Found Deceased MI - Theresa Lockhart, 44, Portage, 18 May 2017

[JerseyGirl]

Lockhart left her home at about 10 p.m. May 18. The vehicle she left in was later found a few miles away.

Lockhart is 5 feet 5 inches tall and 115 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. She wears glasses.

She has family and friends in the Grand Rapids area.

http://fox17online.com/2017/05/23/portage-woman-44-reported-missing-by-police/

 

[KJ's Mamu]

Her Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theresa.huygelockhart

A few more links with a little more info about Theresa.

https://www.facebook.com/SchoolcraftEagles1/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE&fref=nf

Schoolcraft Community Schools

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT: Rusty Stitt, PhD, stittr@schoolcraftcs.org, 269-488-7389

Schoolcraft High School Teacher Remains Missing

Schoolcraft, MI (May 23, 2017) Schoolcraft High School Spanish Teacher, Mrs. Theresa Lockhart, has been reported as a missing person. The school system is cooperating with the police investigation to determine Mrs. Lockhart’s location and status.

http://www.wzzm13.com/mb/news/local/kalamazoo/portage-woman-with-family-in-grand-rapids-area-reported-missing/442378542

Police say Lockhart has family and friends in the Grand Rapids area.

http://wwmt.com/news/local/prayer-vigil-held-for-mom-who-vanished

The 44 year old's car was found abandoned at the park and ride on Angling Road and Centre Avenue in Portage. While police continue their search Blue says investigators are determined to find the Schoolcraft teacher.

 

[KJ's Mamu]

Based on what I can find on Facebook and via WhitePages, I believe Theresa lives on Wrenbury Road in Portage, MI.

Here is a link to a map from Wrenbury to the Park-n-Ride at Angling and Centre Roads.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Wrenbury+St,+Portage,+MI+49024/42.1983062,-85.6437826/@42.2070716,-85.6464314,2657m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x881775eb3c038605:0x1d5f0180de258113!2m2!1d-85.6193729!2d42.2126388!1m0!3e0

 

[KJ's Mamu]

I wish we knew why she was leaving at 10:00 pm and who was the last person to see her. Could she have been going to the store? Meeting a friend in need? Picking up one of her kids? Taking a break from an argument at home? Was her purse in the car? Her phone? Any signs of a struggle?

Her car was at the Park-N-Ride near US-131. It's roughly an hour to Grand Rapids where it's indicated she has family and friends. Could have met someone there to ride to Grand Rapids?


Trying to formulate some possible scenarios based on where her car was found and here is my short list (in no particular order):

1) She agreed to meet someone there and came to harm or was taken against her will
2) She agreed to meet someone there and voluntarily left with that person
3) Her car was left there by someone who harmed her in order to mislead LE into believing she voluntarily left with someone
4) She left her car there with intent of causing herself harm in one of the nearby wooded areas

Very worried for this lady. Facebook chatter seems to indicate that friends don't believe she left voluntarily. I sincerely hope she just needed a break and is found safe very soon.

 

[doodles1211]

She posted a couple of things in her FB that would lead one to believe their were problems in her life, especially in 2016. Hoping she is just taking a break!

 

[Dalagali]

KJ'sMamu, I am really considering your number 3. I am concerned for this woman as well.

JMO.

 

[Patty Dresser]

No one mentions her husband -- seems odd?

 

[KJ's Mamu]

No one mentions her husband -- seems odd?

Agreed. Also I'm not finding a missing FB page set up by family or friends and the FB pages of her husband and son are locked down and/or not active. I'm not finding any newer articles or FB posts.

 

[MKZoo]

This is basically down the street from where I grew up.

There is a shopping center within walking distance of that park and ride. Grocery store, restaurants, etc. Not sure how late they would be open given the time she left her home but it's possible that could have been her destination.

Also, given where she lived, the area around the park and ride is probably familiar to her even if she didn't use it. If she was driving to Schoolcraft every day to teach, she's probably taking 131 and she's likely getting on at the Centre Street interchange.

So this is probably very familiar territory for her. JMO.

 

[KJ's Mamu]

A FB post from 4 hours ago from her BFF indicates that she is still missing and that she (the BFF) did an interview with one of the Kalamazoo TV stations. I will watch it and post a link.

Another FB post indicating a prayer vigil will be held for her in Grand Rapids on June 1st.

So worried for this woman!

 

[KJ's Mamu]

New article: http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2017/06/teacher_who_vanished_13_days_a.html

Lockhart left her residence about 10 p.m. May 18 in her car, Portage police have said. The vehicle was later found a few miles from her house at a park-and-ride lot off West Centre Avenue and U.S. 131.

Schoolcraft Community Schools Supterintendent Rusty Stitt said Lockhart is a part of a close-knit community and school system.

"It's hard to explain," he said. "This is not a behavior that she had exhibited in the past."

Stitt said Lockhart notified the school she wouldn't be at work Monday and Tuesday, May 15-16, and all communication from her stopped Wednesday, May 17. He called police himself on Saturday, May 20, he said.

"After a couple of days of not hearing from her, I felt like we needed to do something," the superintendent said. He said the school district also sent staff members to her house in an attempt to check on her.

The additional information from this article makes me feel even more worried for her. The school had to notify police that she was missing? Not her family? Her FB indicates she is married and has a child. I can't understand why the school had to be the party to notify police? Confusing and concerning to me.

 

[KJ's Mamu]

More info in this article: http://wwmt.com/news/local/family-worried-about-teacher-who-seemingly-vanished

Lockhart is married with two stepchildren. Her sister, Joan, lives in Canada. She says Lockart's husband is the last person who saw her. "He wasn't aware, as far as I can figure out, that she had left the house at 10 o'clock," says Joan. "He said her frame of mind was good."

Close friends tell us Lockhart had been feeling anxious, with several stressors at school and at home, but she was dealing with it positively. They say it doesn't make sense for her to just disappear.

This additional info presents more fuel for two theories:

1) She agreed to meet someone there and voluntarily left with that person or persons
2) Her car was left there by someone who harmed her in order to mislead LE into believing she voluntarily left with someone

I'm having trouble getting my head around why her husband would not report her missing if she left on the 18th at 10 pm and never came back.

I sincerely hope she just needed a break from the stress she was suffering, however, it is stated that lack of notification to the school administration is out of character. None of this new information makes me feel less worried about her.

 

[meanmaryjean]

I wonder HOW she notified the school of her planned absence - because an email or a text could have been sent by anyone. Speaking in person to someone would be different. And how far ahead of the planned absence was the notification made?

Because it's the end of the school year, and it seems like you would not take time off what with winding down, finals and such.

 

[NineMilly]

If the husband contacted police first, the school should have also been made immediately aware. After contacting the police, I'd think a call to the spouse's employer would be a natural next step for the husband. If the Superintendant was the first to contact police because he was left in the dark, many red flags begin flying.

Speaking as an educator, I can say with confidence that no teacher I know would simply disappear at the end of the school year. This speaks volumes imo as to her (un)/willingness to simply disappear at this time of year.

I've spent a fair amount of time hunting the public land across the street from this park and go. I can tell you with confidence that one can quickly find themselves in a bad way near the swampy land which lies to the north-east of the public hunting grounds. One time, I found myslef waist deep in muck back there and had to call for assistance. I just find it hard to believe that anyone would willingly walk that land, at that time of the night.

http://wwmt.com/news/local/friends-pray-for-missing-teachers-safe-return

Police said the last person who saw the Schoolcraft teacher was her husband on May 18, before her car was found abandoned at a park and ride a few miles from her home.
"When she didn't show up and she was supposed to be at my daughter's confirmation I was panicked, I was pacing in front of the church panicked," said Addington.

"After a couple of days of not hearing from her, I felt like we needed to do something," the superintendent said. He said the school district also sent staff members to her house in an attempt to check on her.

 

[NineMilly]

Schools in this area use an attendance reporting system called AESOP. Teachers can log into this typically up to an hour or two before requesting the absence, or enter the absence well in advance. It wouldn't be unusual to communicate via the AESOP system with the employer vs. a phone conversation with them.

I wonder HOW she notified the school of her planned absence - because an email or a text could have been sent by anyone. Speaking in person to someone would be different. And how far ahead of the planned absence was the notification made?

Because it's the end of the school year, and it seems like you would not take time off what with winding down, finals and such.

 

[Patty Dresser]

So it is possible that she's really been missing since the 12th -- if somebody else used AESOP to ask for her days off. That would mean she has been missing for 3 weeks now.

 

[MKZoo]

I know media reporting can sometimes be muddled or just wrong, but the fact that it appears no one in her family reported her missing between the 18th when she was last seen and the 20th when her superintendent called the police is pretty heckin strange.

Has it been confirmed that she made the absence request via AESOP, versus a phone call? It's seems logical that she'd use the system for its intended purpose, so probably not a phone call? But, yikes... it certainly could increase the timeline of when she last had confirmed contact with anyone outside of her home.

JMO

 

[Patty Dresser]

Her husband has been named as a person of interest and has NOT cooperated with the police.

 

[byo]

Police name husband as person of interest in teacher’s disappearance
Posted 4:31 PM, June 2, 2017, by FOX 17 News, Updated at 04:44PM, June 2, 2017

PORTAGE, Mich. -- Police investigating the disappearance of teacher Theresa Lockhart named her husband, Christopher Lockhart, a person of interest in the case Friday afternoon.

Theresa Lockhart is a Schoolcraft teacher who's been missing for two weeks. She was last seen the night of May 18th. Police say she worked out at a local fitness center around 5:00pm and then returned home. Her car was later discovered at a Park & Ride in Portage, a few miles from her home. A vigil was held for her on Thursday evening in Kentwood, with friends praying for her safe return.

(. . .)

 

[byo]

Search for Theresa Lockhart and Flyer hanging JUNE 4, 2017

Details:
2 kinds of Volunteers needed (Searchers and Poster Hangers)......Volunteers please arrive by 9am to perform a physical search and to put up flyers. Organizers will send volunteers out to areas to do searches with guides of surrounding areas as well as handing out missing person flyers to be posted in any and all areas surrounding Portage, Kalamazoo, and Schoolcraft areas.
Please be prepared if you plan to be a "searcher", bring with you: bug spray, water, walking stick, cell phone fully charged, boots/waders, extra dry socks, shoes and pants.....if you plan to be a "poster hanger", if you could bring, a staple gun and/or wide tape that would be helpful. We will have 500 total flyers, so if you are able to print a handful or two off we thank you.

(. . .)