I was a classmate and fellow paper carrier as kids, its very sad that she has been missing for so many years with no trace. I really feel for the family, not knowing all these years, she was a full of life, friendly kid who had an easy smile and liked to laugh.
Some of the things I recall
It was 13:30 in the afternoon, one of the reasons the complete disappearance seemed so unusual at the time, "broad daylight".
She indeed was in North Olmsted class of '79 and brother Dan was a couple/few years younger.
She normally worked at Otto's Lorain and Claugue Sunoco on the Northeast corner of the intersection of Lorain Rd (rt 10) and Clague Road, in North Olmsted, Ohio. The owner, Otto J., also owned the station in the 18900 block of Lorain Road, in Fairview Park, which would explain why she covered for another employee that day.
She was a responsible and hard working kid when we both had newspaper routes in junior high, and later when she was an employee at the Sunoco station, having stayed at a job (at her age) for 18 months, through a couple Ohio winters. It is not surprising to me that she was trusted to work the other station alone during a summer day. I would imagine the fact that she left all her stuff and the station wide open, are reasons Fairview Park police believed she did not go voluntarily, very out of character for the responsible 17 year old that she was.
The last time I saw her, probably spring '77 in the front of North Olmsted Senior High, she mentioned that she was waiting for a boyfriend who was older than her, and not a NOHS student, to pick her up with his motorcycle. I seem to either recall her suggesting, or perhaps have wondered since, if the boyfriend was OK'd by the family given her description of him. I do not recall seeing her leave, or who picked her up, or if that person is in any way relevant to her disappearance. I always assumed this boyfriend's identity would have been known to the family or the detectives investigating the case, and therefore ruled out decades ago, although I can't recall reading any accounts about a boyfriend.
I think many of us hoped she had run away and would turn up some day, but nearly 38 years later now, it's very sad to realize the family still waits, with no new information.
