Murder, Mystery & Makeup - Springfield 3 - Missouri's Mysterious Disappearance

Episode Date: June 7, 2022

HI FRIENDS!! Hope you are having a wonderful day so far. Missed you. Love you. Appreciate you. Today I wanted to talk about a highly requested story. This one is rough because how do three people just VANISH?! It makes no sense, right?? Theres NOTHING. NOTHING!! No answers. So strange. Ugh. Would love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Make good choices please! xo Bailey Sarian P.S. Make sure to check out my YouTube @BaileySarian!

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Let me adjust my pants. My name is Bailey Sarian and today is Monday, which means it's Murder, Mystery, and Makeup Monday! Sha na sa, sha na sa, sha na sa, sha na sa. Sa! If you are new here, hi! My name is Bailey Sarian and on Mondays I sit down and I talk about

a true crime story that's been heavy on my noggin and I do my makeup at the same time. If you're interested in true crime and you like makeup, I highly suggest you hit that subscribe button because I'm out of breath. If you don't know, because I don't even think I've talked about it here on Murder, Mystery, and Makeup, but I started another series called Dark History. It's like Murder, Mystery, and Makeup. But I started another series called Dark History.

It's like Murder, Mystery, and Makeup, except it's murder mystery and history. Yeah, it's so fun. No makeup though. I mean, I'm wearing makeup, but like, it's more storytelling. The reason I started this series was because while researching true crime,

I always came across stories throughout history that I wanted to talk about here on Monday, but because they were more like history focused, I felt like it kind of like didn't belong in a way. So I've been wanting to start a new series that was essentially stories throughout history that at least I never learned about in school. Cause let me tell you, history is wild.

Okay, wild. We kind of got off to a rocky start at first, but I'm finding my groove in it and getting way more comfortable. At least I think so. My whole goal with the series was to talk about lesser known stories throughout history, but make it realistic for like the everyday person to understand. You know, because have you ever read the history book and you're like, what kind of language are they speaking? I don't know what

I just read. I know not everyone's going to relate to that, but that's how I felt a lot of the times. Well, I wanted Dark History to be kind of like this, where I sit down and I tell you what I learned. Cause let me tell you, it's fricking fascinating. So on Dark History, we've partnered with historians and the specialists in the fields for each episode who helps us tell the real stories and they'll like sugarcoat things, you know.

It's been an incredible experience and I've been learning so much. So if you're interested in that, you can find the Dark History podcast every Wednesday, wherever you listen to podcasts. And I upload the video version on Thursday here on my YouTube, for those of you who are more of a visual person like myself, you know, if you want to watch the video version. So I'll stop yip yapping and let's get into today's story. This one has been highly requested and it honestly drove me nuts because I don't like unsolved stories.

This one, it is unsolved, I know. Ugh, I hate them. So today's story takes place in Springfield, Missouri in June of 1992. Now, like many kids in June, it's graduation day for the students over at Kickapoo High School. So the kids are all excited, you know, many are waiting for this day for so long

and they're just excited to, you know, when you're graduating, you're just excited to get out of high school and start like that new chapter in life. But at first, a lot of the students after graduation, what do they wanna do? They wanna party. There's lots of, you know, parties after graduation going on

and you know how high school parties are. Honestly, nothing good happens. But hey, whatever. Time to celebrate, you know? Within the graduating class, there were two good friends, Stacey McCall and Susie Streeter. Yes, there's a lot of S's in this name too, which doesn't matter, but it was kind of throwing me off.

So Stacey is 18 and it was said that she was fun, she's bubbly, she had a great sense of humor. She hung out with a lot of the class clowns, it seemed, and she loved to joke around, have fun. She just seemed like an all around fun person to be around. It was said that she was very good looking and she did a couple of like modeling gigs for a local wedding shop.

But after high school, she was ready to graduate and go to Missouri State University. Susie, now Susie was 19. She's also similar to Stacey. It was said she was very outspoken. She's outgoing. She was super fun to be around and seemed like a genuinely like happy person.

Susie was said to like be one to hang out with the popular crowd, even dating one of the high school bad boys. I'm rolling my eyes, cause it's like, well, yeah, okay, yeah. Bad boys in class. It plays later on, it makes sense, I guess. I just don't like bad boys, whatever.

Children with problems? Anywho, doesn't matter. She was dating one of the high school bad boys, whatever, children with problems. Any who, it doesn't matter. She was dating one of the high school bad boys, you know? But Susie herself, she stayed out of trouble. You know though, they're just teenagers being teenagers. Some of Susie's friends would tease her because she was like a creature of habit. I guess that's hilarious.

Well, I'm laughing because like it's not, but I get it. Cause when you're a teenager, people just pick on you for anything, but she was a creature of habit. She liked a routine, Susie did. She liked a routine. And some of her friends believe that she may have had like OCD tendencies.

Cannot confirm or deny, but that's what her friends kind of were thinking. After high school, Susie, she wanted to follow in her mom's footsteps and become a hairdresser. So there are a lot of things going on this night. There were a lot of parties all around. Many people were heading to Branson, Missouri, and they were gonna stay the night out there at a hotel,

and everyone was gonna celebrate at the hotel and party. And then the next day they were gonna head to the local water park. It was called Whitewater. So party at the hotel, wake up And then the next day they're gonna head to the local water park. It was called White Water. So party at the hotel, wake up, go to White Water and celebrate there with all the friends and stuff. So Stacy and Susie were gonna do this. They were gonna go out to the hotel,

then join everybody at the water park. Great. But at the last minute they decided to change their minds. They decided to head to another friend's of theirs house. Her name was Janelle Kirby. Stacy calls her mom at 10 30 PM to let her know that the plans had changed, okay? So Stacy and Susie are hanging out together.

She calls up her mom. She's like, hey mom, I'm not going to the hotel anymore. I'm going to Janelle's cause she's having like a little party over there. And then tomorrow I'm gonna go to the water park. So her mom was like, great, have fun. Call me in the morning before you head to the water park just so I know you're safe and all that.

You know, mom's gotta check in. So Stacy and Susie, they head over to Janelle's house where her neighbor was having a graduation party of some sorts. It was said that it was crowded and it seemed to be a lot of fun. So they had stayed up until around like 2 a.m. was having a graduation party of some sorts. It was said that it was crowded and it seemed to be a lot of fun. So they had stayed up until around like 2 a.m.

and then Stacy and Susie decide like, hey we should probably go to bed because we gotta wake up early and head to the water park. So Stacy and Susie go inside of like Janelle's house and they plan on staying the night there, but they're like, oh it's too crowded, we can't stay here. I guess Janelle's family, like plan on staying the night there, but they're like, oh, it's too crowded. We can't stay here. I guess Janelle's family, like a bunch of her family members had come into town.

She didn't know they were coming into town, but there was no room for Stacy and Susie to crash. So they were like, okay, what do we do now? So they decide like, let's go to Susie's house and sleep there instead. So they go with their friend Janelle and they're like, hey, we're heading out, but we'll be back in the morning, so we could all head to the water park together,

pick her up, go together. And Janelle's like, great, see you then. So the girls head over to 1717 East Delmar Street where Susie lived with her mom, Cheryl Levitt. So we've got Stacey, Susie and Cheryl. Cheryl and her daughter Susie, they had recently moved into this home. I guess like Susie's parents had divorced

and the two, her mom and Susie, they moved into the house. They were still kind of like settling in. It seemed like it was said that Cheryl, the mom, she was 47 years old. And I'm laughing because I was watching some interviews, trying to get an idea of like who Cheryl was, you know? And you know, most of the time in a story like today's, people are like, oh, so-and-so lit up a room

when she walked inside and her smile would turn anyone's day around. Like they were just amazing as a person. Well, it's awkward. It's awkward because Cheryl's sister in a later interview would describe her as quote, "'A pretty fierce lady that didn't do a lot "'of half measures in her life.'"

So yeah, I really sat with that for a while. I was like, what does that mean? Half measures in her life? Huh? What does that even mean? I don't get it, you know? Most of the times you get like, oh, their smile lit up a room.

And the way she said it was like very straightforward. Like, no, like, I just don't know what that meant. I really sat with that for like a while and couldn't figure out what she was getting out there. Half measures in her life. I'm sure someone will let me know down below. Can't wait. Cheryl, she also worked as a hairstylist

at one of the local salons. So the two of them drive over to Susie's house, okay? They change out of their clothes, they wash off their makeup, and then they head to bed. Here's where the mystery comes in. So the next morning, it's 8 a.m. Janelle is calling Susie. She's calling her house, it's again, 8 a.m.,

but nobody's picking up the phone. Bling, bling, bling, bling, bling, bling, bling, nothing. Goes to voicemail, okay, weird. Susie and Stacey were supposed to head over to Janelle's that morning to go to the water park, and everyone is kind of like waiting for them so they can all head out. So Janelle ends up calling again,

bling, bling, bling, you know, again, no answer. So Janelle's thinking like, okay, I bet they slept in, right? I mean, they had a late night last night and they probably just don't hear the phone ringing. Makes sense. So Janelle and her boyfriend, they decide to drive over to Susie's house and it's around 9 a.m. when they arrive, when they get there.

So when Janelle and her boyfriend pull up to Susie's house, they see that all three of their cars are out front in the driveway. So again, they must be home. All their cars are there, it looks like everybody's home. Great, this is a random side note, but remember, I don't know if you know, but it's 1992, okay? No cell phones, remember, no cell phones.

This is a time when people, people back then before cell phones, they would just show up to your house. Oh yeah. Let me tell you, it was a different time. People would just show up, knock, knock, knock. And you're like, oh, hi. It sounds awful, but honestly, kind of miss it. Anyways, so no cell phones. Great. So they go to the house.

They see all the cars. Okay. So Janelle and her boyfriend, Mike, they walk up to the front door and the first thing that they notice is that the front porch light, it was broken and there was glass all over the floor. But the weird thing was, or is, I don't know. The weird thing was, is.

The weird thing was that the porch light itself was broken, but not the bulb inside. Do you know what I'm saying? Like just the outer part was broken, but not the bulb. And that was something that was noted, okay? Weird, but more annoying because Janelle said that she wasn't wearing any shoes, she was barefoot. So she was just more worried

that she was gonna step on glass. So it was said that the boyfriend, Janelle's boyfriend, his name is Mike, he makes like a makeshift broom and is able to sweep up the glass. Okay, they haven't even got to the door yet. They saw the glass, just sweeping it up, super nice. My question here, because I was trying to figure this out, was I don't know how he, the boyfriend,

had like a broom on deck, or where this said broom came from, because it said that he swept it up with a broom. And in my mind, I was thinking, it would make sense if it was a makeshift broom. You know, like if you have like two pieces of like cardboard in your car or something and you're like, so I was like, maybe it was a makeshift broom, but a lot of reports said he grabbed a broom

and swept up the glass. Either way, I don't know if it matters or not, but that part to me, I just, I get fixated on the weird stuff, right? I was like, where did this broom come from? But he swept up the glass. So after doing so, which honestly was nice, but crime scene, so not good.

So after he swept it up, he goes to the front door, knock, knock, knock, no answer. And then they realize that the front door was unlocked. Okay, so the door's unlocked and the two of them go inside, okay? They start looking around the house. Now the house itself was pretty quiet. The TV was left on, which was weird.

I guess it was left on like one of those static channels where it's just like the white, black and white. You know what I'm talking about? Hopefully you don't. So the TV was left on. And then they see Cheryl's dog. His name is Cinnamon. He comes walking into the living room

and he seems very anxious, little Cinnamon. Very anxious. He just wants to like be held and they're like, okay. They said that like they didn't see anything unusual, but something felt off and you know how that is. I'm just saying like, you know, our feelings man, sometimes they don't make any sense, but man are we little weirdos, I don't know.

So they're saying like they felt something, something felt off. So the two of them are looking around the house and they come across all three of the lady's purses, jewelry and makeup at the house. Now to Janelle and her boyfriend, it meant like, oh, they must have literally just been here, but the house was empty.

So it was like, okay, we must have just missed them. So other than the light fixture outside being broken, there was really like no signs of a struggle. It was just weird vibes inside, you know? Janelle would say later on that she honestly thought that the girls just must've like headed out to the park, the water park already at that point. And they just must've like missed each other.

So Janelle and her boyfriend, they decide like, okay, let's just head to the park. They're probably already there and we'll probably run into like Susie and Stacey, you know? So while they are walking out to the front door, the phone rings. The phone rings. Janelle answers the phone.

Now on the other end of the phone was a man she didn't know and whoever it was was saying like a bunch of sexual innuendos. Yeah, I couldn't figure out like what, I don't think it matters, it was just said sexual innuendos. It was enough to gross Janelle out, and she just hangs up the phone. She's like, ew, click.

Not long after she hangs up, the phone rings again. And this time Janelle says that she kind of hesitated a little bit more. She was like, I don't know if I want to answer this, but she ends up picking it up again. And it's a man on the other end, just saying all sorts of like freak nasty stuff. Janelle says she gets grossed out and she's like,

ill and then hangs up. At this moment Janelle said that she had like a light bulb moment. She had remembered not long ago, Susie had mentioned that she was getting like weird prank calls. Is it prank calls or crank calls, by the way? I should have looked that up.

I really don't know, because I've heard both, and I don't, I always say prank. So Janelle was like, yeah, that was weird. That must have been like the prank caller, I guess. I don't know. She doesn't think much about it, and then she decides to head out and go catch up with their friends at the water park.

So they leave. Now I know what you're thinking right now. You're like, uh, wouldn't you be worried? Wouldn't you do this? Wouldn't you do that? Wouldn't you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Coulda, woulda, shoulda, right? But honestly, again, nobody cared like that in 92.

No cell phones. If someone wasn't home, they weren't home. And it wasn't like, you know, I don't know. But they didn't, they weren't thinking, I can't speak for them, but they just, yeah. Do you get what I'm saying? Maybe you don't. We could play coulda, woulda, shoulda all day,

but at the end of the day, they left and they went to the water park. So around this time, Janice McCall, Stacey's mom, yeah, yeah, yeah, Stacey's mom, mama, we know what's gonna come. Stacey's mom, she's feeling a little uneasy. She hadn't heard from her daughter that morning and it was very unlike her to not call

and at least like check in. So Stacey's mother, she decides to call Janelle's house. Remember Janelle, the original plan? So she calls Janelle's house and then Janelle tells her, oh, they ended up staying at Susie's house. And I think at this point, Stacy's mom was like, oh, okay, she must be just doing her thing. Like graduation night, plans are changing.

Like she's fine, just let her do her thing. And she kind of just lets her daughter be. And I say this because Janice ends up waiting about seven hours. She lets seven hours go by until she tries to again, connect with her daughter. Again, we coulda, woulda, shoulda all damn day, but she was just kind of like, you know what?

My daughter, she just graduated. She's hanging out with her friends. She's doing her thing. She's responsible, like let her be, she's okay. Which is super sad because I'm sure you want to like trust your daughter and stuff. And now's not the time to be trusting them. Anyway, so seven hours go by.

So then Stacy's mother, she decides to call Cheryl's house, see if her daughter's there. Cause again, seven hours go by, she hasn't heard from her daughter at all. And ring, ring, ring, no answer. So Janice figures that something must be wrong with the house phone because like it's ringing and nobody's answering. So like something must be wrong with the house phone, because like it's ringing and nobody's answering, so like something must be wrong with the phone.

So she decides just to go by Cheryl's house and see if they're there. So when Janice gets to the home, she finds that the front door is unlocked and she goes inside and the house is empty. Now at this very same time, Janelle and her boyfriend show back up at the house to check and see why Susie and Stacey didn't show up. So it's kind of like a little Scooby-Doo meeting, you know, like the three of them are all there and they're like, "'You're looking for them, I'm looking for them.

We haven't seen them.'" So all three of them decide to like kind of walk around the house and do some investigating, you know, looking for any answers. So Janice goes into Susie's room and she notices that Stacy's purse and makeup bag were sitting on the floor right next to not only Susie's purse,

but also her mom Cheryl's purse too. Now it's weird because first of all, if you're going somewhere, most likely you're gonna take your bag with you, okay? Has all of your cards, ID, you get it, you would take it. Great. But that wasn't what was really weird. I think what was even more weird was the fact that

all three of their purses were on the ground next to each other. Tell me that's not weird. That, suspish right there. That would give me the chills. Like why are all their bags on the floor next to each other? So this obviously kind of like gives Janice a weird feeling. She's not feeling that great.

She's like, you know what? I'm gonna call police. Okay. So she calls police, lets them know what's going on. And then afterwards she calls her husband and tells him to come over while she waits for police. So she hangs up the phone and then Janice, she notices that, well, that's my chair, I'm not farting.

On the answering machine, there's a blinking light going off, informing her that there's a message on the answering machine. And on the old school answering machines, it would blink, you know, great. So she's like, okay, let me listen to the answering machine because maybe someone,

maybe they left me a message or something. let me listen to the answering machine because maybe someone, maybe they left me a message or something. Janice listens to the answering machine and whoever it was left a very lewd message and it was pointless, didn't really get to anything. It was just somebody again, making sexual innuendos. So she's like, oh my God, that's so gross. That's so weird. Whoa, you know?

Now here's the thing with the old school answering machines, they wouldn't save your messages. Most of the time, like you had to make sure and save the messages. Most of the times they would be automatically deleted once you played them. So with that being said, after listening to the message, it gets deleted from the answering machine.

No, yes. Like I get it, she shouldn't have deleted from the answering machine. No, yes. Like I get it, she shouldn't have listened to the answering machine and everyone's gonna roast her, I know it, in the comment section, we're all gonna be like, why would you do that? But I get it, I get it, she wanted to know and she didn't mean for it to get deleted, but it got deleted, poor lady.

I'm sure she regrets that very much. I know this may be wrong, but I'm in love with Stacy's mom. So by the time all this has taken place and the police are called, it's been like a full day since anyone has heard from any of the ladies, okay? But police end up coming out

and they try to investigate the scene, but since people were coming and going, it's believed that it contaminated the crime scene. Plus on top of that, the voice message was deleted. So there's really not a lot to work with. Also a side note that I kind of was purposely leaving out cause it could get a bit confusing for a lot of people. So while Stacy's mom is waiting for the police

and stuff to show up, she starts cleaning the house a little bit. Okay, and I guess like some neighbors kind of hang out too. It wasn't clear if it was neighbors or if it was like Janelle and her boyfriend, but they start cleaning up the house. They're like, oh, since I'm here, like let me just pick up and make things look nice.

Not realizing that this is a crime scene and you shouldn't be cleaning it up, you know? So they're cleaning up the house. They're like, since I'm here, let me just be polite and do the dishes for her and vacuum. So they literally cleaning up the house. They're like, since I'm here, let me just be polite and do the dishes for her and vacuum. So they literally clean the house and they're waiting. And yeah, so that all bad. Stacy's mom literally did everything you should not do.

Great. That part was a little confusing to me because I wasn't sure if it was like the neighbors because I know people were kind of coming and going. Everyone seemed to be really close, which sounds nice, but not when it's a crime scene. Ugh, could you imagine? Ugh, whoopsie, I'm in love with Stacy. Bailey, stop with that song, it's not appropriate right now.

Okay, so police come out and they're looking around and kind of like what everybody else was saying, there's like not much for police to be working with. They did note that the porch light was indeed broken, right? But other than that, there was no sign of a struggle. The house looked very normal and very clean because it was cleaned. Susie's bed, it looked like it had been slept in.

The girls' clothes, they were folded and they were like on the dresser next to their jewelry. And it was said that in the room, there were makeup wipes around suggesting that at some point they must've came home, they got unready and then they went to bed. They think that's, they at least at some point were there, okay?

Also upon further investigation, everybody's stuff was still there. They found $900 in Cheryl's purse, her car keys. And again, there was jewelry. So it was clear to the police that it wasn't a robbery. Yeah, because those are prime things to be stolen, especially the $900. And then one thing that was noted, many found odd,

was that Cheryl, her pack of smokes and her lighter were still in her bag in the house. Now this may not seem that important to many of us out here in YouTube world, great. But Cheryl was a big time smoker. And it was said that there was no way in heck that she would leave the house without her smokes. Yeah, she could have gotten another pack or something,

but she wouldn't waste a pack like that. It would go with her. You know what I'm saying? So they're like, that's something. So police, they tried their best to try and like recover the deleted voice message, but it was a dead end. They couldn't do anything about it. It was just gone.

And again, there was nothing in the house that gave any clues as to what happened that night. No furniture out of place. There was no signs of a struggle. There's no DNA, no blood splatter, spatter. What's it called? I mean, there's nothing. So police, they don't know where to go from here.

Well, some time goes by and there are not many leads. So police start digging around, you know, and they look into all of the girls past and they're trying to figure out, you know, someone's got to know fricking something. So they start looking into Susie's background and they see that she was dating a guy named Dustin for a bit of time.

Now, remember in the beginning I said she was dating a bad named Dustin for a bit of time. Now, remember in the beginning I said, she was dating a bad boy. Yeah, well, Dustin was indeed a very bad boy. Okay, they see that they were dating for a bit of time and he had recently been arrested for being part of a grave robbing gang. Yes, he robbed someone's grave and then got caught. So he got like gold teeth or something like super,

I hate people, they're just so stupid. Like why? Just leave them alone, they're dead. Leave them alone. Anyway, so he got caught. Okay, and I guess at some point Susie had learned about this, that they had robbed graves and she ended up breaking up with him.

Now there were rumors going around that said Susie was the one who turned him into police. I don't think it was a rumor because I found another source that said that she had actually given a statement to police on March 5th, 1992. So yeah, she definitely said something. And the boys, this gang, they were going on trial and Susie was scheduled to testify

against her ex-boyfriend and his gang at the trial in a few months. So if that doesn't scream a fricking motive, I don't know what else does. I mean, all signs are kind of pointing to him. Hello, boop, boop, boop. Like, yes, you. Police are like, okay, that's it.

It's this guy for sure. No ifs, ands, or buts. So police, they go out and they question Dustin and they question also the friends that he's hanging out with. And they all pass a polygraph test and they denied having anything to do with Susie's disappearance.

Now there was nothing, there was no evidence to link them to any crime, okay? So the police, they had to let them go. But it was noted that none of them had like a solid alibi as to where they were the night that the ladies went missing. Kind of seemed like everybody's story was kind of wishy-washy. Okay, and they're like, we're gonna fricking get you.

I know, it's them, it has to be. Next, the police decide to look into Bart Streeter. So they're looking into this older brother and they look into his background and they find that Bart, he was about nine years older than Susie and he was kind of considered the black sheep in the family. Years before 1992, this whole situation happened,

Bart was kicked out of the family home and he was like on his own and he was struggling with alcohol and he just really didn't have the best relationship with his family. And for a while he kept his distance and then after a bad breakup, he had recently moved back to Springfield. Bart wanted to try and fix things between his family,

pretty much his mom's relationship and his sister. So he cleaned up, he got a job, and I think he got sober from my understanding, but it was said that he was doing a lot better. And then there was one point when Susie actually ended up moving in with Bart for a bit of time to try and bond and like rebuild the brother sister relationship,

but it didn't last that long. The two had gotten into a really bad fight. I guess Bart was drinking and then he got aggressive towards Susie. So it was, it wasn't long after she moved in, she ends up moving back home and then that was the end of their relationship. So cops bring Bart in for questioning It wasn't long after she moved in, she ends up moving back home and then that was the end of their relationship.

So cops bring Bart in for questioning and he tells them that on the night of June 6th, the night before the women went missing, he had been in a neighbor's house and he was super drunk. He said, I was just wasted. So he said he was super wasted, but he ended up going home at about 1130 PM and then he passed out.

Now, there were no witnesses to confirm if his story was even true. So, and Plessy kept saying he was super drunk. So it's like, how much do we believe you, bud? So they ask if Bart would do a polygraph test and Bart agrees. And it says that he passes with flying colors. And again, because there's no direct evidence

that connects Bart to the disappearance, the cops, police, investigators, whoever they have to let him go, because they got nothing. A couple of days after the disappearance, another lead comes in. This time it's from an older woman who lived in the same neighborhood

as the girls who went missing. So I guess this older woman, she would sit like outside on her little patio pretty often, as one does, you know, and she would just kind of observe her surroundings. She knew what kind of cars came through the neighborhood and she just kind of knew when like things seemed out of place.

Well, she had called the police to report that a couple of days after the woman's disappearance, she had noticed a strange greenish van driving on the block. Yeah, it was like one of those creeper vans and it was definitely out of place. But what was even more strange to her was that there was a young woman driving with blonde hair. Okay, she's driving the van and she seemed to be stressed

or worried or bothered. Like she wasn't driving happy. She was just very, something told the woman that she was very stressed. Now the woman also said that she had heard a male voice talking to the driver or whoever was driving. And this male voice, it sounded very aggressive. So she reported hearing a male voice saying, quote,

"'Don't do anything stupid.'" At least it was along those lines. So police asked her like, what took you so long to like report this information? And the lady was like, well, I didn't, I didn't know about these women that were missing until recently. And then she made the connection about the van

and they're like, okay, I mean, at least they got it. So police show this woman a photo of the three missing women. And she said that the person who was driving the van definitely looked like Susie. So could be true, could be not true. You know how eyewitness accounts go. It's like, you wanna believe it, you really do, but it's hard because eyewitness accounts

are not the best, but hey, they got nothing. So the woman reporting this sighting had no description of the man who was talking in the van, but she did give a good description of the vehicle itself. She said that it was like a greenish color. It was between 1960 to 1970s. And the police, they thought that she was a very credible witness.

So with this information, they go on a search for anyone with this type of vehicle. They start pulling over every van that matches the description, and they go as far as to buying a van similar to the one that the woman described, and they parked it in front of the local police station with a message in the window that said like,

"'Have you seen this van? "'Looking for information.'" So it's parked out front, so anyone driving by, if they saw that van, it's like, "'Come forward with any information.'" They're like, okay. I thought it was a good idea. I was like, oh forward with any information. They're like, okay. I thought it was a good idea. I was like, oh, that's great.

You know how these stories go. Most of the time police are like, well, oh well, you know, we've seen it here. So at least they're trying. They're really hoping that anybody will come forward with some information, like have they seen that van? And over time, they end up getting a lot of tips in regards to this van, right?

But many were reporting it to be like a different color, but it sounded like police were saying that it was like every color you can think of. People were saying they saw this van, but in black, white, purple, but you know, and it was just, it wasn't helping. It just wasn't going anywhere. So six months go by, still no leads.

On New Year's Eve of 1992, an episode of America's Most Wanted was playing on TV. And they were sharing the story about the strange disappearance of what was now called the Springfield Three. Because it's Springfield and there's three missing. On the show, they share all the information they had, right? And they tell people to call and come forward

if they have any information, you know, like they do. So that night, a man calls in saying that he had information about this case. And the operator on the phone who initially answered the call then was trying to connect them to the Springfield detectives. But sadly, the call was dropped or whoever called hung up. But either way, call was done. So or whoever called hung up, but either way call was done.

So whoever it was hung up, whatever, and they didn't call back and the hotline was unable to trace the call. So once again, a fricking dead end. I guess it sounded promising, promising enough to like bring it up, but who knows? What if it was just a crank call, prank call, whatever it is. Well, again, more time just goes by,

and then in 1993, there's a man by the name of Steven Garrison. He came forward saying that he knew what happened to the Springfield Three. And he said he knew where they were buried at, and was willing to share this information, only if he could get a plea bargain for what he was dealing with. So this guy Steve says that one night he was at a party and he was like getting drunk with some friends, you know? And this other friend who was there that was super drunk

comes up to him and starts confessing to killing these women. So that's what he tells the police. Now police are kind of like, hmm, I don't know about your story, sir. You know, like, okay. But then Steven start to share some information that wasn't released to the public regarding the case. So they decide to have Steven take them

where the bodies were buried, allegedly, according to him. I'm not sure what it was he shared that was not public information, but it was something that definitely got police interested. Like, okay, maybe he's onto something here. Police also serve three search warrants in two different states where they think there might be more clues

based off of what the Steven guy was saying. And so Steven, he ends up bringing them to some property. A property that was searched was a site that was once mentioned in another case of two missing women back in 1990. Now this was not related to this Springfield 3 case at all. But it was weird that this was like the same location for another missing case. So maybe Steven got his cases mixed up or I don't know, police found something. They found something, okay?

The property owner was said to be an older man. I don't know, and he pled guilty to two counts of second degree murder, which was a case that was believed to be a drug deal gone bad. Again, not related to this case at all, but police find something on his property and they ended up putting a gag order on Steven,

which pretty much says that he legally cannot speak about this case or anything that they may have found on the property. So they put on this gag, I don't know why it's called a gag order. It sounds dirty, but it's called a gag order. So no one can talk about the case, right? Not even the police could talk about the case.

So when people are asking police, like what are the updates or information about these missing women like what happened to them because there's like nothing nobody can talk about it because of the gag order so whatever was on this property or whatever was found they were not going to talk about it nobody was allowed to talk about it nothing very strange you know naturally people are like oh my god it's related to the springfield three i mean hello it makes. They're being so hush hush about it, and it could be true, but it also might not be.

And maybe they found stuff on the property that was not related in any way, but maybe it was related to another case. Uh-huh, but police did find Stephen's information credible, and they were pretty familiar with Stephen's past as well. You see, Stephen was not a very great person, to say the least. Stephen, Stephen, Stephen.

Stephen was in prison serving a 40 year sentence for kidnapping and rape charges from a Springfield college girl who was kidnapped in 1993. So again, like he wanted some sort of plea bargain to help him out with that situation, no. Who fricking knows what they found? Who knows what they found in that property? I don't know.

So it's a super weird story and no answers seem to be coming from this lead, especially with the gag order in place. Again, this story, three women just vanished poof. Stacy, Susie and Cheryl. It's bizarre. No answers seem to be coming from anyone. Well, that's when another tip comes in from Florida,

suggesting that a guy named Robert Cox was responsible for the disappearances. Now, Robert was said to be a highly trained army ranger who was recently convicted and sentenced to death for brutally murdering another 19 year old girl in Florida. But in the end, his verdict was reversed. That's a whole mess that we're not gonna touch right now. But police do some digging around

and find out that Robert had moved to Springfield right before these women went missing. And he used to work at the same dealership as Stacey's dad. So I mean, you know, police questioned him and he says that he was at a golf tournament with his parents. He was staying with them for the night. And then the next morning, he took his girlfriend to at a golf tournament with his parents, he was staying with them for the night. And then the next morning he took his girlfriend to church

and according to his girlfriend, that's exactly what happened, you know. They don't really believe him or her, but again, without any hard evidence, they have to let him go, they don't have anything. I don't know how I feel about this Robert guy. I mean, yeah, it's like, could be, but I don't know. When he robbed them or something, I don't know.

Later in 1995, Robert was arrested in Texas for aggravated robbery, but this time his girlfriend or the now ex-girlfield three when they went missing. So she's like, actually I lied for him. He wasn't with me that night. So when Springfield police hear this, they go down to Texas to question him, but he refuses to talk.

But then oddly enough in 1996, during an interview with a local reporter, Robert says something just super weird, super weird. This reporter asked him, hey, do you know anything about the Springfield Three? And then Robert says, I know that they're dead. I'll say that. Well, police again get word of this

and they head out to question Robert once again, but he refuses to admit. Killing the women, being involved. He starts saying like super cryptic, mysterious messages to police. Like, I can't give you any specifics until my mom is dead. I just know they're dead. That's not my theory.

I just know that. And it's like, dude, shut up. Don't do that. That's so annoying. So Robert is still considered a person of interest, but they don't have any confession or hard evidence linking him to the case. So until then the case goes cold once again.

Great, you know? So with no new solid information or leads after five years, the cops finally have to stop actively working on the case. The three women were legally declared dead in June of 1997, even though their case file still considers them to be missing. Yeah, super sad. There's nothing, there's nothing. So weird.

So years go by and then in 2007, there's a journalist named Kathy Baird. Anyway, she gets a tip from someone who either claimed to be a psychic or claimed to have like had a vision or a dream about the Springfield Three case. She said that the three missing women were buried in the foundation of the South Parking Garage

at Cox Hospital. Her vision told her this. So back in 1992, when the women went missing, this parking structure at the hospital hadn't been built yet. It was just a big lot of dirt. She shares this information with investigators, but they pretty much just laugh in her face and they say something like, there's no way, what are we gonna do like tear up all the parking structure, you know? And she's like, well, all right, do you want to do anything

about it? And they're telling her like, no, if they are there, they're buried by a ton of cement and we're not going to go like blow up a parking structure just because a psychic said so. That's what police are saying. Well, Kathy, she can't just because a psychic said so. That's what police are saying. Well Kathy she can't just let go of this tip. She needs to know if this tip is right. She needs closure. Like I get it girl. We would all be like wait no I need to investigate myself then. So she hires a mechanical engineer to use a ground penetrating radar to scan the parking garage floor and see if like anything turns up. Now she's like recording this guy working on a missing person's case. And he's very casually like, oh yeah, that's weird. Because like, this is exactly what I was expecting.

And then she goes over to the guy she hired and she tells him, I'm working on a missing person's case. And he's very casually like, oh yeah, that's weird. Because like, this is exactly what I was expecting. And then she goes over to the guy she hired and she tells him, I'm working on a missing persons case. And he's very casually like, oh yeah, that's weird. Because like, this is exactly what I see on my radar

when I go over old graves. Huh? Well, this parking garage, it wasn't built until a year after the women went missing. So in theory, the bodies should have turned up during an excavation when they actually started to build the garage, right? Kathy goes to police and tells them this.

She also records the guy doing it, so she could show police like, look at what he found. I hired him. This is what he's saying, blah, blah, blah. Police tell Kathy that the radar scans aren't enough for them to demolish the garage. They still need more evidence. So Kathy starts doing some more digging

and then strangely she just stops. Now there was a podcast. This girl's kind of weird. This, don't get too excited, okay? Because there was a podcast who was doing an episode on the Springfield Three and they interviewed Kathy. Was it a podcast? No, I think it was a YouTube video.

And they interviewed Kathy about the radar scan in her investigation. And in the interview, she mentions that she thinks she knows what happened. And unfortunately, Stacey was just collateral damage in the scenario. She gets, God, what's the word? Cryptic, I guess, herself.

And she gets super tense and it's awkward and uncomfortable. Cause the interviewer presses her for more information about like who the real target was. And Kathy says that she gets all uncomfortable. She's like, I'm not going to talk about that. And then she goes on to say like, I've been advised to leave this case alone

and I'm afraid for my safety. And then she goes on to say a little bit more, but Kathy said that she would not leave this case alone until she had solid proof of who did it. Okay, look, in the interview, she's giving off the vibe that she knows who did it, that I can't talk about it because I will be murdered next. And she's being super, again, cryptic, like she knows.

And then in the interview, she even goes on to say that she knows who was responsible, but that she won't give up the information until it's solved. And it's like, girl, you can't solve the mystery if you don't give up the information as to who did it. But you're on national TV?

It just kind of seemed like she, I hate to say it. I hate to say it, girl, I'm sorry. But it kind of seems like she was doing this whole interview and stuff for attention. Because why would you do an interview if you know all the information? Go to police, like what are you doing on this interview? Alluding that you know, but I'm not gonna say anything.

Like why are you here then? Why are you wasting our damn time? It just seemed a little self-serving, I don't know. She might be onto something with the parking garage area, but police, they felt like her timeline didn't add up and I couldn't find a straight answer as to why they didn't wanna search more into this tip. That to me doesn't make any sense.

I mean, I understand that blowing up a parking garage, that's probably a headache, but aren't you supposed to solve some mysteries? Isn't that what you're supposed to do? I don't know. I didn't like that lady, but I just was gonna mention it because she is mentioned a lot of the time in this story.

She acts like she knows something. I don't know. I don't like her. I don't get good vibes. So since then, there have only been two more leads that didn't really pan out all that much. And then in 2002, there was a lead of a similar looking van

that was spotted when the three went missing. So cops went to a concrete company where the van was spotted and they brought cadaver dogs with them and the dogs did find some bones, I know. But then testing reports came back saying that the bones were too old to be the women. So great, now they solved someone else's mystery, I guess.

I hope they circle back on that one. And then in 2003, a tip leads investigators to a farm about an hour away from Springfield. And after some digging, police find possible blood evidence and a piece of a vehicle that maybe could be part of the van that was seen. So police are excited and immediately they sent the blood to the lab for testing, but it came back inconclusive.

So they just can't catch a break. It's weird because it seems like they do wanna solve this case because they're trying, but then with the concrete thing, they don't wanna solve, they don't wanna do that though. I don't know. Maybe they just don't find her credible, that lady. Anywho, this case is still ongoing

and hopefully one day we'll know what happened to these three ladies, Springfield three. They just fricking disappeared and nobody knows anything. It's just bizarre. I spent so much time on this one, like looking around, just trying to look for, you just want something, there's just nothing. A couple of things, one, was it Susie's boyfriend,

the bad boy, obviously there's a motive there. I guess at one point it was mentioned like, oh, I would kill her from the boyfriend because he was so mad that she ratted him out. And honestly, like that makes the most sense, right? The boyfriend and like the grave diggers, if any of them, that seems like the thing. But here's the thing, and this is my theory.

I don't know, like, who am I exactly? I'm just in YouTube box. But people like to talk, you know? People love talking. They love sharing stories. They love sharing secrets. Oh yes, you love sharing a secret, don't lie. Don't lie, secret, you're gonna tell someone.

So if it was the boyfriend and the gang of friends, there was like five or six of them, chances are one of them would say something, right? One of them would open their mouth, chicken out, confess, live with regret. There's just no way they would all keep their mouth shut for this long, you know? So that's kind of why I was thinking maybe it's not them, because I cannot believe that they would all keep their mouth shut for this long, you know? So that's kind of why I was thinking maybe it's not them,

because I cannot believe that they would keep the secret for this long. They would, someone would crack by now, but I don't know, it could be. I mean, again, they have the motive and all that, it totally makes sense. Maybe they did keep the secret for this long. But then I was thinking I was marinating on this a little bit, and I was like, okay, So everyone seemed to know or be aware that the kids were graduating high school that weekend. Remember, graduation means parties, kids doing stuff,

kids hanging out at other people's houses, just not home, whatever. So my thought was, or is, or I don't know, is that the killer or whoever it was, knew that the girls were not going to be home that night, Susie's house, and it would just be mom by herself at the home because the kids, remember, they were originally gonna stay at Janelle's house.

Well, first they were gonna stay at the hotel, then they were gonna stay at Janelle's house, and they didn't tell their mom that they were coming home. So mom, she seemed outgoing, and it kind of almost seems like maybe wrong place, wrong time. Like the two girls were supposed to stay the night at the hotel originally, then at their friend's,

and they weren't gonna be home. So mom is back at the house, okay? Maybe she invites a lone ranger over to the house since the kids are away. And this visitor parks in the driveway in the spot that the daughter always parked in. Remember in the beginning when I described Susie and her friends had said that she had like OCD tendencies? Okay, well it was said that Susie always parked in the same exact spot at her house

when she arrived there, okay? But then that day when Janelle went to the house, she noted that Susie's car was not parked where it normally is. And that was like major. It was something that she obviously remembered. Like that's weird. So the thought is, what if somebody was at the house and was parked in the spot

that the daughter would always park in, right? So Susie pulls up and was like, "'Oh weird, someone's in my spot. "'I'll always park in, right? So Susie pulls up and was like, oh weird, someone's in my spot, I'll just park here behind my mom. And then Stacey followed her and parked behind her because there was three cars there, mom, Susie, Stacey or something like that. Maybe someone was parked in her spot. Somebody was hanging out with mom, okay?

Maybe mom was at the house, the visitor is at the house, and the two girls come home that night, totally unplanned. Oh no, they're not supposed to be here they're supposed to be whatever now this killer this bad person's like shit i gotta get rid of all three of these people now not just cheryl or whatever you know and my thought is that whoever it was it was a super random hit and that's why there's like no trace back to anyone because it was someone random or completely new because that's why there's like no trace back to anyone because it was someone random or completely new because that's why nobody has solved it.

That's my thought because people again love to talk. Somebody would have said something unless it was someone who was completely new and not around and just like left and nobody knew. I don't know. I obviously am not solving any mysteries, but like I'm, I'm trying. I hate unsolved stories.

You know, you just want closure. It's just so sad, like weird. I don't know. I would love to hear your guys' theories down below. Let me know in the comment section what you guys think. But other than that, is today's really sad story. So we just go missing, like damn, scary. Anyways, thank you guys so much

for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, a great week ahead, and I'll be seeing you very soon. Make good choices, be safe, and I love you. Okay, bye! My foot fell asleep. Ooh!