PA PA - Michele Reidenbach, 16, Zelienople, 22 Sept 1981

[Richard]

There are some puzzling descrepancies in this case. Has anyone seen any 30 year anniversary articles?

 

[websurfer]

First one

october

then one in
November

then in
December?

and all in the teens?
Could it be someone who frequents schools?
works in a school?
Somehow connected to schools ?

Custodian maybe?
were all the custodians looked at?
The one janitor kidnapped that other teen and kept her for many years, where was he during this time?

 

[websurfer]

Would these missing people be somehow connected to any Serial Killer in that time span?

Or I was thinking that maybe the killer/kidnapper was also profiled as a missing person?
I mean what if?
A couple or even one person resposible for the missing persons of 1980 & 1981 was also the PERP?
Someone who everyone has glossed over?
Does anyone have a list of serial killers from the 1980-81 time span who could have passed through the areas of the 1981 missing females?
Just curious to know also if anyone was known to kill with blint objects?
Might be a kill;er with a pattern?
:what:

 

[Robin Hood]

Bumping for Michele.

 

[Ninka]

Bumping for Michele.

 

[Grifynne]

I know it's been a long time since I have been around the forum much, but I still follow this case as much as I can. I am part of a group on Facebook for those who attended Seneca Valley (the school Michele attended when she disappeared). It is intended for fellow students and faculty members who have been lost over the years.

Someone made a curious comment, and I was wondering if this was something that anyone else may have heard or if it was ever considered in the investigation? I screenshotted that part of the discussion but blocked out images and names to protect privacy. Anyone can join the group I believe, so it's not like this isn't something that can't be found easily by pretty much anyone.

The comment I am referring to is at the very bottom:

I don't get the feeling that Michele intentionally left but I suppose stranger things have happened. I would love to learn that she is alive and well.

 

[Roselvr]

Since I haven't had an opportunity to get to the library yet, I thought I would take a few moments to see what I could dig up on Google's news archive. Here is what I found so far:

Bleak Holiday for Missing Girl's Mom - A November 25th, 1981 Pittsburgh Post Gazette article discussing Michele's disappearance

2 Missing Girls Spell 2 Empty Christmases - A December 19th, 1981 Pittsburgh Press article discussing the disappearance of Michele as well as Tony Lynn McNatt.

25 Years Later, Disappearance Still a Mystery - A September 22nd, 2006 article revisiting the disappearance (I believe this one was already linked somewhere else, but I'm adding it here just in case).

I'm still hoping there is more to find at the local library. I may be able to get there before the end of this week.

From the first link - Michele was seen talking to somebody who was sat in a red car. That is where, i'll bet, she got a smoke after maybe forgetting her cigs.

Edited to add the article is continued on page 17, seems Michele got a phone call ?

Anyone looking for the rest of the article; take the blue box that's in the preview on the right; scroll it over the next page to the top right of the page after that.

Sure sounds like something is up; apparently made it back to work after running to pharmacy to get cold medicine but got a phone call & left without her purse or smokes? She worked there 4 days... The Del-Mar store closing seemed to happen years after she went missing.

It's mentioned in the post above mine that someone said she wasn't going to prom because she wasn't gonna be around could have meant anything. I looked for the group; there's too many to pick through

 

[captjojo]

Grifynne, sorry if I'm misspelling your screen name it's not right in front of me. I too, was a much later graduate of Seneca Valley and have always followed this case for that reason. I did work on micro phish at the Butler library a few years back and found a string of mentions of missing teens in the months surrounding Michele's disappearance that had very few details. I also found an article very close to the time period of a woman who claimed a person in a vehicle tried to grab her.

I forwarded all of the information at the time to the Butler County Sheriff's cold case manager. As well as several doe network missing persons cases that were in the region and time frame. I never heard of any further news after submitting those leads.

I feel strongly that of all of the cases Christine Guenther's seems suspiciously similar. She was taken from the side of a road in washington county within a month's timeframe of Michele. She also disappeared in the middle of the afternoon from an area not far off of Rt 79. She was found several weeks later in a wooded area not incredibly far from where she was taken.

I've visited the Seneca alumn page you referenced and have noted that there is an individual who graduated a year ahead of me who was a small child whose babysitter was Michele. I've thought about trying to contact her to see if she knows any rumors, but that is all it would be, rumors.

If you do find anything new at any time, I found the Butler officer to be very receptive to leads. He said he was familiar with some of the names and articles I'd found but some were new to him and he was glad to look into them.

 

[captjojo]

Giving a bump for Michele.

 

[ellie.darling11]

Bump for Michele

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Cold Case Spotlight

Disappearance of Pennsylvania Teen Remains a Mystery 35 Years Later

It was a rainy afternoon the day that Michele Reindenbach vanished. The date was September 22, 1981.

In the now 35 years since Michele vanished, little information has been uncovered in her case. Police have stated they do not believe she simply ran off, and family members insisted she would never go off with someone she did not know. They believe she had to have gone off with someone she knew and trusted.

In a 2006 article marking the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, then Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Raymond J. Melder told the Post Gazette that he believes Michele's case would have been handled differently if it had happened now. "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about the case," Cpl. Melder told the paper.

Michele's mother has since passed away, without knowing what became of her youngest daughter.

 

[bigdog]

From what I read Michele's boss was the last person to see her was he or any of the employees from the drug store or where she worked given a lie detector test?????

 

[jashrema]

The glaring inconsistency in Michele's story is in regards to her boss, Fred Landry.

Right after disappearance, his statement :

http://www.wpxi.com/target11/1959465/detail.html

Fred Landay said, "She was a good girl. She was a nice girl."

Landay was the owner of the appliance store where Michelle worked.

Landay said, "I didn't see her that day. She was working upstairs doing envelopes for a private sale and she just never came back. She left her purse and just never came back."

THEN his story changed to -
She had been working for an hour or so when she decided to take a break to walk to a nearby pharmacy to buy some cold medicine, as she wasn't feeling very well that day.

Several minutes later, her boss told police he spotted her standing in the parking lot of the supermarket nearby, talking to someone in a red car, whom he didn't recognize. He didn't think much of it, but Michele never returned to work.

Ummm...so he went from a story of he didn't see her at all that day to "remembering" he saw her in parking lot talking to someone in red car?" Has this guy been looked at really closely??

That is a HUGE change of story.

Also, to me, I would automatically assume she made it back to her place of employment because her purse was there. She would have taken her purse to the drugstore with her. She made a purchase! She didn't leave her purse unattended at work. That would mean that she took money out of her purse and held it on her person/hand to go to pharmacy. Why do that? Nobody would do that.

I think Fred has a LOT of explaining to do about the story change AND that he was "unconcerned" when she didn't come back. What?? That's just bizarre.

Since they didn't handle the case well at all in the beginning, I wonder if they bothered to ask the person who was working in the pharmacy that sold her items, if she HAD HER PURSE. If she had her purse, then something happened to her IN HER PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT because her purse was there.

I don't think there was ever a guy in a red car. Particularly since the only one that saw that guy was Fred Landry, AFTER he stated he didn't see her at all that day!

 

[jashrema]

there goes that lead...Fred is dead

http://www.schugar.com/obituaries?id=595

 

[ReformationRose]

I don't believe that Michele Reidenbach is Princess Doe due to facial structure and clothing/jewelry description. She had a very distinct facial structure with her eyes, teeth, and chin being the strongest difference.

 

[ReformationRose]

It's interesting to me how they keep saying that her hair was dark blonde, when in every picture, it is brown.

 

[ReformationRose]

There was a local article on Michele that said she had gone to the corner store to buy cold medicine as she was sick that day at work. She was last seen bent over the passenger side of a red car in the store parking lot. I don't know why this hasn't been pursued as much. I'm going to the library to find everything I can on the case.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I pray they find her soon.

 

[Moonwalker9]

Michele Reidenbach

• 
• 
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Michele, circa 1981; Age-progression at age 51 (circa 2015)

• Missing Since10/06/1981
• Missing FromZelienople, Pennsylvania
• ClassificationNon-Family Abduction
• Date of Birth12/29/1964 (54)
• Age16 years old
• Height and Weight5'0 - 5'4, 110 - 120 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA wine-colored v-neck sweater, blue jeans and a gold necklace with a knot pendant.
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Dark blonde hair, blue eyes. Some agencies spell Michele's name "Michelle." Her nickname is Shelly. She was a chain smoker in 1981. Michele wears eyeglasses.

Details of Disappearance
Michele attended her classes at Seneca Valley High School on October 6, 1981, had her senior class picture taken, and went to Zelienople, Pennyslvania afterwards. She had an after-school job at an appliance store, Mel Den's, in the 200 block of south Main Street. She usually worked there with a classmate, but her co-worker was sick and did not report to work.

At 4:30 p.m., Michele left the store and walked approximately one block to a pharmacy to buy cold medicine, as she was feeling sick. It was established that she did arrive in the store and purchased the medicine.

Her boss was the last person known to have seen her; she was standing in the parking lot of the Super Duper supermarket on south Main Street, talking to someone who was sitting in a red car. She never went back to her job and has never been heard from again.

She left her purse, schoolbooks, and cigarettes behind at Mel Den's when she vanished. She also left $100 in cash in her dresser at home, money she was saving for a class ring.

Michele's disappearance was discovered at 4:55 p.m. when her mother came to Mel Den to see her. One of Michele's six older siblings had suffered a stroke several months before and was paralyzed and in the hospital at the time and her mother wanted to know if Michele wished to visit her. She ended up going to the hospital without her.

Michele's brother later came to the store as usual to drive her home, but he never saw her. Her mother called police later that evening after Michele did not arrive home.

Investigators do not believe Michele ran away. She left all her belongings behind and was not having any personal problems at the time of her disappearance. Her family describes her as a streetwise person who would not be likely to go anywhere with a stranger; they believe she was abducted by someone she knew and trusted.

Police questioned several people in Michele's disappearance, including her boyfriend, who has passed a polygraph and was ruled out as a suspect in her case.

Michele's family has also been ruled out as suspects in the investigation. She is described as a responsible teenager who was devoted to her hospitalized older sister. Her case remains unsolved.

Some agencies state that Michele vanished from Evans City, Pennsylvania.

Michele Reidenbach – The Charley Project

With a city with less then 4000 somebody knows, thee owner perhaps kn0ws more or the boyfriend? just because he passed a polygraph doesn't mean he didn't have anything more to do with it. I feel like she either didn't make it out of the store and her boyfriend had something to do with it or he (the boss) was infact telling the truth about that car. But was she abducted? she left her purse at the job but probably she willingly went into that car cause she knew that person. Who had a red car? her boyfriend? or a close friend or sibling? something happened, possibly unexpected.

 

[chaddylex]

I would love to know what happened to Michele - what her boss says about her disappearing sounds kind of fishy to me.

I am also wondering if her disappearance is connected to 4 others that went missing in the early 80's
Toni Chiappetta who went missing from Clairton - Allegheny County on 11/5/81
Toni Lynn McNatt-Chiappetta – The Charley Project

Kathleen Kelly who went missing from Springdale - Allegheny County on 5/22/81 Kathleen Kelly – The Charley Project

and Cherrie Mahan who went missing from Cabot - Butler County on Feb 22, 1985 Cherrie Ann Mahan – The Charley Project

As far as I know the only one of these four girls that have a suspect in their disappearance is Toni Chiappetta - they believe her father could be responsible. He even failed a polygraph test. He is now deceased. I wonder why he was never charged?