MO MO - Tracy Pickett, 14, Webb City, 12 Aug 1992

The Doe Network:
Case File 666DFMO

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/666dfmo.html

Tracy A Pickett
Missing since August 12, 1992 from Joplin, Missouri.
Classification: Non family Abduction



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Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: March 9, 1978
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 14 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4" - 163 cm; 115 lbs - 52 kg
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; brown eyes.
•Scars, Tattoos: She has a scar on her bottom lip and a tattoo on the left side of her chest that was supposed to be a cross, but was not finished and looks more like an X. It is ink and was drawn by kids.



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Circumstances of Disappearance
Pickett was last seen leaving a friend's house in Webb City on the morning of August 12, 1992. A man had offered to give her a ride home to Joplin to change her clothes and then bring her back to the Webb City apartment.
The man, located by police in Oklahoma a week after her disappearance, claimed to have dropped her off near a Joplin pawnshop and denied any knowledge of foul play.



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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Joplin Police Department
417-623-3131

NCMEC #:
NCMC772369

NCIC Number: M-583822177
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/pickett_tracy.html

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

http://projectjason.org/forums/index.php?action=printpage;topic=4628.0
Link has articles that were published for Tracy.

In the articles that were copy and pasted at above link, I can't make out the name of the man that reported to be the last person to have seen her.

I do not find Tracy listed in NamUs at this time.

Left and Center: Pickett, circa 1992; Right: Age-Progression to 27 years (circa 2005)

Tracy has been missing 18 years today. Come home soon.

Why has nothing been done on this case? I'm reading they searched an old mining pit in 2005, and weren't able to drain it completely and called off the search without uncovering any evidence.

This man who says that he dropped her off at a pawn shop, was just allowed to roam the streets? Do we have a name? Was his vehicle ever searched and forensic evidence processed? Was this case just dropped? I'm confused.

Do we have an address for this man, do we have an address for where this party was held, do we have an address for the pawn shop, do we have any idea where this man hung out? All questions that no one has bothered to ask?

I am just appalled that there has really been no news on this case other than what has been posted here. It's like the case has just dropped. Sorry, I'll try to stop ranting now.

This is very sad that more wasn't done when she went missing. There is very little information from back then on the internet, so it is hard to tell what extent, if any, they took in this investigation.

I don't see where this cold case was ever picked up by AMW or any other media. Maybe that is a option.

I only see mention of a grandmother but no parents. If the grandmother was her caretaker it is possible she felt lost at the time and trusted that the police were doing their job.

It looks like they only questioned this person of interest. It would be nice to know if the van was analyzed.

Maybe the local news should be contacted to do a story and the community members that remember the case can give some more details?

I wonder if we have any WS members who are from there?

Send me a message if you would like for me to reach out to the media in the community she lived.

Hi. I'm making my first post on websleuths here on Tracy's thread. When I was 13 I babysat for Tracy and her 2 sisters. Tracy was 8 then. She was the sweetest little girl. I became friends with her whole family.
Tracy disappeared after spending the night at an apartment complex with a friend in Webb City, Mo. The last time I saw Tracy, she had walked over to my house from her mothers apartment.(she lived with her mom). Out of loyalty to Tracy and respect for her family, I can't say what I remember we talked about that day. I can tell you that at 14 Tracy was an innocent. We had a fun visit. That was 2 days before she was reported missing.
On August 11,1992 Tracy went to a friends house to spend the night in Webb City. Back then the drive from.that apartment complex to Tracy's mother Kay's apartment complex was about a 15-20 minute drive. At the party, their were a few teenagers and an older man who had been hanging out with a couple of the kids. (This part is what I remember from.back in 92 after I had talked to one of the other teens that was there) I was told that the guy drove a messy van, lots of beer cans, fast food wrappers, just trashy. He told the kids that he was working around town and his name was lowell billy. He bought alcohol for the kids. He paid extra attention to Tracy after she arrived at her friends apartmemt. I was told that it made Tracy uncomfortable. The next morning Tracy wanted to go home and get some more clothes. She was wearing shorts, a pink shirt, and carried nothing with her. She was barefoot. She left her shoes (I think they were sandals or flip flops) and this man offered to give her a ride to her mother's apartment and back to the friends apartment. He said he dropped her off near a pawn shop on main street in Joplin mo. And then he left town. No one has seen Tracy since then.
The police caught up with him a week later and his van was clean. The police let him.go back to Oklahoma and never released a name. As far as I know, they've never identified anyone as a suspect.
this is not surprising to any of us locals.
Tracy's parents were divorced. Her mom was a working mom.and money was always tight. Both apartment complexes were income based. At first the police acted like Tracy just ran.away but that wasn't something Tracy would do. Tracy was a mommas girl. Tracy was the baby of the family and such a bright light. And Tracy would not have run away without her purse (a huge purse that she carried everything that she loved and would fit lol) and her shoes because August in Missouri is HOT. No one walks on main street in August in Joplin barefoot. I think if Tracy's parents had been a little better off financially the Joplin police may have tried harder.

It was the evening of the 12th that I found out what had happened. My mom.suggested making flyers with all the information we had printed up so we could pass them out. A local print shop gave us 1000 for free and by late that evening my boyfriend and I were passing them out at petro truck stop by the highway. I don't remember if it was the 16th or 17th but the police requested we go and remove all the flyers we had hung up because part of the information we put on the flyer was a description of the van Tracy was last seen in, saying it could scare her kidnapper. We complied.

Since then there seems to be little to no movement in Tracy's case. I know that man did something to Tracy.

More than likely that guy had something to do with Tracy's disappearance, in my opinion.
How old was he back in 1992?

Are Tracy's parents still alive? I think this case needs a push in the media.

Project Jason has a few archived articles from the Joplin Globe:
Project Jason - Missing Woman: Tracy Pickett - MO - 08/12/1992

Also for reference:
Charley Project - Tracy Pickett
NamUs - Tracy Pickett
The Doe Network - Tracy Pickett
North American Missing Persons Network- Tracy Pickett
City of Joplin, Missouri - Police Department - Missing Persons

Bumping for Tracy. What happened to this girl?

I would love to know if the man with the van who gave Tracy a ride has had arrests/convictions since then. Elfin99, we cannot sleuth him by name here due to the WS TOS because he has not been named as a POI by LE. However, if you or any of Tracy's family know this man's name it probably would not be hard to find an address for him in OK and search for any arrests by county. The reason I suggest this is that LE did not pursue this man enough. Perhaps if he has been charged with other crimes against women or teens in the years since Tracy's disappearance, it would perk LE's interest again if brought to their attention and perhaps inspire them to re-investigate the man regarding the disappearance of Tracy.



Also, is there a reason why Tracy would have been dropped off on Main St rather than taken to her mother's apartment (and brought back to her friend's apartment after changing clothes, as promised)? For example-- was Main Street significantly closer or more convenient than her mother's apartment? Could Tracy hypothetically have walked back to her mom's easily from Main Street? I don't believe for a second that she was actually dropped off there, but I am still curious to know.

Joplin Police Department Press Release

The Joplin Police Department is requesting public assistance in obtaining information related to the missing persons case of Tracy A. Pickett. Tracy was reported missing August 12, 1992. Over the past 24 years, Investigators have followed dozens of leads. As another anniversary of the disappearance approaches, we strongly encourage anyone in the community who has any information to come forward. Tracy Pickett was 14 when she disappeared. She is a white female with blonde hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 115 pounds.

On August 11, 1992, Tracy Pickett spent the night at a friend's residence in Webb City, Missouri. The morning of August 12, 1992 another guest offered to take her to her home in Joplin. The subject claimed he dropped Tracy off safely near a pawnshop in Joplin. Tracy has never been heard from again. It is believed Tracy disappeared involuntarily.

Attached is a picture of Pickett and age progression photos of what she may look like today.



Search Continues For Girl Missing Since 1992

Duncan says Police still want to solve the case. “We’re at a point where we’re really reaching out to the public to give us more information and to try to get information that we haven’t got before so that we can get that lead that will make a difference in the case.”

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Candlelight vigil for Tracy Pickett

This Friday night at 7:30, a candlelight vigil will be held at Schifferdecker Park for Tracy Pickett.

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Family still struggles with Joplin girl's disappearance 24 years ago

http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/family-still-struggles-with-joplin-girl-s-disappearance-years-ago/article_d4996c7b-1b75-58f5-b1e0-c1fcad549e22.html

Twenty-four years ago today, 14-year-old Tracy Pickett of Joplin went to stay overnight at a girlfriend's place in Webb City.

Her family never saw her again.

Joplin police believe the teen was slain and even believe they know who did it. But they've never found her body and have never come up with the evidence to charge their prime suspect. As long as that has remained the case, her family's frustration has only grown with each passing year.

"We're very angry," her mother, Glenda "Kay" Blaser, told the Globe in a telephone interview Thursday. "We just don't know what to do."

She believes her daughter's disappearance and presumed slaying should have been solved years ago.

"There's a whole lot of people involved in this," she said. "There's a whole lot more they could have told (police)."

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Police were told that Tracy wanted to go home for a change of clothes that morning and accepted a ride from Billy in his black van with Oklahoma plates, two sunroofs and louvered side windows. When police later tracked him down in Oklahoma, he told them he dropped the girl off outside a pawnshop in downtown Joplin.

Blaser does not believe her daughter went with Billy willingly.

For one thing, when she realized her daughter was missing, she went to the girlfriend's home and found Tracy's shoes in the girlfriend's bedroom closet. Then there's what a police investigator told her some neighbors of the girlfriend witnessed the morning of Tracy's disappearance.

"They said they would sign a sworn affidavit that they saw a little girl running down the alley screaming: 'Get away from me! Leave me alone!'" Blaser said.

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Blaser said losing Tracy the way they did put an incalculable strain on family members. She said the girl's father, who died a couple of years ago, was never able to get over the loss.

"He just sat down, got into the pain drugs and never got back up," she said. "He died never knowing what happened to his little girl."

When her mother thinks of Tracy this many years later, a memory that seems to come back easily is that of her "little, sassy girl" when she was 9 or 10 and prone to complaining — sometimes justified, sometimes not — that her sisters were mistreating her.

"I can still hear her voice," Blaser said. "'Mama, they're being mean to me.'"

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elfin99 said:

Hi. I'm making my first post on websleuths here on Tracy's thread. When I was 13 I babysat for Tracy and her 2 sisters. Tracy was 8 then. She was the sweetest little girl. I became friends with her whole family.
Tracy disappeared after spending the night at an apartment complex with a friend in Webb City, Mo. The last time I saw Tracy, she had walked over to my house f

Since then there seems to be little to no movement in Tracy's case. I know that man did something to Tracy.

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I am so late on this story. I just watched a update about this missing girl on KODE news tonight. I'm pretty sure the babysitter who was interviewed tonight is the same person. I live in NE Okla so close to Webb City/Joplin Mo area but yet I have never heard of this story.
I know that this guy from Oklahoma can be a suspect but the question is has the serial killer Jermey Jones from NE Okla been excluded. He was in that area and Joplin is what 30 mins away. I am not saying that every murder should be placed on him I just don't have any information if he was considered in this.
I know he would have to be around 19 or so then because he was my brother's age.

Thank you all so much for keeping up with Tracy's case. I am the person who hosted the vigil tonight. My mind is reeling with what I've learned today. The suspect has been publicly named in the joplin globe and his name is Lowell Billy. He is a convicted sex offender in Oklahoma. He wasn't some random guy just hanging out like all those kids told me back then, he was a boyfriend to the girl (who lived alone in an apartment in a house in Webb City Mo. She was an older teen.) Those kids that were supposedly Tracy's friends lied to me about where it happened and why the guy was there :/ it's like they were covering for him. My mind is just reeling. Tracy's mother had been asked to not talk abou Tracy's case, not reveal any names, not to 'sell' Tracy's story by the joplin mo police department but why?? I know some details have to be kept secret to protect evidence but all of it? And that guy, that freaking monster, the police let him go and guess what? He was convicted of rape, sodomy and kidnapping of someone else. I'm so angry. Why don't the police want justice for Tracy? She was just a little girl! Why would they let that monster loose? Even Barney Fife could've made a case against him back in 1992! The van could've been held as evidence but no- they let him drive away back to Oklahoma with it and then he had it crushed at a junkyard. The Joplin Missouri Police Department completely dropped the ball and now it's 24 years later and Tracy is still gone and that freaking monster has hurt how many girls and women?!?
What do I do now?

http://bailbondcity.com/oklahoma/okdoc-inmate-BILLY/254093

Here is a link to some of the suspects criminal records and a pretty clear picture of him.
I have to wonder of he had anything to do with the disappearance of Ashley Freeman and Lauria Bible in Oklahoma, also.

elfin99 said:

Thank you all so much for keeping up with Tracy's case. I am the person who hosted the vigil tonight. My mind is reeling with what I've learned today. The suspect has been publicly named in the joplin globe and his name is Lowell Billy. He is a convicted sex offender in Oklahoma. He wasn't some random guy just hanging out like all those kids told me back then, he was a boyfriend to the girl (who lived alone in an apartment in a house in Webb City Mo. She was an older teen.) Those kids that were supposedly Tracy's friends lied to me about where it happened and why the guy was there :/ it's like they were covering for him. My mind is just reeling. Tracy's mother had been asked to not talk abou Tracy's case, not reveal any names, not to 'sell' Tracy's story by the joplin mo police department but why?? I know some details have to be kept secret to protect evidence but all of it? And that guy, that freaking monster, the police let him go and guess what? He was convicted of rape, sodomy and kidnapping of someone else. I'm so angry. Why don't the police want justice for Tracy? She was just a little girl! Why would they let that monster loose? Even Barney Fife could've made a case against him back in 1992! The van could've been held as evidence but no- they let him drive away back to Oklahoma with it and then he had it crushed at a junkyard. The Joplin Missouri Police Department completely dropped the ball and now it's 24 years later and Tracy is still gone and that freaking monster has hurt how many girls and women?!?
What do I do now?

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That makes me sick. The police dropped the ball on this back then. Poor Tracy

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So frustrating that they lied about this guy. Wasn't he one of the girls boyfriend? And he couldn't keep his eyes off Tracy?

I can't believe this man is walking around our streets today after being convicted of kidnapping, rape and forcible sodomy. What a scary thing!

Someone has to know something! Someone has to actually know this man!

Bumping. This case is so sad and I can't believe this guy is out walking around.

Bumping for Tracy. She deserves to not be forgotten.

kimmo said:

So frustrating that they lied about this guy. Wasn't he one of the girls boyfriend? And he couldn't keep his eyes off Tracy?

I can't believe this man is walking around our streets today after being convicted of kidnapping, rape and forcible sodomy. What a scary thing!

Someone has to know something! Someone has to actually know this man!

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He has a similar offense listed for Sept. of 1992. In total there are 25 charges against him. He got in trouble in Utah too.