http://postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051109/APC0101/511090412/1003
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Posted November 9, 2005 [/font]
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Halbach case 'haunts' Depies' mother [/size][/font] [font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=+1] Police still investigating woman's 1992 disappearance [/size][/font]
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By Michael King
Post-Crescent staff writer [/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Mary Wegner may be one of the few people who can really comprehend the emotional agony and heart-wrenching plight of Teresa Halbach's family. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"It's really haunting," said the Winneconne woman who has endured her own missing persons nightmare for more than 13 years. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]On Aug. 19, 1992, her 21-year-old daughter, Laurie Depies, vanished from a Town of Menasha parking lot and has not been seen since. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Since it (Teresa Halbach's disappearance) was first announced last week, it struck a very personal chord," Wegner said Tuesday. "I just hurt for the family. I feel badly that somebody else is in that position again." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Depies, who would be 34 today, remains classified as a missing person. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Town of Menasha police Lt. Michael Krueger and Kim Skorlinski, a special agent with the Wisconsin Justice Department Division of Criminal Investigation, remain on the case. Their leading theory is that Depies was abducted by someone she knew and may have gone willingly with before something bad transpired. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Leads are coming in monthly but we just don't have anything concrete yet to go on," said Skorlinski, who declined to talk about the Halbach case. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]While they continue to have "several suspects" under suspicion in the Depies case, Skorlinski said, "they're going to remain suspects until we come up with a way to eliminate them." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"It's still active," said Krueger. "Agent Skorlinski and I are still following up on information that comes in regularly." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Halbach case "piques my interest because it's a missing person," Krueger said. "I look at her and see some similarities (with Depies) in facial features and in age. But that's it without knowing more about the (Halbach) case." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Wegner said Krueger calls her "about once a year to let me know they're still working on the case and getting various calls and information they follow up on." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]She last talked to him in August. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]She still is perplexed at the lack of clues in her daughter's disappearance. "Not a thing," she said. "I don't have any idea of what happened." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]She urged the Halbach family "just to keep a positive attitude" and continue "trying to be optimistic and hopeful. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"My heart goes out to them and I hope they get a positive answer and that she's found safe and sound." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Meanwhile, the uncertainty of what transpired with Laurie makes it impossible to move on, Wegner said, "because there's no end, there's no funeral. It's just a constant open wound." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Still, she does the only thing she can after all these years. [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"You just keep going. There's always that nagging thought of what happened, nagging questions." [/font][/font]
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[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Michael King can be reached at 920-729-6622, ext. 33, or by e-mail at mking@postcrescent.com. [/font][/font]