MI MI - Dean 'Deanie' Pyle Peters, 13, Grand Rapids, 5 Feb 1981

[0101ABA]

It's become one of the longest-running mysteries in West Michigan. What happened to Deanie Peters - the Cascade teenager who disappeared without a trace.

The case surrounding her disappearance has entered its 36th year.

(...)

WZZM traveled to Prescott, Arizona in December 2012, and had a chance to interview Deanie's mother, Mary, and step-father, John Peters.

"The only thing I can say is, if you know anything, please come forward and let us know because we'd like to bury our daughter, know where she is and know what happened to her," said Mary Peters in 2012. "I don't know what else to say, just that I wish that they would come forward because somebody knows something."

For the past five years, WZZM has been steadfastly committed to the Deanie Peters' case, with the creation of the Deanie Peters: WZZM 13 Investigates Facebook page.

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/local/ad...eters-as-cold-case-enters-36th-year/214777825

 

[JL Cauling]

Deanie turned 50 this month.

 

[HelpingHeart]

Bumping for Deanie. She has been missing for almost 36 years.....

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Private investigator uses P.O. Box to try to solve 1981 Deanie Peters case

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/crime/private-investigator-uses-new-approach-to-solve-1981-cold-case/408011364

Vic Weeks has experience in law enforcement with the Lowell Police Department and the Kent County Sheriff's Department. Now, working as a private investigator, he placed an ad in the Lowell Buyer's Guide find 14-year-old Deanie Peters' body.

"The parents are old now, have been suffering all of this agony of not knowing where their daughter was," Weeks said. "It won't be much longer until we're all gone and nobody will be interested anymore."

So, Weeks opened a P.O. Box.

"Post Office Box 4, Lowell, Michigan 49331 for anybody that may know the exact location of her remains, to send a letter or diagram," Weeks said.

 

[Noexcuse]

Not sure how long these bones went undiscovered but Grand Rapids, Michigan is not very far from Chicago, Illinois and the height and estimated age of victim could be a match for Deanie.
https://identifyus.org/en/cases/10693

 

[417_k]

My mother was in Deanie's class. She remembers when Deanie went missing and knows most of the people involved in this case.

 

[Gardener1850]

Deanie is not named but there is a search on going for 4-6 missing girls:
[h=1]Police search for 4 to 6 girls, long-missing, possibly buried in Mich. woods[/h]

MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Police are digging in woods northeast of Detroit near where the body of a 13-year-old girl who went missing in 1986 was found more than a decade ago. The Macomb Daily newspaper reports that authorities are digging Tuesday morning in a wooded area of Macomb Township in the hopes of finding the remains of four to six young girls who they believe may be connected to an already-convicted murderer.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police...s-long-missing-possibly-buried-in-mich-woods/

More updates in Kimberly's Thread: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?16498-MI-Kimberly-King-12-Warren-16-Sept-1979/page5

 

[folieadeuxnola]

[h=1]Cold case commander trades badge for retirement[/h]http://www.woodtv.com/news/kent-county/cold-case-commander-trades-badge-for-retirement/1183181392

[FONT=&quot]There are some cases that remain unsolved. Like that of Deanie Peters, the 14-year-old Forest Hills Central Middle School student who vanished without a trace in 1981.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]“I think that is probably the greatest disappointment that we had in our Cold Case Team," Wolter said. “And I think the detectives that worked that along with me felt the same way.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]They did make headway in the case. Investigators believe a friend of a girl Deanie fought with killed her. The suspect is dead, but Wolter said the case could still be solved if witnesses would just talk. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“There are individuals out there still that I believe still have answers," Wolter said.[/FONT]

 

[BethAnn777]

My mother was in Deanie's class. She remembers when Deanie went missing and knows most of the people involved in this case.

Interesting! What does she think happened to Deanne?

 

[BethAnn777]

Bumping up.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Bumping for Deanie

 

[Nate_Bro]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Richard]

Dean Marie Peters

• 
• 
• 
• 

Dean, circa 1981; Age-progression to age 47 (circa 2013)

• Missing Since 02/05/1981
• Missing From Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Classification Non-Family Abduction
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 09/24/1966 (53)
• Age 14 years old
• Height and Weight 5'2 - 5'3, 110 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A brown ski jacket, a pink sweater, 27- to 32-inch Levi's blue jeans, white bikini panties, a size 34C Bali bra, a cream-colored scarf with the word "ski" written on it in dark brown letters, and white knee socks.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Dean's nickname is Deanie. She smokes cigarettes, her ears are pierced and she has a birthmark on her lower back. Some agencies give her last name as "Pyle Peters."

Details of Disappearance
Dean was last seen at at Forest Hills Central Middle School in the 5800 block of Ada Drive southeast in Grand Rapids, Michigan at 5:00 p.m. on February 5, 1981. She was at her six-year-old brother's wrestling practice with her mother when she said she was going to the women's restroom and would be back shortly. She never returned and has not been heard from since.

Dean apparently never arrived at the restroom; no one saw her anywhere near there. She was last seen walking out the door of the gymnasium; accounts differ as to whether she was going to a friend's home or merely wanted to smoke a cigarette. She left her wallet, purse, makeup, jewelry, clothing and several hundred dollars behind at home.

Arthur Diaz, the school's custodian, was considered a possible suspect in Dean's disappearance for many years. He stated he was cleaning a school office the night of her disappearance and never saw her.

Authorities checked the school incinerator on the theory that someone might have tried to burn her body, but found no evidence. Diaz is no longer a suspect in Dean's case.

Another suspect is a local man, Bruce Bunch, who was seventeen years old and a high school junior in 1981. Over twenty years after Dean's disappearance, a female acquaintance of Bunch told police he told her a story about running over a girl at a school.

Bunch allegedly said he either ran or backed over the girl, took her body to Snow Avenue and buried it under a pile of rocks. This story has not been confirmed, but Bunch remains a suspect in Dean's disappearance.

His first wife stated he was violent and abusive towards her and, after drinking heavily, would sometimes black out and have no memory of what he did. She stated he once pushed her out of a moving vehicle and broke her ankle, and on another occasion threatened to run her off the road.

Bunch died of a heart attack in 2008. He was never charged or questioned in Dean's case. In 2011, authorities announced they believe he was responsible for Dean's death.

Two days before she went missing, Dean had a physical altercation at school with two other girls. They were fighting over a boy, and the two girls allegedly threatened Dean and told her to stay away from him. It's unclear whether the incident had anything to do with her later disappearance.

Dean wasn't having any serious problems with her family when she disappeared, she was a good student, and she does not have a prior history of running away from home. Several possible suspects were questioned after her disappearance, but no one has ever been charged.

She was an eighth-grader in 1981, and aspired towards a career as a model. She's originally from California, and her biological father lived there in 1981. Her mother and stepfather, with whom she lived, moved to Arizona after her disappearance. Her stepfather has been ruled out as a suspect in her case.

Dean was declared legally dead in 1991. In 2008, authorities reopened the investigation into her disappearance and appealed for anyone who was at the school that day to contact them. Her case remains unsolved.

LINK:
Dean Marie Peters – The Charley Project

 

[sammyed]

Bumping for Deanie missing 40 years now.

 

[Savemecastiel]

Following

 

[MadMcGoo]

Additional photos added and details updated.

Dean Marie Peters – The Charley Project

Dean, circa 1981; Age-progression to age 53 (circa 2019)

Details of Disappearance
Dean was last seen at at Forest Hills Central Middle School in the 5800 block of Ada Drive southeast in Grand Rapids, Michigan at 5:00 p.m. on February 5, 1981. She was at her six-year-old brother's wrestling practice with her mother when she said she was going to the women's restroom and would be back shortly. She never returned and has not been heard from since.

Dean apparently never arrived at the restroom; no one saw her anywhere near there. She was last seen walking out the door of the gymnasium; accounts differ as to whether she was going to a friend's home or merely wanted to smoke a cigarette. She left her wallet, purse, makeup, jewelry, clothing and several hundred dollars behind at home.

Arthur Diaz, the school's custodian, was considered a possible suspect in Dean's disappearance for many years. He stated he was cleaning a school office the night of her disappearance and never saw her. Authorities checked the school incinerator on the theory that someone might have tried to burn her body, but found no evidence. Diaz is no longer a suspect in Dean's case.

Two days before she went missing, Dean had a physical altercation at school with two other girls. They were fighting over a boy, and the two girls allegedly threatened Dean and told her to stay away from him. Bruce Bunch, who was a seventeen-year-old high school junior in 1981, knew one of the girls. On the day of Dean's disappearance, he supposedly saw Dean and drove his car at her to scare her, but hit a patch of ice and accidentally backed or ran over her, killing her. He may have hid her body in the brush and then later buried it, possibly in the Snow Avenue area.

Bunch told versions of this story to numerous people, including his first and second wife. His first wife stated he was violent and abusive towards her and, after drinking heavily, would sometimes black out and have no memory of what he did. She stated he once pushed her out of a moving vehicle and broke her ankle, and on another occasion threatened to run her off the road. Bunch died of a heart attack in 2008. He was never charged or questioned in Dean's case.

In 2011, authorities announced they believe Bunch was responsible for Dean's death. They have never been able to verify his statements, however, and think there are still people out there with undisclosed information which could solve Dean's disappearance. One woman believed to have information still lives in the area, and she failed a polygraph about Dean's case.

Dean wasn't having any serious problems with her family when she disappeared, she was a good student, and she does not have a prior history of running away from home. She was an eighth-grader in 1981, and aspired towards a career as a model. She's originally from California, and her biological father lived there in 1981. Her mother and stepfather, with whom she lived, moved to Arizona after her disappearance. Her stepfather has been ruled out as a suspect in her case.

Dean was declared legally dead in 1991. In 2008, authorities reopened the investigation into her disappearance and appealed for anyone who was at the school that day to contact them. Her case remains unsolved.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Dean, circa 1981

 

[MadMcGoo]

DBM

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

40 years later, man charged in Deanie Peters case | wzzm13.com

"40 years later, man charged in Deanie Peters case

This is the first arrest in the case since Deanie Peters went missing in 1981.

40 years later, man charged in Deanie Peters case.

A man has been charged in connection to the 1981 disappearance of Deanie Peters, which is the first arrest in the case. James Douglas Frisbie, 61, was arrested by the Kent County Sheriff’s Office July 2.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker confirmed that Frisbie was charged with perjury and resisting and obstructing police.

(...)

This is an ongoing investigation."


First charges issued in 1981 disappearance of Deanie Peters | WOODTV.com

 

[dulldullmike]

James Douglas Frisbie, 61

I saw this first thing this morning. All reports are very vague but they must have some good info to be able to make an arrest all these years later. I'll be following.