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

[Missouri Mule]

Hello, MissouriMule. You've done plenty of work, yourself, concerning the Missing Springfield Three. I've been reading your posts with interest. Thanks for coming back in.

I hope the mods can enlighten us as to the missing thread(s). I only noticed a thread #3 missing. But being as how that's in the middle of the bunch, I was hoping to find out why. What is the other thread you noticed missing? (I wasn't here earlier to read or miss it.)

Thread #2 is also missing. I'm not positive about the order they were pulled. The last one pulled just disappeared into the mist for no apparent reason since it was a closed thread.

I always check in for new comments from others which is the reason I now commented. There just hadn't been any real new information coming out that hadn't already been thoroughly aired. I had often thought some of the earlier posts in Thread #1 were quite interesting.

Marshfield is equally interesting as well. I believe there was another man who was being investigated on a murder there who hanged himself.

Most folks would probably not connect the 3MW case and the Hailey Owens case but it is instructive to look at other cases where killers went silent for a number of years then resurfaced. BTK comes to mind and he flew under the radar for decades. And he was a city employee and church official I believe.

If one extrapolates from common sense this is not likely the first time, it begs the question what else do we not know about this individual? Offhand, I have never heard of someone in their mid '40s suddenly engaging in such behavior having no past history. I suppose the exception might be if the individual had a brain lesion develop.

I was perusing the thread about Hailey Owens and caught the mention of bleach. I won't swear to it but I do believe that someone who was formerly once in LE once told me that the drain traps at the Levitt home had bleach in them. This can only be considered as hearsay but it has always intrigued me. What was bleach used for if indeed it was used?

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

I believe I saw that Thread #2 had "pulled for review" written under the title. It may be that it was gone for a while while the mods did some clean up. I'll check and see if I can find it again.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

Well, it seems it's there, but not really. When I tried to click on the thread I got this message:

"...you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons..."

This seems surprising for a sleuthing site. Maybe, as you stated, there is some sensitive info LE wanted pulled.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

<snipped for space>
I was perusing the thread about Hailey Owens and caught the mention of bleach. I won't swear to it but I do believe that someone who was formerly once in LE once told me that the drain traps at the Levitt home had bleach in them. This can only be considered as hearsay but it has always intrigued me. What was bleach used for if indeed it was used?

Bleach is used to try to clean up a crime scene (eg. blood on a weapon or walls or floor) though it isn't 100% effective.

The comment that it was found in the drain traps at the Levitt home caught my attention when I read about it (thread 1?)--but there was no blood found at the home, and so with three victims, seems unlikely they were bleeding on site.

(Drain traps as in, more than one drain trap? In a small house, that might almost be more indicative of cleaning day...)

 

[Missouri Mule]

Bleach is used to try to clean up a crime scene (eg. blood on a weapon or walls or floor) though it isn't 100% effective.

The comment that it was found in the drain traps at the Levitt home caught my attention when I read about it (thread 1?)--but there was no blood found at the home, and so with three victims, seems unlikely they were bleeding on site.

(Drain traps as in, more than one drain trap? In a small house, that might almost be more indicative of cleaning day...)

Bear in mind that whether the drain traps had any bleach is what was told to me. I don't have independent confirmation of that but believe it to be true. I've never understood why bleach would be found in the traps unless it was used to remove odors and the like. I can see it used where blood and or other evidence is to be destroyed but not otherwise.

So far as I know there were more than one drain trap but haven't been in the house. At a minimum there would be traps in the kitchen, the bathroom(s), showers, etc. I would think at least three traps at least.

 

[Sunkist]

Bear in mind that whether the drain traps had any bleach is what was told to me. I don't have independent confirmation of that but believe it to be true. I've never understood why bleach would be found in the traps unless it was used to remove odors and the like. I can see it used where blood and or other evidence is to be destroyed but not otherwise.

So far as I know there were more than one drain trap but haven't been in the house. At a minimum there would be traps in the kitchen, the bathroom(s), showers, etc. I would think at least three traps at least.

As a single woman with a roommate in the 90s- both of us with LOTS of 90s hair- we would regularly pour bleach down the drains to eat through(?) the hair so our drains wouldn't drain so slowly. Lots of bleach, every 2-3 weeks. Not sure how common that was, but I am from MO, and it was someone from MO who suggested it to me at the time. Just another possibility, IF the bleach was there, and IF it wasn't the perp who put it there.

 

[CaliMama]

I went to SMSU in 1992 (graduated in 1993) and at any given moment, there was a party going on at various locations on Delmar. CMW might have been a frequent visitor to that area to attend parties (like I was).

P.S. Thank you for bringing this over here, PIM

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

Thank you, CaliMom. Always good to hear a firsthand perspective! MSU was SMSU (Southwestern Missouri State University) back then, right? Sounds like you were there around the same time frame he was (apart from his time off for substance abuse).

 

[CaliMama]

Thank you, CaliMom. Always good to hear a firsthand perspective! MSU was SMSU (Southwestern Missouri State University) back then, right? Sounds like you were there around the same time frame he was (apart from his time off for substance abuse).

Yes, MSU was SMSU (Southwest Missouri State University) when he and I went there. I was there from 1989 - 1993 and continued to live in Springfield until 1995.

 

[Hurricane]

Craig Wood's history would appear to me to be more of a loner than a partier. With his substance abuse his idea of partying in my opinion was probably more along the lines of a stoner rather than a college frat partier. He told LE around the time of his 1990 conviction for possession of marijuana that he had "a reputation" in high school (mid-1980's) and I would think it was for being a stoner. No past relationships or marriages as an adult that we know about.

Craig Wood is a child pornographer as evidenced by the 3-ring binder of photographs and I'm guessing from the handwritten stories, computers, etc that were confiscated from his home. We don't know what was done to this child other than COD by gunshot, but it is likely that he is a pedophile as well. That will likely come out in due time. But there is no evidence that he is the type of male to commit the abduction, sexual assault/rape and murder of 3 adult women.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

True, the evidence (so far) seems to indicate child *advertiser censored* as primary. It may be that usually this is a stable preference. But sometimes the more generalized sex addict also branches out into child *advertiser censored* along the way.

No telling at this point, I guess, but the 20-minute proximity to the 3MW crime area and the fact that he was at MSU when the girls had their grad ceremony there (and partied excessively by his own account) has made me wonder. If he is violent enough to kill Hailey in this manner, I do believe he could be violent enough to kill others (including grown women) this way, too.

ETA: Not sure, but don't know if there is evidence that the 3MW were raped/murdered either, though at least their murder is presumed at this point.

 

[Hurricane]

True, the evidence (so far) seems to indicate child *advertiser censored* as primary. It may be that usually this is a stable preference. But sometimes the more generalized sex addict also branches out into child *advertiser censored* along the way.

No telling at this point, I guess, but the 20-minute proximity to the 3MW crime area and the fact that he was at MSU when the girls had their grad ceremony there (and partied excessively by his own account) has made me wonder. If he is violent enough to kill Hailey in this manner, I do believe he could be violent enough to kill others (including grown women) this way, too.

ETA: Not sure, but don't know if there is evidence that the 3MW were raped/murdered either, though at least their murder is presumed at this point.

Don't know if you have ever been to Springfield or not but you can drive from one end to the next in 20 min practically. The only thing that might prevent it is the 4-way turn arrows at every traffic light (not a problem in the early morning hours). So your 20 min proximity is probably uninformed.

Are you making the claim that Wood attended the graduation ceremonies at SMS for Kickapoo HS? Otherwise I wouldn't think the fact that he attended the spring 1992 term at SMS; was probably on summer break during June; and returned for fall term to graduate in Dec make him any more of a suspect in the 3MW case than the ~15,000 other students attending SMS at that time. And his admission to partying excessively was in 1990. There is no evidence that he was partying out of control after returning to school and working towards graduation that Dec. Of course you can always fall back on the argument of ignorance; we don't know what he might have done and gotten away with, so that makes him capable of committing the 3MW abduction.

As far as any evidence as to what happened to the 3MW we only have the 4 agencies of LE who all agree that this is a case of sexual assault.

I would be interested in any evidence you may have uncovered that "the more generalized sex addict also branches out into child *advertiser censored* along the way", and of Wood's violent behavior leading you to believe he is capable of carrying out such a crime killing adults.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

Don't know if you have ever been to Springfield or not but you can drive from one end to the next in 20 min practically. The only thing that might prevent it is the 4-way turn arrows at every traffic light (not a problem in the early morning hours). So your 20 min proximity is probably uninformed.

Are you making the claim that Wood attended the graduation ceremonies at SMS for Kickapoo HS? Otherwise I wouldn't think the fact that he attended the spring 1992 term at SMS; was probably on summer break during June; and returned for fall term to graduate in Dec make him any more of a suspect in the 3MW case than the ~15,000 other students attending SMS at that time. And his admission to partying excessively was in 1990. There is no evidence that he was partying out of control after returning to school and working towards graduation that Dec. Of course you can always fall back on the argument of ignorance; we don't know what he might have done and gotten away with, so that makes him capable of committing the 3MW abduction.

As far as any evidence as to what happened to the 3MW we only have the 4 agencies of LE who all agree that this is a case of sexual assault.

I would be interested in any evidence you may have uncovered that "the more generalized sex addict also branches out into child *advertiser censored* along the way", and of Wood's violent behavior leading you to believe he is capable of carrying out such a crime killing adults.

I haven't researched it, but it'd be my best guess he'd not have taken the summer off if he dropped out in his junior year due to substance abuse, then came back in 1992 and graduated Dec. 1992. I don't even know for sure he attended spring semester '92 at the university--just that he returned in 1992 and graduated that December. (For all I know it could be he returned at summer semester, depending on how long the substance abuse program was that he was enrolled in.)

No evidence at all he attended the girls' graduation--why would he? I think if he noticed the girls at all it would have been at the party circuit afterward (which I have no reason to believe he'd have given up after coming back to MSU).

Do 4 agencies all agree that this was a case of sexual assault? (Honest question. I'd not read that.) I didn't know they could know that without finding bodies or DNA evidence at the scene to determine that. Are you saying you know of such DNA evidence?

Re your last paragraph: I have personal experience with a sexual offender who started out generalized and then branched into child *advertiser censored* as well. I'm not offering university research here--just going on personal knowledge and the aftermath of counseling, etc., concerning that.

And (to me) it's only logical that IF CMW is indeed guilty of abducting and brutally assaulting this little girl, he's certainly capable of doing the same to an older teen, and older women. By numerous media accounts already posted in this thread, the attack on this little girl was brutal, with parents not allowed to see her body when it was recovered.

Do you have some personal knowledge of CMW that proves this could not be a possible consideration?

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

Craig Wood's history would appear to me to be more of a loner than a partier. With his substance abuse his idea of partying in my opinion was probably more along the lines of a stoner rather than a college frat partier. He told LE around the time of his 1990 conviction for possession of marijuana that he had "a reputation" in high school (mid-1980's) and I would think it was for being a stoner. No past relationships or marriages as an adult that we know about.

Craig Wood is a child pornographer as evidenced by the 3-ring binder of photographs and I'm guessing from the handwritten stories, computers, etc that were confiscated from his home. We don't know what was done to this child other than COD by gunshot, but it is likely that he is a pedophile as well. That will likely come out in due time. But there is no evidence that he is the type of male to commit the abduction, sexual assault/rape and murder of 3 adult women.

JMO, but to me he doesn't neatly fit into the loner category. While characterized more recently as 'gentle and quiet,' he's not some guy hiding out in his mother's basement, with no real life friends and relational commitments, who just suddenly snapped one day and went out and did this.

Here is how media has described him:


1. In high school, voted &#8220;class clown&#8221; and &#8220;most outspoken&#8221;:

&#8220;Pleasant View community reacts to murder involving school employee&#8221;
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/pleas...r-involving-school-employee/21048998_24570128


2. Was on football team and had a girlfriend in high school; had multiple friends:

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/20/4838949/past-of-man-suspected-of-killing.html#storylink=cpy (The Kansas City Star)


3. In college, was arrested for both pot and alcohol use problems. In 1987 charged with driving while intoxicated. Quit attending school in 1990 because &#8220;he partied too much.&#8221; Felt his biggest problem was with resultant alcoholism and frequent blackouts:

&#8220;Suspect in past said he had troubles with alcohol; later got college degree, minor in criminal justice&#8221;
www.news-leader.com/article/20140219/NEWS01/302190101/


4. Teacher&#8217;s aide and football & basketball coach for 16 years in public school

http://www.kansascity.com/2014/02/1...d-in-springfield-abduction.html#storylink=cpy


5. In off-hours, he played with a bluegrass band:

&#8220;Pleasant View community reacts to murder involving school employee&#8221;
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/pleas...r-involving-school-employee/21048998_24570128


A loner is someone people don't come into contact with, and therefore someone they don't really know. I see this as more a case of a guy who was out there rubbing shoulders with folk daily, who were stunned by his arrest, because this was not the guy they thought they knew. (A clearer picture of CW can be found over in the Hailey Owens threads.)

JMO.

 

[Hurricane]

I haven't researched it, but it'd be my best guess he'd not have taken the summer off if he dropped out in his junior year due to substance abuse, then came back in 1992 and graduated Dec. 1992. I don't even know for sure he attended spring semester '92 at the university--just that he returned in 1992 and graduated that December. (For all I know it could be he returned at summer semester, depending on how long the substance abuse program was that he was enrolled in.)

No evidence at all he attended the girls' graduation--why would he? I think if he noticed the girls at all it would have been at the party circuit afterward (which I have no reason to believe he'd have given up after coming back to MSU).

Do 4 agencies all agree that this was a case of sexual assault? (Honest question. I'd not read that.) I didn't know they could know that without finding bodies or DNA evidence at the scene to determine that. Are you saying you know of such DNA evidence?

Re your last paragraph: I have personal experience with a sexual offender who started out generalized and then branched into child *advertiser censored* as well. I'm not offering university research here--just going on personal knowledge and the aftermath of counseling, etc., concerning that.

And (to me) it's only logical that IF CMW is indeed guilty of abducting and brutally assaulting this little girl, he's certainly capable of doing the same to an older teen, and older women. By numerous media accounts already posted in this thread, the attack on this little girl was brutal, with parents not allowed to see her body when it was recovered.

Do you have some personal knowledge of CMW that proves this could not be a possible consideration?

In 1990 when he was charged with possession of marijuana and told LE that he was partying excessively he also told them that he didn't drop out of SMS, he just quit going. Classified as a junior when he "quit going" it is highly unlikely that he would be able to complete the required course hours for a BA in Psychology and a minor in Criminal Justice without attending both the spring and fall semesters. It is likely that he may have also taken some summer classes just to make up hours he lost from his junior year. If he had slipped back into substance abuse and was leading the party life as you say, what gave him the control to be able to complete a double major and not just "quit going" again in 1992?

I'm sorry for your personal experience with a sexual "offender", I really am. Your previous post was that the more generalized sex "addict" also branches out into child *advertiser censored*. I would suggest that being a sex addict and being a sexual offender are two totally different things, and that there is no legal or scientific evidence that I know of that could be presented in a court of law that would prove a sexual offender frequently branches out into child *advertiser censored* and pedophilia after first sexually assaulting adults. I don't know but would suspect that child *advertiser censored* and being a pedophile is about fetish and sick fantasy. Being a rapist is about degradation and control of the victim. And being a sex addict is not illegal in and of itself.

I don't have to prove that Craig Woods is not capable of abducting, sexually assaulting and murdering the 3MW. But just like Revak, Hall and some of the other suspects & theories presented in this case before I would expect to see some evidence before taking Woods as a serious suspect.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

In 1990 when he was charged with possession of marijuana and told LE that he was partying excessively he also told them that he didn't drop out of SMS, he just quit going. Classified as a junior when he "quit going" it is highly unlikely that he would be able to complete the required course hours for a BA in Psychology and a minor in Criminal Justice without attending both the spring and fall semesters. It is likely that he may have also taken some summer classes just to make up hours he lost from his junior year. If he had slipped back into substance abuse and was leading the party life as you say, what gave him the control to be able to complete a double major and not just "quit going" again in 1992?

Well, he made it to junior year before finally quitting going to class. So I&#8217;m assuming he could make it 2 or 3 more semesters after completing his substance abuse program. Graduating is possible, even if course work isn&#8217;t stellar. (JMO, but I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s unlikely at all for an addictive person to succumb to his former ways when going back to the environmental triggers that originally set up the addictive cycle&#8212;in this case, his college experience.)

I'm sorry for your personal experience with a sexual "offender", I really am. Your previous post was that the more generalized sex "addict" also branches out into child *advertiser censored*. I would suggest that being a sex addict and being a sexual offender are two totally different things, and that there is no legal or scientific evidence that I know of that could be presented in a court of law that would prove a sexual offender frequently branches out into child *advertiser censored* and pedophilia after first sexually assaulting adults. I don't know but would suspect that child *advertiser censored* and being a pedophile is about fetish and sick fantasy. Being a rapist is about degradation and control of the victim. And being a sex addict is not illegal in and of itself.

My previous post that you quoted in #501 was that a generalized sex addict can branch out into child *advertiser censored*. Not that they usually do. Here's what I said:

"But sometimes the more generalized sex addict also branches out into child *advertiser censored* along the way."

(In fact, I clarified that with my earlier response by saying I wasn&#8217;t citing university research, but that it happened in my personal experience.) Like you say, not all sex addicts are even sexual offenders. But once that sexual offender line is crossed with a sex addict, the other offender lines become much easier to cross as well. There is a lot of overlap in that underworld.

I don't have to prove that Craig Woods is not capable of abducting, sexually assaulting and murdering the 3MW. But just like Revak, Hall and some of the other suspects & theories presented in this case before I would expect to see some evidence before taking Woods as a serious suspect.

True. And that&#8217;s my point. We&#8217;re not in a court of law here; this forum is just discussing hypotheses and wondering if LE are investigating those possibilities. Investigating possible connections is what might lead to evidence that could make him a serious suspect in other cases. (I&#8217;m pretty sure LE are exploring the possibilities, too.)

 

[Hurricane]

We are getting far afield of the purpose of the 3MW thread but just to set the record straight concerning sexual addicts vs sexual offenders and while this does not specifically address child *advertiser censored* and your belief "But sometimes the more generalized sex addict also branches out into child *advertiser censored* along the way" it does substantiate that only a very small percentage of sexual addicts become offenders:

"The percentage of sexual addicts who have sexual offenses in their background is quite low at about 20%, meaning that the majority of sexual addicts do not go on to become sexual offenders."

http://www.sexualrecovery.com/articles/sexoffending.php

Until shown circumstantial evidence to the contrary it is my belief that Woods is not a suspect of LE in the 3MW case.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

I agree with your research. It appears that CMW has been arrested for suspicion of murder, though; so whether or not he is a sex addict with x% chance of becoming a sexual offender is likely a moot point. He's been arrested for the abduction and brutal murder of a little girl (with no doubt child *advertiser censored* charges to follow), so whether or not a sex addict, the evidence also indicates sexual offender. I don't know if LE are considering him for the 3MW case or not (they haven't indicated). But his age and seeming methodology do make me curious if 1) he's had any previous victims, and 2) if the blue plastic storage container has been something he's used before for hiding a victim in (if so). And, 3) his being in the area at the time of another abduction makes me wonder if he could have been involved in the 3MW one, specifically.

 

[CaliMama]

Yes, it is correct that one can get almost anywhere in Springfield within 20 minutes. Having said that, everything is relatively a hop, skip or jump around the corner. That's why it is possible that he could have met one of the girls at a party on Delmar some time before graduation night, he could have seen either of the girls around town or could have seen one of them walking to their car that night on the SMSU campus. These are all "could haves", but they are worth considering in my opinion.

Regarding graduating with a degree in Psych and Criminal Justice...those were my majors also when I attended SMSU during the same timeframe as CMW. I changed my major three times and went to UMSL for a semester. These two things made it so that I had to really catch up to finally graduate. I had to take a full course load during the summer of 1993 (18 hours) and I'm sure he also had to take some classes during the summer as well. I had plenty of time and energy to go to parties and to the bars and I'm sure he did too. His band may have even played at some parties and gatherings.

I think it is normal for people to want to connect CMW to The Springfield Three. People want answers and they want this case to be solved.

 

[PoirotryInMotion]

CaliMama, I haven't read all the 3MW threads, yet, but do you know or remember hearing if LE collected any fingerprints from the house on Delmar that weren't identifiable at the time?