The house is easy to miss. Just to its east is Glenstone Avenue, a clogged main drag. To the west, the homes get bigger, the neighborhood gets fancier, and so there is little reason to pay any attention to the one-story at 1717 E. Delmar St.
But the unremarkable house is home to the most remarkable crime in Springfield history. Fifteen years ago Thursday, a mother and two teens were taken from the house on Delmar, and no one known has seen them since.
Anyone living in Springfield 15 years ago will remember that summer for its frustrating intensity -- search teams in the fields, a police command post in front of the house, daily stories on the front page of the newspaper and the top of every TV newscast.
Most everyone we knew back then thought the missing would eventually be found. A hunter or hiker would stumble over remains. A bad guy would confess. Something would break and the lost would be found.
A week passed, then a month. A year. Five. Ten.
Now this -- a 15th anniversary, a milestone that in happiness is marked with crystal. This sad anniversary gets the media treatment. Here's a link to the News-Leader's coverage. KY3's coverage is here.
The next time you hear of Sherrill Levitt, Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall, it will be June 7, 2012.
37 comments:
Just got a shiver...Did Cox spend time in prison with Bundy?
Dirt Sis: Good observation. Robert Cox never served with Ted Bundy, but he certainly seemed to admire him. I remember when Keyes and Graves interviewed the guy. That flicking tongue action was a genuine creepshow.
The flickering tongue....I'd forgotten. Freak show indeed.
I remember a shake up on the investigation, one of the detectives on the case getting demoted to traffic, loose lips or something.
Sure miss Dennis.
This entire episode is an example of media run amok. How many unsolved murders have there been since this? But white girls were involved. So 15 years later we still obsess.
But it'll get ratings, I guess.
So sad.
Anon 134: Sorry, gotta disagree. How many triple kidnappings have occurred in Missouri in the past 15 years? It's not a matter of "unsolved murders" (and remember, it isn't a murder until someone is convicted of murder). It's not a matter of "white girls." It's an extraordinary crime, given a look-back on its anniversary. It's a valid story, even now.
"The horror, the horror."
Speaking of "sorry, gotta disagree," what brand of tobacco are you puffing that makes you think that "the next time you hear of Sherrill Levitt, Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall, it will be June 7, 2012?"
This sad anniversary doesn't wait for five-year increments to be dredged up and extensively cliched. Check the record, son. We'll almost certainly see it again before 2012.
Anon 522: Really? Can you please point me to the newspaper story or the TV report about the 13th anniversary? The 14th?
Good, bad or otherwise, once a story gets this old, the media wait for standard increments for it to, in your words, "be dredged up and extensively cliched."
Given that history, what makes you think we'll see a 16th anniversary story?
I'm sorry. When I saw 1717 E. Delmar, my first thought was "OMG! My old address!" I lived there for a year. and yeah, it was creepy.
Well, Red, in defense of anon 5:22, there might have been a brief in the paper last year noting the 14th. I think it was a 2-B story just under the weekly road construction report - that was nicely written by Hank Billings, I must add.
And if it wasn't for that annoying woman who keeps popping up to tout her psychic/underground radar theory we might not have gotten a story this year. She just provided an "new" angle from which to draw from. I mean, what's there to say after all these years? Oh, that's right. A million things.
Here's to 2012!
Anon 5:22 here. You are fixated on the anniversary thing. You were the one who wrote that "the next time you hear (of the three missing women) it will be June 7, 2012." I'm saying that's crap. Do you really think there'll be ZERO coverage about the case for the next five years?
Put the bong down. Read more slowly.
So who killed Jackie Johns from Christian County? I remember a lot of media coverage many years ago-perhaps in part because an individual from a prominent Spfd family was a suspect?
I also remember it was rumored that John's murder was connected to a murder in Lebanon. I think it was just small town gossip.
However, I notice that everytime someone mentions the Cox parking lot theory, some of the long time Springfield residence bring up the parking lot of a retail store.
Des, I'm disappointed. I thought surely you'd connect your talk radio guy nemesis to either incident (or both?) in some way. Can't trust those Dutch-Canadian immigrants, ya know.
Anon 5:22 and 9:57. Why do you come to this site? It's one thing - and encouraged - to disagree or post opinions, but why do you make everything a personal attack on Ron? If you dislike him so much, again, why come here? Do you enjoy being angry and spiteful? Is it part of your daily routine?
I normally wouldn't waste my time replying to such; I take people like you with a grain of salt. If you reduce your level of conversation to name calling and snide asides, you have no rational thought or argument.
Do me a favor: Go away. And if you want to stay, want to add to the public discourse, do so with some sense of propriety. Please.
Doc Larry, I know he had nothing to do with Jackie John's or the three missing women. However, I'll bet you a beer that he is Anon 5:22. He may also be the dork that tried to post "KSGF ROCKS" on the comments of my blog.
Desdinova, you are the second person today who suggested he's anon 5:22. Maybe, but I have my own theory ...
Desdinova-I also remember that rumor. Word was out that there was some connection between Johns and Brent Hough from Lebanon who murdered his father Clark Hough. All of that happened in the same general time frame.
Lovey, Desdi: There were rumors about Gerald Carnahan, too. He was tried and convicted of attempting to kidnap a woman near Ingram Mill & Sunshine and went to prison for the crime. Cops could never tie him to the Johns case, though her parents were convinced Carnahan did it.
Yes, that was the individual from the prominent family that I mentioned. Carnahan received a lot of media coverage-scary stuff at the time.
Lovey: Scary stuff for scary times. Some day I'll share a little anecdote I like to call "My Lunch With Gerry."
Yes, Mrs. Howell (Can I call you Lovey?) you are right. Clark Hough's murder was such a shock to the Lebanon community that it inspired a whole slew of rumors about Brent Hough being connected to every crime in the state at that point. Some people just made up stuff. My favorite was he "knocked up" State Rep Pete Page's daughter. 1. Pete Page didn't have a daughter and 2. She would have been past child birth age.
My Lunch with Gerry, or Tete-a-Tete with The Fence Family Guy.
Des, Clark Hough was my teacher and elementary school principal way back when Heck was a pup. To this day when I think about his murder it gives me pause. I believe my father in law was channeling each and every rumor and it was endless for months. Pete Page I hadn't heard about. His son Eddie recently died-a great guy.
Lovey, I feel that is what bothered people about that crime. Many kids had Mr. Hough as a principal and the fact his own son shot him at Christmas time made it more disturbing.
I, sadly, was condemded to serve time over at Betty Moore's Prison for Small Children. That probably explains my insanity.
I love how channel 3 chose to totally ignore their "private investigator" tip from several months ago in their story this time.
This case has greatly interested me for the past 15 years although I am now retired in Texas. The question I would like for anyone to address would be the correct color of the van used to abduct the women. I personally do not believe it was "moss gree" but was "dirty white." Thoughts?
To Richard in Texas - The van was moss green according to an archive I read on the internet today -
I remember hearing that Sherrill Levitt (the oldest of the three women, and mother of Suzy Streeter) had dated Gerald Carnahan - I don't know if that is true. However, I remember hearing that Gerald Carnahan had burned a foundry that belonged to his father in either Marionville or Billings. Does anyone else remember hearing any of this? I have always wondered if he burned the van with the women in it in the foundry - it would get hot enough to just be a fine ash, wouldn't it?
This is Richard in Texas. I've looked at this case for 15 years and have concluded that the weight of the evidence is that the van was not "moss green." I just don't buy it. The witnesses were in my view not credible and the white van cruised the neighborhood for a full three weeks prior to the abductions. That was reported in both the K.C. Star and the Springfield News-Leader. As to Carnahan I've been hearing these rumors for years; all the way back to 1992. I even met this guy on the elevator in the state office building. I had seen him many times where I worked. There is so much unfounded rumor about this case it is ridiculous. You want to know a fact? Who solved this case? It was the Missouri Highway Patrol; the same organization that was run off the case by the SPD which wanted all the glory. They didn't get the glory but they deserve all the blame. This was a horrible investigation run by incompetents all the way up and down the line with a few rare exceptions. That's the bottom line.
It's interesting to me that it's been 15+ years now. Sad, yes but interesting that in all this time there has been nothing. Nada. Zip. Dead-end leads and I agree with the guy about the van. It wasn't green. It might have had green shelf paper covering it to make it look green but it wasn't green for long. It's my theory that is not founded on any evidence either.
I now live in Las Vegas and was thinking about this case, wondering how long it had been, etc. when I stumbled across your site. I dare say this is still news. Unsolved mysteries kind of news. Yes, SPD did a horrid job. Should have had the FBI.
Sherrill worked at the hair salon (which is now a cafeteria I believe) where I used to get my hair done. I don't know anyone who lived in SGF back then who's life was unaffected by this. It makes you realize how vulnerable we really are, even in our own homes.
My name is Kenneth Young and I am the President and CEO of ThreeMissingWomen.Com.
My website is in reference to the 1992 Three Missing Women case in Springfield, Missouri. We believe we may have found them. Please visit my website for details.
Thank You,
Kenneth Young
President & CEO
www.threemissingwomen.com
kenneth@threemissingwomen.com
This is a very old post, I see, but I thought I'd comment to MrsThurstonHowell if she's still around. Found this post as I was searching online for something about Clark Hough and this was all I found. I was a student at Maplecrest until we moved to Kansas in 1982, and just a few months later we heard he had been murdered by his son Brent over Christmas vacation. I knew Mr Hough, of course, and knew Brent a bit since he had been one of dad's students -- my dad taught math at Lebanon High School. It was so shocking to us, I can't imagine what it was for those still in Lebanon. Interesting that rumors got so out of hand, but I suppose not surprising.
This is Richard in Texas. Had my first opportunity to actually view Mr. Davis with the clip on Palin's visit to the the College of the Ozarks. I have spoken to him sometime ago and was duly impressed with his knowledge of this case and the Jackie Johns case. I would be extremely interested in any updated thoughts he may have concerning this case. For a certain fact, the discussion of this case on the internet is still running strong and some new facts would be particularly useful.
How can we be sure that the women physically arrived at the Levitt home? All we know for a certain fact is that their vehicles were there.
you will soon find that ricky dykes killed (the 3mw) and since his emploment was with (gerald carnahan ) ....it is possible that ricky was paid , lets see if there was an exchange of large sums of money , ..in1992 ...maybe check the tax assessment for 1993
I don't think Carnahan could have controlled three people. This crime involved multiple culprits. Either Garrison and his prison buddies or Clay and Dusty.
Not that Cox parking garage nonsense again.
Clothes, purses, and belongings there, and wet washcloths with removed makeup. Stacy had not been there earlier in the day.
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