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

[TheCars1986]

What if Sherrill didn't happen to wake up that night, though?

My guess is Cinnamon would've been taken off to bed with Suzie and Stacy if Sherrill's door was closed, and Sherrill might've been left to sleep. Believe me, I trust that Suzie always would say goodnight to her. But it's an unusual night, I'm wondering if maybe Sherrill were asleep (or appeared to be) with all the lights off, Cinnamon yapping...

Did they call Sherrill and tell her they were coming? Asking for a very particular reason.

According to Janis McCall, when she went in the house she saw Sherrill's bed and it appeared that it had not been slept in. The TV being on could also be Sherrill falling asleep in the living room watching TV, but that wouldn't explain the book found in her bedroom and glasses. Sherrill never received a phone call from Suzie that night/morning. The last phone call was at 11:15 p.m. and that was to a friend and was a brief phone call.

 

[snooptroop88]

I put this post on Reddit a long time ago now and I stand by it, and here's the reason why I'm asking these questions, am truncating this post:

I don't know if this house's (Sherrill's) landscaping has changed significantly since the time of the event, but when I "streetviewed" this house, it looked like a serial killer's dream. It is juxtaposed to a little business commercial building on one side and directly across from this home is a huge complex with a gigantic driveway, these are all closed at night. That huge complex has been there since 1986. The neighbor's house on the other side of Sherrill's house has the neighbor's garage butted at the side of Sherrill's home. There are massive trees outside her house, this house hides in a tiny corner, I almost missed the house entirely on the streetview. There are multiple points of entry from the outside to within this home. That could be (jmo) an out of town serial killer who does plenty of traveling who stumbled across that house-- somehow. Who knows how, maybe also in town for graduations, maybe at one of the parties, and/or maybe he saw the attractive woman out late at night painting a piece of furniture and (correctly) guessed no man in the house. Or maybe he spotted Suzie with "Sweetr" and followed her at some point earlier to that house. Maybe both these scenarios. So my theory is he knocked or rang bell when Sherrill was laying down, she answered the door, and he gained entry by displaying a gun. He convinced her he'd leave her alive, but then strangled her to death (no blood at crime scene/no noise). He left Sherrill's body in the bed thinking if he left all the lights off, Suzie (who I think he anticipated) would not wake Sherrill up when she came home and would just peek through the door at most. He either sedated the dog or fed the dog-- secured the dog in some way. Perhaps shut Sherrill's door and let the dog run free. He got Sherrill's key to the home and/or left unlocked one of the many doors in that house so he could regain entry. The girls returned home, got ready for bed, went to bed. He re-entered, that's why they hear the dog barking at 3 or 4 am next door. The girls have been partying, they don't wake up. It's a kingsized waterbed, he strangled the girls silently in the bed, very careful not to wake either of them. He then wrapped them in materials he has in a vehicle which I'm guessing may at that point have been parked in the carport. Maybe rugs, if not, something along those lines. I believe he broke the globe on the porch light when he slung the bodies over his shoulder to place them in his vehicle. He purposely left that light on at the porch because he'd be able to tell later if someone had finally entered the house after he'd left. He went through those purses figuring out some names and personal info for his victims, probably took the phone number and possibly made obscene calls later.

I came up with his theory by trying to figure out how some serial killer that travels frequently could have committed this crime. I'm not saying "this is the way it happened." I've got no flipping idea. But certainly, it's a way it could've happened. I've always suspected all these women were dead by the time they exited that home, and I still do think that was probably the case. Such a scenario actually wouldn't have necessitated multiple actors. One could have done the job.

 

[TheCars1986]

An unknown killer would not know if there was a man present inside the house. Also wouldn't know if they had any weapons for self defense. Someone known to them would know that however. And I also think it's possible that the abductor/s never went inside the house that night.

 

[Catmommy]

The girls were not supposed to go there at all. Sherrill, for all intent and purposes, was supposed to be and expected to be alone. No one called the house to let her know the girls' plans had changed. While lovely young teenagers seem like the intended victims, there were two of them which automatically decreases, though not omits, the probability of them being the initial targets. We don't know how many people knew Sherrill wasn't expecting her daughter back, but she wasn't, much less with another girl accompanying her. A woman alone without any expectation of an interruption seems like the more logical focus of a bad player. My thought is that Sherrill was already compromised by the intruder when the girls showed up and the bad guy was forced into damage control. He might have had a gun, or binding of some sort. Sherrill could have easily been coerced to cooperate with an abduction in fear for her daughter's safety if she didn't. Likewise, Suzie, in fear for her mom's. Who, how and why? Of course, I don't know. I just think that ruling out Sherrill as the real target with the girls being unintended collateral victims ignores an avenue of investigation that could be expanded.

 

[TheCars1986]

I can see any one of the three being the actual target or a combination of two. But who would know that Sherrill was going to be alone that night other than the people she spoke with on the phone? And if Stacy and Suzie came back while something was being done to Sherrill, why didn't this person wait for them to go to sleep and leave undetected with Sherrill? Suzie's blinds in her bedroom were pulled down, and the only way that happens is if she hears something or sees headlights pulling into the driveway behind her mother's car, which would mean everything happened after Suzie and Stacy got home.

 

[snooptroop88]

I can see any one of the three being the actual target or a combination of two. But who would know that Sherrill was going to be alone that night other than the people she spoke with on the phone? And if Stacy and Suzie came back while something was being done to Sherrill, why didn't this person wait for them to go to sleep and leave undetected with Sherrill? Suzie's blinds in her bedroom were pulled down, and the only way that happens is if she hears something or sees headlights pulling into the driveway behind her mother's car, which would mean everything happened after Suzie and Stacy got home.

This perp was watching Sherrill, jmo, he probably saw her outside working on that large piece of furniture and assumed there was no man in the house. So the antenna went up for him, then he probably noticed Suzie with "sweetr," but pure speculation, all of it. I believe this person did wait for them to go to sleep, but jmo, he is a murderer with a penchant for petite women. I don't know what to make of the blinds, but if the perp's in the house, he himself would have very good reason to be messing with the blinds.

Also, have been wondering on this: What if Stacy and Suzie actually did call Sherrill? For the longest time, I assumed they had, I mean they called Stacy's mom, why would they not call Sherrill, who wasn't even expecting them and they're heading to her house? And getting no answer, they might have assumed Sherrill had somehow fallen into a deep sleep. So... could that have happened, could they have called? Then theoretically, they left a message for Sherrill not to be shocked when they showed up? And did the killer hear it, and delete it, and was Sherrill already dead? Because how would we know where they called from, provided they actually did call? They were hopping around from party to party. They could've called from anywhere, including a payphone. If LE couldn't track the obscene call they know for a fact was received in the house (subsequently message from that # erased), I doubt they could track this hypothetical call made by Stacy and Suzie, either (if it had been made). Another possibility is that the killer while inside that house saw graduation gown, cap, maybe cake in the fridge, graduation card, pics on wall... and whatever the reality was in terms of Suzie and Stacy coming there that night, he took his chances that a young female should be coming home relatively soon. He could always leave if she didn't. (And jmo, he may not even have waited inside the house, he may have returned.)

Also, evidently Sherrill's bed didn't seem slept in. It could have looked unslept in because she hadn't been in it for hours and hours by the time LE saw it.

Nothing would make me happier if all of this was flat-out wrong, and all the speculation about the women having been murdered is just--wrong. But I just can't picture that happening after all these years.

 

[TheCars1986]

Also, evidently Sherrill's bed didn't seem slept in. It could have looked unslept in because she hadn't been in it for hours and hours by the time LE saw it.

Or she fell asleep in the living room watching a movie. The TV was on and staticky, indicating someone watched a movie that night. And since Suzie and Stacy wouldn't have gotten back until close to 3 a.m., I think Sherrill would have been the one in the living room watching a movie that night.

 

[snooptroop88]

IIRC in one of the earlier threads Bartt said that Suzie would always say goodnight to her mother. I would also wager that Sherrill probably woke up when they came home that night because there was a book near (or on) Sherrill's bed as if she were reading. And if she were sleeping when they came in and was woken up by the person/s who abducted them, that wouldn't explain the book.

Or she fell asleep in the living room watching a movie. The TV was on and staticky, indicating someone watched a movie that night. And since Suzie and Stacy wouldn't have gotten back until close to 3 a.m., I think Sherrill would have been the one in the living room watching a movie that night.

The perp's the one that woke Sherrill post book, jmo. Someone woke her, I think it was the perp, but it's jmo, and may well be wrong.

The TV's on because Sherrill left it on for the dog (yes, this can be "a thing") or the girls turned it on when they got home. Maybe to watch something, maybe to keep Cinnamon appeased if they didn't plan on taking Cinnamon into bed. Cinnamon had a doggie door, the little thing may have been allowed to kind of roam at night. If the volume was relatively low, I'd think a Cinnamon comfort. If the volume's normal, would guess they may have watched something and left it on for Cinnamon (again, a Cinnamon comfort) and just were exhausted and were going to be able to sleep regardless of the volume. If the volume's fairly loud, the perp turned it on.