Missouri - The Springfield Three - missing since 7 June 1992 - #16

[Betty P]

i dont see there actions cleaning up at levitt home as suspicious. they are not true crime nuts like we are on here. they were really gullible. not being street smart, but they did not think the house was a crime scene. JM deleted a message from levitt answer machine because it was rude. she did not realise it could be connected to the 3 women going missing including stacy mccall his daughter. hindsight is a wonderfull thing.

It helps to understand what Springfield was like back then. It was still a place where people were very prim and proper. They’re very judgmental of others, paid attention and commented on who went to church or who didn’t. They were likely to look down on a divorced working woman who had raised two children mostly on her own. (They also probably believed their kids weren’t having premarital sex or drinking and smoking pot, either).

So they were probably disgusted at obscene phone calls at Sherrill’s house. It was a sign of their assumed superiority to delete those obscene phone calls. They didn’t want to be judged by others for listening to them. It’s a very conservative town.

My old boss there once told me a story he heard when he first moved to town. You never wanted to be seen drinking alcohol by your neighbors. You would have to buy it at a liquor store during odd hours. You had to make sure to take it home in a brown paper bag. Your discarded empty beer cans or liquor bottles had to be disposed of wrapped up in bags in your trash cans lest your neighbors see them on trash pick up day.

It might explain people cleaning up the crime scene, making Sherrills bed, sweeping up broken glass and erasing obscene phone calls as “good” women do.

 

[lee sumner]

i dont see there actions cleaning up at levitt home as suspicious. they are not true crime nuts like we are on here. they were really gullible. not being street smart, but they did not think the house was a crime scene. JM deleted a message from levitt answer machine because it was rude. she did not realise it could be connected to the 3 women going missing including stacy mccall his daughter. hindsight is a wonderfull thing.

RE, mcall. i meant her daughter.

 

[Betty P]

RE, mcall. i meant her daughter.

True, their actions weren’t suspicious, just regrettable and difficult to understand.

 

[lee sumner]

there was photos of mccall wearing the clothes at the graduation party that night. the same clothes found folded up next to streeter bed. bra/shorts.sandals neatly folded beside the bed. mccall was wearing a yellow blouse type T shirt that was not folded beside the bed, so mccall must have been wearing it when she was snatched and taken from levitt home with SL and SS.

 

[lee sumner]

True, their actions weren’t suspicious, just regrettable and difficult to understand.

it does show people are intrusive.

 

[lee sumner]

It helps to understand what Springfield was like back then. It was still a place where people were very prim and proper. They’re very judgmental of others, paid attention and commented on who went to church or who didn’t. They were likely to look down on a divorced working woman who had raised two children mostly on her own. (They also probably believed their kids weren’t having premarital sex or drinking and smoking pot, either).

So they were probably disgusted at obscene phone calls at Sherrill’s house. It was a sign of their assumed superiority to delete those obscene phone calls. They didn’t want to be judged by others for listening to them. It’s a very conservative town.

My old boss there once told me a story he heard when he first moved to town. You never wanted to be seen drinking alcohol by your neighbors. You would have to buy it at a liquor store during odd hours. You had to make sure to take it home in a brown paper bag. Your discarded empty beer cans or liquor bottles had to be disposed of wrapped up in bags in your trash cans lest your neighbors see them on trash pick up day.

It might explain people cleaning up the crime scene, making Sherrills bed, sweeping up broken glass and erasing obscene phone calls as “good” women do.

well said. great point. they were stuck up and acting prim and proper and had no idea this was a triple abduction.

 

[lee sumner]

It helps to understand what Springfield was like back then. It was still a place where people were very prim and proper. They’re very judgmental of others, paid attention and commented on who went to church or who didn’t. They were likely to look down on a divorced working woman who had raised two children mostly on her own. (They also probably believed their kids weren’t having premarital sex or drinking and smoking pot, either).

So they were probably disgusted at obscene phone calls at Sherrill’s house. It was a sign of their assumed superiority to delete those obscene phone calls. They didn’t want to be judged by others for listening to them. It’s a very conservative town.

My old boss there once told me a story he heard when he first moved to town. You never wanted to be seen drinking alcohol by your neighbors. You would have to buy it at a liquor store during odd hours. You had to make sure to take it home in a brown paper bag. Your discarded empty beer cans or liquor bottles had to be disposed of wrapped up in bags in your trash cans lest your neighbors see them on trash pick up day.

It might explain people cleaning up the crime scene, making Sherrills bed, sweeping up broken glass and erasing obscene phone calls as “good” women do.

great point about springfield being conservative. iam british, but i did research on springfield and missouri in general and came to the same conclusion as you. its good to hear a real story like the one your boss told you. having to hide buying beer is something i only thought happened during the prohibition days, ha, ha.

 

[lee sumner]

I always thought that the girls might have heard something outside and moved the blinds. Or, the porch light broke and they looked outside before opening the door?
This was a relatively small town twenty years ago and maybe the three women didn’t feel threatened- after all, many people were out celebrating late that night ….
JMO
My ramblings …

great point. i thought the same about light globe breaking. was this done to lure levitt outside to clean up the shards of glass. it would only be about 3 pieces

 

[cherrymeg]

I certainly agree with the essence of what you say. I don’t believe these people deliberately contaminated the crime scene or delayed calling the police.
But, there were a lot of liberties taken by people who were not even close friends with Sherrill - most, if not all, hadn’t even been to her home prior to that day. Yet, they really made themselves at home - and allowed more than a dozen others to come into the home.
Bartt Streeter said in an interview that photos he was shown by police depicted scenes that ‘friends and family’ had changed, including Sherrill’s BED and the location of the purses! It took a lot of work by police to rearrange the home to depict what it actually looked like prior to the 18 ‘friends and family’ cleaning it and looking through their possessions.
And, reportedly, repairing a window shade….
All IMO and no disrespect to anyone who disagrees

There were up to 18 people in the house by the time the police got there. The thing that bothers me is that kids were in the house while Sherrill’s car was in the driveway. JK and her boyfriend showing up not weird if they are waiting to go out with Suzie and Stacy. When other people keep coming in it makes you wonder why they weren’t concerned about an adult showing up. Maybe they thought Sherrill was out of town. They didn’t seem to call Stacy’s home and they waited inside a house with one phone line. Now with cell phones you would probably have a find my friend app and be able to contact 20 people all at once if not more while trying to reach your friends.

Did something happen that night that made their friends concerned? Did they think the girls were going somewhere else or did they notice someone or people being weird or suspicious? Sometimes teenagers know something is off but aren’t used to voicing what makes them uncomfortable. Now as adults I wonder if looking back things seem different to them.

I’m not totally convinced that the Delmar house was a full crime scene. I could be completely wrong. So many times a women we are told not to get into a car or follow a kidnapper without leaving signs of distress. JK and others saw everything there but the women.

 

[TheCars1986]

The newspaper articles from 1992 are enlightening- as are some of 1992 news clips. The Apco clerk Steve Thompson, clearly remembers Sherrill asking him if he saw 3 girls - in the last 1 to 2 hours. He remembers Suzie and Stacy and another girl being there earlier buying him and candy. Most importantly, Stacy was in a car with an older man who forgot he needed cigarettes- which Suzie bought for him (Marlboro Lights). Who was this guy? Why is some blanket statement by JK (who wasn’t even with the teens that night) used to discredit this important info?

Because they found the woman Steve Thompson claimed was Sherrill...and it wasn't Sherrill. And Steve Thompson has never been adamant after 1992 that the woman he saw was definitely Sherrill. It's another red herring, IMO.