PA PA - Michele Reidenbach, 16, Zelienople, 22 Sept 1981

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Thank you, Richard. As soon as I get the opportunity, I will pay a visit to the Zelie library. I am more than happy to help gather information if I can. I am not in LE or anything like that so my access will be limited, but maybe I can dig up some better details to share with the web crowd. And if there is anything anyone would like to know about the local area or anything that I might be able to find, please let me know.
 
Grifynne said:
Thank you, Richard. As soon as I get the opportunity, I will pay a visit to the Zelie library. I am more than happy to help gather information if I can. I am not in LE or anything like that so my access will be limited, but maybe I can dig up some better details to share with the web crowd. And if there is anything anyone would like to know about the local area or anything that I might be able to find, please let me know.
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Best of luck in your research.

You might try contacting Jim McKinnon, who wrote the 25 year anniversary article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to see if he can suggest other sources and articles.
 
Since I haven't had an opportunity to get to the library yet, I thought I would take a few moments to see what I could dig up on Google's news archive. Here is what I found so far:

Bleak Holiday for Missing Girl's Mom - A November 25th, 1981 Pittsburgh Post Gazette article discussing Michele's disappearance

2 Missing Girls Spell 2 Empty Christmases - A December 19th, 1981 Pittsburgh Press article discussing the disappearance of Michele as well as Tony Lynn McNatt.

25 Years Later, Disappearance Still a Mystery - A September 22nd, 2006 article revisiting the disappearance (I believe this one was already linked somewhere else, but I'm adding it here just in case).

I'm still hoping there is more to find at the local library. I may be able to get there before the end of this week.
 
After reading the first article again, I noticed that it is supposed to be continued on page 3. I do not see the rest of the story there or in any of the other pages I checked in that paper (you can scroll through or choose a page to view). I have an unhappy 1 year old nephew that needs me at the moment, so if anyone else happens to find the rest of the story within the paper, I would really appreciate it if you could link it. Google has a little link feature in the upper, right hand corner. Just click the linking link (sorry, couldn't think of a better way to say it :P) and then click on the story headline and copy the link it gives you (for anyone who hasn't used Google's news archive before).
 
Grifynne said:
Since I haven't had an opportunity to get to the library yet, I thought I would take a few moments to see what I could dig up on Google's news archive. Here is what I found so far:

Bleak Holiday for Missing Girl's Mom - A November 25th, 1981 Pittsburgh Post Gazette article discussing Michele's disappearance

2 Missing Girls Spell 2 Empty Christmases - A December 19th, 1981 Pittsburgh Press article discussing the disappearance of Michele as well as Tony Lynn McNatt.

25 Years Later, Disappearance Still a Mystery - A September 22nd, 2006 article revisiting the disappearance (I believe this one was already linked somewhere else, but I'm adding it here just in case).

I'm still hoping there is more to find at the local library. I may be able to get there before the end of this week.
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Thank you for the links and articles. The 30th anniversary of her disappearance has just passed. Have you seen any recent articles on the case?
 
Hello,

What about Case File 431UFMD listed on the Doe Network? http://doenetwork.org/cases/431ufmd.html

The height and age could match. Date and location do not exclude a possible match. I can see a vague resemblance in the pictures. But I doubt they would not mention the extensive dental procedures in Michele's profile... What do you think?

Ninka
 
There is a resemblance, although I wonder if someone was going to kill her if they would have kept her alive from the day she disappeared (Sept. 22nd, 1981) until spring of 1982? that's what, 7 months or so? Does anyone know if the estimated date of death is usually that inaccurate? I know different conditions can influence the rate of decay, but this would be the better part of a year difference, unless of course she was still alive all that time.
 
From what I understand, the more advanced the decay is (among other things), the more difficult it is, obviously, to estimate the date of death. But I agree with you, a seven months difference between the estimated and the actual date of death might be a little too much... And it's indeed highly unlikely - although not unheard from - that whoever killed her (if that's what happened) would have kept her alive for months.

Do you know if the possibility that she might have gone missing voluntarily has been excluded (not that her running away and then meeting with foul play seemed likely to me - just to know)?

UID's sketch stroke me as similar to Michelle's picture: nose, eyes, distance between the nose and the lips. Maybe UID's jawline is a little more round than Michelle's though. It's difficult to appreciate resemblances from only one picture. Are there other pictures of Michelle that were made public?

Sorry for my English.

Ninka
 
Grifynne said:
Since I haven't had an opportunity to get to the library yet, I thought I would take a few moments to see what I could dig up on Google's news archive. Here is what I found so far:

Bleak Holiday for Missing Girl's Mom - A November 25th, 1981 Pittsburgh Post Gazette article discussing Michele's disappearance

2 Missing Girls Spell 2 Empty Christmases - A December 19th, 1981 Pittsburgh Press article discussing the disappearance of Michele as well as Tony Lynn McNatt.

25 Years Later, Disappearance Still a Mystery - A September 22nd, 2006 article revisiting the disappearance (I believe this one was already linked somewhere else, but I'm adding it here just in case).

I'm still hoping there is more to find at the local library. I may be able to get there before the end of this week.
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Interesting. The last article (25 years later) indicates that Michele's mom was running late so she went to the hospital without her. Charlieproject however says that mom was first to notice Michele not at work at 4:55 because she went by there to see if Michele wanted to go with her to hospital. Michele had left store at 4:30 to get medicine. So if she did go by there I can see that she might not have paniced in anyway since she had not been gone very long. I did find it interesting however the discrepency.

I also find it hard to believe that a chain smoker would leave her cigarettes. I never leave mine even to drive up to the corner store in case I break down or something. Something that came to mind about this, first how did she pay for the medicine with out her purse? If she was "street wise" like stated in one of the stories I doubt she would have just walked over there with loose money.Secondly, maybe she did and maybe she saw someone she knew over at the grocery and seeing that she forgot her cigs she may have wanted to get one from them.

Really, I have a prob with that, leaving the cigs the more I think about it. When I worked, any chance that arrived (run to store, get something out of car) I jumped at the chance to smoke a cigarette. Just cant see it.

Something that came to my mind reading this, maybe she did have her purse/smokes with her and did make it back to the store.Makes you wonder.
 
Grifynne said:
Since I haven't had an opportunity to get to the library yet, I thought I would take a few moments to see what I could dig up on Google's news archive. Here is what I found so far:

Bleak Holiday for Missing Girl's Mom - A November 25th, 1981 Pittsburgh Post Gazette article discussing Michele's disappearance

2 Missing Girls Spell 2 Empty Christmases - A December 19th, 1981 Pittsburgh Press article discussing the disappearance of Michele as well as Tony Lynn McNatt.

25 Years Later, Disappearance Still a Mystery - A September 22nd, 2006 article revisiting the disappearance (I believe this one was already linked somewhere else, but I'm adding it here just in case).

I'm still hoping there is more to find at the local library. I may be able to get there before the end of this week.
Click to expand...

From the first link - Michele was seen talking to somebody who was sat in a red car. That is where, i'll bet, she got a smoke after maybe forgetting her cigs.

Edited to add the article is continued on page 17, seems Michele got a phone call ?
 
Sleuthster said:
Really, I have a prob with that, leaving the cigs the more I think about it. When I worked, any chance that arrived (run to store, get something out of car) I jumped at the chance to smoke a cigarette. Just cant see it.

Something that came to my mind reading this, maybe she did have her purse/smokes with her and did make it back to the store.Makes you wonder.
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Now that you mention it, that's an excellent point. I am not a smoker but my husband is, and he would be the same way. Every chance he gets he grabs a smoke. This is especially the case if he was at work and came across an opportunity to smoke a cigarette when he normally wouldn't have. Although he may on very rare occasions forget his cigarettes if we were in a hurry to go someplace, I am pretty certain he would never forget them if he was at work and got a chance to step out and smoke while running an errand (even if he was sick, he would still do it). Based on my personal experience with a smoker, I think you may be on to something.

That being said, I'm sure no two smokers are exactly the same but this does kind of make you wonder. I will have to go back through the articles, but was anything said about Michele's boss, coworkers or anyone that would have been in the building at the time she was coming and going?
 
Ninka said:
Do you know if the possibility that she might have gone missing voluntarily has been excluded (not that her running away and then meeting with foul play seemed likely to me - just to know)?
Click to expand...

Ninka, your English is just fine :) And it is my understanding that it was unlikely she would have ran away. I don't believe she had any kind of history and from the articles I have read, she was pretty devoted to her family and disabled sister. Of course at that age, she may have been keeping things inside and away from her family that were bothering her. You never know but it didn't really sound that way to me. It's hard to tell from the little information that is there regarding her personal life.
 
Here's info on the Mel Den store (including the 2 owners names), which went out of business in 1989 and was under investigation http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...J&pg=1492,3927180&dq=zelienople+mel+den&hl=en


BTW, note there is another article with pic of one of the owners on the same page right underneath the first story. Both owners (checking intellus) where in their mid late 20's at time of her disappearance. Also, it seem that they had been investigated for some kind of fraud for changing prices? see story. I know its far fetched but could she have known too much??
 
Other stories in google and archive regarding one of the owners F.L. and how he owns another applience store now and hires ex cons and donates for a rabbi to visit prison inmates after visiting a jail and seeing that christian inmates where visited by a reverend and the jewish faith where not visited frequently. (he was supposively at the jail bailing out an employee of the store) hmmmm.
Im curious as to the contradiction still regarding that the mom came by the store at 4:55 but then the news story states she said she was running late and went to the hospital instead of going by the store. I am wondering if LE was told she came by? Maybe as an alibi that the mom came by and everyone was there working but Michele? Somethings not right there either. Also curious what color car the 2 owners had at the time , or other employees. Seems to odd to me that her purse and cigs where there and she walked to the store to buy something and was a chain smoker.
 
I created a timeline using the articles and information we have so far. Please let me know if I missed anything or if anything looks incorrect. I included an actual screenshot of the article along with a short description and a link to the source.

Please note:

When you click on the images they seem a bit hard to read sometimes. If you click "show details" at the top, you can see my explanation to the right along with a "Source Image" link under the Download header. If you click the Source Image link, the image will appear much larger in the browser. You have to select an image to do this if the entry has multiple images attached to it (most only have one). Please let me know if you have any questions.

The timeline can be seen here.
 
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