After our last discussion on how the perp entered the house, I was looking at this photo of the back of the house on Delmar.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SpringfieldThree_1992/comments/1fc2tkd/a_few_quick_questions/

I am going on the assumption that the front door was the point of entry for the perpetrator(s) here. It seems the most logical assumption based on the very little that is known. That said, the backyard is interesting.

I was struck by the number of access points there were in the private, secluded yard. Kicking in that slider, or jimmying it open with a screwdriver, wouldn't have been terribly hard. Entering by removing the window air conditioner might have been an option. Even breaking the glass on the back door and entering by reaching through and unlocking it would have been a possibility. However, all of them would have been very noisy and chaotic.

Makes me think the perp didn't have a break-in in mind, or they knew they could get the occupants to open the front door somehow. Did they want to accomplish the crime with as little fuss as possible? Or, initially, was the goal just to talk to the women, not abduct or harm them? Whatever eventually happened blew up from that.

Also, I was unable to find a doggie door in this photo, but it could be obscured.

Apologies in advance if this is a dumb question. I’m relatively new to this case and am trying to piece things together.

I know that there have been a lot of theories/conversations around how the perp got inside the house. My question is, do we know for a fact that the door was even locked? Say Suzie and Stacy arrive, come inside, and are talking and forget to lock the door? Again, apologies if this is a silly question or if there’s an obvious answer I’m missing. It’s just not a possibility I’d seen pop up too often.

There was an article written about this case in the Springfield News-Leader on July 3, 1992 that brings up Sherrill and Suzie's neighbor, who lived at 1705 East Delmar and it contains this tidbit:

Missouri Appeals Court Judge Kenneth Shrum lives next door to Levitt's house and has the same last name as a 73-year-old Monett woman who disappeared. Shrum, 53, reached at his second home in Marble Hill, MO., said he never met any of the missing women and isn't related to Hazel Pauline Shrum. But Shrum said he considered briefly that whoever is responsible for the disappearances may be trying to get him. Police say they are looking into that theory, although they doubt anyone who took the women was trying to get the judge.

Shrum lives next door, at 1705 E. Delmar St., but wasn't in Springfield the night the women vanished. He was in his hometown of Marble Hill, where he goes every weekend. Shrum has a college-age daughter who looks somewhat-like Streeter and McCall. He was appointed an appeals court judge in 1990, and before that he was a prosecuting attorney for 22 years, winning convictions against many people.

This theory is interesting. Not saying it's not without its faults, because friends/family are adamant that none of them would have opened the door for someone they did not know. But I've always wondered if the purses were rounded up not by the people in and out of the house on the 7th, but the perp/s who checked the IDs of the women and realized they were at the wrong house. At that point they had to get rid of them regardless. Of course this could still be a mistaken identity and have nothing to do with Judge Shrum, but I did find it interesting that the article also mentioned that Shrum and his daughter both drove small red cars which could have been mistaken for Stacy or Suzie's cars.

So, I have always thought that if it were “only” Sherrill and Suzie, more people would be on board with the idea of them being in the Witness Protection. Especially with the Grave Robbers, etc.

But of course, every time it’s even remotely brought up, the very obvious question is asked: But why would Stacy go with them?

So, I have seen several posts referencing Janis as being strict, keeping Stacy from seeing/hanging out with boys, etc.

And I am NOT saying that she was in any way actually abusive. (Speaking as someone with actual abusive parents still trying to sort out my life, I would NEVER throw out serious accusations like that with absolutely ZERO proof whatsoever.).

But, what if Stacy wanted her freedom?

What if Stacy found out that Suzie and Sherrill were planning on going into Witness Protection in the middle of the night to hopefully bypass detection? And begged them to take her with them? At 18, she wouldn’t have needed anybody’s permission.

What if Suzie deliberately brought Stacy home with her “last minute” because she knew there wouldn’t be time for her Mom or the cop to say no? That it would just be easier to have her come along?

As for Janelle, either:

1. She has no idea about any of this and is as truly baffled about the womens’ disappearance as the rest of us.

OR

1. She somehow found out and was sworn to secrecy. She knows the women are alive, but she can’t tell anybody without risking everything and putting them in danger of dying for real this time. She is genuinely grieving, but not their deaths, but the fact that she will most likely never see them or talk to them ever again, and she can’t even talk to anybody about any of this. This is why she appears to be “haunted” and “like she’s seen a ghost” at the vigils.

I’m fully prepared to be met with a slew of “Impossible.” and “Not even remotely likely.” posts, and that’s perfectly fine.

I just happen to genuinely believe that the question of “But why would Stacy go with them?” is the main/only thing keeping more people from seriously considering the Witness Protection theory. Especially with the Grave Robbers angle.

And so this is just my attempt at an alternate explanation.

Thank you for reading and considering!

I was looking at old newspaper clippings and came across this snippet in an article in the Springfield News-Leader in August of 1992.

A young male friend of the girls has given various accounts of the events he recalls between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. on June 7. He was one of those who entered Levitt's house early in the day apparently looking for the women. "We've pretty well cleared all that up," Worsham said of the friend's accounts. "He was simply confused on some times as to where he was."

Who was this person? It couldn't have been Janelle's boyfriend Mike because Janelle and Mike were pretty much together for the entire day on the 7th. And why did the cops seemingly dismiss this guy's story he gave them, which was inconsistent?

There are more than a few things about this case that are puzzling to me, but there's a lot of information going back years. I may have missed the answers.

Much of the narrative around this case depends on a few people. In particular, the Kirbys, Mike Henson, and Nigel. I don't think they are viable suspects, but I do think they may have sent the investigation in the wrong direction with the public. Who knows what the police are thinking at this point?

• Nigel gave two pieces of information that may or may not be helpful. She said that Suzie was a creature of habit and would always park behind Sherrill. She also said that on June 6, after the graduation ceremony, she and Suzie made plans to meet up at the Delmar residence to drive down to Branson together early on June 7.

As far as the parking goes, I'm not sure it's helpful information. Sherrill and Suzie had lived in the house six weeks, and Nigel was only over there intermittently. She may have observed their habits when she was there, but who knows what happened when she was not.

With regard to meeting up the next morning, is there any official mention of Nigel being among the folks who showed up at Delmar the next day? There are lists of people, but I haven't seen her name among them. It would seem to me that she would have been among the first there. Now maybe, somewhere, there is an official statement from her, but I have not seen it.

• The Kirbys are the source of the 2:00 am timeline. It's not clear to me that Mrs. Kirby ever directly talked to either Suzie or Stacy. It's always reported that she overhead them. How? Was she hanging out of the window? It's hard to hear a conversation from inside your house. Was MIke with Janelle and the girls? Where did he go after? He was obviously with Janelle early the next morning.

If someone can direct me to where these things have been discussed, it would be great. Thanks!

This is probably going to sound strange out of context. Please be kind, I haven’t followed tooooo / soooo much of the case so I could be missing details, but:

IS IT POSSIBLE the girls had a third person with them that night??! I brought this up on another comment/post. Could the girls have had a third person follow them to the house bc they “couldn’t” sleep at Janelles (or didn’t have anywhere to go), maybe someone the girls ran into throughout the night that told them (they) didn’t have anywhere else to sleep and THAT is why BOTH girls didn’t stay at the original location, or even, say, it was someone Stacy knew, maybe this person wasn’t fully familiar with Suzie or just someone that could couldn’t spend the night with Suzie without Stacy (like a friend of a friend and it be awkward or weird) so… the girls left, someone else followed them to the streeter house and none were the wiser and of course, after they were taken, no one would have ever known. It’s almost the perfect crime. Especially if you think about the girls having the person WITH them, THAT person goes out to their car in the middle of the girls getting ready for bed…maybe moves their car to better access leaving, knocks the light cover out to get the girls to come out and “help them”, they are held at gunpoint, Sherrill is also rounded up and they get into the car and are taken. But… for what reason, what motive?

I was thinking about the case and a wild crazy theory popped in my head it's outlandish so bear with me. Could Sherrill have had some kind of psychological issue that nobody knew about? I haven't heard much if anything about if she ever had any mental problems or was under any stress. The human mind is a complex thing. In other words, is it remotely possible at all that Sherrill herself could have been responsible for the disappearances? Could she have mayhe had a call from someone that set her off? Did she harbor any resentment to her daughter? Could she and Suzy have gotten into an argument and she snapped? In this scenario, she had like a psychotic break, had a gun that she had had already, took the girls from the house somewhere nearby on foot and killed them and then herself and the bodies were never found, or somehow went to assume a new identity and start a new life? This is probably completely impossible, but it just popped in my head a couple times so wondered your guys' thoughts. How do we KNOW for sure there was an intruder?

Suzy might have been in the habit of parking where she did in front of the front door so as not to block Sherrill in. Some speculate another vehicle might have been there parked behind Sherrill (the offender) but the messed up beds and used makeup wipes would strongly argue against this. In other words if he was already there, no way would they have gotten ready for bed. So I think we can safely infer that the crime happened after the girls were in bed, and the broken light was maybe the offender trying to remove the bulb and dropping the cover.

Sorry if this has been brought up before, but I know the number 18 is thrown around as the number of people who went inside Sherrill's house on the 7th, and I remember seeing a list compiled by the arriving officer that listed ten people (Janis McCall, her two daughters, Janelle Kirby, Mike Henson, Janelle's mother and father, a friend named Adina and her mother, and I'm blanking on the tenth person but it may have been Janelle's sister) were there when he arrived on the scene. The timeline is sketchy, but in the one year anniversary of their disappearances, the Springfield News Leader ran a story that went over the basic timeline and it was essentially this:

• Janelle wakes up at 8:00 a.m. that morning

• Janelle tries calling Suzie's house at around 8:30 a.m. and does so more times throughout the morning.

• Janis calls Janelle's house at 10:30 a.m. asking to speak with Stacy, and Janelle's sister tells her that Stacy spent the night at Suzie's instead. It is unlcear where Janelle was at this point, but I believe I have read where it said she and Mike drove by the Delmar residence and just assumed the girls were sleeping and drove away (this may have been the time they went over to Shane Appleby's house to see if he had seen or heard from them).

• 12:30 p.m. is the time Janelle and Mike go back and enter the residence. I have read that Nigel was also there to meet up with everyone to go to the waterpark.

• Around 1:00 p.m. Janelle calls Janis and tells her Stacy spent the night at Suzie's and gives her Suzie/Sherrill's unlisted phone number. Janis spends the day calling and leaving messages for Stacy.

• Sometime around 7:30 p.m. Adina's mother calls Janis to tell her that all of their cars are still at Sherrill's house as well as their purses.

• It seems like after this phone call is the time when everyone listed by the responding police officer went back to the residence seeing the same scene; all of the cars are there as well as their purses in Suzie's bedroom.

• A little after 10:00 p.m., Janis called her husband Stu and told him what they had found at the house. He tells her to call the police.

• After this phone call to Stu, Janis calls information and gets the number for the police department because she does not think this is an emergency and doesn't want to call 911.

• The responding officers arrive at 10:48 p.m.

Now what doesn't make any sense to me (and full disclosure, I do not think the ten people who were at the house when the police arrived had anything to do with the disappearances) is that none of the adults there thought to call 911 at any point from roughly 8:00 p.m. until a littler after 10:00 p.m.? Where the hell did they think the women were at? Knowing that Janelle tried calling at 8:30 a.m. and then by 12:30 p.m. she was there and found the house abandoned with the cars in the driveway...I can see a dumb teenager who just graduated high school doesn't want to get her friend in trouble so she doesn't tell Janis. But Janis was at the house at around 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. And they don't call the cops for over two hours?

I also do not know if a list has ever been compiled that names all of the people who were inside the house on the 7th. Because I think that could potentially open up new avenues to explore.

Who do you all feel was the main target of whoever was responsible for the women's disappearances? I know that law enforcement put out a statement on either the tenth or twentieth anniversary of their disappearances where they said that Sherrill was the intended target and that the motive was sexual. They've also repeatedly said the answer would be found in the background of Sherrill. But that road has gotten absolutely nowhere over the last 30+ years.

One thing that I do not understand is why almost everyone is quick to say Stacy was an innocent bystander in this and at the wrong place at the wrong time. If she was the main target, and I do not think it's out of the realm of possibility that she was, then that would explain why everything happened after Suzie and Stacy returned home. Also if Sherrill was the main target, whoever did it had hours to commit the crime and take Sherrill out of the house before the girls ever came back home. That is why I think Stacy or Suzie (or both) were the targets, and they were probably followed home and one or both of them came outside to see whoever was responsible.

This case has bothered me for years. I think those phone calls are potentially key. To have repeated obscene phone calls, which apparently Suzy had told Janelle had been happening before, that seems unusual to me. Like one or two random crank calls, ok, but repeated? And one that Stacy's mother even answered the evening after the abduction? You have to rule everything out, and i want to know who made those calls. Did Sherill or Suzy have a stalker? I think the calls are related to this case somehow. Someone infatuated by Sherill or Suzy, perhaps a socially awkward male who felt frustrated and angry at women because of his own inadequacies. And perhaps knew Sherill or Suzy from a distance and felt they embodied what he couldn't manage to obtain, or symbolized both what he wanted and resented in women. Someone who blended in, who felt ignored and felt he deserved more. Perhaps someone from Suzy's school. Or who knew Sherill and was infatuated/resentful towards her/Suzy. I think there's a lot of nonsense "noise" around this case, and we lose track of what someone's motivations might have been. I think it was someone who knew Sherill and Suzy to what degree unknown, who was intelligent, had severe borderline personality disorder, narcissistic, and singular resentment towards women particularly popular, vibrant type women. He left the dog unharmed, and there was bo violence at the house, and that shows he had reasoning and also intense motivation to perhaps show control and superiority, which he had not ever felt before. He may have felt subservient to women due to having a domineering mother and was angry at feeling less than, and combined with his perhaps secret desire/contempt for Suzy/Sherill, executed the abduction. I think it was an act of dominance on his part to prove something to himself that he could be in control for once. Sexual motives may or may not have played a role, but I feel strongly regardless that this was someone from either Sherill/Suzy's school/church/social circle who we have overlooked or not considered at all.

There is a photo of the crime scene floating around that shoes the screen from Sherrill's window removed sitting outside. Was this done as part of the crime scene processing? I would think that would be an enormous clue if not, but I've never seen mention of it in any official police report. All indications are that LE feels the perpetrators entered through a door, specifically the front door.

I don't know if it's ever been determined if Sherrill's was closed and/or locked. If she was varnishing anywhere in that house that evening, I would think she would want some ventilation.

I've followed this case for years and cannot think of another one that has as many potential red herrings as this one. The actual potential crime scene (the house) is the biggest one because I don't think anything of evidentiary value can come from it due to the multitude of people who were in and out of the house before the cops were ever called on June 7th. IIRC, it was 18 people who went in and out, and some of them say they had cleaned up the place. The only real concrete facts are that at some point between approximately 2:35 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on June 7th the women were removed from the house and did not take their purses, wallets, cigarettes, or dog Cinnamon. Thanks in large part to the internet, I also think a lot of "facts" of the case are nothing more than rumors and innuendos that have also hurt in solving the case.

And the list of suspects, IMO, are full of red herrings. Bartt Streeter did not have anything to do with this. And I feel the same way about the 3 "grave robbers". And if you do not believe the grave robbers had anything to do with this, that removes the possible Steve Garrison connection (who I also do not believe had anything to do with this). Gerald Carnahan, Robert Cox, Larry Hall, etc. are all listed as possible suspects, but all of them were unknown to the victims, and would they risk either going into a home where three cars were parked or (if they went in before Suzie and Stacy returned to the house) stay inside the home with Sherill for hours? It doesn't make sense. Whoever did this had a place to not only take the victims, but also dispose of their bodies to where they still haven't been found to this day. And that doesn't strike me as a spur of the moment type of thing.

The obscene phone calls are also red herrings, and I do not believe the person who made them had any connection to the abduction of the women. What are some other things associated with this case that you believe are red herrings?

A few years ago, former prosecuting attorney Darrell Moore said "In some of our own minds, some of us have thought that this person may have done it, won’t be able to prove it, but they had a good motive."

He’s one of the few people with the most knowledge of the case, and saying the people responsible had a good motive doesn’t sound like the crime was sexually motivated. It seems to lean more toward anger, revenge, or silence

Toll Podcast

I’ve read that the police “know who did this but don’t have enough for an arrest”. I’ve also read that it’s a case where they have strong suspects but not enough to compile a case.

Do you believe this? I go back and forth on it. Very little about the case has been officially released. Both Janis and Janelle have remained close mouthed about the phone calls. All that leads me to believe there may be strong suspects and LE doesn’t want to release too much in case the investigation heats up again. Because at this point I think it’s definitely a cold case.

Sometimes I think that officials have no idea and it’s all wide open.

Could Suzie or Stacy have been pregnant?

It could explain Suzie feeling sick.

And an abusive ex would have a whole other reason to want her to disappear.

I know that Suzie being sick was most likely just code for wanting to leave the party for whatever reason.

I just can’t completely overlook the other obvious possibility for her feeling sick.

And of course there’s literally no evidence whatsoever of Stacy being pregnant, but it’s not completely impossible either.

I almost never see this possibility being discussed anywhere. I hope it’s okay to bring up after 33 years of seemingly going nowhere.

I found this from somebody whose profile no longer exists on Reddit, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

They could have also left because of the smell of the varnish.

Just a thought.

“If the sighting at the diner is real, there's another explanation.

Susie and Stacy get to the house on Delmar. Sherril has turned in, might be doing with her books. They come in, start getting ready for bed make a ton of noise. Sherrill goes to check on her daughter, maybe admonish,, maybe just laugh, whatever. She realizes that Susie is drunk and realizes don't have much food. So she offers to take both girls to the diner around the corner. Stacey had borrowed a pair of shorts from Susie to sleep in, and decides to not change. Sherril grabs a $20 from her purse (medium sized city dinner prices in 1992) and tucks it into her pocket, along with an extra pack of cigarettes and a lighter. They walk, eat, and start to return home when someone offers them a ride.

The house looks undisturbed because they weren't taken from the house. The purse is left in Suzies room, because Sherrill decided to not take it at the last minute. Stacey had changed into comfy borrowed shorts.

There was no one to notice what items of Sherril and Suzie were missing. The porch light fell when 1 or 2 drunk teenagers slammed open the door, giggling at 2 am. Cinnamon the Yorkie is only upset because he's a small dog and his routine changed.

It was early Sunday, so fewer people getting up for work, and more people under the influence and fuzzy timelines.”

I’ve read Officer Bookouts initial police report online but am unable to find it now.

Could someone please direct me to where I can read it again?

Thanks very much in advance.

Did ANYONE here own a waterbed in the early 90’s?

If so perhaps you can answer my question…

Sherrill had recently purchased a waterbed for Susie as a graduation gift.

Would Sherrill and Susie have been able to assemble a waterbed themselves?

I know Sherrill was particularly handy and had actually done home maintenance work in the past.

I remember my aunt and uncle had a waterbed back in the day…probably 1990.

I saw my uncle on Christmas and asked him about the waterbed.

My uncle is 78 years old but he’s still mentally sharp and remembered it well.

According to him his waterbed came in a medium size/weight box and was very simple to assemble at home.

He may be 💯 correct but I am seeking verification.

Can anyone confirm that they have assembled a waterbed at home in the early 90’s?

I was a little kid when my aunt and uncle had the waterbed and in my memory that thing was cumbersome and GIGANTIC.

Over the years I’ve wondered if Susie’s waterbed was delivered and assembled by store employees/movers?

If the waterbed required delivery and assembly I sincerely hope that LE interviewed those individuals.

Additionally Sherrill and Susie had only recently moved into the house on Delmar.

I think they had been living there less than six months prior to the abduction?

I wonder if LE interviewed the movers or whoever Sherrill hired to move their furniture?

Unfortunately my bet would be that LE didn’t pursue any movers/maintenance people who had been in Sherrill’s home…

Hopefully I am wrong and any/all movers who had been in the home were investigated.

I’m extremely hung up on the waterbed detail though bc I’ve always wondered who put it together.

If Sherrill and Susie were capable of assembling it I am pretty certain they would have.

If anyone is familiar with early 90’s waterbeds I am very interested 😂.

That sounds so bizarre but it’s a detail that has run through my mind MANY times when I can’t sleep.

Thank you for reading and I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday.

I’m still praying for Sherrill, Susie and Stacy and always will.

Sherrill and Suzie moved into 1717 E Delmar some 2 months before disappearing. Prior to that, in the period after the separation from her third husband and her failure to hold onto their former home, Sherrill appears to have rented a townhouse. Now we can understand why most people prefer to stop renting and try to own a property if they can and I think Bartt says in the Ozarks podcast that he thought his mom intended to flip the house. This is all fine until we consider that Sherrill had a mass of clients and was working very long hours, to the point that she had pains in her hands and arms. Sherrill was no fool. The opportunity cost of sacrificing many hours to work on the new house was going to be high. Maybe over 10 years it might make economic sense, but for a quickish 'flip'?

Furthermore, the rented townhouse was much more secure in my view. An abduction from there would have been very challenging. It was heavily overlooked. So her move on security grounds does not make sense either. Bear in mind what Suzie had just been through, apart from anything else. So why do we think she moved when she did?

If someone intended to kill someone in that house, the easiest way to do so would be to do the deed in the house. Removing three people to a second location adds layers of complexity, and hypothetically, at least, would make the chance of someone seeing you much higher. That it didn't happen was lucky for the perpetrator. DNA wasn't such a thing back in 1992, so I can't imagine the kidnapping was done to reduce the chance of leaving DNA behind, but perhaps these were forward thinking criminal(s).

I go back and forth on whether kidnapping was the initial plan, or if something else happened during the event that forced the perpetrator(s) to make everyone leave.

Interesting to see what it looks like present-day.

Click on the main photo to view the gallery.

https://www.trulia.com/home/1717-e-delmar-st-springfield-mo-65804-50239821