In the early hours of June 7, 1992, a puzzling and chilling event unfolded in Springfield, Missouri. Sherrill Levitt, her daughter Suzie Streeter, and Suzie’s friend Stacy McCall vanished without a trace, leaving behind a confounding scene that haunts investigators and the public to this day. The mysterious case of the Springfield Three remains unsolved, despite thousands of tips and numerous leads.
The Night of the Disappearance
The evening of June 6 marked an exciting milestone for Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall – their high school graduation. The two friends, along with other classmates, attended various graduation parties throughout the night, celebrating their accomplishments and future endeavors. At around 2:00 a.m., the pair decided to spend the night at their friend Janelle Kirby’s house. However, when they found it too crowded, they opted to stay at Suzie’s home, where her mother Sherrill Levitt lived. The house at 1717 East Delmar Street was where they were last seen.
The Disappearance
The following morning, Janelle and her boyfriend, concerned that Suzie and Stacy hadn’t shown up for their planned water park visit, went to Sherrill’s house. To their surprise, the front door was unlocked. Upon entering, they found no sign of the three women, even though their cars were parked outside. Janelle noticed the porch light’s shattered glass lampshade, which she and her boyfriend unwittingly swept up, inadvertently destroying potential evidence.
Inside the house, they discovered the women’s purses, Suzie and Stacy’s clothing from the night before, and their cigarettes. The family dog, a Yorkshire Terrier named Cinnamon, seemed agitated. Janelle also answered two unsettling phone calls from an unidentified male making sexual innuendos.
Later that day, Stacy’s mother, Janis McCall, visited the house after failing to reach her daughter by phone. Janis found the women’s purses on the living room floor and her daughter’s neatly folded clothes from the previous night. Frantic, Janis called the police to report the three women missing. While checking the phone’s answering machine, she listened to a strange message, but accidentally erased it. The police were highly interested in the call and believed it may have contained a clue. They didn’t think it was connected to the prank calls Janelle received.
Over the next few hours, numerous worried friends and family members visited the house, further contaminating the crime scene. When officers arrived, they found no signs of struggle apart from the shattered porch light. Sherrill’s bed appeared to have been slept in, but all personal property, including purses, money, cars, keys, and cigarettes, were left behind.
Potential Leads
On December 31, 1992, a man called the America’s Most Wanted hotline with information about the women’s disappearances. However, the call was disconnected when the operator tried to connect him to Springfield investigators. The police believed the caller had “prime knowledge of the abductions” and publicly appealed for him to contact them, but he never did. In 1997, Sherrill and Suzie were declared legally dead, but their case files remain officially filed under “missing.”
Throughout the years, multiple leads emerged, including a tip that the women’s bodies were buried in the foundations of the south parking garage at Cox Hospital. In 2007, a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) scan revealed three anomalies consistent with a “grave site location.” However, the Springfield Police Department considered the lead not credible, citing the lack of evidence and the high cost of digging up the area and reconstructing the structure.
In 1997, Robert Craig Cox, a convicted kidnapper and robber, claimed to have knowledge about the women’s fate. While imprisoned in Texas, he told journalists that the three women had been murdered and their bodies would never be found. In 1992, Cox had been living in Springfield, and during the initial investigation, he provided an alibi that he was at church with his girlfriend the morning after the disappearances. However, his girlfriend later recanted her statement, saying that Cox had asked her to lie. Cox’s parents also confirmed his presence at their home on the night of the disappearances.
Authorities were uncertain if Cox was genuinely involved in the case or if he was seeking recognition for the alleged murders by issuing false statements. He told authorities and journalists that he would disclose what happened to the three women only after his mother passed away.
The Unsolved Case
Despite thousands of tips from the public, the Springfield Three case remains unsolved as of 2023. In June 1997, a bench was dedicated to the women inside the Victim’s Memorial Garden in Springfield’s Phelps Grove Park as a solemn reminder of their unexplained disappearance.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Sherrill Levitt, Suzie Streeter, and Stacy McCall, please contact the Springfield Police Department at (417) 864-1810.
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