PA PA - Toni Sharpless, 29, Gladwyne, 23 Aug 2009

[janewall]

As a frequent NJ visitor I wouldn't call the Pine Barrens dicey, but they're definitely a good place to lose something that you don't want to be found anytime soon, and I believe a certain marginal element of society is familiar with that feature.

I happen to love the remoteness, history, and quirkiness of this amazing natural area, smack in the middle of the US' most densely populated state. I have often fantasized about living waaaay down one of those sandy tracks in the woods. (I'm a wannabe hermit at heart, but I do need a few features of civilization, so someplace that's practically wilderness yet well under 100 miles from 2 major cities is right up my alley. )

 

[J Block]

I think she’s in the Schuylkill. I have from day 1.

I think the Petrone & Imbo couple met a similar fate as well.

PPD/SAR find/pull-out dozens of vehicles from the Schuylkill. Fairly regularly.

I know a large amount of them are stolen/dump jobs, but still, there’s so many places you can enter the river around the I-76 corridor. Especially if your not familiar with the area and/or impaired or under duress.

MOO.

 

[Trackergd]

Toni went missing in August of 2009. I am wondering if the Philly PD was still skewing the city's crime report. I was watching Forensics Files S:7 E:36 covering the Shannon Schieber case. She was one of the Center City Rapist victims. It was noted that around 1997-1999 Philly was not reporting cases to keep the published crime rate down. Rapes were notably under reported. Missing persons were also easy to ignore. There was November 1, 1998 Philadelphia Inquirer article "How to cut the cities crime rate, don't report it". Sadly I think the issue extended well past 1999 as mayors love to tout lowering crime rates. I wonder if this would be enough to force Philly to re-open the case?

 

[Trackergd]

I happen to love the remoteness, history, and quirkiness of this amazing natural area, smack in the middle of the US' most densely populated state. I have often fantasized about living waaaay down one of those sandy tracks in the woods. (I'm a wannabe hermit at heart, but I do need a few features of civilization, so someplace that's practically wilderness yet well under 100 miles from 2 major cities is right up my alley. )

There are sections close to Double Trouble state park where the trees are so thick, it takes an hour to move 50 feet. If you are claustrophobic and panic, you would be stuck for a while until you calmed down and worked your way back out. I prefer along ceder creek. Areas near Toms River have too many wild dog packs for my liking anymore.

 

[PayrollNerd]

I haven’t read up on this case but a friend posted this link to her FB page. So many unanswered questions. This is dated Jan. 10th and I don’t see where it has been link but I could have missed it too. She sounds like such a strong lady to overcome so much but fate turned its hand. Poor lady. I’m glad her last text to her daughter was reassuring and loving.

Into the Night: The Toni Lee Sharpless Disappearance

 

[JnRyan]

Toni went missing in August of 2009. I am wondering if the Philly PD was still skewing the city's crime report. I was watching Forensics Files S:7 E:36 covering the Shannon Schieber case. She was one of the Center City Rapist victims. It was noted that around 1997-1999 Philly was not reporting cases to keep the published crime rate down. Rapes were notably under reported. Missing persons were also easy to ignore. There was November 1, 1998 Philadelphia Inquirer article "How to cut the cities crime rate, don't report it". Sadly I think the issue extended well past 1999 as mayors love to tout lowering crime rates. I wonder if this would be enough to force Philly to re-open the case?

I wonder if Philly has a large backlog of rape kits like a lot of places across the US, too.

 

[Tildanor]

I think the letter us an interesting piece of evidence. Makes me wonder if possibly Toni was pulled over for suspected DUI on her way home and met with foul play at that point... worth noting the information in the letter that could be verified was accurate.

 

[Shamrock1]

Disappearance Of Toni Sharpless Carries Personal Weight For Private Investigator Trying To Solve 12-Year-Old Mystery

 

[carbuff]

I think she’s in the Schuylkill. I have from day 1.

I think the Petrone & Imbo couple met a similar fate as well.

PPD/SAR find/pull-out dozens of vehicles from the Schuylkill. Fairly regularly.

I know a large amount of them are stolen/dump jobs, but still, there’s so many places you can enter the river around the I-76 corridor. Especially if your not familiar with the area and/or impaired or under duress.

MOO.

This has always been my feeling as well.

 

[Shamrock1]

Schuylkill makes sense…maybe she realized she was heading in wrong direction once in Camden and turned back into PA.

 

[Murkywaters]

Schuylkill makes sense…maybe she realized she was heading in wrong direction once in Camden and turned back into PA.

Toni's car was recorded as being in Camden via an automatic license-plate reader two weeks after she disappeared. She she couldn't have driven into the Schuylkill river that night.

 

[Shamrock1]

Toni's car was recorded as being in Camden via an automatic license-plate reader two weeks after she disappeared. She she couldn't have driven into the Schuylkill river that night.

You’re right - I got confused and thought Camden was that night.

Was it the car and plates that was recorded, or just the plates? I’m just seeing that the plates were recorded.

 

[Murkywaters]

You’re right - I got confused and thought Camden was that night.

Was it the car and plates that was recorded, or just the plates? I’m just seeing that the plates were recorded.

It was Toni's license plate that was electronically recorded by a police car in Camden on Sept 8. When such a ''hit'' happens on a flagged vehicle, an alarm goes off and the police officer inside the car is immediately made aware of the vehicle. Unfortunately in Toni's case, the hit occurred at a time when the police car was parked.

 

[JnRyan]

You’re right - I got confused and thought Camden was that night.

Was it the car and plates that was recorded, or just the plates? I’m just seeing that the plates were recorded.

Good point. In any event, I don't believe she was in the vehicle as I believe she was deceased by that point in time. In fact, now that you bring up the possibility that might just have been the plates, her car may have already been crushed or driven off into a river by that time.

 

[sammyed]

Bumping for Toni on the anniversary of her disappearance. Keeping hope alive...

 

[Elisaa444]

I just watched a 'cold case documentary' on YouTube by Adventures with Purpose on this case. The video is well done imo; it gave the information known in a clear and concise way. I'm not sure, but I don't believe anything new was said. It is always good to have old cases brought up again especially on cold cases. I can only pray new information comes for Toni's family especially her daughter. IMO/MOO/Etc.

 

[Trackergd]

I don't think she made it out of the party, or at least not far from the party. And I think there was little to no investigation because it involved a sports celebrity and there was the potential for substance abuse, so it was hushed up. It's not like this was the first or last time illicit activity at a Philly celebrities party was hushed up.

 

[JnRyan]

I don't think she made it out of the party, or at least not far from the party. And I think there was little to no investigation because it involved a sports celebrity and there was the potential for substance abuse, so it was hushed up. It's not like this was the first or last time illicit activity at a Philly celebrities party was hushed up.

I had wondered about that after I saw the case on ID Channel's Disappeared, but no one else offered up that theory and I forgot about it. Now that I hear this again I again wonder. Wasn't Toni there with someone else? Makes me wonder what she REALLY knows.

 

[JerseyGirl]

From July 2020:

3 missing persons cases that captured Lancaster County's attention in decades past

In 2009, a missing-persons case caught the attention of Lancaster County residents despite the fact that the missing individual wasn't from the county.

Toni Lee Sharpless, a 29-year-old woman from the Coatesville area, disappeared after a night out with friends. Because Sharpless worked as a nurse at Lancaster General Hospital, her case generated much public interest here.

Sharpless, a single mother of a 12-year-old daughter, worked 12-hour shifts as an infectious disease nurse at the hospital, and spent most of her time off with her daughter and her mother.

It was unusual for her to go out on the town, her mother said, but that's just what she did on the night she disappeared.

She and a friend went to Ice in King of Prussia, then to G Lounge in Philadelphia, then to a party at a private home belonging to Philadelphia 76ers player Willie Green.

Sometime after leaving that party, she disappeared. Her friend, Crystal Johns, said Sharpless left her on a street in Philadelphia around 5 a.m., after the two of them had a fight. Johns said Sharpless drove off in here 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix and was never seen again.

She was officially reported missing when she failed to show up for work at LGH.

In the following weeks and months, investigators searched for clues along various possible routes between Philadelphia Coatesville and Lancaster. Divers even searched the Schuylkill River for her car (They found nearly a dozen other missing cars, but not Sharpless'.)

Sharpless' license plate was spotted twice in Camden, N.J., but searches there also proved fruitless.

Two months later, local interest in Sharpless' case was still high, as this front-page story from the Sunday News indicates. Her parents still held out hope for her to be found, and had hired a private investigator, Eileen Law of Kennett Square, to aid in the search.

Four years later, Toni Lee Sharpless was still front-page news here. The case had drawn national interest thanks to cable TV coverage, and investigators were dealing with a stream of tips, alleged sightings and outright hoaxes.

Her car was seen in South Dakota. Or Toronto. A cryptic letter claimed she was killed by a New Jersey police officer, who then had her car destroyed.

 

[Rob774]

I don't think she made it out of the party, or at least not far from the party. And I think there was little to no investigation because it involved a sports celebrity and there was the potential for substance abuse, so it was hushed up. It's not like this was the first or last time illicit activity at a Philly celebrities party was hushed up.

Sorry, but there are a few things questionable with your suggestion.

I'm a Philly guy, so I came here to bump this page for Toni.

First of all, Willie Green is/was FAR from a Philly celebrity. He rode the bench for the Sixers during those years. And while he is a coach down in New Orleans, he's not famous. Seeing how this was a party, there would have been others there. YOu can't keep your story straight with multiple witnesses if someone is lying.

Second. The house was in Gladwyne. That's Lower Merion. Besides the occasional home burglaries and domestic violence, the local and larger county detectives would have enjoyed sinking their teeth into this case if they thought something shady was going on. Where she went after she dropped the friend off and how she, or at least her car made it to Camden, we'll probably never know.

I feel bad for her daughter, who was robbed of a mother during the formative years when children, especially girls need their mother the most.