WA WA - Michaelle Champagne, 30, Spokane, 8 Sep 1993

[Kat]

The Doe Network:
Case File 2807DFWA

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2807dfwa.html

Michaelle Marie Champagne
Missing since September 8, 1993 from Spokane, Spokane County, Washington
Classification: Missing



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Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: July 1, 1963
Age at Time of Disappearance: 30 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'8"; 120 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. brown hair; blue eyes.
Dentals: Available


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Circumstances of Disappearance
Michaelle Champagne, a Belgian citizen, was supposed to return to her home country, but did not. She was reported missing after her parents and friends hadn't heard from her. Her parents in Belgium last spoke to her in February 1993, after she returned to the United States from a trip home. She broke up with her American boyfriend shortly after returning. Champagne is believed to have placed her belongings, including her furniture in a Spokane storage facility. Her last known address was the Starlight Motel on South Geiger Boulevard.



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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Spokane Police Department
509-625-4041

Agency Case Number: 93-0742851

Source Information:
WASPC
The Spokesman-Review

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/champagne_michaelle.html

Michaelle is *not* listed in NamUs at this time.

No archived articles for Michaelle.

Michaelle has been missing almost 17 years. Come home soon.

 

[Kat]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jun/26/cold-case-new-clues-sought-in-disappearance-of/

June 26, 2011
Chelsea Bannach The Spokesman-Review

The former boyfriend has refused polygraph testing, telling police he “doesn’t believe in that kind of magic,” Burbridge said.

Former BF not named because he has not been charged with any crime.

This article gives pretty good background info.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Michaelle is now in NamUs

Doe Network lists her missing date as September 8, 1993 while NamUs has it as June 1, 1993. September 8th is when the missing persons report was filed by the (ex)boyfriend. The June 1st date is when he claimed he saw her riding a motorcycle in Spokane.

Charley Project states she is missing from Washington D.C. and was last seen on March 9, 1993. This was the last time she spoke with her parents. In the article from the previous post, investigators are looking at UIDs from both DC and Washington state. Given the amount of time that passed between the last phone call and when the report was filed, it seems like detectives would have a very difficult time finding any kind of evidence. The behavior of the ex is suspicious but it doesn't prove he's a killer.

 

[Rayemonde]

2011 article:

kane police Detective Mark Burbridge, who has reopened the missing person case, thinks she was murdered...

After months passed without any contact, Champagne’s parents grew increasingly concerned and repeatedly urged her former boyfriend to report her missing. He insisted he hadn’t talked to her and had no idea of her exact whereabouts.

On Sept. 8, 1993, nearly six months after her family had last heard from her, he filed the missing person report, but explained that he had not spoken to Champagne since their breakup March 17, 1993. He did tell detectives he thought he saw her around town and that she had left love letters in his mailbox.

In the months before filing the missing person report, detectives say, the boyfriend’s behavior was curious. According to Burbridge, he twice tried to use Champagne’s credit cards, sold all her expensive, Belgian oak furniture out of storage that August, and sold the Volvo the two owned together.

“I don’t know many girls that would date a guy for a few months and let him sell all her stuff and keep all the money,” Burbridge said. “The car, the furniture – use all of her credit cards.”

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/jun/26/cold-case-new-clues-sought-in-disappearance-of/

 

[sasha17]

Updated Charley Project page - Michaelle Marie Champagne – The Charley Project

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Michaelle - this month is 27 years since she disappeare.

 

[lonewanderer]

I know they do not look too much alike, but the Oslo hotel room death involved a woman with black hair and blue eyes.

The death occurred in 1995, and Michealle disappeared in 1993.

Much of the evidence in the Oslo case points to the woman being Belgian.

On NAMUS, Michealla is said to be very familiar with Belgian banking. This stands out to me, because according to one article she received a large amount of money from the divorce (like $60,000) but then had some very strange deposit of a similar amount from an unknown source.

Several other sites claim that Michealla was a military spouse and lived in Germany for a few years. Belgians typically speak French, Dutch, and German fluently. The Oslo women spoke German and English.

There are a few other similarities that I noticed but this is what I can recall for now.

 

[lonewanderer]

Michaelle is *not* listed in NamUs at this time.

Maybe a recent addition?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[ChatteringBirds]

The newspaper article (PDF file) on her NamUs was interesting.
Based on it, she sounds like a responsible person who became involved with the wrong man, IMO.
I don't buy it that she gave him her furniture and car.

I know they do not look too much alike, but the Oslo hotel room death involved a woman with black hair and blue eyes

Interesting similarities but yeah, I don't think they look alike at all.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping case up.

 

[Hilarynelson90]

The Charley Project says the ex boyfriend is Darryl Matlen. Looks like he's alive and well in the same place. Anything new on this case since 2011?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Moving case back up. Has Michaelle been compared to any Jane Does?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[Pennysmom1]

Michaelle Marie Champagne – The Charley Project

• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Champagne is a Belgian citizen.

Champagne's parents last spoke to her on March 9, 1993. She had just returned to the United States from a trip home to Belgium with her live-in boyfriend, and was in Washington D.C. at the time of the conversation. She told her parents she was going to stay in town for a few days to see the sights before returning to her home in Spokane, Washington. This was the last verified contact with her.

Champagne had moved to the United States in 1990 with her American husband, whom she met while he was stationed with the military in Belgium. They lived in Germany for three years before moving to Spokane.

Champagne and her husband divorced in late 1992. He described her as an independent, strong-willed woman. She often supported herself working as a cook or a waitress. She had played soccer at a national level in Belgium, but gave up the sport after moving to the U.S. According to her ex-husband, Champagne had her father wire her a large sum of money from Belgium shortly before her disappearance. He thought this was odd, as she'd been granted $60,000 in their divorce settlement. She reportedly needed the money to pay off a debt, but he didn't know the details.

Champagne's boyfriend, Darryl Matlen, reported her missing on September 8, 1993. He told the police they'd broken up on March 17 and he was filing the report at the request of her parents. Matlen reported seeing her in June 1993, three months after anyone else last saw her. She was riding a motorcycle in the Spokane, Washington area at the time.

In the months between the time anyone heard from Champagne and the time he filed the missing persons report, Matlen used her credit cards, sold all the furniture she had in storage and sold their jointly owned car. When the police checked on his movements in March, they discovered he'd returned to Spokane on March 12 and checked into a hotel, apparently alone.

In 2011, police have renewed the investigation into Champagne's disappearance and collected DNA samples from her parents and brother in Belgium to compare with unidentified remains. They hope to locate and re-interview witnesses in her case. Her disappearance remains unsolved. Spokane police are investigating.

 

[Rush4087]

Michaelle Marie Champagne – The Charley Project

• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Champagne is a Belgian citizen.

Champagne's parents last spoke to her on March 9, 1993. She had just returned to the United States from a trip home to Belgium with her live-in boyfriend, and was in Washington D.C. at the time of the conversation. She told her parents she was going to stay in town for a few days to see the sights before returning to her home in Spokane, Washington. This was the last verified contact with her.

Champagne had moved to the United States in 1990 with her American husband, whom she met while he was stationed with the military in Belgium. They lived in Germany for three years before moving to Spokane.

Champagne and her husband divorced in late 1992. He described her as an independent, strong-willed woman. She often supported herself working as a cook or a waitress. She had played soccer at a national level in Belgium, but gave up the sport after moving to the U.S. According to her ex-husband, Champagne had her father wire her a large sum of money from Belgium shortly before her disappearance. He thought this was odd, as she'd been granted $60,000 in their divorce settlement. She reportedly needed the money to pay off a debt, but he didn't know the details.

Champagne's boyfriend, Darryl Matlen, reported her missing on September 8, 1993. He told the police they'd broken up on March 17 and he was filing the report at the request of her parents. Matlen reported seeing her in June 1993, three months after anyone else last saw her. She was riding a motorcycle in the Spokane, Washington area at the time.

In the months between the time anyone heard from Champagne and the time he filed the missing persons report, Matlen used her credit cards, sold all the furniture she had in storage and sold their jointly owned car. When the police checked on his movements in March, they discovered he'd returned to Spokane on March 12 and checked into a hotel, apparently alone.

In 2011, police have renewed the investigation into Champagne's disappearance and collected DNA samples from her parents and brother in Belgium to compare with unidentified remains. They hope to locate and re-interview witnesses in her case. Her disappearance remains unsolved. Spokane police are investigating.

I wonder how the ex-husband knew that Michaelle's father had "wired her a large sum of money"? And that the wire had been sent "shortly before her disappearance"? One article suggested that she told her ex-husband. Kind of odd that she was communicating that kind of info (and that the money was to pay off a debt of some kind) to her ex-husband (jmo)

If she spoke with her parents on the phone (I assume that was the mode of communication) from Washington, DC on March 9, 1993, - and the boyfriend returned to Spokane and checked into a hotel alone on September 12 1993 - it seems that whatever happened to MC happened between those two dates.

If the mode of transportation from Washington DC back to Spokane, WA was (or was planned to be) by car, then it seems that whatever happened to MC happened between those two locations. But one article stated that they were traveloing from Belgium to Spokane, "through" Washington DC, so maybe the return would have been by plane.

Was the bf questioned as to whether MC returned with him from Washington DC? If it was by car, were there any receipts showing that the two checked in at a motel along the way? If by plane, flight / boarding records?

He must've said she returned with him, otherwise how could he say they broke up on March 17, 1993? And again, why was he alone when he checked into at the hotel in Spokane on the 12th? Either way, it sounds to me like she disappeared between March 9, 1993 and March 12, 1993. When did the bf say they (or he) arrived in Spokane, on the 12th? The 11th? The 10th?)

What did the bf say about the wired money (if the wire did in fact occur, which I'm guessing it did - it would've been something that LE could verify)? Was it sent only to her (or to both)? If it was sent only to her, is there evidence that she withdrew or obtained cash from the wired funds?

What did / do her parents recall her saying re: why she needed the money? Did she ask for the money while she and the bf were in Belgium, or was it over the phone on the 9th? What was the exact date of the wire (and of any withdrawn / redeemed cash)?

It seems unlikely that nobody in Spokane saw MC after she (supposedly) returned from DC with her bf on March 12, 1993 (or within 5 days of the 12th if they broke up on the 17th...). Surely she had friends and knew some people in Spokane. She had been living there for approx. 2 years, had had several jobs, was outgoing - and I'm guessing she had a French / Belgian accent.

I assume LE checked the bf's bank account, and looked for any sudden wealth or acquisitions in the days and weeks after March 12, 1993. But there were probably a lot of things one could buy with cash in Spokane or Seattle in 1993.

I guess the odds of this case being solved (if a crime was indeed committed) are basically slim and none at this point unless a witness comes forward or somebody confesses. If she is deceased (I'm assuming she is, jmo) maybe her remains can be found and identified.

RIP Michaelle

All just my opinion