In June of 1992, three women vanished from Springfield, Missouri without a trace. Nearly 30 years later, Sherrill, Suzie, and Stacy have yet to be found.
On June 6th, 1992, Suzanne Elizabeth “Suzie” Streeter and Stacy Kathleen McCall had graduated from Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri.
Suzie was 19 years old, with shoulder length blonde hair, and brown eyes. She was roughly 5’2” tall, and had a scar on her upper right forearm, and pierced ears, with her left ear pierced twice.
Suzie lived with her mother, Sherrill Elizabeth Levitt. She was 47, with short blonde hair, and brown eyes. She was roughly 5 feet tall, with pierced ears. She was a highly sought after hair stylist in the area, and was very close to her daughter.
Stacy McCall had been childhood friends with Suzie. Stacy was 18 years old, with long, dark blonde hair, and light eyes. She was roughly 5’3” tall.
The friends had drifted apart, but still got along really well. They were so excited for the next steps in their lives. Stacy was looking forward to going to college, and joining a sorority, while Suzie wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps, intending on going to school for cosmetology to become a hair stylist.
After the girls had graduated, they spent the rest of the day and evening attending parties, and spending time with their friends. At around 10:00 PM, Stacy called her mom, Janis, to let her know that she and Suzie were planning on spending the night at Janelle Kirby’s house. The three girls, and a few other friends, had planned on going to the water park the next day. Janis was relieved that the girls had a place to stay, as it would save them spending a night at a hotel, as they had originally intended.
However, there was a slight change of plans. Janelle had family in town, and her house was rather crowded. Suzie suggested that she and Stacy return to Suzie’s home, and meet up with their friends the following day. Stacy agreed – sleeping in Suzie’s bed beat sleeping on Janelle’s bedroom floor.
Janelle asked her mother if she could accompany the girls, but her mother denied the request. Janelle’s mother later stated that she heard Suzie tell Stacy: “Follow me to my house”, and both girls drove off. This was suggested to be the last time anyone had seen the girls. It was around 2:00 AM, on June 7th, 1992.
Meanwhile, Sherrill has spent the night at home. At around 11:15 PM, she spoke with a friend on the phone. They talked about Sherrill’s currently DIY project – painting an armoire. The friend stated that there was nothing alarming during the phone call, and nothing suggested that anything was amiss.
Around 8:00 AM the following morning, on June 7th, 1992, Janelle began calling Suzie at her house, trying to make plans to meet up and go to the waterpark. No one answered the phone. Janelle didn’t think anything of it – they’d all be up late the night before. She figured her friends were still sleeping.
Around 12:20 PM, Janelle and her boyfriend arrived at Suzie and Sherrill’s home. Multiple calls to the house had gone unanswered, but Janelle was determined to wake up her friends and get on the road.
When Janelle and her boyfriend got there, they noticed that all three cars were there – Sherrill’s, Stacy’s, and Suzie’s. They also noticed that there was glass on the front porch. The glass of the porch light was broken, but the lightbulb was still intact. Janelle’s boyfriend, trying to be helpful, swept up the glass. Janelle was barefoot, and he didn’t want her to hurt herself walking on it. He then threw the glass in the grass, along the fence line. Unknowingly, he may have destroyed crucial evidence.
Janelle also noticed that the door to the house was unlocked, which was odd. Janelle and her boyfriend entered the house, but couldn’t find any sign of Sherrill, Stacy, or Suzie. Even more strange, they found all of the women’s belongings untouched. There were no signs of a struggle.
Going further into the house, Janelle found Cinnamon, Sherrill and Suzie’s Yorkshire Terrier, who appeared to be agitated and stressed. Sherrill and Suzie would have never left their dog in such a state.
While looking through the house, the phone rang. Janelle picked up, thinking it might be one of the women calling to check in with the others. Instead, the caller made explicit sexual innuendos. Janelle stated that he’d sounded ‘teen-ish’. Janelle hung up, but the phone rang again. She picked up again, and hung up when the same caller made the same crass innuendos.
Though they were concerned about the phone call, Janelle and her boyfriend left Sherrill and Suzie’s home.
Hours later, Janis McCall was growing more and more worried. Stacy hadn’t gotten in touch with her, and that wasn’t like her at all. When Janis phoned Janelle’s home, she expected to hear from Stacy. She was mildly annoyed to discover that Stacy wasn’t there – in fact, Stacy hadn’t spent the night. When Janelle’s mother informed Janis that Stacy and Suzie had gone to Suzie’s home, that’s where Janis was headed.
Suzie and Sherrill had recently moved into their home, after Sherrill divorced her husband. The move had been so recent that Janis didn’t have the phone number for the new house. As such, she decided to go straight there, and look for Stacy.
When she arrived, she ran into Janelle and her boyfriend. They’d come to check on their friends again. They told Janis about their earlier visit. Janis grew more concerned as she entered the house.
Inside the house, Janis found all three of the women’s purses lined up on the floor of Suzie’s room. Stacy’s clothes were neatly folded, and placed on top of her shoes on the dresser. It looked as though the girls had gotten home, and gotten ready for bed. There was evidence in the bathroom that the girls had taken off their makeup. Janis also noticed that the television was on, but the screen was fuzzy. Janis also noticed that Sherrill’s cigarettes were still inside the house. Which was strange. Sherrill was a chain smoker, she would have never have left them behind willingly.
Janis knew something was wrong. She immediately called the police – it had been almost 16 hours since any of the women had last been seen. After Janis hung up with the police, she noticed a ‘strange’ message on the answering machine. She listened to it, and then accidentally erased the tape.
When police arrived, an extremely apologetic Janis explained what happened to police. Janelle also told them about the calls she received. While intrigued, the police didn’t believe that the calls had anything to do with each other.
Police also noticed that the blinds had been moved, as if someone had moved them aside to look out the window. They also found a cake in the fridge. The cake was a congratulatory cake for Suzie’s graduation.
As police investigated the scene, they estimated that ten to twenty people had been in and out, corrupting the scene. Regardless, they got to work. The crime lab gathered everything they could. The swept up and collected the discarded glass, they collected fignerprints, footprints, the answering machine, and walked through the house carefully, gathering evidence.
Police began fanning out, speaking to all of the friends and family of the missing women. Police were trying to determine if someone close to one of the women – or all of the women – could have been responsible.
As police began their investigation, Janis took to investigating in her own way. She began making, printing, and distributing posters to anyone and everyone. She asked neighbours to place the posters in their windows. She asked shops and restaurants to put them in the windows of their stores. Janis would not give up.
Soon, the FBI became involved. With more resources allocated to the case, the community of Springfield were hopeful. They began looking into suspects.
At one point, police began looking into Sherrill’s son, and Suzie’s brother, Bartt Streeter. Bartt had a history of substance abuse, and was known to get agitated, and sometimes violent, when he drank. Shortly before the women disappeared, Bartt had gotten into a heated argument with his mother over his drinking. However, further investigation ruled him out. Bartt had an alibi – he’d been passed out at his home after a night of excessive drinking.
Police then began looking into Suzie’s ex-boyfriend. Suzie had broken up with him a few months before, and had even given a statement to the police about him.
Suzie’s ex-boyfriend, and a friend, had been caught causing mischief. They’d been caught breaking into graveyards and mausoleums. They were stealing gold teeth from the corpses, and then selling them for cash.
When the two were questioned by police, they claimed to have been at a rock concert the night of the disappearance. Police have never been able to verify, or corroborate, this alibi.
While the two men were being questioned, their behaviour drew police attention. While they were fully cooperative, one of them made the statement that he hoped the women were dead. While strange, this is not proof of anything.
Despite their willingness to be helpful, police have never been able to fully rule the two men out as suspects.
Following this, a witness came forward with a possible sighting. They stated that at around 6:00 AM, the morning of the disappearance, they’d been sitting on their front porch when they saw a van pull into the neighbouring driveway. The witness stated that it was Suzie Streeter who was driving the van. They also stated they heard a man in the back of the van tell Suzie: “Don’t do anything stupid”.
This information was released to the public, and tips came flooding in. Investigators looked into every tip. Even though the colour of the van sometimes changed, the make and model always stayed the same.
Soon after, another tip came in stating that the women had been buried on a farm in Webster County. Police obtained a search warrant, but nothing was ever found.
On December 31st, 1992, the case was featured on America’s Most Wanted. A man called into the hotline, and said that he had information about the disappearance of The Springfield Three. The call was unfortunately disconnected when an operator tried to link the caller up to the Springfield police. The police appealed for the caller to contact them, as he had proven to have “prime knowledge” of what had happend to Sherill, Suzie, and Stacy. The man never called back.
In 1997, Suzie and Sherrill were legally declared dead.
Shortly after this, another suspect was brought to the attention of the Springfield police.
Robert Craig Cox was convicted as a robber and kidnapper in Forida in 1997 for the murder of Sharon Zellers in the 1970s. While incarcerated, Florida investigators began looking into Cox’s history. They soon got in touch with Springfield police.
In 1992, Cox had been working as a utility installer in Springfield. He’d been working on a project, installing cables underground just a few blocks from Suzie and Sherrill’s home at the time of the disappearances. He was interviewed at the time, and told investigators that he’d been at home the night of the disappearances, and the following morning he’d gone to church with his girlfriend.
While his girlfriend later recanted her statment, stating that Cox had asked her to say that. His parents, however, stood by their son, and corroborated his alibi, stating that he’d been at home the night The Springfield Three disappeared.
That didn’t stop Cox from teasing and taunting authorities, though. He never admitted responsibility, but he did say: “I just know they’re dead”. Cox allegedly wanted recognition for the murders. But he also stated that he would only tell anyone what happened to the women after his mother had passed.
Cox hasn’t spoken of the case again, but he hasn’t been ruled out.
Another suspect came to light when Steven Eugene Garrison told police that a friend of his confessed to killing the three women while the two were drunk at a party. Police believed him to be credible – Garrison had information that had been unknown to the public.
On Garrison’s word, police issued three search warrants for two sties in western Webster county. Garrison assured police that they would find the women, and clues as to their abduction there. He also stated that they would find a moss green van that had driven the women out there about 12 miles away from where they would be found.
The site was familiar to Springfield police. The property had been investigated in 1990 during the investigation of the disappearance of two other residents. The property owner at the time pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in a case of a drug deal gone wrong.
Police were so convinced of Garrison’s information, a judge issued a gag order on the search warrants. No one knows what was on them, or if anything of substance has been found.
At this time, Garrison is serving a 40 year sentence for terrorizing, raping, and sodomizing a Springfield college student in 1993.
Police have since backed off of Garrison as a suspect, though he is still considered a person of interest.
In 2007, crime reporter Kathee Baird received a tip that the women’s bodies had been buried under the foundation of a parking garage at Cox Hospital. The hospital, and the parking garage, were under construction at the time The Springfield Three disappeared.
Not wanting to leave a tip unchecked, Kathee invited an expert in ground penetrating radar to examine the parking garage. Rick Norland ended up finding three anomalies of ‘roughly the same size’. He further stated that two of them were parallel, and one was perpendicular.
While this seems promising, police are hesitant to investigate, despite consent from the hospital to do so. Springfield police claim that the deconstruction, then reconstruction, would be too costly, and that the tip was not founded in logic.
Despite the FBI, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Springfield Police Department, and other law enforcement agencies investigating the disappearance of the Springfield Three, no positive leads as to their disappearance or location have ever come to light.
The case of the three missing women – the Springfield Three – remains an open investigation. There is currently a $42,000 reward for any leads or information that will lead directly to an arrest and a resolution of this case.
If you have any information in this case, please call the Springfield Crime Stoppers line at 417-689-TIPS.
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Sources:
Where Are the Springfield 3? Inside the Case That Has Baffled Family and Police for 27 Years – Caitlin Keating – People
The Springfield Three: A look back at the cold case 28 years later – Joey Schneider – KY3
The Vanished Podcast – Episode 5 – The Springfield Three
People Magazine Investigates – Season 4, Episode 1 – The Springfield Three – Investigation Discovery
Springfield Three Wikipedia page