IN IN - Jennifer Schmidt, 19, West Lafayette, 6 Aug 1985

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AuroraFarmgal

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IN-Jennifer Lee Schmidt - missing 08/06/85 from West Lafayette, IN

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Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: August 6, 1985 from West Lafayette, IN
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age: 19
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Race: White
Gender: Female
Distinguishing Characteristics: Fair complexion
Clothing: White blouse, pink shorts and white flat shoes


Details of Disappearance
Jennifer Schmidt, a Purdue University, electrical engineering major, from Dayton, Ohio, went missing in August 1985. On the summer afternoon she disappeared, Schmidt left her off-campus apartment to go speak with a professor. She was last seen talking to an acquaintance at Grant and Northwestern streets. At the request of her family, she was declared dead by the state of Ohio in May 1993.
Foul play is suspected.

Investigating Agency
West Lafayette Police Department
765-775-5200

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I'm new here so I'm not sure if this is where I should post this. I searched the site and did not find another posting for this young lady. Her mother was a co-worker of my mother's. I was 14 years old when she disappeared. I remember my parents talking about this. I've always wondered what happened to her. Now that I'm a mother, I cannot fathom the anguish that her parents must feel. Hopefully someone out there can help bring her home.
 
I am surprised to see no replies to this post. Anybody?
 
What happened? Did she met someone and changed her plans? Did she get to the university? Where did she go? It must be so frustrating for her family.
 
There seems to be very little info. Did she meet with her professor, when was she last seen, did she tell her friends who saw her last if she was going straight home. I wondered if she might have had to wal through a bad area, or if she decided to hitchhike because of bad weather, or she was running late.
 
i really can't believe this case is still open; i just saw it while searching for some other info. i lived in west lafayette from 81 to 88 and it seemed fairly common knowledge what had happened. it was more of a case of "how can we prove it". i would have thought what with the advances in forensics they would have brought the guy to justice since then.

i am so sorry for her family.
 
So Tricia asked in a sticky announcement for each member to take 3 minutes of their time and find a case to post something on that someday might reach a loved one of a missing person or victim. As members we see so many cases. Some of them speak to us immediately, some cases we trip over while thinking we are about something else entirely. On reading Tricia's post I was driven to find someone to read about who was around my age when I gave birth to my first child as an 18 year old in September of 1985. In scrolling through the many cases listed in this forum I was compelled to stop here.

So able to remember how heavy my life was at this moment in time. How scary and intimidating the future felt to me at the age of 18. How open. How scary. And then I imagined my loved ones, and their heartbreak, had I just disappeared without a trace. Life ahead of me. The future wide open. All those possibilities. Just Hitting the wall.

Having spent 30 years being a mother at this point. I cannot even imagine how difficult a thing Jennifer's family must have faced. Must still face. Year after year. The not knowing. The hope. The desperation.

Please know that your daughter, sister, niece, friend, mattered. That even now, in September of 2015, people are just discovering Jen. People are here that acknowledge your pain, the loss of this young lady, and will evermore feel some sense of her and their connection to her. And will continue to do vigil with you.
 
On the summer afternoon she disappeared, Schmidt left her off-campus apartment to go speak with a professor. She was last seen talking to an acquaintance at Grant and Northwestern streets, according to Journal & Courier archives.
Harry Martin, the retired captain of detectives for the West Lafayette Police Department who worked on the investigation, said Tuesday he could not comment on the case because it is still open.
Police from multiple agencies spent more than 3,000 hours on the case.

http://archive.jconline.com/article.../Past-missing-student-stories-had-sad-endings
 
<modsnip> I did a google search. I was pretty close on the timeline. Jennifer went missing in 1985. The girl (actually 28 yr. old mother) who was abducted and survived - her case was 18 months later, in 1987. There was another case in 1977. The man who committed the crime in 1987 was 31 at the time. He would have been 21 at the time of the 1977 crime. According to this article I found, Detectives believe there is a link at least between the latter two crimes. Interesting, the stable hand took a week off of work in both 1985 and 1987, but it doesn't specify whether his vacation times were at the same times as the crimes (Though I felt that was implied, I wish the article was more specific). I never even knew Purdue has stables until the report of the crime in 1987, so I'm not sure where they were. I don't think they exist anymore. Here's the article, if you care to click through it: http://interactives.wlfi.com/photom...he-disappearance-and-death-of-kristine-kozik/
 
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I have participated on WS since the original forum was established in 1998 or so to discuss the JonBenet Ramsey case, Last evening, my husband finally made his own personal connection to this site. Almost 20 years, and he finally had input about a missing persons' case.

He KNEW Jennifer Schmidt, as he was an Aeronautical Engineer student at Purdue and they were in the same group of friends. Early in his college education he and she were just in the Engineering classes, apparently. Jenn, as he calls her, went missing when he was a Freshman.
He remembers her going missing quite well, and has always wondered if they found her " or if she came home" he says.
Told me she was a very pretty and sweet girl, a good student, not a " party girl" type at all.
The strange thing is that I've never heard him mention another female student from Purdue in 2 decades together, or even another female, as he was so studious and career- minded that he didn't date until he met me in his early 30's.

She must have been a standout student, friend, or both for him to finally connect " The Missing" to his missing classmate so long ago at Purdue. They would be the same age now. He's 52.

I've gone around the world to ask: The NAMUS pages say her DNA is available, but has't been tested. How could it be that LE has not tested her DNA and entered it in CODIS?
 
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