Pursuit was a hot ticket item with over 20 million sold that year. If you were not too caught up in trivia or playing with toys then you were eating barbecue chicken pizza and yelling “Where’s the Beef” at the TV when the all new iconic Wendy’s commercial came on. 1984 was a time to thrive, new things were taking shape all over America, for one young family their wife and mother had vanished only to come back eight years later, and have their lives turned upside down going through the pain and heartache all over again.
Tinze Lucinda Huels, known by all as Lucinda, was born on April 6, 1967. Lucinda would grow up in Hillsborough County, FLorida. She met a young man named Larry Huels, while she was living with her mother Helen in the Lamplighter Mobile home park near Tampa, Florida, the two young teens lived next door to each other and they fell in love quickly. On April 3, 1982 just three days before her 15th birthday Lucinda wed Larry Huels who was a few years older than her. (NOTE: Does not give an exact age but he was around 20 years old at the time.) In November Lucinda would give birth to her first child, Christopher. Lucinda loved her family and was very home oriented after the birth of her son. Larry was working and Lucinda was a homemaker, she had no complaints at the time. As time went by Lucinda and Larry were expecting another child. This time a baby girl named Deanna was born in March of 1984. The happy family of four moved into an apartment complex in the Temple Terrace area near Tampa, Florida to start their lives only to have it all go downhill and end with more questions than answers.
Friday October 26, 1984, was normal, Larry was at work and now 17 year old Lucinda was home with her two young children. Lucinda was a loving wife and mother, who met two ladies who lived in the same complex as she did. The pair were around ten years older than she was and it’s been said not a very good influence on the young mother and wife.
The stories vary on what actually happened that night. At some point Larry came home and gave Lucinda fifteen dollars so she could go to the laundromat. It has been said that Lucinda came home at some point after doing laundry or while it was washing, cooked dinner for her husband, changed her clothes and then headed out to the Char-Pal Lounge, a local bar. (NOTE: Some articles will state she did not come back home before going out, or that she came back and got ready at one of the ladies homes she was going out with that night.) This was not the first time Lucinda had gone out, it seemed once she met Linda and Nicca (older friends in complex) it would happen more and more. Lucinda was drinking and experimenting with drugs. Some rumors even talked about the possibility Lucinda was dabbling in prostitution, as Nicca was a known prostitute by locals. Lucinda was applying for a part time job in hopes of having one before the Christmas season, this was so she could buy more Christmas presents for her children. It seems Lucinda was torn between the life she loved as a mother and wife and the party life she never had the chance to experience before becoming a mom and wife.
Char-Pal Lounge, closed today, was once a booming establishment known for seedy happenings.
Lucinda would meet her two friends Linda and Nicca at the lounge. Linda’s husband would also arrive at the bar. (NOTE: Some articles state this is her ex-husband. It is said he knows Larry Moore, the man Lucinda was going to be working for.) Many witnesses state that Linda and her husband got into a heated argument, although no one seems to know what it was about and said the situation was quickly resolved. Lucinda, Nicca, and Linda would play pool for awhile before heading different ways in the lounge to mingle. Around midnight to twelve thirty am, now Saturday, October 27th Lucinda was approached by Linda and asked if she was ready to go, Lucina was having a good time and decided to stay awhile longer. This is where the accounts of who last saw or was with Lucinda begin to vary greatly. Nicca claims when she was leaving she went outside and found Lucinda smoking marijuana with a group of people. Nicca would later say she did not know any of the people Lucinda was with outside, but she appeared to be having a good time and was not ready to go so Nicca left Lucinda and the lounge. It was also reported Lucinda was seen talking in the parking lot to Larry Moore, a man who owned at least three businesses one of which was a maid service Lucinda was set to start work at on October 29th. When questioned about the interaction, Larry said he saw Lucinda and talked briefly to her. Larry also stated Lucinda was in and out of the lounge that night and he was not the last one with her. In a turn of events he and his friend would be pulled over later that morning and be charged for a firearm in the vehicle and possession of marijuana. Lucinda has not been seen since the early morning hours of Saturday, October 27th.
Larry knew when his wife had not come home something was wrong. Of course she went out and sometimes came home later than he liked. She had never stayed out all night. The facts vary a bit on when Larry was alerted his wife’s car was still in the Char-Pal Lounge parking lot. Linda and Nicca claim to have seen the car still parked in the lot and went to Larry and alerted him. Other articles say Larry began looking for his wife and found her car in the parking lot. Either way the only car they owned was found abandoned with the doors unlocked and folded laundry in the backseat. The only things missing were Lucinda and her purse. Larry would alert the police and Helen, Lucinda’s mother, that she had not come home and they had found the car parked at the lounge from the night before. What they would not find out until two weeks later was a janitor across the street at Busch Gardens campground, found her purse under a bench next to the mens restroom. It would be put in lost and found where it sat for two weeks before an employee would notice it was the purse belonging to the missing 17 year old Lucinda Huels and alerted the authorities. Everything still seemed to be inside, the leftover change from the laundromat, marriage license, ID and insurance card along with makeup. The real mystery was why was it found across the road at Busch Gardens?
Five months after Lucinda vanished an older man living in the Tampa area called police. He had just watched the news and saw the missing young lady. The man told the police the girl had just been at his home looking for work, when he asked where she lived she pointed a little down the street. The man sent her away as he had no work for her. The man would report the home she gestured to was known to have young people in and out all hours of the day and night. Some thought it could have been Larry Moore’s home or a home he ran a business out of as rumors were flying that the maid service was a cover up for a prostitution ring. Nothing would come of this lead. Nor would anything come from another sighting in Tennessee from a trucker who said a girl who looked just like Lucinda had asked him for a ride while he was parked at a rest stop. The man declined and the girl went on her way. The case would begin to grow cold and colder for eight long years.
Lucinda Huels on the left and Amanda “Mandy” Dennis on the right.
In 1992, the phone would ring. A now 8 year old Deanna answered, to hear a woman on the other end ask who she was speaking to. Deanna told her and the response she received no one was ready for, especially not an 8 year old child. The woman said oh baby, this is your mom. Deanna would laugh thinking it was a prank call and tell the woman she wasn’t her mom. In the midst of this call, Lucinda’s mom overheard and took the phone away from Deanna. Could this be the day they had all waited for and their Lucinda was alive and well. Helen and the woman would talk on the phone for a long while. This woman knew a lot about the family. It turns out a woman named Amanda had been living between Tennessee and Arkansas for the past eight years and one night while watching an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, her husband joked she looked a lot like the woman on TV. Amanda broke down in tears and said she had a confession to make. She was Lucinda, she had run away from her life because she could not handle being a wife and mother so young. The man believed her and turned her over to police where she made the call to the Huels residence. The family and police were so convinced this was Lucinda they sent her back to the family she had run away from. Larry was overcome with joy; he had his wife back and the children had their mother. It was a true miracle.
Christopher was 10 at the time and Deanna was just turning 8 as she was only six months old when her mother vanished. While Larry and Helen thought she looked a little different, they were still happy. It had been eight years she would not have looked exactly the same. However the gap in her front teeth was not there anymore and her chin was a bit different. Amanda explained she had been in a car accident and had to have dental work done and cosmetic surgery to fix her injuries. The family was just so happy to have who they thought was Lucinda back, they failed to see the red flags. The woman knew a lot about the family, she knew which sister was who, and she even recognized her best friend Candy at the grocery store one day. Candy knew something was off from the get go, but the family was so happy she could not express what she was feeling about this woman. So she kept her mouth shut and let it play out. They kids were treated well by the woman and she was very intimate with Larry, always giving him cards and cooking for him, she was the Lucinda that vanished all those years ago. The family was happy and whole again. Finally they were settling back into a normal home life, only to have it all come crashing down. Causing pain and grief that they still deal with today.
After the news stories aired that Lucinda was home and safe after eight long years, a call would come in to the Tampa Police Station, claiming the woman who was found safe was not Lucinda, rather a 17 year old married runaway, named Amanda. The woman denied at first she was Amanda, holding fast to being Lucinda. Eventually DNA confirmed the woman was not related to Christopher and Deanna. This devastated the family. A husband had lost his wife all over, a mother her child, and the children lost their mother all over again and this time they would be old enough to remember thus making the pain all that much worse. Larry shut down and would no longer talk about what happened. He would never remarry, Lucinda was the love of his life and I am sure he felt like he betrayed her as much as Amanda had betrayed all of them. Larry continued to work and raise his family until he passed away, never knowing what happened to his wife. The family does not believe Amanda was involved in the disappearance of Lucinda, but they do have a lot of questions as to why she did all of this. Her actions have changed the lives of this family without any real reason as to why she pretended to be Lucinda.
When the news was released that Lucinda (Amanda posing as Lucinda) was safe and back home, neither Linda nor Nicca came to visit her. It is said they both moved out of the apartment complex and did not talk to the family anymore. It’s odd that the two friends who were with her that night did not care enough when it was announced she was found. Is it because they already know what happened? The family and others seem to think so. Linda can not be located and Nicca has been in and out of jail for prostitution and drug related charges. It should also be noted the man who Lucinda was scheduled to start working for never came by to inquire about Lucinda, he has since passed away. Deanna is still looking for answers, she is ready for closure. As a six month old she had a mom she never knew vanished, then when she was 8 years old she got her mom back only to have this one taken because she was only pretending to be her mom. Now as time goes on she just wants the truth. Is her mom alive and living well somewhere or did something far worse happen in 1984? As always if you have information on this case please call the number below and let’s get closure for the remaining family members.
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As always thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog.
The year was 1986, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz was the first Hispanic-American Astronaut to go into space. The United Kingdom and France announced plans to construct the Channel Tunnel, better known as the Chunnel. Stand By Me, Short Circuit and Little Shop of Horrors were taking over movie screens, while dressing like a tennis player was totally radical. Fresh chicken and veggies with a side of fruit was on dinner tables everywhere as healthy living was back in. Velour and velvet were the absolute must haves for men and women. The first Federal Martin Luther King Jr Day was observed on January 20th. Meanwhile, hailstones weighing 2.2 pounds fell on Gopalganj, a district of Bangladesh, killing 92 people. In better news Hands Across America had at least five million people form a human chain from New York to Long Beach, California, to raise money for hunger and homelessness. 1986 was full of surprises many that were good, for one family it was a year filled with tragedy as a mother and wife had been taken from her family in a brutal car crash. The question now was it an accident or a murder?
Aeileen in her younger years. Date unknown.
Aeileen Ann Anderson was born on June 15, 1935 in Comanche County, Oklahoma. At the age of 18 she would marry Patrick (Pat) Conway who was only a few years older than her, and take on his last name. The couple would have seven children together, and go on to be married for thirty three years before tragedy would strike.
On Tuesday, April 29, 1986, at 10:40 am, a farmer tending to his fields, saw a large plume of smoke coming from a nearby road. The farmer would alert the authorities and 20 minutes later the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol was on the scene. The highway patrol would find a vehicle engulfed in flames on an abandoned bridge. The heat from the car fire was so intense the car had melted into the guardrail. Inside the troopers found a body that was burned beyond recognition. The police would run a computer check on the vehicle, and it came back to Pat Conway. Pat along with his wife Aeileen lived fifteen miles away in Lawton, Oklahoma. Police would notify him of what they assumed was a tragic accident. It was determined that Aeileen was behind the wheel at the time of impact.
Crime Scene of the vehicle when found on the abandoned bridge engulfed in flames.
Pat would arrive home a few hours after the crash that troopers said was an tragic accident and find some discrepancies that made him believe his wife was murdered. When he entered his home he found the patio door wide open, Aeileen’s purse that she always had with her was found sitting by an armchair with her drivers license and glasses still inside. The ironing board was set up with an iron that was still on sitting on top of it. A garden hose was running into the backyard pool (in-ground.) When Pat walked to the master bedroom located in the back of the home he found the bathtub full and the phone off the hook resting on the side of the tub. Pat knew something was wrong his wife would have never just left the home like this. It was all very strange to say the least.
Pat was not happy with the cause of death listed and set out on a mission for the truth. Pat would enlist the help of Ray Anderson; he was an investigator with the district attorney’s office. Together they would go to the crash sight and look for any evidence. Ray would find a church bulletin a short distance away, Pat says he is 100% sure it was from their church from Sunday and it was last sitting on the dash in the car. Aeileen was known to always keep her windows up and drive with her air conditioning on. Ray would theorize that someone else was in the car and when they opened the door the church bulletin flew out. This was enough for the DA to change the cause of death from accidental to undetermined. At this same time the DA would ask the OSBI and the State Fire Marshal to evaluate the car for the likelihood of arson. Sonny Sansome from the Fire Marshal’s Office would say he was suspicious it was arson based on how badly the vehicle was burned, the burn looked like gasoline had been used. The gas cap was also missing, and in most vehicle arson cases the gas cap is removed, according to Sonny. The Fire Marshal would perform a burn test on a vehicle similar to Aeileen’s. When burned with a torch it would only stay on fire while the torch was held to the fabric, if taken away the fire would fizzle out. When the fabric was soaked in gasoline it destroyed the fabric. Forming the conclusion that an accelerant was used. An OSBI officer would state they have no idea why Aeileen would have been on a rural abandoned bridge, as neither she nor her husband had ever been to this location.
Pat Conway.
This is where the evidence ends as there really was no evidence to begin with, it all burnt up in the car that April day. (NOTE: No article nor does Unsolved.com state if the home was ever processed.) Ray Anderson said this case would only be solved when and if someone admits to it. He firmly believes that most people are caught because they can not keep from bragging about the crime they committed. Pat would pass away in 2013 and go to his grave never knowing what truly happened to his beloved wife Aeileen. There is not a lot known about Aeileen before this tragedy other than she was a mother and wife and was loved by her family. As always if you have any information on this case please call the number below.
CONTACT THE OSBI
405-848-6724
DISCLAIMER: The Certified Roarikle would like to thank all sites that the information came from and state that in no way is copyright infringement intended.
As always thank you for reading Roarikons, until next blog.
The Certified Roarikle 