The Springfield Three refers to an unsolved missing persons case that began on June 7, 1992, when friends Suzanne "Suzie" Streeter and Stacy McCall, and Streeter's mother, Sherrill Levitt, went missing from Levitt's home in Springfield, Missouri, United States. All of their personal belongings, including cars and purses, were left behind. There were no signs of a struggle except a broken porch light globe; there was also a message on the answering machine that police believe might have provided a clue about the disappearances, but it was inadvertently erased.
 Excerpt from missing persons flyer | |
| Date | June 7, 1992 |
|---|---|
| Duration | Missing for 32 years, 5 months and 23 days |
| Location | 1717 E. Delmar Street Springfield, Missouri, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°11′41″N 93°15′47″W / 37.19472°N 93.26306°W |
| Type | Disappearance |
| Missing |
|
| Website | Springfield Police Dept. |
In 1997, Robert Craig Cox, a convicted kidnapper and robber, claimed that he knew the women had been murdered and that their bodies would never be recovered. Neither their whereabouts nor their remains have ever been discovered. No investigators in the case believe Cox has any credibility.
Victims
editSherrill Elizabeth Levitt was 47 years old at the time of her disappearance. She was 5 feet 0 inches (1.52 m), 110 pounds (50 kg), with short light blonde hair, brown eyes and pierced ears. She was a cosmetologist at a local salon, and was a single mother reportedly very close to her daughter, Suzanne Elizabeth "Suzie" Streeter. Streeter was 19 years old and 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m), 102 pounds (46 kg), with shoulder length blonde hair and brown eyes. Her distinguishable marks included a scar on her upper right forearm, a small mole on the left corner of her mouth, and pierced ears (left ear pierced twice). Stacy Kathleen McCall was 18 years old, was 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m) and 120 pounds (54 kg), with long dark blonde hair and light colored eyes.[1]
Disappearance
editStreeter and McCall graduated from Kickapoo High School on June 6, 1992, at the Hammons Student Center on Missouri State University's campus.[2] Levitt was in attendance at the arena witnessing her daughter graduate that evening. The girls, Streeter and McCall, were last seen at around 2:00 a.m. on June 7, when they were leaving the last of the few graduation parties they had attended that evening.
They began partying that night with their friend Janelle Kirby in Battlefield before carpooling to other parties in Springfield. Their last party at the residence of McCall's friend's house, Michelle Elder, was broken up by Springfield Police at 1:50 am before the trio of girls returned to Kirby's house in Battlefield around 2:00 am. Elder stated at her party that she and McCall wanted to rekindle their friendship, so the pair made plans for the evening of Sunday, June 8.[1]
The original trio of girls planned to spend the night at Kirby's house but after realizing her house was too crowded with out-of-town relatives for her graduation, Streeter and McCall decided to go to Levitt's home at 1717 East Delmar to retire for the night; Streeter was excited to show McCall her new king-sized waterbed she recently had delivered.[3] Both Streeter and McCall planned to meet Kirby and other friends at the Branson water park White Water the next morning.
Kirby's mother, Kathy, told Springfield Police she overheard the pair leaving while in bed; Streeter allegedly told McCall to "follow me to my house" to which McCall replied, "Okay, I will."
It is assumed they arrived at the Delmar residence because their clothing, jewelry, purses and vehicles were all present at the house the next day.[2][4] Levitt was last heard from at approximately 11:15 p.m. on June 6 when she spoke with a friend on the phone about painting and varnishing an armoire in her bedroom.[5]
The following day around 9:00 a.m., Kirby and her boyfriend, Mike Henson, visited the house after Streeter and McCall failed to show up at her home; they had planned to spend the day at White Water, and were supposed to leave from Kirby's residence.[6] Upon arriving, Kirby found the home's front door unlocked and entered, but found no sign of Streeter, McCall, or Levitt; each of the women's cars were parked outside.[6] She also reported to police that the glass lamp shade on the porch light was shattered, though the lightbulb itself was intact.[6] Henson innocently helped Kirby sweep the broken glass off the porch which police later determined may have destroyed potential evidence; Henson stated he did this because Kirby was barefooted.[6]
Nigel Kenney, a coworker and close friend of Streeter's, stated she was a "creature of habit" and very particular about parking her vehicle in the same spot of the residence's driveway. Kenney believes that because Streeter's car was not in the carport as usual, someone else could have possibly parked in her spot when she and McCall arrived before dawn on June 7.
Inside the house, Kirby found Levitt and Streeter's dog, a Yorkshire Terrier named Cinnamon, who appeared agitated. As they were leaving the residence, Kirby answered a "strange and disturbing call" from an unidentified male who made "sexual innuendos". She hung up and immediately received another call of a sexual nature, again hanging up the phone. The phone calls were jarring but she remembered Streeter complaining about prank calls at the residence since moving in with Levitt in the Spring of 1992. According to Springfield Police Department's David Asher, the calls were "obscene... The individual would not identify himself... They were using the F-word and several other words and she just hung up the phone."
Kirby described the caller as "teenish."
With no sign of Streeter or McCall, Kirby and Henson decided to visit the local water park "HydraSlide" (now defunct) in Springfield instead of White Water in Branson.
Several hours later, McCall's mother, Janis, also visited the house as her daughter failed to answer her calls all day. Janis had friends who knew employees of White Water and became panicked after they confirmed Streeter and McCall had not been seen there. Inside the Delmar residence, the family dog Cinnamon comes "barreling towards" her. She noticed all three women's purses were sitting on the floor of Streeter's bedroom; Levitt's purse still contained a cash deposit of over $800 from her work at the salon. Janis also saw her daughter's clothing neatly folded from the night before in the bedroom as well: the only clothes McCall had possession of that night.[6] There were recently-used make-up wipes of Streeter and McCall found along with their jewelry and keys. Levitt and Streeter's cigarettes were left inside the house which was considered unusual of Levitt's friends and family who described her as a chainsmoker. An unfinished can of Coke was also found next to Streeter's pack of cigarettes. The lights were off in Streeter's room and her television was showing snow, suggesting they had watched a movie that night but never turned off the television after it was finished.[6]
Janis frantically called police from the home's telephone to report the three women missing; after placing the call, while checking the phone's answering machine, she listened to a "strange message", but it was inadvertently erased as was common for most voicemails in the '90s after being played once.[6] Police were "very interested" in the call and believed it "may have contained a clue". They also did not believe it was connected to the prank calls Kirby received.[6]
McCall's parents contacted police in reference to their daughter's disappearance from Levitt's home more than sixteen hours after the women were last seen, and other worried friends and family called and visited the house the following day. Police later estimated that the crime scene had been corrupted by ten to twenty people who visited Levitt's house.[5] Upon the officers' arrival, the scene showed no signs of a struggle, except for the shattered porch light.[2][4][5] Police also noted Levitt's bed had looked slept in and an awkwardly-bent window blind.[7] All personal property was left behind including purses, money, cars, keys, cigarettes, and the family dog Cinnamon, who was most likely the only witness of the women's disappearance.[8]
Levitt had a doctor's appointment scheduled Monday, June 8, 1992; McCall was scheduled to work that day as well. Streeter was scheduled to work on Tuesday, June 9, 1992, at 4:00 pm. None of the women would arrive for these dates.
Later developments
editOn December 31, 1992, a man called the America's Most Wanted hotline with information about the women's disappearances, but the call was disconnected when the switchboard operator attempted to link up with Springfield investigators. Police said the caller had "prime knowledge of the abductions" and publicly appealed for the man to contact them, but he never did.[2] Levitt and Streeter were declared legally dead in 1997.[9] However, their case files are still officially filed under "missing".
Investigators received a tip that the women's bodies were buried in the foundations of the south parking garage at Cox Hospital.[10] In 2007, crime reporter Kathee Baird invited Rick Norland, a mechanical engineer, to scan a corner of the parking garage with ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Norland found three anomalies "roughly the same size" that he said were consistent with a "grave site location"; two of the anomalies were parallel, and the other was perpendicular.[6] Springfield Police Department (SPD) spokesperson Lisa Cox said that the person who reported the tip "provided no evidence or logical reasoning behind this theory at that time or since then." She also said the parking garage began construction in September 1993, over a year after the disappearances. "Digging up the area and subsequently reconstructing this structure would be extremely costly, and without any reasonable belief that the bodies could be located here, it is illogical to do so, and for those reasons SPD does not intend to. Investigators have determined this lead to not be credible."[11] Darrell Moore, a former assistant at the Greene County Prosecutor's Office, said the tip came from someone who either "claimed to be a psychic or claimed to have a dream or vision about the case".[10]
Suspects
editDustin Recla was a former boyfriend of Suzie Streeter. He broke into a Springfield mausoleum a few months before the women vanished and stole $30 worth of gold fillings from a skull. Police looked at Recla because Streeter had given investigators a statement about the mausoleum break-in and was rumored to be a probable witness against Recla in court. Recla and his two friends that helped in the mausoleum robbery were known to be together and in the area the night the women went missing.
In 1997, Robert Craig Cox, imprisoned in Texas as a convicted kidnapper and robber, and the suspect in a Florida murder, told journalists that he knew the three women had been murdered and buried and claimed their bodies would never be recovered.[2][12] In 1992, Cox had been living in Springfield and, when interviewed then, had told investigators that he was with his girlfriend at church the morning after the women disappeared, which she corroborated. However, she later recanted her statement and said that Cox had asked her to say that. Cox also stated that he was at the home of his parents the night of the disappearance, and they confirmed that alibi. Authorities were uncertain if Cox was involved in the case or if he was seeking recognition for the alleged murders by issuing false statements.[8] Cox stated to authorities and journalists he would disclose what happened to the three women after his mother died.[13]
In media
editThe case remains unsolved as of 2024, in spite of upward of 5,000 tips from the public.[2][10] In June 1997, a bench was dedicated to the women inside the Victim's Memorial Garden in Springfield's Phelps Grove Park.[14]
The case has been featured on shows such as 48 Hours and America's Most Wanted.[2] Investigation Discovery aired "The Springfield Three" on its Disappeared TV series.[15] In 2019, the same channel's People Magazine Investigates featured a tabloid-style episode titled "The Springfield Three".
In 2021, journalist Anne Roderique-Jones launched The Springfield Three: A Small-Town Disappearance podcast.[16]
See also
edit
- Fort Worth Missing Trio – Unsolved 1974 disappearance of three girls in Texas
- List of people who disappeared
- Yuba County Five – 1978 deaths and disappearance in California
References
edit- ^ a b "Three Missing Women". Springfield Police. Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Three Missing Women: Ten Years Later – Part 1 of 5". Springfield News-Leader. June 8, 2006. Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
- ^ "Decades-Old Evidence May be Future of Missing Women Case". Ozarks First. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
- ^ a b "Three Missing Women: Ten Years Later – Part 3 of 5". Springfield News-Leader. June 8, 2006. Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
- ^ a b c "Suzie Streeter". charleyproject.org. April 15, 2009. Archived from the original on April 28, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "The Springfield Three". Disappeared. Season 3. Episode 10. March 7, 2011. Investigation Discovery.
- ^ "Sherrill Levitt". charleyproject.org. April 15, 2009. Archived from the original on March 28, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
- ^ a b "Stacy McCall". charleyproject.org. April 15, 2009. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
- ^ "Missing Missouri women legally declared dead". The Southeast Missourian. Associated Press. September 27, 1997. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
- ^ a b c Pokin, Steve (June 6, 2015). "Pokin Around: 3 missing women; here, then suddenly nowhere". Springfield News-Leader. Archived from the original on September 12, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
- ^ Gounley, Thomas (May 30, 2017). "25 years after three Springfield women went missing, the tips still trickle in". Springfield News-Leader. Archived from the original on January 9, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
- ^ Keyes, Robert (March 15, 1996). "Suspect drops hints about missing women". Springfield News-Leader. pp. 1A, 13A. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Pt. 3: What Happened to the Springfield Three? – Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen". Crime Watch Daily. October 17, 2017. Archived from the original on August 14, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
- ^ Menner, Lauer Bauer (June 7, 1998). "Missing women's mystery endures". Springfield News-Leader. pp. 1A, 3A. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "The Springfield Three". Investigation Discovery. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
- ^ Cross, Greta (May 22, 2022). "Podcast uncovers new perspectives about Springfield's Three Missing Women, 30 years later". Springfield News-Leader. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
