The Springfield Three--missing since June 1992 - #4

[Hurricane]

Yep, me too, and "exactly" to all of the above. I always thought it odd that, although Suzie & Stacey were friends in grade school, they'd parted ways in the meantime but got back together not long before graduation. Maybe "odd" isn't the right term, but it seemed an out-of-the-ordinary thing in the procession of their lives - and thus might hold a clue as to what happened.

The McCall's moved away from Springfield while the girls were still in grade school, returning when they were in their junior year I think it was.

 

[wfgodot]

The McCall's moved away from Springfield while the girls were still in grade school, returning when they were in their junior year I think it was.

Thanks, Hurricane. That puts it in context. Still, I wonder if Suzie was trying to step back from the crowd she was running with (the graverobbin' drug-users), or if Stacey was trying to run with a faster crowd. Probably neither; probably just childhood friends finding one another again. It does make me wonder, though.

 

[monkeymann]

I still think the circle of friends in the grave robbers case needs to be looked at closer.
The timeline of the disappearance happening on "Graduation Night" has also bothered be for a long time.
Is there any segificance to the disappearances occuring on such a seginificant night? I don't know?

 

[theforgotten]

The timeline of the disappearance happening on "Graduation Night" has also bothered be for a long time.
Is there any segificance to the disappearances occuring on such a seginificant night? I don't know?

I really can't speak to the grave digger issue, but I think the graduation night issue is interesting. I've always wondered if one of the woman had a stalker and maybe didn't know it (it sounds weird). I wonder if the person responsible followed them the whole night and for some reason decided that was the night to act. I just wonder if one person could take control of three women. I'm just thinking out loud.

 

[monkeymann]

I really can't speak to the grave digger issue, but I think the graduation night issue is interesting. I've always wondered if one of the woman had a stalker and maybe didn't know it (it sounds weird). I wonder if the person responsible followed them the whole night and for some reason decided that was the night to act. I just wonder if one person could take control of three women. I'm just thinking out loud.

I've always thought that the whole incident occuring on "Graduation Night", was more then just a coincidence. I mean really....What are the Odds...of this incident occuring on Graduation Night, and there not being some connection to it occuring on Graduation Night.

I don't know....May be it was nothing...But my gut feeling says that "Graduation Night"....played a role in this crime...one way or the other.

Either it was planned out and Graduation Night seemed like a good time to do it based on where certain people were known to be going to that particular night...ie. the partys.

Or Graduation night was a night that it was known that High School kids were going to be out and about. Ie. Good night, full of opportuntiy for stalking, by bad people looking for victims.

I've also wondered if someone was jelious that she was graduating, ie. the Brother, and decided to pay her back. May be Suzie was the "Golden Child" in Sherrells Eyes, and the brother decided it was pay back time....I've always wondered about this theory. I don't know how solid the brothers aliby was, or what kind of crowd he ran with back in the day...or if he had any connections to some of the bad people of Springfield?

I've also wondered about the Last Place the girls were seen at. The Kirbys where they were suppose to be spending the night. Thats was the starting point of the "Path" that took them back to Suzie Streeters house. What was Janell Kirbys alibi? What kind of a crowd did she run with?

Anyone have any further thoughts on this???????

 

[theforgotten]

The Kirby thing was interesting. The family had to know at least a week ahead of time who would be staying in their home. These people had to make travel plans and get off from work. I've always wondered about the Bar or restaurant sighting and how accurate that was. Has anyone ever seen the waitress interviewed? I wonder if she still believes that it was them that she saw that night.

 

[Trooogrit]

The Kirby thing was interesting. The family had to know at least a week ahead of time who would be staying in their home. These people had to make travel plans and get off from work. I've always wondered about the Bar or restaurant sighting and how accurate that was. Has anyone ever seen the waitress interviewed? I wonder if she still believes that it was them that she saw that night.

The Kirby thing? You mean the house being full of people and no where for the girls to sleep? Remember the girls were supposed to go to Branson that night, I am sure that was planned several days in advance as well. Obviously the plans changed.

Everything in print sais the George's sighting was a dead end and the womans claims could not be substantiated. It doesnt rule it out completely, but no one else there could verify what she said.

 

[theforgotten]

Thank you. I forgot that they were supposed to go to Branson that night.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I haven't commented in a few days. In my opinion, this case will most probably have to be solved by the feds using the RICO statutes. Yesterday's massacre in Juarez, Mexico settled that issue for me. As one LE officer told me in 1992 this case would not be solved and I didn't want to believe it; I believe it now. But optimism springs eternal. Miracles occasionally do happen.

 

[monkeymann]

I haven't commented in a few days. In my opinion, this case will most probably have to be solved by the feds using the RICO statutes. Yesterday's massacre in Juarez, Mexico settled that issue for me. As one LE officer told me in 1992 this case would not be solved and I didn't want to believe it; I believe it now. But optimism springs eternal. Miracles occasionally do happen.

Ok....So how do you come to the conclusion that the R.I.C.O. Statutes play into this crime and/or it being solved?????

 

[Missouri Mule]

Ok....So how do you come to the conclusion that the R.I.C.O. Statutes play into this crime and/or it being solved?????

So far as I know the RICO Statutes were used largely for the purpose of taking down organized crime. If we can assume that the local LE authorities can't break down the wall of silence and if there was any drug connections it is not a stretch to think in terms of known criminal gangs that would want certain people not to talk about them. This link describes the laws pertaining to this body of laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act

This is another law that may apply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuing_Criminal_Enterprise

 

[Trooogrit]

So far as I know the RICO Statutes were used largely for the purpose of taking down organized crime. If we can assume that the local LE authorities can't break down the wall of silence and if there was any drug connections it is not a stretch to think in terms of known criminal gangs that would want certain people not to talk about them. This link describes the laws pertaining to this body of laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racketeer_Influenced_and_Corrupt_Organizations_Act

This is another law that may apply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuing_Criminal_Enterprise

There was no drug connection established. I guess the closest thing is if you believe that there is unknown information that supports drug activity. I know that some people use the grave robbers as a potential source for motive, because of Suzie's testimony against them and associates of the three. This is the simplest explanation for the disappearence of all. However this did not solve the crime. So evolving this to known criminal gangs is a stretch.

 

[monkeymann]

There was no drug connection established. I guess the closest thing is if you believe that there is unknown information that supports drug activity. I know that some people use the grave robbers as a potential source for motive, because of Suzie's testimony against them and associates of the three. This is the simplest explanation for the disappearence of all. However this did not solve the crime. So evolving this to known criminal gangs is a stretch.

After several years of research and various theorys that have evolved, and keeping with the K.I.S.S. Principle, and with the statistically proven fact that most violent crimes perpatrated upon people, are committed by people that are close to them, as opposed to total strangers..............I believe that if it can be PROVEN that Susie Streeter was going to testify agains't the Grave Robbers...and again I state, if it CAN BE PROVEN....then I would have to put the Grave Robbers and their Known Associates at the TOP of the suspect list. It just make common sense.

 

[Missouri Mule]

After several years of research and various theorys that have evolved, and keeping with the K.I.S.S. Principle, and with the statistically proven fact that most violent crimes perpatrated upon people, are committed by people that are close to them, as opposed to total strangers..............I believe that if it can be PROVEN that Susie Streeter was going to testify agains't the Grave Robbers...and again I state, if it CAN BE PROVEN....then I would have to put the Grave Robbers and their Known Associates at the TOP of the suspect list. It just make common sense.

Does that belief square with this account posted earlier? If Garrison was involved did he have an on-going relationship with the grave robbing suspects? Supposedly, he was going to give up the location of the remains but clammed up at the last minute. Depending on who one chooses to believe Garrison has considerable credibility or none as an earlier poster from 2004 said here who evidently had access to and perhaps participated in the search. If he was referring to a different person I would be surprised. It is not altogether surprising that Cox referred to "Steve" who I believe we can safely assume to be Garrison. Both had a background in this kind of criminal behavior. Did either one of these individuals have any connection to the grave robbers? I have no idea.

"Detectives share view in case of missing women
Chillicothe (Mo.) Constitution-Tribune
November 13, 1995

Springfield, MO, (AP)- A group of veteran detectives who have reviewed the 1992 disappearance of three women has reached the same conclusions as police did.

The three women –Sherrill Levitt, her daughter Suzanne Streeter and Streeter’s classmate Stacy McCall- all were apparently abducted from Levitt’s home in June 1992.

The Missouri Violent Crime Support Unit has finished reviewing the case files, and close to 30 leads will be re-examined, said police Capt. Darrell Crick.

The support unit and Springfield investigators agreed that the motive was sexual assault, rather than drug dealing. They also agreed on the same list of suspects, although the two groups ranked them differently on a scale of suspicion.

Police stopped working the case full time last spring, and the list of suspects still stands at about 12."

 

[Hurricane]

After several years of research and various theorys that have evolved, and

keeping with the K.I.S.S. Principle

, and with

the statistically proven fact that most violent crimes perpatrated upon people, are committed by people that are close to them, as opposed to total strangers

..............I believe that if it can be PROVEN that Susie Streeter was going to testify agains't the Grave Robbers...and again I state, if it CAN BE PROVEN....then I would have to put the Grave Robbers and their Known Associates at the TOP of the suspect list. It just make common sense.

I believe the KISS principle applies itself well to this case also. Just because it has not been solved does not mean that it is a complicated case involving a great number of people entered together into a massive conspiracy in order to carry out and then cover up this crime in the Queen City, as some here would have you believe. And I am in agreement with the Missouri Violent Crime Support group and SPD that the ultimate motive in this case became sexual assault. That does not mean that the original motive might have been something as simple as a B&E or home robbery. That does not mean that a sexual assault was carried out somewhere in that house and that LE is at fault because it appears then that the house was not processed accordingly. The scenario could have been something as simple as the fact that there was no money found (the $800 was overlooked) or valuables worth stealing so the crime turned sexual (if the money had been found it may have turned sexual anyway) and the women were removed from the home for that purpose.

In my opinion the problem with this crime being perpetrated by someone close to the women as opposed to being carried out by total strangers to them is the fact that they were removed from the house. And I think the reason why they were removed from the house was because there were three of them. We don’t know if Sherrill was home alone when the perps made entry and the girls arrived while they were still there, or if the girls were already home when the perps entered. At any rate, the perps ended up with having to control the three and did so by removing them from the house.

The GJ3 had all been locked up together continuously since their teens and early 20’s for crimes such as B&E, robbery, and stealing. Garrison had only been out of prison 21 days to the day of the abduction of the 3MW; hardly time to forge friendships with either Cox or the grave robbers. That’s why his friends were those he had been locked up with all those years, and why they re-grouped together in Springfield after getting out. Garrison may not have actually participated in the abduction; he may have only heard about it from a drunken friend as he claimed. One of the GJ3 has a drinking problem, leading to many of his crimes and arrests. But Garrison went on to rob and rape a college coed in 1993. When he took LE on the search for bodies he was only being held on a felon in possession of a weapon charge. He had not been connected as a suspect in the coed rape at that time. He may have originally thought about ratting on his friends in order to leverage a deal on the weapons charge, perhaps hoping to leave town before becoming a suspect in the coed rape. He must have concluded that any publicity was bad for him, and he called off his cooperation, letting sleeping dogs lie.

 

[Trooogrit]

After several years of research and various theorys that have evolved, and keeping with the K.I.S.S. Principle, and with the statistically proven fact that most violent crimes perpatrated upon people, are committed by people that are close to them, as opposed to total strangers..............I believe that if it can be PROVEN that Susie Streeter was going to testify agains't the Grave Robbers...and again I state, if it CAN BE PROVEN....then I would have to put the Grave Robbers and their Known Associates at the TOP of the suspect list. It just make common sense.

Well I agree and I believe of all the motives, that one was extensively looked at. It makes sense to look at them closely. Now what? They all passed polygraphs, the friends of these guys were questioned extensively. Nobody cracked? None of them in 18 years has told anyone? I dont buy it, but tying them to known gangs is the stretch I am talking about.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I believe the KISS principle applies itself well to this case also. Just because it has not been solved does not mean that it is a complicated case involving a great number of people entered together into a massive conspiracy in order to carry out and then cover up this crime in the Queen City, as some here would have you believe. And I am in agreement with the Missouri Violent Crime Support group and SPD that the ultimate motive in this case became sexual assault. That does not mean that the original motive might have been something as simple as a B&E or home robbery. That does not mean that a sexual assault was carried out somewhere in that house and that LE is at fault because it appears then that the house was not processed accordingly. The scenario could have been something as simple as the fact that there was no money found (the $800 was overlooked) or valuables worth stealing so the crime turned sexual (if the money had been found it may have turned sexual anyway) and the women were removed from the home for that purpose.

In my opinion the problem with this crime being perpetrated by someone close to the women as opposed to being carried out by total strangers to them is the fact that they were removed from the house. And I think the reason why they were removed from the house was because there were three of them. We don’t know if Sherrill was home alone when the perps made entry and the girls arrived while they were still there, or if the girls were already home when the perps entered. At any rate, the perps ended up with having to control the three and did so by removing them from the house.

The GJ3 had all been locked up together continuously since their teens and early 20’s for crimes such as B&E, robbery, and stealing. Garrison had only been out of prison 21 days to the day of the abduction of the 3MW; hardly time to forge friendships with either Cox or the grave robbers. That’s why his friends were those he had been locked up with all those years, and why they re-grouped together in Springfield after getting out. Garrison may not have actually participated in the abduction; he may have only heard about it from a drunken friend as he claimed. One of the GJ3 has a drinking problem, leading to many of his crimes and arrests. But Garrison went on to rob and rape a college coed in 1993. When he took LE on the search for bodies he was only being held on a felon in possession of a weapon charge. He had not been connected as a suspect in the coed rape at that time. He may have originally thought about ratting on his friends in order to leverage a deal on the weapons charge, perhaps hoping to leave town before becoming a suspect in the coed rape. He must have concluded that any publicity was bad for him, and he called off his cooperation, letting sleeping dogs lie.

I've wondered the same thing whether it might have turned into a sexual assault case although the originating action was something else. That's a valid point although the article I quoted from an earlier poster does not lend itself to that interpretation. The article itself leaves no wiggle room so far as I can tell. It didn't say that the ultimate motive was sexual assault only that it was sexual assault. So one is left to wonder.

Let us stipulate that it played out as you posit. What does one make of the three week surveillance on the home? Would that be for the mere intention of burglarizing the home? Certainly that would be taking extreme measures to ensure a successful entry into the home, would it not?

I've heard two versions of the alleged confession to the location of the bodies. One comes from a much earlier poster who, as I said, appears almost certainly to have been involved in the search. He claims that NOTHING (presumably) Garrison provided regarding anything proved to have value. His credibility dropped to zero. That is, of course if this poster, was indeed who he implied he was. One would have to go back to Thread #1 to read his post. I believe he has made numerous posts here about this case and others. I attempted to make contact with him but it was not successful.

The other version I have heard is that a certain police officer, now retired, personally handled Garrison and somehow dropped the ball or didn't handle him skillfully. That implies that Garrison did have credibility.

The other factor we have to deal with is with Cox. Leaving aside Cox's credibility for a moment, is the very real effort that went into attempting to coax out of Cox the location of the remains. As I recall the officers (one now a major with the SPD) may have made up to two trips to visit with Cox in Texas but he wouldn't budge off his non-denial denial. What we are left to ponder are two letters to the N/L and a taped interview on KY3 with Cox (which I have not viewed) which strongly imply he was the best suspect they had. So far as I know, Cox has been stated to be the number #1 suspect in the case. His history is all too sordid to repeat here again but there is no good reason to summarily discount him since he "beat the rap" in Florida and walked off death row and alleged to have had had contact with Ted Bundy, the master serial murderer on death row, who, if memory serves me correctly, gave advice to the effect never to allow the bodies to be found. And when Cox was finally brought to justice he had a "kill kit" in his vehicle which implies he had evil intentions. We may never know what he has done unless at some point he decides to come clean. There is no indication he will do that.

So we are left with Cox and Garrison; known predators, and we have a news report from 1995 which clearly states this was a case of sexual assault and not drug related. In view of what we believe we know to be the likely circumstances of the exit out of town, we can probably extrapolate that there was a connection with Rogersville and meth has been brought up time and time again although not proven, and even discounted, by the news article, which as I said, leaves no wiggle room.

Having said all of this, it does make eminent good sense that the abductions were carried out to prevent Suzie's testimony which may have brought bigger fish into the case. Whoever they may have been would have had ample motive to prevent her testimony. If, as someone believe, this was because of a drug connection then the news article or the information provided to the news media was fabricated in order to throw off the perpetrators. That cannot be ruled out. Since none of us, to my knowledge, has seen the actual police file, we don't know where the truth lies.

If a gun were held to my head to come up with one correct answer, I would say that Cox and Garrison are somehow connected and this was indeed sexual assault which comports with the news article. That being the case, there is no police conspiracy to cover up the truth. They just can't bring the case to trial not having the physical evidence to get a conviction. Since the prosecutors in this area have been burned badly by two very high profile cases we can assume they are exercising extreme caution having only one bite at the apple.

I have one final point which I have raised previously. Where is it written that we must somehow ASSUME that either Suzie or Sherrill was or were the intended targets? Why is the assumption written in granite that Stacy was not the intended target? Certainly that does not rule out the sexual assault motive. We know very little of Stacy when all is said and done.

 

[mr.electric]

What IF it was NOT RCC OR Garrison, but a close Neighbor that was WATCHING ? HHMMM

 

[wfgodot]

What IF it was NOT RCC OR Garrison, but a close Neighbor that was WATCHING ? HHMMM

Any particular close neighbor in mind, mr. electric?

 

[Indianagirl]

This article states many were interviewed in the grave robbing case.

"We interviewed a ton of people in that case. She was one of them," Glenn said.
Streeter's statement was insignificant in the vandalism case, and it "has nothing to do with her missing now," Glenn said.
The Kansas City Star
July 2, 1992

This leads me to believe that the others interviewed would have been targeted as well, if the grave robbing matter is what motivated this crime. We don't know who the other individuals interviewed were but I would assume if they had been murdered or disappeared LE would have been able to make the connection.

Missouri Mule, LE stated they didn't believe Stacy was the target because she wasn't suppose to be at Delmar that night. Those were last minute plans. Of course anything is possible in this case, but the chances of Stacy being the target are pretty low. In my opinion, LE hasn't even settled on who the target was. They have just speculated like the rest of us.

Police speculate sexual assault may have been the motive, with Levitt the intended victim.
Jefferson City News-Tribune (MO)
June 9, 2002

Also, I wanted to add, as of 2002 it seems the suspect list had perhaps changed some.....However, the media reports are conflicting.

"There are no suspects, but a half-dozen individuals remain under suspicion."
Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
June 9, 2002

"Over the years investigators have whittled the list of potential suspects to about 10 names, which they declined to reveal."
Kansas City Star, The (MO)
June 7, 2002