Savemecastiel
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Bumping
IN IN - Melinda Creech, 13, Anderson, 4 Sept 1979
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Gardener1850
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Actual Photos
Child's photo is shown age progressed to 40 years (9/7/2006)
Melinda's photo has been age-progressed to 46 years. (AP completed 2/14/2012)
Melinda's photo is shown age-progressed to 52 years
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/5308/
Bit of hope
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A Study of Indiana Cold Cases: November 2017
Good writing, summing things up, with sources.
People don't just disappear. They cannot vanish into thin air. How can no one know when someone was last seen? Most missing person cases have at least a solid last sighting, but not this case. In fact, nothing about this case is solid.
The case of Melinda Creech is that of a 13 year old girl being rebellious. She was trying to grow up too fast. On a September night in 1979, Melinda Creech and male teenager were arrested for trying to steal a motorcycle from a local dealership in Anderson, Indiana.
The boy was taken to an all male facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana; meanwhile, Melinda was taken to a facility in Anderson. Melinda was taken to the Blake house, which was a branch of the Bronnenberg House.
The Bronnenberg house was the last orphanage in Madison County. The Bronnenberg home was in operation until the 1980's. It was located on Mounds Road just East of Anderson. The building was torn down and a new facility built. The new facility still stands and I pass it every day on my morning commute.
It turns out, at the time of Melinda Creech was taken to the Blake house, my aunt worked at the Bronnenberg. She was able to confirm that the girls home was indeed located on the campus on Mounds Road in Anderson, Indiana.
The Blake house was an all girls juvenile facility. There are conflicts between sources. Some sources say the arrest and booking was on September 4, while others claim that it was the 5.
An old police report stated that when police returned to Blake House to talk to Melinda Creech about the attempted burglary, they were unable to locate her. So at some point in the two month window of dropping her off at the Blake House and returning to question her, Melinda had vanished.
No records are avaliable from the juvenile home or the Bronnenberg Home after 1959. These records have not been released because it is believed that the records being provided would violate the privacy of individuals named in the documents.
Shirley Creech told her other children that Melinda had run away from the Blake House in September of 1979. Later in the 1990's, Shirley would tell her family that a badly decomposed body found on the East Coast was that of Melinda. Melinda's brothers and sister were leery to believe their mother. No service was ever held for the girl.
Shirley, who suffered from Dementia, passed away in 2003. As her remaining children cleaned out their mother's home. They made a horrifying discovery.
In a box, letters were found. Three letters from 1990 were found. These letters were correspondence from a New Jersey Police Department. The letters informed Shirley that Melinda's dental records did not match those of the badly decomposed body that had been found.
Why would a mother lie to her children about their sister being found dead? Was she trying to end their hurting for their sister? Or was her motivation something more sinister? It would later come out that Shirley had been abusive to all of her children. This would bring back questions about what really happened to Melinda.
Along with the letters about the remains not belonging to Melinda, there were letters regarding Melinda's arrest and soon-to-happen court dates. Letters were found that advised Melinda's mother to get an attorney on her daughter's behalf and that she, Shirley, would be responsible for the cost. Another letter stated that Melinda's court date would be on of the following days in April of 1980: the 2nd, 8th, or 9th.
The court would not have issued a letter about an upcoming court date if they were aware the child had runaway or was missing from their custody without good cause. So did Melinda really disappear from government custody or did something else happen?
Darryl Creech, Melinda's older brother, began searching again for his sister when he found the letters in his mother's home in 2003. He began posting online asking for information. Soon after, he was put in touch with the Doe Network.
Working with the network, he looked through thousands of composite photographs and sculptures, never finding a match for his sister. Her dental records were given to the network and no matches were made. When this was done, a member of the network encouraged the family approach Madison County Police about "re-opening" the case.
A missing persons report was never filed on Melinda. Police had to start from scratch in 2004. With no solid facts, they had very little to go on. The police took the dental records and entered them into their databases. They also took DNA from the family members in hope of finding a match, sadly to no avail.
So, what do police have to go on? They know that two months after police dropped Melinda off at the Blake House she was no longer there. They don't know if Shirley signed over her parental rights so that she would not have to deal with a delinquent daughter or a debt to the state. They know that the boy she was arrested with never saw her again.
Melinda's remaining family has relocated to Oklahoma and no longer comments on the case.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Madison County Police Department at (765)646-4017 or (765) 646-4014.
(Photo on the left is an actual photo of Melinda. The photo on the right is an age progression.)
Good writing, summing things up, with sources.
People don't just disappear. They cannot vanish into thin air. How can no one know when someone was last seen? Most missing person cases have at least a solid last sighting, but not this case. In fact, nothing about this case is solid.
The case of Melinda Creech is that of a 13 year old girl being rebellious. She was trying to grow up too fast. On a September night in 1979, Melinda Creech and male teenager were arrested for trying to steal a motorcycle from a local dealership in Anderson, Indiana.
The boy was taken to an all male facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana; meanwhile, Melinda was taken to a facility in Anderson. Melinda was taken to the Blake house, which was a branch of the Bronnenberg House.
The Bronnenberg house was the last orphanage in Madison County. The Bronnenberg home was in operation until the 1980's. It was located on Mounds Road just East of Anderson. The building was torn down and a new facility built. The new facility still stands and I pass it every day on my morning commute.
It turns out, at the time of Melinda Creech was taken to the Blake house, my aunt worked at the Bronnenberg. She was able to confirm that the girls home was indeed located on the campus on Mounds Road in Anderson, Indiana.
The Blake house was an all girls juvenile facility. There are conflicts between sources. Some sources say the arrest and booking was on September 4, while others claim that it was the 5.
An old police report stated that when police returned to Blake House to talk to Melinda Creech about the attempted burglary, they were unable to locate her. So at some point in the two month window of dropping her off at the Blake House and returning to question her, Melinda had vanished.
No records are avaliable from the juvenile home or the Bronnenberg Home after 1959. These records have not been released because it is believed that the records being provided would violate the privacy of individuals named in the documents.
Shirley Creech told her other children that Melinda had run away from the Blake House in September of 1979. Later in the 1990's, Shirley would tell her family that a badly decomposed body found on the East Coast was that of Melinda. Melinda's brothers and sister were leery to believe their mother. No service was ever held for the girl.
Shirley, who suffered from Dementia, passed away in 2003. As her remaining children cleaned out their mother's home. They made a horrifying discovery.
In a box, letters were found. Three letters from 1990 were found. These letters were correspondence from a New Jersey Police Department. The letters informed Shirley that Melinda's dental records did not match those of the badly decomposed body that had been found.
Why would a mother lie to her children about their sister being found dead? Was she trying to end their hurting for their sister? Or was her motivation something more sinister? It would later come out that Shirley had been abusive to all of her children. This would bring back questions about what really happened to Melinda.
Along with the letters about the remains not belonging to Melinda, there were letters regarding Melinda's arrest and soon-to-happen court dates. Letters were found that advised Melinda's mother to get an attorney on her daughter's behalf and that she, Shirley, would be responsible for the cost. Another letter stated that Melinda's court date would be on of the following days in April of 1980: the 2nd, 8th, or 9th.
The court would not have issued a letter about an upcoming court date if they were aware the child had runaway or was missing from their custody without good cause. So did Melinda really disappear from government custody or did something else happen?
Darryl Creech, Melinda's older brother, began searching again for his sister when he found the letters in his mother's home in 2003. He began posting online asking for information. Soon after, he was put in touch with the Doe Network.
Working with the network, he looked through thousands of composite photographs and sculptures, never finding a match for his sister. Her dental records were given to the network and no matches were made. When this was done, a member of the network encouraged the family approach Madison County Police about "re-opening" the case.
A missing persons report was never filed on Melinda. Police had to start from scratch in 2004. With no solid facts, they had very little to go on. The police took the dental records and entered them into their databases. They also took DNA from the family members in hope of finding a match, sadly to no avail.
So, what do police have to go on? They know that two months after police dropped Melinda off at the Blake House she was no longer there. They don't know if Shirley signed over her parental rights so that she would not have to deal with a delinquent daughter or a debt to the state. They know that the boy she was arrested with never saw her again.
Melinda's remaining family has relocated to Oklahoma and no longer comments on the case.
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Madison County Police Department at (765)646-4017 or (765) 646-4014.
(Photo on the left is an actual photo of Melinda. The photo on the right is an age progression.)
Hi there, I don't know how useful this might be, but when I came across this case through the Indiana Missing Person Bulletin, the date of last contact was listed as 09/05/1984, five years after the most widely agreed upon missing date. I don't know if it's a mistake or what, but it's worth noting for
Bit of hope
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That's interesting. Do you know from what source the list comes. It it from the Indiana government? If so it's strange Namus says September 5, 1979. I wonder what happened between the reporting missing date of 1979 and the changing into 1984, if this is correct.
ChatteringBirds
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Melinda Karen Creech
Information in this post from
Melinda Karen Creech – The Charley Project
Melinda circa 1979; Age-progression to age 52 (circa 2017)
Missing Since 09/05/1979
Missing From Anderson Indiana
Date of Birth
09/21/1965 (54 years old today)
Age Missing
13 years old
Height and Weight
5'3, 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics
Caucasian female. Blonde/brown hair, blue eyes. Melinda's nickname is Mindy. She has previously fractured her lower arm, her ears are pierced and she has a small mole on her left eyebrow. She may use the alias first name Mandy or the alias middle name Dawn. Some agencies give her date of birth as September 21, 1964.
Details of Disappearance
Melinda was placed in the Bronnenberg Children’s Home, an all-girls juvenile detention facility, on September 5, 1979 after she and another teenager were caught stealing motorcycles from a dealership. Two months later, the police went there to speak to Melinda in connection to another theft, but she was gone. It's unclear when and how she left the facility.
In 1994, Melinda's mother, Shirley Creech, told her other four children that a badly decomposed body found in New Jersey had been identified as Melinda. They believed her, although no funeral service was ever conducted for the child. When Shirley died in 2003, Melinda's siblings found letters among her personal effects which stated that dental records had proved that the New Jersey body was not Melinda's.
In 2004, police re-opened Melinda's missing persons case. They are currently tracking down and interviewing her old friends to see if any of them have heard from her. They do not know why Shirley lied to her family about Melinda's supposed death. Shirley had suffered from dementia for years prior to her passing, and perhaps she was simply confused. Melinda's siblings have described her as an extremely abusive parent.
There has been no activity on Melinda's Social Security number since 1979. Her father is now also deceased.
Investigating Agency
Madison County Sheriff's Office
765-646-9281
765-642-0221
765-646-4028
Information in this post from
Melinda Karen Creech – The Charley Project
Melinda circa 1979; Age-progression to age 52 (circa 2017)
Missing Since 09/05/1979
Missing From Anderson Indiana
Date of Birth
09/21/1965 (54 years old today)
Age Missing
13 years old
Height and Weight
5'3, 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics
Caucasian female. Blonde/brown hair, blue eyes. Melinda's nickname is Mindy. She has previously fractured her lower arm, her ears are pierced and she has a small mole on her left eyebrow. She may use the alias first name Mandy or the alias middle name Dawn. Some agencies give her date of birth as September 21, 1964.
Details of Disappearance
Melinda was placed in the Bronnenberg Children’s Home, an all-girls juvenile detention facility, on September 5, 1979 after she and another teenager were caught stealing motorcycles from a dealership. Two months later, the police went there to speak to Melinda in connection to another theft, but she was gone. It's unclear when and how she left the facility.
In 1994, Melinda's mother, Shirley Creech, told her other four children that a badly decomposed body found in New Jersey had been identified as Melinda. They believed her, although no funeral service was ever conducted for the child. When Shirley died in 2003, Melinda's siblings found letters among her personal effects which stated that dental records had proved that the New Jersey body was not Melinda's.
In 2004, police re-opened Melinda's missing persons case. They are currently tracking down and interviewing her old friends to see if any of them have heard from her. They do not know why Shirley lied to her family about Melinda's supposed death. Shirley had suffered from dementia for years prior to her passing, and perhaps she was simply confused. Melinda's siblings have described her as an extremely abusive parent.
There has been no activity on Melinda's Social Security number since 1979. Her father is now also deceased.
Investigating Agency
Madison County Sheriff's Office
765-646-9281
765-642-0221
765-646-4028
Alleykins
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Not saying all last seen dates are inaccurate, but after the recent ID of Anita Piteau, some of the dates of the long term ones may be hazy. Especially after so many decades. Same goes with last known location. Anita's remains were discovered in 1968 in CA (she was ID'd this year). In one of her family's obits, they list her as missing since 1970, two years after she died, unknown to them. She was from Maine.
cherrymeg
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Bumping for Melinda.
Shouldn't the school or detention center have had records of kids they were in charge of? If police showed up and she wasn't there that's like losing an inmate, right? Did the Bronnenberg Children’s Home have other girls go missing and stay missing? Is there anyone that remembers her that was there at the time?
Shouldn't the school or detention center have had records of kids they were in charge of? If police showed up and she wasn't there that's like losing an inmate, right? Did the Bronnenberg Children’s Home have other girls go missing and stay missing? Is there anyone that remembers her that was there at the time?
TheArtfulDetective
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Did they ever determine the identity of the body found that was initially thought to be Melinda?
John/Jane Doe
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HmmMysterious
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24 exclusions for Melinda Creech on NamUs
Carolyn Eaton|02/14/1982|Coconino County, Arizona
Joyce Meyer Sommers|12/18/1996|Fairfax County, Virginia
UP2926|06/05/1991|Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Name withheld|02/10/1987|Wayne County, Michigan
UP8419|01/16/2001|Isle of Wight County, Virginia
Tena Gattrell|02/10/1987|Knox County, Tennessee
UP6629|02/031991|Frederick County, Virginia
UP8579|01/25/1981|Hanover County, Virginia
NamUs Removed|06/06/2014|Newport News County, Virginia
Haydee Rodriguez|02/03/1991|Stafford County, Virginia
UP6796|11/18/1985|Alleghany County, Virginia
UP74|07/22/2005|Jefferson County, Virginia
Christy Floyd|08/07/1986|Chesterfield County, Virginia
UP10693|04/28/2005|Cook County, Illinois
UP8493|12/06/1993|Fairfax County, Virginia
UP102|07/04/1984|Warren County, Kentucky
Marcia King|04/24/1981|Miami County, Ohio
Louise Fletcher|04/22/1981|Lawrence County, Ohio
Dorothy Harrison|03/10/1985|Dona Ana County, New Mexico
Tammy Alexander|11/10/1979|Livingston County, New York
Brenda Black|04/19/1981|Will County, Illinois
Mary Silvani|07/17/1982|Washoe County, Nevada
UP6249|11/14/1980|Rockingham County, Virginia
Tammy Terrell|10/05/1980|Clark County, Nevada
Carolyn Eaton|02/14/1982|Coconino County, Arizona
Joyce Meyer Sommers|12/18/1996|Fairfax County, Virginia
UP2926|06/05/1991|Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Name withheld|02/10/1987|Wayne County, Michigan
UP8419|01/16/2001|Isle of Wight County, Virginia
Tena Gattrell|02/10/1987|Knox County, Tennessee
UP6629|02/031991|Frederick County, Virginia
UP8579|01/25/1981|Hanover County, Virginia
NamUs Removed|06/06/2014|Newport News County, Virginia
Haydee Rodriguez|02/03/1991|Stafford County, Virginia
UP6796|11/18/1985|Alleghany County, Virginia
UP74|07/22/2005|Jefferson County, Virginia
Christy Floyd|08/07/1986|Chesterfield County, Virginia
UP10693|04/28/2005|Cook County, Illinois
UP8493|12/06/1993|Fairfax County, Virginia
UP102|07/04/1984|Warren County, Kentucky
Marcia King|04/24/1981|Miami County, Ohio
Louise Fletcher|04/22/1981|Lawrence County, Ohio
Dorothy Harrison|03/10/1985|Dona Ana County, New Mexico
Tammy Alexander|11/10/1979|Livingston County, New York
Brenda Black|04/19/1981|Will County, Illinois
Mary Silvani|07/17/1982|Washoe County, Nevada
UP6249|11/14/1980|Rockingham County, Virginia
Tammy Terrell|10/05/1980|Clark County, Nevada
Bit of hope
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Thank you. One question; why are there names of other missing persons on this list?
HmmMysterious
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These are the names of Jane Does,excluded as Creech,who were later identified.
Bit of hope
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Ah, I see. Thank you!
atomicsciencegal
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Bumping.
HmmMysterious
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Yes, that girl "Princess Doe" was identified as Dawn Olanick of West Babylon, New York.
masquerading
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Bumping for Melinda. I grew up close to Anderson and I’ve always had a big place in my heart for her, ever since I started researching missing persons cases and I found out about her disappearance. I haven’t searched through Jane Does recently to check for potential matches, but I’m going to soon. I’m going to use the last seen date of 9/5/1979, giving a couple of months of leeway since Melinda could’ve disappeared that day or any day in between then and when the police showed up at Bronnenberg House again “two months later”.
I’m going to look into this question, but I wanted to pose it here too - I wonder if kids were allowed to go home/do home visits while they were being held Bronnenberg House? To me, without knowing anything beyond what’s been posted about it here, it feels more informal than something like the juvenile correctional facility that’s currently in Pendleton, IN (it wasn’t built until 2000). In Pendleton, it’s a literal correctional facility - a jail for young offenders. Bronnenberg House seemed to be more of a middle ground of “you can’t go home but we aren’t going to send you to jail either”. So in my mind, maybe she was allowed home visits and, as mentioned by others, something could’ve happened to her at home. Based on what Melinda’s siblings have shared about their mother, I can see something along those lines happening. I can also imagine that Melinda’s mother might’ve just thought it would bring closure to the matter and she wouldn’t have to talk or think about it anymore if she said Melinda was found.
I’m so invested in this case, and I really, really want to see it solved.
I’m going to look into this question, but I wanted to pose it here too - I wonder if kids were allowed to go home/do home visits while they were being held Bronnenberg House? To me, without knowing anything beyond what’s been posted about it here, it feels more informal than something like the juvenile correctional facility that’s currently in Pendleton, IN (it wasn’t built until 2000). In Pendleton, it’s a literal correctional facility - a jail for young offenders. Bronnenberg House seemed to be more of a middle ground of “you can’t go home but we aren’t going to send you to jail either”. So in my mind, maybe she was allowed home visits and, as mentioned by others, something could’ve happened to her at home. Based on what Melinda’s siblings have shared about their mother, I can see something along those lines happening. I can also imagine that Melinda’s mother might’ve just thought it would bring closure to the matter and she wouldn’t have to talk or think about it anymore if she said Melinda was found.
I’m so invested in this case, and I really, really want to see it solved.