The Springfield Three--missing since June 1992 - #6

[0101ABA]

On Tuesday, fresh flowers rest near by a memorial to the two teens and mother. Like those fresh flowers Stacy McCall's mother tells KSPR she feels fresh leads, technology and investigators can still bring her daughter and the other two women home.

"I look at Stacy and I think she's not 18, she's 38. It's heartbreaking," McCall said in an interview with us on the twenty year anniversary. "Twenty birthdays and twenty Thanksgivings and Christmases and so many times that we sit around the table wanting her nearby."

(...)

Chief Webb offers this advice to any law enforcement who finds the mystery in their hands: "Never give up. You have to go to work on this and treat any piece of information like it's the glue we've been waiting for to crack this case open."

Janis McCall asks people who speculate to stick to the facts and stay away from so many rumors she feels have sensationalized the case.The reward fund for prosecution of those responsible now sits at 42 thousand dollars.

http://www.kspr.com/content/news/New-eyes-on-the-case-of-Springfields-3-missing-women-382172711.html

 

[Ibiz]

I don't know how long Susie and her mother lived in this new home for, but I do wonder what kind of history there was at this house.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

That's an interesting question.

 

[monkeymann]

http://www.kspr.com/content/news/New-eyes-on-the-case-of-Springfields-3-missing-women-382172711.html

See....this just proves that even Mrs. McCall thinks that people need to "Stick to the known Facts". Like I've said many times before.......Start from the very beginning AGAIN! Because that is where the "Known Facts Are".

Everything else is Rumor and Speculation. May be Mrs. McCall is trying to redirect things back to the start of June 6th & 7th, and back to the "Known Facts".

I might be wrong in this analogy, but that sound like what she's trying to say.

Remember. Parking Garage=Rumor.......PFI=Rumor.......et al!

 

[monkeymann]

To add something else to what I posted above, I would think Mrs. McCall would not have been taking about sticking to the facts that are only known to the immediate family.

Certainly she had have meant, "Stick to the known facts" that are presently known to the public. Things that accumulated over the years via the media reports.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

I just read the Robert Dudley book, It Can't Happen Here,ewhich recounts the Jacob Wetterling case, which looked to be dead in the water, and picks up the threads of other efforts to revitalize the case. Dudley (a pseudonym) makes the point that most investigations have the perpetrator(s) in their original suspect list, what Dudley calls "the box." And what happens in cases that go a long time without resolution is that generations of well-meaning investigators foreground their own take on the case and original leads get pushed to the side. In the Wetterling case, a man who was interviewed early on is the likely perpetrator and has been linked by DNA to another case the original detectives felt was linked to Jacob's. This man also matches John Douglass's profile of the perpetrator point by point. But the investigation stalled on several red herrings and dead ends. The FBI came in and brought a team of investigators that had no familiarity with the case and worked it up from the beginning again, without the locals being involved. And Dudley had sent the FBI a set of lost field notes related to two other suspects that pointed to the current person of interest. (No indictment on Jacob, as yet. The POI is in jail awaiting trial on child *advertiser censored*, since there is no body and thus no forensics we know of linking the POI to Jacob.

That brings me to the second point. What's in the media is all well and good. But LE always has more than we know. And the "more" can be a curse to the case as well as a blessing, as leads and facts mount up. But the Wetterling case, which was approaching its 25th anniversary, has likely been solved. So there is hope here for our three missing women.

 

[fullmoon]

I just read the Robert Dudley book, It Can't Happen Here,ewhich recounts the Jacob Wetterling case, which looked to be dead in the water, and picks up the threads of other efforts to revitalize the case. Dudley (a pseudonym) makes the point that most investigations have the perpetrator(s) in their original suspect list, what Dudley calls "the box." And what happens in cases that go a long time without resolution is that generations of well-meaning investigators foreground their own take on the case and original leads get pushed to the side. In the Wetterling case, a man who was interviewed early on is the likely perpetrator and has been linked by DNA to another case the original detectives felt was linked to Jacob's. This man also matches John Douglass's profile of the perpetrator point by point. But the investigation stalled on several red herrings and dead ends. The FBI came in and brought a team of investigators that had no familiarity with the case and worked it up from the beginning again, without the locals being involved. And Dudley had sent the FBI a set of lost field notes related to two other suspects that pointed to the current person of interest. (No indictment on Jacob, as yet. The POI is in jail awaiting trial on child *advertiser censored*, since there is no body and thus no forensics we know of linking the POI to Jacob.

That brings me to the second point. What's in the media is all well and good. But LE always has more than we know. And the "more" can be a curse to the case as well as a blessing, as leads and facts mount up. But the Wetterling case, which was approaching its 25th anniversary, has likely been solved. So there is hope here for our three missing women.

Thanks for sharing. I agree with everything you said. I have always believed that police have already interviewed the perp(s) early on, but for whatever reason LE cleared the perp(s). The police are likely going in the wrong direction, which is why they have absolutely no leads, according to the detectives who were involved in the case. They're just waiting for something to "break in the case." That could take a very long time.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

Take a look at Dudley's book, especially the 2nd edition (very up-to-date), if you are interested in investigations. He shows how a blogger and a writer went back to what was on the record and figured out, first, that Jacob's case was linked to a child sexual assault cluster in a nearby community, then to a rape and abduction that ended in release. Then Dudley finds a cache of case notes from a legal investigator in which one suspect pretty much points to another. Local LE had the basic investigation and then got focused on the man whose family owned the driveway where the abduction took place. I think Dudley and the blogger were "outside" of the case enough not to get distracted by the giant morass of information that gets sucked into an investigation. They could just follow the thread, so to speak.

 

[theforgotten]

I listened to a podcast about this case today and it brought back a lot of facts that I had forgotten about. But, I still find it odd that Janelle and her boyfriend never found it odd that the front door was open,everyone's cars were there and the TV is still on. That would scream to me that something is wrong with this situation.

 

[intothenight]

Hi all..

I have been fascinated by this case ever since I saw the Disappeared episode that featured it. I've probably seen just about every episode, but this one in particular has always stuck in my mind. Three adult women, here one minute and gone the next, without anyone (seemingly) knowing what happened in the early hours of that June morning. After watching the Disappeared episode, I looked up the case to see if the hospital parking garage had been dug up, because the way it was left, it seemed quite likely that's what was going to happen. I also think that like many others, I judged Janelle and Mike pretty harshly for their actions. I think in hindsight, it's easy to say we wouldn't have done the same, but this was a different time, and of course, the circumstances are different for everybody. Unfortunately, it's hard to know if any hard, potential evidence was destroyed from the residence that morning and the hours that followed.

I have gone back and forth in my mind many times about this case, but one thing I have asked myself initially was whether the abductor(s) ever actually entered the house at all. The purses being lined up in Suzie's bedroom indicates that perhaps they did, Cinnamon being reportedly locked in the bathroom seems odd, and Sherill's closet was apparently uncharacteristically messy, but that aside, it's hard to know for definite (as with many "facts" in this case). I now tend to believe that he/they did enter the property, but perhaps if there was more than a lone culprit in the abduction, it may have been possible that the house was staged/ransacked after the women were loaded into the vehicle. This theory only seems logical if there was of course more than one person involved. During and following the act, it's pretty likely the dog was barking like crazy, and locking her in the bathroom would of course dull the sounds at the front of the house and avoid waking any neighbors. Then, just another one of many questions, was the porch light broken prior to the abduction or during? I think many believe that this was a potential way to gain entry into the home/distract the women to the front of the house while he/they entered through the back. Another possibility is this was broken during a struggle on the porch. It's the seemingly small things in this case that can be discussed in so much detail, and with differening opinion which makes it so fascinating.

I saw someone mentioned a couple pages back about the history of the house. I read there was a lady in her 60s who owned the property for five years prior to Sherill and Suzie moving in. The small snippet of the News-Leader article I read said she had occasional prowlers at the home. Given the location of the house, right off a main road, and on a quiet residential street, it seems like an ideal target for creeps like that. Something else unsettling about the location of the home is the land off to the right, which has a gravel road leading around the back of the home and a small parking lot for various establishments. I'm not sure if this has altered much from 1992, but even then, it would seemingly leave the property quite exposed and accessible from that side by jumping the fence.

I realize I've kind of gone on and on here without really giving a solid theory, but I find myself questioning a lot about what happened in this case, as I'm sure many others do. It comes into my mind every now and then, and I can only imagine how hard it must be for everyone close to the women. As unlikely as it seems, I hope it is resolved once and for all. It isn't even comprehendible how terrifying the situation was, especially after a day of celebration and reflecting on future plans. I hope to join in many further conversations about the case - thanks for reading!

 

[shanmosphere]

I listened to a podcast about this case today and it brought back a lot of facts that I had forgotten about. But, I still find it odd that Janelle and her boyfriend never found it odd that the front door was open,everyone's cars were there and the TV is still on. That would scream to me that something is wrong with this situation.

What was the podcast? I'd like to listen to it. Can you provide a link? Thanks!

 

[theforgotten]

What was the podcast? I'd like to listen to it. Can you provide a link? Thanks!

http://thinkingsidewayspodcast.com/2015/10/page/2/

 

[theforgotten]

Hi all..
I saw someone mentioned a couple pages back about the history of the house. I read there was a lady in her 60s who owned the property for five years prior to Sherill and Suzie moving in. The small snippet of the News-Leader article I read said she had occasional prowlers at the home. Given the location of the house, right off a main road, and on a quiet residential street, it seems like an ideal target for creeps like that. Something else unsettling about the location of the home is the land off to the right, which has a gravel road leading around the back of the home and a small parking lot for various establishments. I'm not sure if this has altered much from 1992, but even then, it would seemingly leave the property quite exposed and accessible from that side by jumping the fence.

A couple years ago I was googling the address of the house and I came across a real estate site. It had photo's of the inside of house. It also allowed people to leave comments. Some commented about how dark the area around the house is/was. One went so far to say that it gave the house a freaky feeling!

 

[intothenight]

A couple years ago I was googling the address of the house and I came across a real estate site. It had photo's of the inside of house. It also allowed people to leave comments. Some commented about how dark the area around the house is/was. One went so far to say that it gave the house a freaky feeling!

Given that it's unlikely any of the women were killed in/near the home, many people probably wouldn't have a problem living there - but to me it also comes across as very dark and quite oppressive, even though the interiors have completely changed over the years, the house just doesn't seem to get a lot of natural light. There's a lot of mature trees around, and I remember seeing photos of the back yard and thinking how it uneasy I would feel living there. I may be mistaken here, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the back of the house was only partially fenced during Sherill and Suzie's time at the home - does anyone else remember hearing that? If not then I apologize--I could be completely off the mark here.

I was listening to the Thinking Sideways podcast the other day and the comment about the blinds in Suzie's room being slightly parted stuck with me--as if she or Stacy may have been looking outside. This may have been done prior to June 7, or then again, it's a possibility that it's part of the strange setup/position of various objects in the home. I was trying to find the floorplan for the house that I remember seeing here before, does anyone know where it can now be found?

 

[CaliMama]

Does anyone know if LE has considered Larry Dewayne Hall as a possible suspect in this case? I didn't know that he was a potential suspect until a few days ago. Here is a link that discusses the reasons why some consider him a suspect in this case: http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=174

Apparently his family has confirmed that he was in Springfield in June of 1992 per the above article. He told the author of the book mentioned in the above article that he killed three women from Springfield and buried them in the Mark Twain National Forest. There is also a documentary about him, but the Springfield Three was not a part of that documentary. Coincidentally, he is serving life in prison at the maximum security prison in Springfield.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

If I recall correctly, Springfield PD did consider Hall as a suspect. Supposedly he has said he killed three women from Springfield, as the article you linked above indicates. Hall is, I think, a good suspect. He stalked women and was an opportunist in choosing victims. He had been in the area around the time of the disappearances. And he did home invasions. When you think about it, how would you describe the abductor(s) in this case? Put aside, for the moment, the idea that the killer was already in the house when the girls got there, because they apparently got ready for bed. So let's assume that all three were in the house.

The abductor(s) were likely to be opportunists as no one could have predicted that Suzie and Stacy would be there.
The abductor(s) would have to be willing to do a home invasion.
The abductor(s) are thought to have used a van.
The abductor(s) were almost certainly to have had rape and murder in mind. (Putting the grave robbers aside as suspects, as they would have no reason to abduct Sherrill and Stacy.)
Hall has a long history of this kind of abduction. He was a more successful murderer than Cox or Carnahan.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I don't believe he is a viable suspect based on my understanding of the case. However, his name has surfaced a number of times..

 

[CaliMama]

If I recall correctly, Springfield PD did consider Hall as a suspect. Supposedly he has said he killed three women from Springfield, as the article you linked above indicates. Hall is, I think, a good suspect. He stalked women and was an opportunist in choosing victims. He had been in the area around the time of the disappearances. And he did home invasions. When you think about it, how would you describe the abductor(s) in this case? Put aside, for the moment, the idea that the killer was already in the house when the girls got there, because they apparently got ready for bed. So let's assume that all three were in the house.

The abductor(s) were likely to be opportunists as no one could have predicted that Suzie and Stacy would be there.
The abductor(s) would have to be willing to do a home invasion.
The abductor(s) are thought to have used a van.
The abductor(s) were almost certainly to have had rape and murder in mind. (Putting the grave robbers aside as suspects, as they would have no reason to abduct Sherrill and Stacy.)
Hall has a long history of this kind of abduction. He was a more successful murderer than Cox or Carnahan.

Yes, I do believe that he had been killing girls and women for quite some time. I believe his killing started in 1987 or 1988 per another article that I read (which I will link to in a bit). His IQ was said to only be 80, which might be why he didn't think of the fact that there may be someone else in the house that he might need to kidnap after following the girls home that night. He was skilled at quickly disabling his victims and loading them into his van. In the CNN documentary about him, they spoke of notes that he wrote to himself to remember to do things like: buy plastic to line the inside of the van, get a new hacksaw etc (I'll link that too).

I'm a bit troubled by the fact that his twin brother also traveled around with him to do the civil war reenactments. Does that mean he helped him? He is on the CNN documentary and he almost seems more creepy than Larry.

LDH timeline: http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc 405/serial killers/Hall, Larry DeWayne.pdf

CNN Doc: [video=youtube;y1MM5HYi09U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1MM5HYi09U[/video]

 

[intothenight]

The thing about this case is that there were supposedly numerous evils within/around the Springfield area in '92. I think that's why it's very difficult to pin down specific suspect(s), because on paper, most of them seem quite viable. I don't think many of them can be ruled out given their crimes, and it's certainly disconcerting to know that there were so many dangerous individuals in close proximity to many unassuming residents.

In regards to the target, Sherrill's name seems to come up quite a lot. It's certainly a strong possibility that she was, but for me, the timing of the crime could mean one of two things. Those being: (1) The perp targeting SL specifically waited for graduation to make their move, knowing her background and the likelihood that her daughter would not be home. If this is the case, I believe there is no more than one individual involved. But, it's risky, especially as Suzie lived with her mother. Then, the other scenario (2) The perp(s) were prowling outside graduation parties, with obvious sexual motivations that would move into some sort of rape/assault. Suzie and Stacy were spotted leaving and then followed home to the Delmar residence unknowingly. The abduction was delayed, so that the girls would be more vulnerable as they would likely be in bed, or at least preparing for bed. This again would be a potentially risky move, especially if a third vehicle is seen in the carport area. Whose car is it? Is there a male inside the residence? He/they may have known personal details about the girls already, or the house could have been prowled in the minutes leading up to the abductions.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

I always thought it was possible that on the way home, Suzie stopped for cigarettes and was perhaps seen and followed from a convenience store.

I've been reading a lot of longform true crime stories and memoirs that look at cases that are either not yet solved or that recount the process of sorting out suspects (as I stated in post #1008). It's shocking how many pedophiles were operating in the area when Jacob Wetterling was kidnapped or when the Oakland County Child Killings were going on. In this case, there were some world class dirtbags in the region that we know about and others we probably don't because they either weren't caught or were caught and let go.