Identified! IL - Jefferson Co, Wht Fem 30-50, 166UFIL, wry neck syndrome, Jan'93 - Susan Hope Lund

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

It baffles me how so many UID cases takes decades before being solved and when they do, it turns out they actually could've been solved within days or weeks, but LE just dropped the ball completely when it came to investigating the missing person's case the UID turned out to be.

What also baffles me is the astonishing likeness Carl's rendering had to Susan! I don't mean to sound rude, but it's almost sad it wasn't released much earlier, because I'm fairly certain Susan's loved ones wouldn't have recognised the old recons.

 

[MadMcGoo]

It baffles me how so many UID cases takes decades before being solved and when they do, it turns out they actually could've been solved within days or weeks, but LE just dropped the ball completely when it came to investigating the missing person's case the UID turned out to be.

What also baffles me is the astonishing likeness Carl's rendering had to Susan! I don't mean to sound rude, but it's almost sad it wasn't released much earlier, because I'm fairly certain Susan's loved ones wouldn't have recognised the old recons.

It is very sad.

 

[DSCrime]

It baffles me how so many UID cases takes decades before being solved and when they do, it turns out they actually could've been solved within days or weeks, but LE just dropped the ball completely when it came to investigating the missing person's case the UID turned out to be.

What also baffles me is the astonishing likeness Carl's rendering had to Susan! I don't mean to sound rude, but it's almost sad it wasn't released much earlier, because I'm fairly certain Susan's loved ones wouldn't have recognised the old recons.

Completely agree w/ @Mrs. Badcrumble. Feel like we have to brace ourselves for more cases like this as genetic genealogy and other methods speed up identifications.

 

[DSCrime]

Her husband was a Fort Campbell soldier, as mentioned in this article:

Remains of young Clarksville mom Susan Lund, missing since 1992, identified in Illinois | ClarksvilleNow.com

I don't understand how armed forces investigating agencies work. Would the army have also been involved in her missing persons investigation? Also, if local LE didn't want to continue investigating b/c they thought she was alive in Alabama, could the family have appealed to army investigators?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

May she rest in peace and receive justice. Sincere condolences to her family.

It's a shame that she was reported missing in Illinois and found a month later elsewhere in Illinois and no one made the connection.

 

[Springrain]

I predict that so many of the newly ID'd Does will be ones where LE dropped the ball for any number of reasons: they were an adult and could leave if they wanted to; they were a teenage runaway they didn't want to investigate; records where purged when the missing child turned 18; files got mixed up and lost...there have been so many unfortunate reasons that these people were not identified that do not fall on the family for not trying to report them missing.

How awful that these poor kids were led to think that their mother just up and abandoned them on Christmas Eve, when in reality, she had been violently murdered.

I would really love to know the origin of the "Oh, she's alive and well in Alabama" theory that LE seemed to run with.

 

[Friday Fan]

Her husband was a Fort Campbell soldier, as mentioned in this article:

Remains of young Clarksville mom Susan Lund, missing since 1992, identified in Illinois | ClarksvilleNow.com

I don't understand how armed forces investigating agencies work. Would the army have also been involved in her missing persons investigation? Also, if local LE didn't want to continue investigating b/c they thought she was alive in Alabama, could the family have appealed to army investigators?

The military got involved with the Heidi Seeman case. Her dad was active duty, but they lived off base. Long story short, the father suspected his CO. (CO and Heidi's dad issues at work and Heidi's dad accussed him of killing Heidi as revenge) The CO was a strange dude, but I don't believe he murdered Heidi.

 

[ctaylor]

Someone has clipped an article from newspapers.com from 8 January 1993 and even though it was only 2 weeks after she went missing, the active search had already stopped

Clipping from The Leaf-Chronicle - Newspapers.com

 

[Betty P]

Someone has clipped an article from newspapers.com from 8 January 1993 and even though it was only 2 weeks after she went missing, the active search had already stopped

Clipping from The Leaf-Chronicle - Newspapers.com

I don't understand LE stating they have information that she's in Hopkinsville, KY and living there. Who told them that? Where did they get these tips? They admit they never saw her themselves.

Here's a link to Google Street View of Jack Miller Road, the road she would have walked on from the end of her street, Harrier Ct. It's a 4 lane divided highway with no sidewalks and not much of a shoulder to walk on.

Google Maps

It was also 27 degrees that night in Clarksville, TN. That's pretty cold to walk 4 miles to the local Walmart on roads with no sidewalks.

Nashville, TN Weather History | Weather Underground

 

[Springrain]

And how did they decide at one point she was living in Kentucky and one point, Alabama, all within a few months of her disappearing?

It was also 27 degrees that night in Clarksville, TN. That's pretty cold to walk 4 miles to the local Walmart on roads with no sidewalks.

Especially since, as someone else has posted previously, Clarksville apparently typically is in the 50s during winter. I can't imagine a pregnant woman would be in the mood to up and leave her kids on Christmas Eve to do an 8 mile round trip in 27 degree weather to get groceries. Something is very wrong with this situation.

 

[AubrieC]

And how did they decide at one point she was living in Kentucky and one point, Alabama, all within a few months of her disappearing?



Especially since, as someone else has posted previously, Clarksville apparently typically is in the 50s during winter. I can't imagine a pregnant woman would be in the mood to up and leave her kids on Christmas Eve to do an 8 mile round trip in 27 degree weather to get groceries. Something is very wrong with this situation.

My theory is she wasn't getting a bunch of groceries, perhaps stopping at the store to get something small or possibly just a couple of things. Not full on grocery shop. Also there is a MAPCO Mart/Gas Station that is a 9 minute walk from the neighborhood. She could've been heading there to grab the stuff she needed. Being that 1992/93 almost 2 decades ago the area could've looked a lot different then it does now. However, as to why her husband decided to not go in her place though is a bit off. Why didn't he go out and grab the things she needed? That is what throws me off.

 

[Friday Fan]

My theory is she wasn't getting a bunch of groceries, perhaps stopping at the store to get something small or possibly just a couple of things. Not full on grocery shop. Also there is a MAPCO Mart/Gas Station that is a 9 minute walk from the neighborhood. She could've been heading there to grab the stuff she needed. Being that 1992/93 almost 2 decades ago the area could've looked a lot different then it does now. However, as to why her husband decided to not go in her place though is a bit off. Why didn't he go out and grab the things she needed? That is what throws me off.

Just across the street from the gas station are the gates to Fort Campbell! Here is how the intersection looked in 1992. The right hand corner of the intersection is the gas station, although you certainly can't tell much from this image.

Can't tell whether the gas station was functional or not or whether it was under construction etc. It was not there in 1981. The closest grocery store is Piggly Wiggly, which happens to be on the state line with Kentucky....so there's that....

The intersection with the gates to Ft Campbell Google Maps

The next image is 2006, so it's a jump in time.

Historic Aerials: Viewer

 

[Friday Fan]

Ms. Lund's daughter Crystal mentioned on Facebook that she distinctly remembers her mother leaving the house, and that their dad did not go with her.

She was four. She probably remembers her mom not returning afterward. I would not have remembered my mom going to the store when I was four. If there was a big fight when she left, she might remember that.

 

[Blurgle]

She was four. She probably remembers her mom not returning afterward. I would not have remembered my mom going to the store when I was four. If there was a big fight when she left, she might remember that.

Probably, but let's not sneakily, underhandedly assume the husband was a POI. I'm not sure someone who didn’t own a car could have done this, and anyway it's so disrespectful to the children who have openly requested that this not be done.

 

[Springrain]

I don't think anyone was trying to be "sneaky" or "underhanded", but rather discuss weird elements of the case. It is a weird detail of the case.

 

[Friday Fan]

Just implying that young children do not normally remember routine events. She may have remembered if something out of the ordinary happened just prior. Or she may have remembered her mom not coming home. I tend to think she remembered that her mom did not come home.

Young children tend to remember traumatic events. My first memory in life is of falling out of a car. (I do not remember any other car rides from that time in my life!...Just this one. It happened in a parking lot. My dad was driving and I was sitting on my mom's lap. The door was not latched and swung open when my dad drove off. My mom caught me before my face hit the asphalt. I do not remember getting in the vehicle. But I remember falling out and seeing that asphalt!)

My second memory is going to someone's house and they were serving peas. I would not have remembered eating at that person's house if they had served food that I liked.

 

[DSCrime]

Remains of Clarksville's Susan Lund, missing since 1992, identified in Illinois

 

[Eddie99]

Someone has clipped an article from newspapers.com from 8 January 1993 and even though it was only 2 weeks after she went missing, the active search had already stopped

Clipping from The Leaf-Chronicle - Newspapers.com

They probably didn't have any more leads to follow. They aren't just going to drive around, or walk through the woods with no good reason.

 

[DSCrime]

Clarksville woman missing for 30 years, identified in 6 hours with forensic technology | wbir.com

"When Crystal Lund thinks of her mother, Susan Lund, she only remembers so much before her mother went missing.

“I do have some memories of her,” Crystal recalls. “Like us walking to the store to get ice cream.”

She says she was 4 years old on Christmas Eve night of 1992.

“I remember my mom going to the store because I was upset cause my dad wouldn’t let me go with her,” she said.

Crystal said her mom was heading out to get a pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner, but she never returned. She said Susan Lund’s husband reported her missing."

 

[SolVic]

I forgot, was Susan killed 2-3 days prior to be found or is it believed to be when she was last seen?