MO MO - Christene Nickle Seal, 22, Verona, 19 June 1972

[charminglane]

Could she have been having an affair and met the person in the church?
Thinking her son would stay asleep.
But where did she go?

 

[Ibiz]

Could she have been having an affair and met the person in the church?
Thinking her son would stay asleep.
But where did she go?

The guy said she ran out the back door and over a ridge, but I don't think he actually knew her, so I don't see how he could have said it was her. Exspecially since it dosent sound like he even could have gotten a very good look at whoever it was.

How did he even know he/she was a woman if he only saw the back side of whomever it was?

 

[cybervampira]

Crime Stoppers offers award for info related to missing person

Barry-Lawrence Chapter of Crime Stoppers offers rewards of up to $1,000 for tips that lead to the arrest and filing of charges for those wanted for felony crimes. Tipsters may remain anonymous.

 

[natureaker]

Bumping.

 

[LBR]

I wonder what kind of work the husband did. It says he left for work at 8:00 am and came back to check on his wife and child at 9:45 am. Why did he check on them? Was he self-employed and able to go back and forth from his house during the workday? Would be interesting to know.

I believe he was a farm hand. They lived right around the milk barns on the Calico Farm.

 

[LBR]

Press Releases - Lawrence County Sheriff MO
This isn't far from where she disappeared. Many are wondering if it is connected

 

[LBR]

I wonder what kind of work the husband did. It says he left for work at 8:00 am and came back to check on his wife and child at 9:45 am. Why did he check on them? Was he self-employed and able to go back and forth from his house during the workday? Would be interesting to know.

 

[LBR]

I believe he was a farm hand. I've heard that their home was right by the milk barns at the Calico farm. Super common practice around here even now to have a trailer or small house on the farm for a worker and their family.

 

[Molly's Mom]

48 years ago. Christine is still missing.
Lawrence County, Mo. cold case gets another look 48 years later

 

[HumblePie]

I wonder what kind of work the husband did. It says he left for work at 8:00 am and came back to check on his wife and child at 9:45 am. Why did he check on them? Was he self-employed and able to go back and forth from his house during the workday? Would be interesting to know.

I think it said he was working at a local salon. he may not have had many clients. Mt. Vernon is a small town. And was even smaller back then. There were only a couple of salons. Idk if he was a barber or hairdresser though.

 

[Betty P]

I think it said he was working at a local salon. he may not have had many clients. Mt. Vernon is a small town. And was even smaller back then. There were only a couple of salons. Idk if he was a barber or hairdresser though.

Actually, it was Christine who worked at a local hair salon. Her husband worked on the dairy farm.

3650DFMO - Christene Nickel Seal

48 years ago. Christine is still missing.
Lawrence County, Mo. cold case gets another look 48 years later

This article mentions the reporter was planning to do more follow up reporting, including an interview with Christine's husband. It also states LE were going to reveal new details.

I searched the WKY3 web site, but couldn't find any more news reports on Christine's case. I wonder if they decided against further reporting?

 

[onceuponadecember]

Bumping Christene’s thread. Here are some new (and better quality ones of previous) photos:

 

[onceuponadecember]

 

[Diane Redfern]

What do we know about her father-in-law?
According to the book Missing or murdered in Missouri (thanks for the link, alb1on), Christene was afraid of Carl Seal and he had a reputation of being "an unsually stern patriarch".
Did he disapprove the fact she was working outside home? How was their relationship? Where did he live? Why did LE dismiss her friends' and coworkers' statements that indicated Christene was afraid of him?
I find the church sighting very surprising... it's not mentioned anywhere. Was it later ruled out? Was this lady ever identified?
It's very interesting because, assaulting someone in a church may have a special meaning, it may not be a person hurting other person, I mean, if you are a fanatic, it's like this woman is a shame to god, so I'm bringing her to the temple of god to punish her. And the lady was nude "in front of god's eyes". It's very symbolic, I think.
It's also very weird that Carol Blades' case is also only mentioned in Missing or murdered in Missouri. It's true there's not a lot that links the cases: both were in their 20s, both were cosmetologists and lived in Missouri. However, many times that's more than enough to be mentioned in every article about a missing/murdered person... Not this time.

 

[Betty P]

What do we know about her father-in-law?
According to the book Missing or murdered in Missouri (thanks for the link, alb1on), Christene was afraid of Carl Seal and he had a reputation of being "an unsually stern patriarch".
Did he disapprove the fact she was working outside home? How was their relationship? Where did he live? Why did LE dismiss her friends' and coworkers' statements that indicated Christene was afraid of him?
I find the church sighting very surprising... it's not mentioned anywhere. Was it later ruled out? Was this lady ever identified?
It's very interesting because, assaulting someone in a church may have a special meaning, it may not be a person hurting other person, I mean, if you are a fanatic, it's like this woman is a shame to god, so I'm bringing her to the temple of god to punish her. And the lady was nude "in front of god's eyes". It's very symbolic, I think.
It's also very weird that Carol Blades' case is also only mentioned in Missing or murdered in Missouri. It's true there's not a lot that links the cases: both were in their 20s, both were cosmetologists and lived in Missouri. However, many times that's more than enough to be mentioned in every article about a missing/murdered person... Not this time.

All good points. That area was always known as part of the buckle of the Bible Belt. Still is.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

?
NV - NV - Elko Co, WhtFem 17-25, UP8358, posed in cross position, scars, Jul'72

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

Anniversary of disappearance.

 

[Ozoner]

All good points. That area was always known as part of the buckle of the Bible Belt. Still is.

It could have been a situation where Christine's father got an erection while thinking about her, decided that she was a witch who had cast a spell on him, and took her to the church to kill her, quoting Exodus 22:18: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." And it wouldn't surprise me if he raped her body afterward. I'm sure he could have found some Biblical justification for that, too. He probably would have said that he had to do it in order to avoid violating the Biblical proscription against onanism in Genesis 38:9–10.
Now, the murder of Christine by her stepfather is not my main theory—I think that she was probably abducted by a sexual predator—but it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Betty P]

You have to wonder if the killer took her out of the home for fear the child would recognize him. In most attacks, the crime takes place in the home. Removing the victim is risky.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Sunday, June 19, was a day of celebration for many people. Not only was it Father’s Day, but it was also Juneteenth, the day commemorating the emancipation of slaves in the United States in 1865. For the family of Christene Seal, however, the day marked a grim milestone. It was 50 years ago on that day that Christene disappeared from her home in Verona. She has never been found.

Background on the case
Christene Seal was born Christene Nickle on Nov. 2, 1949. Her parents were Doyle and Trudy Nickle, who married in 1947 (Doyle, a native of Butterfield, was a master sergeant in the Army; he met Trudy in Vienna, where she was staying with relatives after being displaced from her home in the Czech Republic during WWII). Her younger brother, Bruce Nickle, was born two years later.

As a military family, the Nickles moved around a great deal until Doyle retired. Afterwards, the family settled in Cassville, where Christene finished high school and graduated in 1967. Following her high school graduation, she attended beauty school and became a cosmetologist; she went to work at Duane’s Beauty Shop in Monett.

While attending school in Cassville, Christene met Linn Seal. They began a serious relationship and were married in July of 1968. They had their first and only child, David, in September of 1969.
Eventually, Linn went to work at the now-defunct Calico Dairy Farm in Verona, near where Yoder’s Hardwoods stands today. He, Christene and David lived in a trailer on the farm.

On the day of Christene’s disappearance, Linn went to work at about 8 a.m. He came back around 9:45 a.m. to find David, then two, crying while sitting on the floor of the trailer’s kitchen. Christene was nowhere to be found.

Linn looked for Christene himself before calling for help. Lawrence County deputy sheriffs came to investigate, and later, a search party of about 500 people converged on the area, but no trace of Christene was found. Bloodhounds were also brought out to search for her, but they lost Christene’s scent in the driveway behind where her car was parked.
More at link:
http://www.lawrencecountyrecord.com/content/‘vanished-thin-air’