The Springfield Three--missing since June 1992 - #5

[former central time]

As for buying the suit at Whitewater, I can see three reasons. 1) It would serve as a memento to Stacy for her graduation weekend. 2) She could buy the kind of suit she wanted instead of having to have her parent's approval. 3) New summer, new suit time and she had not had time to shop beforehand.

That's not been my experience and observation. Many people I know want 'their suit' they are comfortable with, then maybe shop later (during such trip) for another suit, outlined in some of your points.

HOWEVER, I can clearly see a reason for doing this and Stacy avoiding a trip home. I'm unclear how Mrs. McCall felt about the Branson trip and/or with Suzie. Stacy might have felt there were too many roadblocks heading home to 'face an inqury' about this trip, with whom and what happened last night, that she just thought of buying a suit on the fly.

 

[kemo]

I'm a little puzzled. What is this fixation on Stacy's Overnight Bag? All indications are that it never existed. Stacy's mother made it clear that she believed Stacy was abducted in her underwear because her shorts were neatly folded by Suzie's bed and Stacy had no other clothes to wear. Yes, one could have been locked in her car, but it would have had no bearing on the issue of what Stacy had been wearing. Stacy's mother had a pretty good idea what her daughter was up to and she was certainly questioned very extensively on the issue by SPD.

Who knows what their plans were. Perhaps they were planning to drop by Stacy's house in the morning; perhaps they really weren't going anywhere. I suspect plans evolved over the course of the evening.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I'm a little puzzled. What is this fixation on Stacy's Overnight Bag? All indications are that it never existed. Stacy's mother made it clear that she believed Stacy was abducted in her underwear because her shorts were neatly folded by Suzie's bed and Stacy had no other clothes to wear. Yes, one could have been locked in her car, but it would have had no bearing on the issue of what Stacy had been wearing. Stacy's mother had a pretty good idea what her daughter was up to and she was certainly questioned very extensively on the issue by SPD.

Who knows what their plans were. Perhaps they were planning to drop by Stacy's house in the morning; perhaps they really weren't going anywhere. I suspect plans evolved over the course of the evening.

How is it that we know it did not exist? Surely she did not intend to swim in her street clothes. Wouldn't she have wanted to have clean clothing for the next day and the return trip home?

Why is it not possible that she grabbed it out the door when she attempted to escape and it was taken along with the women? If Suzie had one as reported, why didn't Stacy? They were going the same place. If the overnight bag was found in the possession of the suspected perp(s) would it not be a valuable piece of evidence to present at court?

Do we even know if this was their true intention to go to Branson? If not, perhaps that might explain the absence of the overnight bag. But if Suzie had one it strongly indicates the plans were as stated. Why assume the opposite? I have learned over the course of a lifetime never to assume anything. That is why I posed the question.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Let me add one more thing to this discussion and I will quit. Everyone can agree, I am sure, that Stacy had an overnight bag. That is to say if she didn't have it with her, it should have been in the car or at her parent's home. If the police followed up on this, they should have located it and taken it off the table. If no overnight bag was to be found anywhere, then I would argue it was taken with Stacy, Sherrill and Susie. That's all I will say on the subject.

 

[Luzer]

Let me add one more thing to this discussion and I will quit. Everyone can agree, I am sure, that Stacy had an overnight bag. That is to say if she didn't have it with her, it should have been in the car or at her parent's home. If the police followed up on this, they should have located it and taken it off the table. If no overnight bag was to be found anywhere, then I would argue it was taken with Stacy, Sherrill and Susie. That's all I will say on the subject.

I can't agree that Stacy had a bag with her. No published report says so, and video interviews of Mrs. McCall have her on record saying she was going to retrieve Stacy's clothes and car. My logic tells me Mrs. McCall would have said bag if there had been a bag. This is my opinion on the matter.

Your statement above, Mule, comes across as making your opinion a fact. Please try to make sure you can keep opinion and fact labeled correctly.

 

[Missouri Mule]

I can't agree that Stacy had a bag with her. No published report says so, and video interviews of Mrs. McCall have her on record saying she was going to retrieve Stacy's clothes and car. My logic tells me Mrs. McCall would have said bag if there had been a bag. This is my opinion on the matter.

Your statement above, Mule, comes across as making your opinion a fact. Please try to make sure you can keep opinion and fact labeled correctly.

I believe you misunderstood my post. Let me rephrase it. Stacy "owned" (possessed) an overnight bag somewhere. It could have been in the house, her car, or at her parent's home. I'm sorry I wasn't clear.

 

[Luzer]

I believe you misunderstood my post. Let me rephrase it. Stacy "owned" (possessed) an overnight bag somewhere. It could have been in the house, her car, or at her parent's home. I'm sorry I wasn't clear.

It is not 100% positive that Stacy had a bag anywhere. That has never been brought to light in public records, as far as I know. If you have records that prove the existence of the bag, please share.

 

[Luzer]

The police website says $42 k. (sorry for short message--on cell.)

I had always thought I remembered the reward reached $100000 but was unable to substantiate that fact. Tonight, while reading old newspaper accounts, I came across an article stating the higher reward.

Investigators have scrambled to follow any of the 4,700 leads that offer any promise. Their file is more than 100 leads thick just with psychic tips.

Despite a reward of more than $100,000, no one with key information has come forward.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/19970607/NEWS01/60608022

It would be nice to find out if there is still any kind of reward remaining.

 

[Starks]

Hi. My name is David, and I think I have something to add, that I don't think has been discussed before. This is from a June 1992 issue of the Kansas city Star

"Author: The Associated Press

A "significant event" apparently prompted a woman to go looking for her daughter on the night they disappeared with one of the daughter's friends, police said Wednesday. Capt. Tony Glenn said investigators did not know why Sherrill E. Levitt, 47, was concerned about her daughter's whereabouts in the early hours of June 7. "What would cause a mother to be out at 2:15 a.m. looking for her daughter? " he asked. A witness told police that Levitt stopped at 2:15 a.m. at a convenience store to ask the clerk whether he had seen her daughter and two of her daughter's friends. Levitt appeared hurried, entering the Apco A-Mart store only halfway and quickly leaving, Glenn said. Police have known the information for a few days but waited to construct a precise timetable before releasing it, he said at a news conference on the 10th day of the investigation. Glenn said investigators had not established which two of her daughter's friends Levitt asked the clerk about."

If this is true, I guess it is possible that the girls arrived at the house while Sherril was out looking for them. Thoughts?

 

[Missouri Mule]

Hi. My name is David, and I think I have something to add, that I don't think has been discussed before. This is from a June 1992 issue of the Kansas city Star

"Author: The Associated Press

A "significant event" apparently prompted a woman to go looking for her daughter on the night they disappeared with one of the daughter's friends, police said Wednesday. Capt. Tony Glenn said investigators did not know why Sherrill E. Levitt, 47, was concerned about her daughter's whereabouts in the early hours of June 7. "What would cause a mother to be out at 2:15 a.m. looking for her daughter? " he asked. A witness told police that Levitt stopped at 2:15 a.m. at a convenience store to ask the clerk whether he had seen her daughter and two of her daughter's friends. Levitt appeared hurried, entering the Apco A-Mart store only halfway and quickly leaving, Glenn said. Police have known the information for a few days but waited to construct a precise timetable before releasing it, he said at a news conference on the 10th day of the investigation. Glenn said investigators had not established which two of her daughter's friends Levitt asked the clerk about."

If this is true, I guess it is possible that the girls arrived at the house while Sherril was out looking for them. Thoughts?

Sounds promising except it was debunked early on. The woman came forward to identify herself. It was a matter of mistaken identity. The last known time that Sherrill was heard from was during a phone call with a friend about 11:15 PM. Beyond that time nothing is known of her.

Welcome to the discussion.

 

[pittsburghgirl]

i've always been interested in the issue of Stacy's clothing or lack thereof, both in terms of the planned trip and what she might have been wearing when abducted.

If there really was a plan to sleep at a hotel in Branson, I cannot imagine a teenage girl not packing a bag, unless she had a huge purse and could carry stuff in that. We KNOW Suzie had an overnight bag. The girls were at graduation parties, which would mean fixing themselves up by the standards of the group--jeans, nice shorts, cute top, maybe a sweater or jacket if it was cool. They originally planned to sleep at a hotel/motel, which would mean at minimum a T-shirt and they would need bathing suits or some kind of shorts and top that would be the equivalent. I don't for a minute think that a beautiful girl like Stacy would want to risk not finding a decent bathing suit or, since she had her own car, that she would not throw at least a grocery bag with some stuff in it. It doesn't make sense that Suzie would have had an overmight bag and Stacy wouldn't, unless there is something about the plans for the day following the graduation that we don't know about. For example, what was found in Stacy's car? We don't know. Did someone find a bag that belonged to Stacy during the hours when the house was open and then remove it for some reason? That also might explain why the other bag and purses were in one spot. But we don't know.

2. The notion that Stacy was abducted in her underwear comes from what Janis McCall said during the walk-through with the responding officer. She asserted that Stacy had to be in panties because the shorts were there and also asserted that there was no way Stacy could wear Suzie's clothes. Never mind that most kids have sweats and those flannel boxers and long pants (etc) that might fit pretty much everybody or that Sherrill might have something. Of course, if the girls were about to go to bed, and Stacy had no other clothes, she could have been in panties, as Janis McCall said. But a lot of speculation rests on Stacy being in her underwear--which suggests that all 3 women were in the house (because Stacy wasn't dressed) and the abductors came in to get them.

3. I have never had a clear sense about how LE would know that a footprint, in a house in which a whole bunch of people had congregated subsequent to the abduction, was definitively Stacy's. if it was a footprint (and not a shoe print) there had to be blood or DNA or something...Do we know, for aure, where the footprint was? And how they know it was Stacy's?

 

[Missouri Mule]

This was an area of great concern that I raised elsewhere and someone found what appears address the matter of the swimsuit. It is remotely conceivable that she was only going to spend the day and wear the same clothing back from Branson that she had on the previous day but I remain dubious. In any event: (date of article is not known)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author: Associated Press
Article Text:

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A woman and two Springfield teen-agers vanished on graduation night, leaving their cars, purses, money and some clothes behind, investigators and family members said Monday.

''Some things just aren't adding up,'' said Sgt. Mark Webb, adding that police consider foul play a possibility.

Police said Stacy Kathleen McCall, 18, and Suzanne E. Streeter, 19, were last seen about 2 a.m. Sunday leaving a graduation party in Battlefield, eight miles southwest of Springfield.

Streeter's mother, Sherrill Elizabeth Levitt, 47, was last seen about eight hours earlier at the students' commencement.

Police have asked the public for any information on their whereabouts.
Friends told police that the teenagers left the party in separate cars for Levitt's house.

Their cars and Levitt's car were found at the house.

''I feel terrible, really, because I just don't know what's going on,'' said McCall's father, Stuart McCall, who filed the missing persons report. ''She's been very prompt all her life about telling us where she is.''

McCall said his daughter's friends told him early Sunday that she had gone to Streeter's house.

McCall went to the house, finding it unlocked with the teen-agers' purses, keys, money and other belongings inside, he said.

The television was on, and the dog was inside.

The shoes and shorts that McCall wore to the party also were in the house, along with the swimsuit she planned to wear Sunday to a water park in Branson, her father said.

Police found no signs of forced entry, other than a broken porch light.

The teens were students at Kickapoo High School. They went to the party in Battlefield after the graduation ceremony at Hammons Student Center at Southwest Missouri State University.

McCall said his daughter had permission to spend the night with a friend in Battlefield but not at Streeter's house in Springfield. McCall said that his daughter and Streeter had been friends years ago but that they had not been close recently....(snip)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that certain details of this story do not comport with some of the other accounts written. This account portrays Mr. McCall as going to the home after he was informed by "friends." Other accounts say that Mrs. McCall first learned of the change of plans at about 10:30 AM when she phoned Janelle's home. And they also suggest that he didn't come to the home until much later in the evening. And I was under the impression Mrs. McCall contacted the police and filed the missing person's report. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what the actual facts are.

I suspect that the purses were inspected and moved to one spot by the first responders.

​

 

[former central time]

This was an area of great concern that I raised elsewhere and someone found what appears address the matter of the swimsuit. It is remotely conceivable that she was only going to spend the day and wear the same clothing back from Branson that she had on the previous day but I remain dubious. In any event: (date of article is not known)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author: Associated Press
Article Text:

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A woman and two Springfield teen-agers vanished on graduation night, leaving their cars, purses, money and some clothes behind, investigators and family members said Monday.

''Some things just aren't adding up,'' said Sgt. Mark Webb, adding that police consider foul play a possibility.

Police said Stacy Kathleen McCall, 18, and Suzanne E. Streeter, 19, were last seen about 2 a.m. Sunday leaving a graduation party in Battlefield, eight miles southwest of Springfield.

Streeter's mother, Sherrill Elizabeth Levitt, 47, was last seen about eight hours earlier at the students' commencement.

Police have asked the public for any information on their whereabouts.
Friends told police that the teenagers left the party in separate cars for Levitt's house.

Their cars and Levitt's car were found at the house.

''I feel terrible, really, because I just don't know what's going on,'' said McCall's father, Stuart McCall, who filed the missing persons report. ''She's been very prompt all her life about telling us where she is.''

McCall said his daughter's friends told him early Sunday that she had gone to Streeter's house.

McCall went to the house, finding it unlocked with the teen-agers' purses, keys, money and other belongings inside, he said.

The television was on, and the dog was inside.

The shoes and shorts that McCall wore to the party also were in the house, along with the swimsuit she planned to wear Sunday to a water park in Branson, her father said.

Police found no signs of forced entry, other than a broken porch light.

The teens were students at Kickapoo High School. They went to the party in Battlefield after the graduation ceremony at Hammons Student Center at Southwest Missouri State University.

McCall said his daughter had permission to spend the night with a friend in Battlefield but not at Streeter's house in Springfield. McCall said that his daughter and Streeter had been friends years ago but that they had not been close recently....(snip)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that certain details of this story do not comport with some of the other accounts written. This account portrays Mr. McCall as going to the home after he was informed by "friends." Other accounts say that Mrs. McCall first learned of the change of plans at about 10:30 AM when she phoned Janelle's home. And they also suggest that he didn't come to the home until much later in the evening. And I was under the impression Mrs. McCall contacted the police and filed the missing person's report. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what the actual facts are.

I suspect that the purses were inspected and moved to one spot by the first responders.

​

Some of the facts of the story might have been generalized from compiled accounts by reporters actually on scene in Springfield. '...Mr. McCall learned his daughter stayed at the Streeter house through friends...' is essentially true. Mrs. McCall found out earlier, made the call to Jeannelle's and they told her about the change, my guess is she told her husband, so it 'came down the line.' If what he and/or his wife saw of his daughter's effects left; shoes, shorts and swimsuit are all accurate, and nothing else is unaccountable, that would tie into the mother's statement, 'wearing just her panties...' It would have also been seen by First Responders and certainly doesn't appear she just 'left for Branson.'

Can't speak for everyone, but I know when I was in h/s and even college, my mother knew every stitch of main clothing I had. When I came home for Summers from college, if I was missing even one shirt, she'd ask me about it. I have to believe this is pretty common among mothers in this world. So, taking Mrs. McCall's statement to heart, that would mean there is NOTHING unaccountable from Stacy's collection missing, including an overnight bag. Unless Mrs. McCall told it to LE and it has never been made public.

 

[Missouri Mule]

Some of the facts of the story might have been generalized from compiled accounts by reporters actually on scene in Springfield. '...Mr. McCall learned his daughter stayed at the Streeter house through friends...' is essentially true. Mrs. McCall found out earlier, made the call to Jeannelle's and they told her about the change, my guess is she told her husband, so it 'came down the line.' If what he and/or his wife saw of his daughter's effects left; shoes, shorts and swimsuit are all accurate, and nothing else is unaccountable, that would tie into the mother's statement, 'wearing just her panties...' It would have also been seen by First Responders and certainly doesn't appear she just 'left for Branson.'

Can't speak for everyone, but I know when I was in h/s and even college, my mother knew every stitch of main clothing I had. When I came home for Summers from college, if I was missing even one shirt, she'd ask me about it. I have to believe this is pretty common among mothers in this world. So, taking Mrs. McCall's statement to heart, that would mean there is NOTHING unaccountable from Stacy's collection missing, including an overnight bag. Unless Mrs. McCall told it to LE and it has never been made public.

That was really the thrust of my interest in this matter. I had theorized that when Stacy left the house, and I suspect out of the side door, she grabbed her overnight bag with her other clothes and intended to put a clean pair of shorts on as soon as she reached safety. The importance of this lay in the fact that if the theoretical bag were found in the possession of the abductor(s) it would be solid proof that they took the women.

What I believe happened is that Sherrill opened the door, Suzie followed, and Stacy overheard the commotion which got louder and louder and she thought she ought to vacate the house for her own safety and to get help but was thwarted by the back fence. I say that not knowing the layout of the fence or whether there was an exit out back. If not, she had no choice but to try to escape from the front around the east side of Sherrill's car but was captured.

At this point and with the lack of forensic evidence I doubt the abductor(s) ever set foot inside the house.

The various agencies reached a consensus of sorts that this was a crime of sexual assault. That may or may not have been the case. It is also possible it was a matter of money. And I can see a definite motive here as well as was hinted at the original "48 hours" program.

 

[former central time]

If the abductors took any such bag, would they hold on to it this long ? Granted, they might have been shy disposing of it in the local area right after the crime, but a year or so later, at some dumpster a few states away...goodbye.

However, the bag and some of the points Pittsburghgirl raised are interesting. That is HARD evidence, HARD facts that are known. Just a couple which I'm unsure of their accuracy...

- A footprint of Stacy's was found in the living room of the house, pointed towards the door.

- Samples of Stacy's blood found on the steps of the front door

- The glass shards from the shattered globe...samples were collected and are being held.

Like the bag, I have no idea of any of previously mentioned are true, but they are lines I've read from previous posts. Further, and at this stage I don't know if there is anyway of knowing, what is true but not PUBLIC. A public trial is when the cards are laid on the table. :rocker:

 

[Missouri Mule]

If the abductors took any such bag, would they hold on to it this long ? Granted, they might have been shy disposing of it in the local area right after the crime, but a year or so later, at some dumpster a few states away...goodbye.

However, the bag and some of the points Pittsburghgirl raised are interesting. That is HARD evidence, HARD facts that are known. Just a couple which I'm unsure of their accuracy...

- A footprint of Stacy's was found in the living room of the house, pointed towards the door.

- Samples of Stacy's blood found on the steps of the front door

- The glass shards from the shattered globe...samples were collected and are being held.

Like the bag, I have no idea of any of previously mentioned are true, but they are lines I've read from previous posts. Further, and at this stage I don't know if there is anyway of knowing, what is true but not PUBLIC. A public trial is when the cards are laid on the table. :rocker:

One never knows. If this were an unknown serial killer they generally keep souvenirs to remind them of their crimes. If it were a serial killer this goes to the "sexual assault" angle. By retrieving these souvenirs they experience again the pleasure of the kill. As I recall, Ted Bundy had a dumping ground for his victims that he would revisit to gain his warped and evil pleasure all over again. Of course this is all speculation.

As to your points above, I don't know if we know those to be facts but more like speculation. I've never seen those in print anywhere.

 

[CaliMama]

This was an area of great concern that I raised elsewhere and someone found what appears address the matter of the swimsuit. It is remotely conceivable that she was only going to spend the day and wear the same clothing back from Branson that she had on the previous day but I remain dubious. In any event: (date of article is not known)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author: Associated Press
Article Text:

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A woman and two Springfield teen-agers vanished on graduation night, leaving their cars, purses, money and some clothes behind, investigators and family members said Monday.

''Some things just aren't adding up,'' said Sgt. Mark Webb, adding that police consider foul play a possibility.

Police said Stacy Kathleen McCall, 18, and Suzanne E. Streeter, 19, were last seen about 2 a.m. Sunday leaving a graduation party in Battlefield, eight miles southwest of Springfield.

Streeter's mother, Sherrill Elizabeth Levitt, 47, was last seen about eight hours earlier at the students' commencement.

Police have asked the public for any information on their whereabouts.
Friends told police that the teenagers left the party in separate cars for Levitt's house.

Their cars and Levitt's car were found at the house.

''I feel terrible, really, because I just don't know what's going on,'' said McCall's father, Stuart McCall, who filed the missing persons report. ''She's been very prompt all her life about telling us where she is.''

McCall said his daughter's friends told him early Sunday that she had gone to Streeter's house.

McCall went to the house, finding it unlocked with the teen-agers' purses, keys, money and other belongings inside, he said.

The television was on, and the dog was inside.

The shoes and shorts that McCall wore to the party also were in the house, along with the swimsuit she planned to wear Sunday to a water park in Branson, her father said.

Police found no signs of forced entry, other than a broken porch light.

The teens were students at Kickapoo High School. They went to the party in Battlefield after the graduation ceremony at Hammons Student Center at Southwest Missouri State University.

McCall said his daughter had permission to spend the night with a friend in Battlefield but not at Streeter's house in Springfield. McCall said that his daughter and Streeter had been friends years ago but that they had not been close recently....(snip)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note that certain details of this story do not comport with some of the other accounts written. This account portrays Mr. McCall as going to the home after he was informed by "friends." Other accounts say that Mrs. McCall first learned of the change of plans at about 10:30 AM when she phoned Janelle's home. And they also suggest that he didn't come to the home until much later in the evening. And I was under the impression Mrs. McCall contacted the police and filed the missing person's report. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what the actual facts are.

I suspect that the purses were inspected and moved to one spot by the first responders.

​

So Stacy's swimsuit was found? Why would her swimsuit be separate from other things that she would have packed for an overnight trip? Maybe, Stacy only brought over a swimsuit because she already knew that she wouldn't be spending the night in Branson and they were just going for a day trip the next day? If that is the case, she wouldn't need an overnight bag. (just speculating and thinking out loud)

 

[Missouri Mule]

So Stacy's swimsuit was found? Why would her swimsuit be separate from other things that she would have packed for an overnight trip? Maybe, Stacy only brought over a swimsuit because she already knew that she wouldn't be spending the night in Branson and they were just going for a day trip the next day? If that is the case, she wouldn't need an overnight bag. (just speculating and thinking out loud)

Appears to be the case but we would also have to assume that she would have worn the same clothing from the previous night on the town celebrating her graduation. I have difficulty with this scenario.

So she would have come out of the water park, soaking wet in her bathing suit and presumably would have had access to a towel to dry and then put on what would surely by then have been less than clean clothing to return to Springfield, even if she were not to stay overnight. I suppose she could have put the wet bathing suit in a plastic Wal-Mart bag. I guess anything is possible.

But if I were the police I would have difficulty accepting this possible version of events.

 

[CaliMama]

Appears to be the case but we would also have to assume that she would have worn the same clothing from the previous night on the town celebrating her graduation. I have difficulty with this scenario.

So she would have come out of the water park, soaking wet in her bathing suit and presumably would have had access to a towel to dry and then put on what would surely by then have been less than clean clothing to return to Springfield, even if she were not to stay overnight. I suppose she could have put the wet bathing suit in a plastic Wal-Mart bag. I guess anything is possible.

But if I were the police I would have difficulty accepting this possible version of events.

It isn't a far stretch to me because I have actually done the same thing many times What you do is go to the bathroom, take off your suit, put your clothes on that you wore there and get into the car and go home. No need for different clothes if you're just riding to a water slide and back home in a car. Sounds like she had her make up and meds in her purse...so she was set. I can't remember how long it takes to get to home to Springfield from Branson, but isn't it less than an hour? As for the wet swimsuit...that would be put in a plastic grocery bag (even if an overnight bag was brought).

 

[CaliMama]

It isn't a far stretch to me because I have actually done the same thing many times What you do is go to the bathroom, take off your suit, put your clothes on that you wore there and get into the car and go home. No need for different clothes if you're just riding to a water slide and back home in a car. Sounds like she had her make up and meds in her purse...so she was set. I can't remember how long it takes to get to home to Springfield from Branson, but isn't it less than an hour? As for the wet swimsuit...that would be put in a plastic grocery bag (even if an overnight bag was brought).

P.S. The only thing is that I would want to bring my own towel even if the water slide provided them (yuck).