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

[Missouri Mule]

Can you imagine just how many bugs would have been stuck to the fresh finish of the furniture if it had been varnished there and left outside under the carport that night? And what would be the odds of a finger print being left behind if the furniture had been carried inside by the perps, as has been speculated by someone?

Refinish work is not the kind of thing that one would do outdoors, afte dark, in the summer time.

How long does it take for varnish to finish before it will not take fingerprints or adhere to insects? I had forgotten about the sewing room which apparently the chest was located. Logically, that is where it was located but as has been reported the smell of varnish was quite strong as according to one of the responding officers. That led me to believe she might have located it outside the home if it had sufficiently dried.

Was it customary for Sherrill to locate her car completely in the carport as found that day? Or did she park half way in and half way out blocking the eastern most entrance of the driveway? I'm not altogether sure of her habits.

Why did Suzie come in from the west side of the driveway since it would have been logical for her to come in from the east side off of Glenstone and the driveway was unobstructed? Thoughts?

 

[Missouri Mule]

And as I recall the print on the door frame was somewhat smeared and enlongated as if from a pulling action. She was resisting from going out the door.

How would the fingerprint be dated to that particular night?

 

[Trooogrit]

How would the fingerprint be dated to that particular night?

I guess the big question is was Stacy in that house. If it can be verified that she never was. Then you can close the book on the whole notion they never made it to Delmar.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I guess the big question is was Stacy in that house. If it can be verified that she never was. Then you can close the book on the whole notion they never made it to Delmar.

I would agree with that. So far as I know the public announcements have never made that clear. It would appear to be an open question until and unless the SPD see fit to address whether she had ever been in the home prior to 6/7/92. If she wasn't then we can conclude they did make it to the Levitt home. This is a fairly significant factor that needs to be cleared up. I would think that of the many friends and relatives some would know whether she had been there.

 

[Trooogrit]

I would agree with that. So far as I know the public announcements have never made that clear. It would appear to be an open question until and unless the SPD see fit to address whether she had ever been in the home prior to 6/7/92. If she wasn't then we can conclude they did make it to the Levitt home. This is a fairly significant factor that needs to be cleared up. I would think that of the many friends and relatives some would know whether she had been there.

Quite possibly, I know the friends were questioned extensively and I have been looking for something about that particlular subject and the timeline of the night.

 

[Trooogrit]

How long does it take for varnish to finish before it will not take fingerprints or adhere to insects? I had forgotten about the sewing room which apparently the chest was located. Logically, that is where it was located but as has been reported the smell of varnish was quite strong as according to one of the responding officers. That led me to believe she might have located it outside the home if it had sufficiently dried.

Was it customary for Sherrill to locate her car completely in the carport as found that day? Or did she park half way in and half way out blocking the eastern most entrance of the driveway? I'm not altogether sure of her habits.

Why did Suzie come in from the west side of the driveway since it would have been logical for her to come in from the east side off of Glenstone and the driveway was unobstructed? Thoughts?

Thought about this a little bit, I think that when someone is following you, you lead them all the way.... it would make sense for suzie to go in the west entrance so that she was able to make sure the cars were out of the way and her door was opened and close to the door she entered into. However that doesnt make it so.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Thought about this a little bit, I think that when someone is following you, you lead them all the way.... it would make sense for Suzie to go in the west entrance so that she was able to make sure the cars were out of the way and her door was opened and close to the door she entered into. However that doesn't make it so.

That was my thinking as well. Her car door would be closer to the house.

I was just wondering if it was Sherrill's practice to park her vehicle all the way into the carport or half way in and half way out. Seems there was some discussion that sometimes the east side of the driveway would be blocked by Sherrill's car and since they came and went at different times of the day Suzie made it a practice of coming in from the west side. Perhaps someone could speak to that. If Sherrill's car was parked all the way into the garage and it was always her practice to park half way in and half way out, (blocking the driveway from the east side) then this should raise a red flag, although I'm not sure what it would tell us. Either Sherrill or the perp(s) could have moved it, OR Sherrill took the two girls down to say, George's and was followed home by "friends" so she on that one night decided to allow them adequate room to park their vehicle. Just thinking through the possibilities.

 

[Trooogrit]

I guess my question is how can anyone truly believe this was anything other than a random act? The events of the night were so happenstance. If the girls were the target they were followed home, meaning an unknown stalker or they arrived and became part of a chance occurrence in the night, or they came home to something occurring to Sherrill.

 

[Trooogrit]

This is a post I put on another site explaining the timeline of the day. I know some people find the actions suspicious, but I do not.
I cant quite get how people are making this out to be something sinister. I am going to break it down.

8.a.m. "It was around 8 a.m. when a groggy Janelle KIrby got out of bed"

8:30 a.m. "Around 8:30 a.m Kirby made the first of maybe a dozen phone calls to Sherrill Levitt's home. She left messages reminding of Whitewater for Suzie and Stacy to call her."


"Stacy was to call her mother that morning before they left, instead friends called Janis McCall looking for her daughter. She told the friends Stacy had stayed with Janelle. She didnt know sof the last minute change. But Stacy had always been so responsible. "I wasnt upset," Janis says "It is the day after graduation. It was a special day" This is in the morning and other friends calling Janis

"Around 1 p.m. Janelle called Janis and told her that Stacy had slept at Suzie's mothers house. Levitt's number was new and unlisted. Janelle gave it to her. Janis left a message for her daughter. "I just wanted to see if she needed anything. We usually kept in pretty close touch andsince she hadnt called me that morning, I really just thought that she was still asleep"

"It was early afternoon when Janelle and boyfriend Mike Henson arrived at 1717 E Delmar."

This is where they go in the unlocked house and dont find anyone.

"She punched a button and listened to her voice replayed on the mornings phone messages. She called the mother of another friend. Should she lock the door? No. They would be back soon. It would be embarrassing to lock Sherrill out of her own house.
Calling for advice and getting another mother who did not recognize a problem either.

They cleaned up the broken glass and left.

They drove the neighborhood, asking an elderly couple if there was a swimming pool nearby. Maybe they were there.

There was no pool and they went to a friends house for a couple of hours."

This is where they are confused and still have no idea that anything is wrong

"They called Levitt's house one more time and returned at 3:30 p.m.

Everything was the same.

They drove to get some food and Janelle was crying in the backseat. Mike assured her nothing was wrong. They drove to the Hydraslide in south Springfield for some fun."

THis is the first place where you see Janelle get worried and even her boyfriend was not worried yet. It is likely she was crying because she felt hurt that her friends had left her out

Stacy's mom had called the house a couple more times that day then "we did our own thing"

"The youngest McCall, Janis assured herself was at Whitewater. IT closed at 6.p.m. and there was a parental expectation of a timely return. The post graduation alibi had expired. Trying hard to not overreact. basically restraining her motherly tendency. Of all people a protective mother would be the first to react

As 7 p.m. passed Janis was concerned.

At 7:30 concern fell into panic with a phone call from the mother of kickapoo classmate Adina Ruthraugh "Did you know that when Janelle went over to Suzie's all the cars were there and all the purses were there?"

Ok here is where the worry really set in they converged on the house at this point, but did not call the police until after 10 they called all of the people in Sherrill's addres book first. This indicates to me that they still did not believe this was what it turned out to be.

"Janice dialed information to get a non-emergency police number " I didnt dial 911 I didnt think it was an emergency."

Even at that late hour they were worried but still held out that this was an explainable situation. When you look back on something you do not get the same perspective. NO ONE would think these women were missing. If there is no reason to believe something bad has happened then people go through the process of eliminating all of the possible reasons before they start to think the worst.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I don't think it is necessarily a matter of thinking the worst but going to the best source of information. And the best source of information would be the people who know the victims the best and had the most recent contact with them. They invariably have the information that no one else has and should be fully exploited for any tidbit of information that might initially be overlooked. We have literally hundreds of such people who might have information. Have they all provided all of the information they possess? Somehow I doubt it. What I would suggest is that the investigation start from ground zero and find all of these people and sit them down and go over their recollections. One would be surprised at what a person can remember over even a period of decades that at the time seemed insignificant. I can remember very clearly what I was doing and who I interacted a half century ago and believe most people can.

 

[Trooogrit]

Well what you suggest is unrealistic and I doubt it can happen. The information the police have needs to be reviewed again. Maybe there are some interviews that need to be conducted again. The last time this case was reviewed was in 2002-2004 by Higdon. Whether any new tips or leads have been recieved is anyones guess.

 

[Hurricane]

Well what you suggest is unrealistic and I doubt it can happen. The information the police have needs to be reviewed again. Maybe there are some interviews that need to be conducted again.

The last time this case was reviewed was in 2002-2004 by Higdon. Whether any new tips or leads have been recieved is anyones guess.

Agreed. Higdon's case review was the last one that we publicly know of. I'm sure that new tips and leads come in on a somewhat regular basis.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Well what you suggest is unrealistic and I doubt it can happen. The information the police have needs to be reviewed again. Maybe there are some interviews that need to be conducted again. The last time this case was reviewed was in 2002-2004 by Higdon. Whether any new tips or leads have been received is anyone's guess.

Why would this be unrealistic?

 

[Trooogrit]

Why would this be unrealistic?

Well why plow the same ground twice? A cold case squad would review it, look into the new tips. Check on fingerprints, forensics gathered then. reinterview certain witnesses. Even the guy that solved the Jackie John's case used evidence collected in 85 to solve that case. Cases this old getting any attention like that is good.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Well why plow the same ground twice? A cold case squad would review it, look into the new tips. Check on fingerprints, forensics gathered then. reinterview certain witnesses. Even the guy that solved the Jackie John's case used evidence collected in 85 to solve that case. Cases this old getting any attention like that is good.

I'm all in favor of reviewing existing information but I think it would also be potentially useful to solicit new information from the public; something they may, for whatever reason, didn't see fit to provide in 1992. What harm could it do?

 

[Trooogrit]

I'm all in favor of reviewing existing information but I think it would also be potentially useful to solicit new information from the public; something they may, for whatever reason, didn't see fit to provide in 1992. What harm could it do?

Well yea that wouldnt hurt anything, I thought you were saying start over and do it all again.

 

[Trooogrit]

How long does it take for varnish to finish before it will not take fingerprints or adhere to insects? I had forgotten about the sewing room which apparently the chest was located. Logically, that is where it was located but as has been reported the smell of varnish was quite strong as according to one of the responding officers. That led me to believe she might have located it outside the home if it had sufficiently dried.

Was it customary for Sherrill to locate her car completely in the carport as found that day? Or did she park half way in and half way out blocking the eastern most entrance of the driveway? I'm not altogether sure of her habits.

Why did Suzie come in from the west side of the driveway since it would have been logical for her to come in from the east side off of Glenstone and the driveway was unobstructed? Thoughts?

The simplest answer to this question is someone was parked in the spot behind SHerrill. If this were the case and Sherrill was incapacitated in her bedroom and the perps were preparing to take her out but the girls come home. Probably a few minutes of panic, and thinking, then settling down and waiting for the girls to do settle in (take jewelry off, wash off makeup get ready for bed.) Then moved to that bedroom and incapacitated the girls. Very little disturbance in the main part of the house. They carry or walk them out the front door. Struggling they break the porch globe.

 

[Missouri Mule]

The simplest answer to this question is someone was parked in the spot behind SHerrill. If this were the case and Sherrill was incapacitated in her bedroom and the perps were preparing to take her out but the girls come home. Probably a few minutes of panic, and thinking, then settling down and waiting for the girls to do settle in (take jewelry off, wash off makeup get ready for bed.) Then moved to that bedroom and incapacitated the girls. Very little disturbance in the main part of the house. They carry or walk them out the front door. Struggling they break the porch globe.

I've considered that possibility as well. As I understand it, her bedroom was somewhat small but sufficient for three people to be in at the time the girls came home.

Let me ask this follow-up question. If these individuals were in the home were they there simply to kill or abduct Sherrill or waiting for Suzie to show up as well or were they simply rifling through Sherrill's belongings for valuables? If they were burglars who were there to steal valuables why would they leave so much money in Sherrill's purse but more importantly why would they stack the purses up on the steps to the sunken bedroom?

Is this normally what one might expect of these caliber of criminals? Offhand I would say they would want to do a quick in and out and be gone. Of course I am going on my own two personal experiences with burglars while living in Springfield. It was obvious they were burglars. As I understand the crime scene every effort was made to make it appears so as not to be seen as a burglary.

That being the case; not a burglary, then we have to necessarily conclude that they had a specific purpose in mind and that was to simply execute the intended victims. Wouldn't it have much simpler and quick to simply shoot them on the spot and leave the bodies? Without a traceable weapon and a small caliber weapon such as a .22 with a silencer it would have been virtually impossible to find the perpetrators. Certainly there would have been far less interest in this case because of its extreme unusual nature than a triple homicide that long ago would have been forgotten.

Of course I suppose this unusual case is what has led the various LE authorities to conclude this was a sexual assault although I haven't a clue what gave them that impression. So far as I know there was no forensic evidence leading to this conclusion. Some believe this is just a guess based on the logic of other common motives.

The possible struggle would logically have broken the globe.

 

[Hurricane]

The simplest answer to this question is someone was parked in the spot behind SHerrill.

If this were the case and Sherrill was incapacitated in her bedroom and the perps were preparing to take her out but the girls come home. Probably a few minutes of panic, and thinking, then settling down and waiting for the girls to do settle in (take jewelry off, wash off makeup get ready for bed.) Then moved to that bedroom and incapacitated the girls. Very little disturbance in the main part of the house. They carry or walk them out the front door. Struggling they break the porch globe.

The sighting of the van seen parked on Kentwood in the night shade under a tree at 4:30 am by the newspaper carrier would tend to negate the scenario of someone parked in the drive when the two girls drove up, I would think. However they could have been inside the house already. If one or more perps were inside Sherrill's bedroom and an additional perp waiting in the van, the one waiting would have been a witness to the girls driving up. He would have known that his pard(s) could have trouble. If the girls walked around the east side of the house and entered thru the unlocked sliding doors directly into Suzie's bedroom the driver of the van could have easily walked up and followed them around. At the point when he entered Suzie's bedroom the 3 women would have been under their control.

 

[Missouri Mule]

The sighting of the van seen parked on Kentwood in the night shade under a tree at 4:30 am by the newspaper carrier would tend to negate the scenario of someone parked in the drive when the two girls drove up, I would think. However they could have been inside the house already. If one or more perps were inside Sherrill's bedroom and an additional perp waiting in the van, the one waiting would have been a witness to the girls driving up. He would have known that his pard(s) could have trouble. If the girls walked around the east side of the house and entered thru the unlocked sliding doors directly into Suzie's bedroom the driver of the van could have easily walked up and followed them around. At the point when he entered Suzie's bedroom the 3 women would have been under their control.

I would agree that is logical. In your opinion what would you say is the motive, however?

Do you disagree that this house was made so as not to appear to be a burglary? I'm going on my own experience having two while living in Springfield. If, as the visitors to the home have claimed, everything appeared more or less normal. That seems to run counter to any burglary scenario.

Do you tend to buy into the "sexual assault" scenario? It would seem to be a problem for three people to keep silence after all these years, would it not? Of course you may have sources which have revealed that someone has but it is not provable in a trial. Your thoughts?