OH OH - Denise Chance, 18, Springfield, 7 January 1985

[OkieGranny]

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/n...-homicide-still-unsolved/nkDhd/#__federated=1

Denise Chance, an 18-year-old Kenton Ridge High School graduate, disappeared from her Erter Drive residence early on the morning of Jan. 7, 1985.

She left behind her shoes, coat, purse and car keys, and left the door to the garage ajar. It was the freezing house that alerted her roommate that something was amiss that morning.

As the spring thaw set in 10 weeks later, her body was found submerged in the melting ice and snow in a drainage ditch along Baldwin Lane. She’d been strangled; her lifeless, nearly naked body left to freeze until a man looking for aluminum cans spotted her on March 20.

http://www.whio.com/news/news/decades-old-murder-case-reopened/nkCgm/

"It's just a lonely country road out there. There's nobody close by to where they would have seen anything," said retired detective Bob Kerr who was at the scene that day. "She was completely snow-covered. The ditch, I don't remember how deep it was, but deep enough you wouldn't see her driving by in a car." Denise had been under the ice and snow, unclothed except for her socks...

Springfield detectives met recently with Dena and her mother to discuss new evidence in the case. They were especially interested in a telephone call made several weeks ago to Detective R. W. Jordan. "This person started telling me some things, things they knew about that night," said Detective Jordan. "Some things were said that I think definitely require some more investigation."

 

[STANDREID]

Weird that a young woman, by all indications, could be abducted from a residence and the roommate, who was home, heard nothing.

 

[zencompass]

To the family of Denise: Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and we share your heartbreak.

Remember that she will always live in your hearts. Her beautiful light can never be extinguished. God Bless.



I felt such sadness reading about this case and the beautiful young woman's family who mourn their great loss and I hope and pray that this is solved soon. Denise Chance deserves justice.

A few concerns I had after reading the news articles were that the "door to the garage was ajar" and "she had only lived there for a few weeks".

"She left behind her shoes, coat, purse and car keys, and left the door to the garage ajar."

Someone who was watching her must have either made a noise that made her open the door (was he in the process of stealing her car and she surprised him?) Was the door unlocked or did he unlawfully gain entrance, subdue her and abduct her? There must have been a waiting car for him to leave with her.

Her room would have been closest to the garage door. This may possibly be why the roommate heard nothing.

I would hope that the police reinvestigate and follow up on known sexual predators in that neighborhood (especially those who had been recently released from prison).

The facts that she had only rented the room for a few weeks and that it was a room "behind the garage" are very interesting.

There were no footprints in the snow in the morning so she was abducted before the snow fell. Also it could have been right after a main living room light was turned off (assuming that the house was being watched).

Unless the person planned to rob the house or steal a car there.

Hopefully the caller who contacted the police who seemed to know facts about that night will have the courage and the heart to phone again.

This family deserves answers as does the retired Police Detective Bob Kerr. Perhaps the caller was a relative of the murderer- a sister, a wife - perhaps someone who used to live in that neighborhood and voiced their suspicions and knowledge of "that night" to the police on the voicemail. The detective said that he thought the person who left the voice mail sounded "relieved".

On the video on youtube, the police around the table seem genuinely caring and concerned. I wonder whether if the family members approached them for a meeting to see whether a joint task force could be assembled (police officers - maybe just retired officers and volunteers including family members and friends. Their common goal - justice for Denise and answers that this family as well as the police department need. A lot of pounding the pavement, phone calls and of course the police going over all of the information in those case files.

Could relatives meet with the police and ascertain what they would need (number of volunteers) - permission from higher ups in the police department - for perhaps a team of some police officers - I'm sure some retired police officers would be caring and up for this challenge (more than likely Detective Bob Kerr would greatly appreciate help on this cold case) - and volunteers - it's amazing how many volunteers show up - absolutely amazing! Could the police be asked if:

o Could the police check with the neighbors on the street who would have lived there in 1985 and interview them to ask if they ever felt one of the neighbors "acted strange - in particular if a neighbour seemed to keep to himself or watch people" or felt they could have been responsible. In addition," did the neighbors notice a car parked on that street which didn't seem to belong to any of the houses or their visitors".

The answers may already be in those case investigation boxes. Sometimes it takes a different set of eyes to go through all of those documents and notice something.

o Could a team of police volunteers meticulously go through the boxes to see whether they
can unearth something that previously went unnoticed or seemed minor at the time?
A neighbor's statement ? Anything.
o What can the police follow up on now? Could they check the names of the neighbors who lived in that area at the time against sex offender registries in case they now show up as they've eventually been arrested.

o Can they re-investigate/follow up on the "evidence" mentioned


In a video posted on youtube regarding this cold case, retired Police Detective Kerr states that "we do have some evidence" and goes on to say that they just need the right person to contact them with the necessary information to have enough to make an arrest.

 

[ufoboy72]

I'm assuming the boyfriend was ruled out??

 

[nerosleuth]

About the car keys that was left behind, do we know what kind of a car model it was that Denise Chance drove?