June 3, 2025 • 18 mins
She went on a road trip to help a friend get out of trouble, but Karen Denise Wells never found her way home.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the Pennsylvania State Police Carlisle Station at 717-249-2121.
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com. Thank you The Charley Project, The Doe Network, Local 21 News, ABC 27, The Sentinel, The Patriot News, News On 6, Fox 43, Newspapers.com, Daily Voice.com, the Trace Evidence Podcast, Reddit, Namus, Websleuths and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode written by The Certified Roarikle and John Lordan, produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2025
If you have any information about this case, please contact the Pennsylvania State Police Carlisle Station at 717-249-2121.
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com.
Do you have any comments, or a case you’d like to suggest? You’ll find a comment form and case submission link at LordanArts.com. Thank you The Charley Project, The Doe Network, Local 21 News, ABC 27, The Sentinel, The Patriot News, News On 6, Fox 43, Newspapers.com, Daily Voice.com, the Trace Evidence Podcast, Reddit, Namus, Websleuths and Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode written by The Certified Roarikle and John Lordan, produced by LordanArts.
This is not intended to act as a means of proving or disproving anything related to the investigation. It is a conversation about the current known facts and theories being discussed. Everyone directly or indirectly referred to is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
LordanArts 2025
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
It was nineteen ninety four, a year when you had
to show up at the mall to meet people. Amazon
only sold books, and Yahoo was the place to check
your email and maybe stumble into a chat room or two.
Life felt simpler back then, and for many it was. However,
becoming an adult and finding your place in this world
was just as challenging as it is today. When you're
(00:42):
a young mother, that can add another level of complexity
to deal with. That year, Karen Denise Wells would leave
on a road trip to help an old friend and
never come home. Somewhere along that cross country drive, Denise vanished,
leaving behind her car, her belongings, and a trail of
contradictions that still haven't been explained over thirty years later.
(01:05):
What happened during those final hours and how did her
story take such a seriously mysterious turn near a quiet
Pennsylvania motel. Karen Denise Wells was born on September twenty second,
nineteen seventy to parents William and Diorma. The family resided
in Haskell, Oklahoma, where Karen chose to go by her
middle name, Denise. Denise was described as a loving and
(01:29):
caring person by those close to her, including her best
friend at Haskell High School, Melissa Shephard. However, her family
did become concerned. During her teen years, Denise was caught
several times drinking, and while her parents implemented punishments, Denise
continued down this risky path. After high school, Denise decided
she wanted to make her own rules, so she moved
(01:51):
out of her parents' home. This would take her more
than a thousand miles away from her parents, all the
way to South Dakota to live with her aunt. Unfortunately,
this wouldn't turn out to be the cure for the
troubles that Denise was struggling with. While living in South Dakota,
she would find herself in even more trouble, including being
arrested and charged with forgery. This would get Denise placed
(02:14):
on probation, and, with the experiment of living in another
state seemingly failing, Denise decided it would be best for
her to move back to Haskell, Oklahoma. Her family was
pleased she was back. However, Denise came back with some
surprising news for them. She was going to become a mother.
There is very little information on the father of this child,
(02:35):
at least in terms of what's been released publicly. It's
also unclear if Denise even told him about the pregnancy.
She gave birth in January of nineteen ninety three to
a baby boy she would name William blake Wells. Denise
proved to be a caring mother who worked hard to
provide a good life for her son. This included her
getting a part time job working at Haskell Airport. There,
(02:57):
she was working for a man named Michael. The two
would grow close and eventually that would turn into a relationship.
There was just one problem, Michael was married. This didn't
seem to stop the pair. It's been said that Michael
was truly in love with Denise and even planned on
leaving his wife. While Denise was balancing life as a
(03:17):
working single mother, things for her friend Melissa Shepherd were
not going well at all. They hadn't spoken in a
few years, but when Denise got a phone call from Melissa,
she heard a troubling story. Melissa told Denise that things
were going so bad she was considering ending her own life.
Denise sprung into action. If one of her friends were
in trouble, she was going to do whatever she could
(03:39):
to help. She began preparing for a trip from Haskell, Oklahoma,
to Bergen County, New Jersey, over thirteen hundred miles away.
Denise had told other friends that her intent was to
bring Melissa back to Haskell with her to help her
get away from her troubles in New Jersey. In a
time before ways or Google Maps, Denise was getting paper
maps ready and planning the best route to take to
(04:02):
make it to Melissa. Denise did tell her parents about
the trip and asked if they would watch their grandson.
She told them that she'd be gone no more than
four or five days. They knew that Denise was comfortable
traveling long distances around the US. She was independent and
had previously made several trips to South Dakota alone. By
all accounts, she should be fine. Sunday, April tenth was
(04:24):
the day that Denise planned to start the drive to
New Jersey. Considering her plan of being home in four
to five days, she was going to need to get
in more than five hundred miles daily. Why she planned
on the trip in this way is unclear, but it's
very possible that she wanted to make it there before
Melissa came to some form of harm. Denise would drop
her son off at her parents' home around two pm
(04:46):
and was getting ready for a very long drive east,
a drive that she would never come back from. Between
when Denise Wells left her parents home at two pm
until about eleven pm that Sunday night is pretty much
gray zone in terms of understanding this case. No one's
quite certain where exactly Denise was in that timeframe or
(05:07):
what she was doing. Did she go home to take
a nap, did she visit her married boyfriend. What we
do know is that around eleven PM, Denise arrived at
a car rental location in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Once in her
white nineteen ninety three Plymouth acclaimed rental car, she headed out.
(05:36):
On Monday, April eleventh, Denise would make a stop in Indianapolis, Indiana,
essentially the halfway point to New Jersey. From there, she
placed a call to Melissa. Denise would set out on
the road again. At five twenty seven pm, Denise would
place yet another call to Melissa from the Hes gas
station along Rute eleven in Middlesex Township, Pennsylvania. During this call,
(05:58):
a decision was made that Denise should get a motel room.
She was nearing twenty hours of driving at that point,
around five forty five pm, Denise arrived at the Pike Motel,
located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in Middlesex Township. Denise didn't want
the room for the whole night, instead opting for an
hourly rate so she could nap and head out. The
(06:18):
owner of the motel stated that Denise appeared to be
very tired. Denise also asked for long distance telephone service
in her room. While Denise was in the motel room,
she made several calls to Melissa. Most of what they
talked about remains unknown. However, Melissa told Denise that she
would come to the motel and then Denise could follow
her back to her home in New Jersey. Melissa had
(06:41):
the impression that Denise was getting lost often on this trip.
The final call Denise made was at eight o five
pm two Melissa, and it was at this time that
Melissa claims Denise told her she was hungry and she
was going to head to McDonald's to grab something for
dinner and then head back to the motel to sleep.
This is the last time that Melissa claims to have
spoken to Denise. The motel owner would also state that
(07:03):
fifteen to twenty minutes after Denise checked in, she came
to the front desk asking for a pack of matches
and directions to a nearby McDonald's. The owner would also
tell investigators that thirty minutes later, a woman called asking
for directions to the motel. Many have assumed that that
call came from Melissa. Staff at the hotel saw Denise
(07:24):
leave and get into her rental vehicle, but that was
the last time that anyone saw Denise. Wells Now why
Melissa went out there isn't exactly clear. It seems strange
to drive that far and at that time of night,
and this has led to some speculation that there was
some form of drug pickup that may have been involved.
I haven't seen any information to confirm that, but there
(07:47):
does seem to be a third party here that we're
not fully aware of. A trooper working the case reported
to ABC twenty seven that Melissa had received a phone
call from that same area, but it was seventeen hours
before where Denise arrived there. When asked who that phone
call was from, Melissa says she doesn't know and that
she's not familiar with anyone that lives in that area.
(08:09):
Melissa would arrive at the Pike motel sometime around midnight.
She would tell the police that she knocked on Denise's
room and got no answer. She went to the front
office and asked them to let her into the room
because she was worried about her friend. The motel owner
said she attempted to call Denise's room, and when there
was no answer, she had her husband take the key
and let Melissa in. Upon entering the room, Melissa saw
(08:31):
no sign of Denise. Melissa would call the Middlesex Township
Police and report her friend missing at twelve forty nine
a m. The police arrived at the motel fairly quickly,
and upon entering the room, noted no signs of a struggle.
They noticed that the motel key was on the night
stand next to a pack of cigarettes. A bag was
on the bed, with some of Denise's clothes next to
(08:53):
the bag, and some of them were on the floor.
Something else they noticed was that a cigarette had been
lit but not smoked. It burnt down to the filter,
with the ash retaining its original shape. Melissa told police
that she was meeting Denise at the motel so she
could follow her back to her house, and she told
them quote, Denise was having trouble navigating. She couldn't find
(09:13):
my house. It's just all weird. It's too bad that
this case predates cell phone GPS tracking. There are theories
at range from Denise getting lost on the drive to
Denise actually making it to New Jersey and then heading
back to Pennsylvania, and with all those possibilities, there are
almost endless theories. Melissa would later tell the police that
(09:35):
her boyfriend had come with her. However, workers at the
motel noted that they saw two men with Melissa. They
were reportedly two men that she knew from a nightclub
she worked at. Why would she feel the need to
bring two men with her to meet up with Denise?
Is this another indicator that this trip wasn't simply about
one friend trying to help another. It seems like these
(09:56):
are questions that should be easy to answer, but unfortunately,
Melissa would stop cooperating with the police a year after
Denise vanished. She told police that she wanted to put
this incident behind her and move on with her life. Thankfully,
investigators would track down the two men who came with
Melissa that night, and their version of events differ a
lot from Melissa's. The two men claimed that as soon
(10:18):
as they pulled into the motel parking lot, Melissa noticed
the car was gone and she went ballistic. Now that's
an interesting point. If Denise had not made it to
Melissa's before all of this, how would Melissa know her
rental car well enough to determine that. The men also
told the police that the first place Melissa had them
go to look for Denise was at local bars, another
(10:42):
odd point, since Melissa told the police that Denise was
not a big drinker, so where had Denise gone? The
police would be called to an abandoned car located in
the westbound lane of a rural area in Perry County, Pennsylvania.
The next morning, about thirty five miles from the Pike Motel,
the police found her car. Both the driver and passenger
(11:02):
doors were open, the emergency blinkers were on, However, the
battery was dead. The gas gauge looked like it was
a quarter tank that was left, but apparently it was
faulty and the car was completely out of gas. The
inside of the car was littered with fast food wrappers, maps,
a soda bottle, and a pair of shoes also found
were Denise's birth certificate, her driver's license, and her probation card.
(11:26):
Her purse was found in a nearby ditch with money
still inside of it. It was said that investigators saw
signs of criminal activity, including drug use in the car.
I've found confirmation that there was marijuana and a pipe found,
but I've also seen mention of a white substance. The
exterior of the car also told another story. It was
muddy and scratched up, as if it had been driven
(11:48):
off road. But one of the most peculiar details was
the odometer. The rental company obviously knew how many miles
were on the car when Denise took it. Considering the
trip that Denise was taking, the odometer showed an additional
six to seven hundred miles on it. This makes me
think again about the possibility that she actually made it
(12:08):
to New Jersey and then doubled back, because that would
explain an additional six hundred miles. But if she had
done that, what was the reason. Some investigators do not
believe it was Denise who drove the car to the
location where it was found, while others believe there's a
chance her body could be in the woods nearby. Searches
were conducted. They brought out dogs and used helicopters, but
(12:30):
they couldn't find her. On Sunday, April seventeenth, more than
one hundred volunteers were helping with search efforts. They were
on foot, on horseback, and atv but once again, there
was just no sign of Denise. The police would talk
to Melissa asking if she thought Denise planned her own disappearance.
It might seem like an odd question to some, but
(12:50):
why would she bring such important paperwork, including her birth certificate.
Melissa's response was, we're talking about a girl who has
a wonderful life, has everything going for her. There is
no explanation other than this is foul play. Does Melissa
know more than she's letting on. Someone who does know
more than they can publicly state, is the police. They've
(13:14):
interviewed many people in several states and even given polygraphs
to some. Investigators believe that some of those people are
not being truthful, and it's hard not to think that
Melissa might be on that list. You see, there is
yet another wrinkle in this story, and one that again
points to the possibility that Melissa and Denise did connect
(13:34):
before she went missing. A businessman reported seeing a woman
matching Denise's description walking along a road in Shafferstown, Pennsylvania,
earlier on the day that she vanished. She told him
she had run out of gas and she was on
her way back to Oklahoma. He says that he helped
her get more gas. Melissa's own phone record seemed to
(13:55):
corroborate this story. Denise had made a call to Melissa
from Shafferstown just after eleven thirty am. The police also
corroborate some aspect of this story. The fuel gauge seemed
to not go below the one quarter tank mark, even
if the tank was empty, so it's very understandable that
Denise might have run out of gas more than once.
(14:16):
The question is, if she did connect with Melissa earlier,
why is that being hidden and what was this trip
really about. Another small twist came when police talked to
the wife of Denise's boyfriend, Michael. She claimed that around Thanksgiving,
she had received a call from someone who said they
were Denise. She supposedly said, tell Mike, I'm not coming home.
(14:38):
I'm already married. The wife believes it was Denise. However,
law enforcement doesn't buy it. They don't know if it
was a prank or possibly even something she made up.
Over the years, the case went cold, and every now
and then a new detective would get it and look
over everything again, trying to use the latest tech to
get some progress going her. An investigative lead Trooper John
(15:02):
Boardman says Cumberland County Lab has a thing called VMD.
It's a vacuum metal deposition and it basically can get
fingerprints and things like that off of cloth. It's my
understanding that we do have fingerprints off of a lot
of the things that we're submitting. We're just waiting for
those fingerprints to be tested. Trooper Boardman has had to
deal with jailhouse confessions, serial killer theories, and more in
(15:25):
relation to this case. But he thinks that the answers
might be closer than any of that. He thinks that
the answers are in the woods near where the car
was found. Quote in an investigation that we've chased things
so far out of the scene for so long leads
me to believe that we missed something early on that's
probably close to home. Somebody out there knows more than
(15:47):
they've given us. Did she come there and her vehicle
died and somebody stopped to help her, and then maybe
something bad happened, or was she followed to that scene.
Those are all things that we had to ask ourselves.
I think that there's a good chance that it could
go unsolved for a really long time. But I also
know that it takes such a small, small thing to
(16:07):
break it open. She definitely hung around with not the
greatest crowd, but by all accounts, she was a good friend.
She was a good person. She was a good mother.
Speaking of being a mother, William and Iorma would raise
their grandson Blake, always working to keep his mother's memory alive,
a memory that Blake doesn't have for himself. He was
(16:29):
only sixteen months old when Denise went missing, so he
doesn't really remember his mother, but he does feel a
connection when he sees a picture of her. I see happiness.
She was absolutely beautiful, and she just looked like she
didn't have a care in the world. It's been so
long and there's no answers to be found. There's cold
cases getting cracked every day. Why can't this one be?
(16:53):
Blake is now a father himself. His mother was declared
legally deceased many years ago. A gravestone bearing her name
sits in Haskell, Oklahoma, waiting. Denise's mother, Diorma, made a
statement to twenty one News back in twenty twenty, Denise
was my angel, and for twenty six years we've missed her.
(17:13):
We've missed not watching her grow into her role as
a mother or raising our grandchild. Where thankful investigators have
kept her case alive and we're hoping as we always have,
for answers. Denise's family members are clearly waiting for closure
now over thirty years later. If you have any information
that can help them with that, please contact the Pennsylvania
(17:34):
State Police Carlisle Station at seven one seven two four
nine two one two one. Do you have any comments
or a case you'd like to suggest, You'll find a
comment form and case submission link at Lordenarts dot com.
Thank you, The Charlie Project, The Dough Network, Local twenty
one news, ABC twenty seven, The Sentinel, The Patriot News
(17:56):
News on six, Fox forty three, Newspapers dot com, Daily
Voice dot com, the Trace Evidence Podcast, Reddit, NamUs, websolutes
and Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story. This episode
was written by The Roracle and John Lordon and produced
by Lorden Arts. Thank you to our audience here for
the live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel lord
(18:19):
Arts Studio two. Special thanks to seriously mysterious financial supporters
Badger Badger Badger Poppy, Susie B. Jones, Mel Stephen, Kasey Schaeffer,
Emily Flotilla and Robert Martin. Most of all, thank you
for listening. I'm John Lorden. Please join me again next
week for another story I know you'll find seriously mysterious
It was nineteen ninety four, a year when you had
to show up at the mall to meet people. Amazon
only sold books, and Yahoo was the place to check
your email and maybe stumble into a chat room or two.
Life felt simpler back then, and for many it was. However,
becoming an adult and finding your place in this world
was just as challenging as it is today. When you're
(00:42):
a young mother, that can add another level of complexity
to deal with. That year, Karen Denise Wells would leave
on a road trip to help an old friend and
never come home. Somewhere along that cross country drive, Denise vanished,
leaving behind her car, her belongings, and a trail of
contradictions that still haven't been explained over thirty years later.
(01:05):
What happened during those final hours and how did her
story take such a seriously mysterious turn near a quiet
Pennsylvania motel. Karen Denise Wells was born on September twenty second,
nineteen seventy to parents William and Diorma. The family resided
in Haskell, Oklahoma, where Karen chose to go by her
middle name, Denise. Denise was described as a loving and
(01:29):
caring person by those close to her, including her best
friend at Haskell High School, Melissa Shephard. However, her family
did become concerned. During her teen years, Denise was caught
several times drinking, and while her parents implemented punishments, Denise
continued down this risky path. After high school, Denise decided
she wanted to make her own rules, so she moved
(01:51):
out of her parents' home. This would take her more
than a thousand miles away from her parents, all the
way to South Dakota to live with her aunt. Unfortunately,
this wouldn't turn out to be the cure for the
troubles that Denise was struggling with. While living in South Dakota,
she would find herself in even more trouble, including being
arrested and charged with forgery. This would get Denise placed
(02:14):
on probation, and, with the experiment of living in another
state seemingly failing, Denise decided it would be best for
her to move back to Haskell, Oklahoma. Her family was
pleased she was back. However, Denise came back with some
surprising news for them. She was going to become a mother.
There is very little information on the father of this child,
(02:35):
at least in terms of what's been released publicly. It's
also unclear if Denise even told him about the pregnancy.
She gave birth in January of nineteen ninety three to
a baby boy she would name William blake Wells. Denise
proved to be a caring mother who worked hard to
provide a good life for her son. This included her
getting a part time job working at Haskell Airport. There,
(02:57):
she was working for a man named Michael. The two
would grow close and eventually that would turn into a relationship.
There was just one problem, Michael was married. This didn't
seem to stop the pair. It's been said that Michael
was truly in love with Denise and even planned on
leaving his wife. While Denise was balancing life as a
(03:17):
working single mother, things for her friend Melissa Shepherd were
not going well at all. They hadn't spoken in a
few years, but when Denise got a phone call from Melissa,
she heard a troubling story. Melissa told Denise that things
were going so bad she was considering ending her own life.
Denise sprung into action. If one of her friends were
in trouble, she was going to do whatever she could
(03:39):
to help. She began preparing for a trip from Haskell, Oklahoma,
to Bergen County, New Jersey, over thirteen hundred miles away.
Denise had told other friends that her intent was to
bring Melissa back to Haskell with her to help her
get away from her troubles in New Jersey. In a
time before ways or Google Maps, Denise was getting paper
maps ready and planning the best route to take to
(04:02):
make it to Melissa. Denise did tell her parents about
the trip and asked if they would watch their grandson.
She told them that she'd be gone no more than
four or five days. They knew that Denise was comfortable
traveling long distances around the US. She was independent and
had previously made several trips to South Dakota alone. By
all accounts, she should be fine. Sunday, April tenth was
(04:24):
the day that Denise planned to start the drive to
New Jersey. Considering her plan of being home in four
to five days, she was going to need to get
in more than five hundred miles daily. Why she planned
on the trip in this way is unclear, but it's
very possible that she wanted to make it there before
Melissa came to some form of harm. Denise would drop
her son off at her parents' home around two pm
(04:46):
and was getting ready for a very long drive east,
a drive that she would never come back from. Between
when Denise Wells left her parents home at two pm
until about eleven pm that Sunday night is pretty much
gray zone in terms of understanding this case. No one's
quite certain where exactly Denise was in that timeframe or
(05:07):
what she was doing. Did she go home to take
a nap, did she visit her married boyfriend. What we
do know is that around eleven PM, Denise arrived at
a car rental location in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Once in her
white nineteen ninety three Plymouth acclaimed rental car, she headed out.
(05:36):
On Monday, April eleventh, Denise would make a stop in Indianapolis, Indiana,
essentially the halfway point to New Jersey. From there, she
placed a call to Melissa. Denise would set out on
the road again. At five twenty seven pm, Denise would
place yet another call to Melissa from the Hes gas
station along Rute eleven in Middlesex Township, Pennsylvania. During this call,
(05:58):
a decision was made that Denise should get a motel room.
She was nearing twenty hours of driving at that point,
around five forty five pm, Denise arrived at the Pike Motel,
located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in Middlesex Township. Denise didn't want
the room for the whole night, instead opting for an
hourly rate so she could nap and head out. The
(06:18):
owner of the motel stated that Denise appeared to be
very tired. Denise also asked for long distance telephone service
in her room. While Denise was in the motel room,
she made several calls to Melissa. Most of what they
talked about remains unknown. However, Melissa told Denise that she
would come to the motel and then Denise could follow
her back to her home in New Jersey. Melissa had
(06:41):
the impression that Denise was getting lost often on this trip.
The final call Denise made was at eight o five
pm two Melissa, and it was at this time that
Melissa claims Denise told her she was hungry and she
was going to head to McDonald's to grab something for
dinner and then head back to the motel to sleep.
This is the last time that Melissa claims to have
spoken to Denise. The motel owner would also state that
(07:03):
fifteen to twenty minutes after Denise checked in, she came
to the front desk asking for a pack of matches
and directions to a nearby McDonald's. The owner would also
tell investigators that thirty minutes later, a woman called asking
for directions to the motel. Many have assumed that that
call came from Melissa. Staff at the hotel saw Denise
(07:24):
leave and get into her rental vehicle, but that was
the last time that anyone saw Denise. Wells Now why
Melissa went out there isn't exactly clear. It seems strange
to drive that far and at that time of night,
and this has led to some speculation that there was
some form of drug pickup that may have been involved.
I haven't seen any information to confirm that, but there
(07:47):
does seem to be a third party here that we're
not fully aware of. A trooper working the case reported
to ABC twenty seven that Melissa had received a phone
call from that same area, but it was seventeen hours
before where Denise arrived there. When asked who that phone
call was from, Melissa says she doesn't know and that
she's not familiar with anyone that lives in that area.
(08:09):
Melissa would arrive at the Pike motel sometime around midnight.
She would tell the police that she knocked on Denise's
room and got no answer. She went to the front
office and asked them to let her into the room
because she was worried about her friend. The motel owner
said she attempted to call Denise's room, and when there
was no answer, she had her husband take the key
and let Melissa in. Upon entering the room, Melissa saw
(08:31):
no sign of Denise. Melissa would call the Middlesex Township
Police and report her friend missing at twelve forty nine
a m. The police arrived at the motel fairly quickly,
and upon entering the room, noted no signs of a struggle.
They noticed that the motel key was on the night
stand next to a pack of cigarettes. A bag was
on the bed, with some of Denise's clothes next to
(08:53):
the bag, and some of them were on the floor.
Something else they noticed was that a cigarette had been
lit but not smoked. It burnt down to the filter,
with the ash retaining its original shape. Melissa told police
that she was meeting Denise at the motel so she
could follow her back to her house, and she told
them quote, Denise was having trouble navigating. She couldn't find
(09:13):
my house. It's just all weird. It's too bad that
this case predates cell phone GPS tracking. There are theories
at range from Denise getting lost on the drive to
Denise actually making it to New Jersey and then heading
back to Pennsylvania, and with all those possibilities, there are
almost endless theories. Melissa would later tell the police that
(09:35):
her boyfriend had come with her. However, workers at the
motel noted that they saw two men with Melissa. They
were reportedly two men that she knew from a nightclub
she worked at. Why would she feel the need to
bring two men with her to meet up with Denise?
Is this another indicator that this trip wasn't simply about
one friend trying to help another. It seems like these
(09:56):
are questions that should be easy to answer, but unfortunately,
Melissa would stop cooperating with the police a year after
Denise vanished. She told police that she wanted to put
this incident behind her and move on with her life. Thankfully,
investigators would track down the two men who came with
Melissa that night, and their version of events differ a
lot from Melissa's. The two men claimed that as soon
(10:18):
as they pulled into the motel parking lot, Melissa noticed
the car was gone and she went ballistic. Now that's
an interesting point. If Denise had not made it to
Melissa's before all of this, how would Melissa know her
rental car well enough to determine that. The men also
told the police that the first place Melissa had them
go to look for Denise was at local bars, another
(10:42):
odd point, since Melissa told the police that Denise was
not a big drinker, so where had Denise gone? The
police would be called to an abandoned car located in
the westbound lane of a rural area in Perry County, Pennsylvania.
The next morning, about thirty five miles from the Pike Motel,
the police found her car. Both the driver and passenger
(11:02):
doors were open, the emergency blinkers were on, However, the
battery was dead. The gas gauge looked like it was
a quarter tank that was left, but apparently it was
faulty and the car was completely out of gas. The
inside of the car was littered with fast food wrappers, maps,
a soda bottle, and a pair of shoes also found
were Denise's birth certificate, her driver's license, and her probation card.
(11:26):
Her purse was found in a nearby ditch with money
still inside of it. It was said that investigators saw
signs of criminal activity, including drug use in the car.
I've found confirmation that there was marijuana and a pipe found,
but I've also seen mention of a white substance. The
exterior of the car also told another story. It was
muddy and scratched up, as if it had been driven
(11:48):
off road. But one of the most peculiar details was
the odometer. The rental company obviously knew how many miles
were on the car when Denise took it. Considering the
trip that Denise was taking, the odometer showed an additional
six to seven hundred miles on it. This makes me
think again about the possibility that she actually made it
(12:08):
to New Jersey and then doubled back, because that would
explain an additional six hundred miles. But if she had
done that, what was the reason. Some investigators do not
believe it was Denise who drove the car to the
location where it was found, while others believe there's a
chance her body could be in the woods nearby. Searches
were conducted. They brought out dogs and used helicopters, but
(12:30):
they couldn't find her. On Sunday, April seventeenth, more than
one hundred volunteers were helping with search efforts. They were
on foot, on horseback, and atv but once again, there
was just no sign of Denise. The police would talk
to Melissa asking if she thought Denise planned her own disappearance.
It might seem like an odd question to some, but
(12:50):
why would she bring such important paperwork, including her birth certificate.
Melissa's response was, we're talking about a girl who has
a wonderful life, has everything going for her. There is
no explanation other than this is foul play. Does Melissa
know more than she's letting on. Someone who does know
more than they can publicly state, is the police. They've
(13:14):
interviewed many people in several states and even given polygraphs
to some. Investigators believe that some of those people are
not being truthful, and it's hard not to think that
Melissa might be on that list. You see, there is
yet another wrinkle in this story, and one that again
points to the possibility that Melissa and Denise did connect
(13:34):
before she went missing. A businessman reported seeing a woman
matching Denise's description walking along a road in Shafferstown, Pennsylvania,
earlier on the day that she vanished. She told him
she had run out of gas and she was on
her way back to Oklahoma. He says that he helped
her get more gas. Melissa's own phone record seemed to
(13:55):
corroborate this story. Denise had made a call to Melissa
from Shafferstown just after eleven thirty am. The police also
corroborate some aspect of this story. The fuel gauge seemed
to not go below the one quarter tank mark, even
if the tank was empty, so it's very understandable that
Denise might have run out of gas more than once.
(14:16):
The question is, if she did connect with Melissa earlier,
why is that being hidden and what was this trip
really about. Another small twist came when police talked to
the wife of Denise's boyfriend, Michael. She claimed that around Thanksgiving,
she had received a call from someone who said they
were Denise. She supposedly said, tell Mike, I'm not coming home.
(14:38):
I'm already married. The wife believes it was Denise. However,
law enforcement doesn't buy it. They don't know if it
was a prank or possibly even something she made up.
Over the years, the case went cold, and every now
and then a new detective would get it and look
over everything again, trying to use the latest tech to
get some progress going her. An investigative lead Trooper John
(15:02):
Boardman says Cumberland County Lab has a thing called VMD.
It's a vacuum metal deposition and it basically can get
fingerprints and things like that off of cloth. It's my
understanding that we do have fingerprints off of a lot
of the things that we're submitting. We're just waiting for
those fingerprints to be tested. Trooper Boardman has had to
deal with jailhouse confessions, serial killer theories, and more in
(15:25):
relation to this case. But he thinks that the answers
might be closer than any of that. He thinks that
the answers are in the woods near where the car
was found. Quote in an investigation that we've chased things
so far out of the scene for so long leads
me to believe that we missed something early on that's
probably close to home. Somebody out there knows more than
(15:47):
they've given us. Did she come there and her vehicle
died and somebody stopped to help her, and then maybe
something bad happened, or was she followed to that scene.
Those are all things that we had to ask ourselves.
I think that there's a good chance that it could
go unsolved for a really long time. But I also
know that it takes such a small, small thing to
(16:07):
break it open. She definitely hung around with not the
greatest crowd, but by all accounts, she was a good friend.
She was a good person. She was a good mother.
Speaking of being a mother, William and Iorma would raise
their grandson Blake, always working to keep his mother's memory alive,
a memory that Blake doesn't have for himself. He was
(16:29):
only sixteen months old when Denise went missing, so he
doesn't really remember his mother, but he does feel a
connection when he sees a picture of her. I see happiness.
She was absolutely beautiful, and she just looked like she
didn't have a care in the world. It's been so
long and there's no answers to be found. There's cold
cases getting cracked every day. Why can't this one be?
(16:53):
Blake is now a father himself. His mother was declared
legally deceased many years ago. A gravestone bearing her name
sits in Haskell, Oklahoma, waiting. Denise's mother, Diorma, made a
statement to twenty one News back in twenty twenty, Denise
was my angel, and for twenty six years we've missed her.
(17:13):
We've missed not watching her grow into her role as
a mother or raising our grandchild. Where thankful investigators have
kept her case alive and we're hoping as we always have,
for answers. Denise's family members are clearly waiting for closure
now over thirty years later. If you have any information
that can help them with that, please contact the Pennsylvania
(17:34):
State Police Carlisle Station at seven one seven two four
nine two one two one. Do you have any comments
or a case you'd like to suggest, You'll find a
comment form and case submission link at Lordenarts dot com.
Thank you, The Charlie Project, The Dough Network, Local twenty
one news, ABC twenty seven, The Sentinel, The Patriot News
(17:56):
News on six, Fox forty three, Newspapers dot com, Daily
Voice dot com, the Trace Evidence Podcast, Reddit, NamUs, websolutes
and Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story. This episode
was written by The Roracle and John Lordon and produced
by Lorden Arts. Thank you to our audience here for
the live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel lord
(18:19):
Arts Studio two. Special thanks to seriously mysterious financial supporters
Badger Badger Badger Poppy, Susie B. Jones, Mel Stephen, Kasey Schaeffer,
Emily Flotilla and Robert Martin. Most of all, thank you
for listening. I'm John Lorden. Please join me again next
week for another story I know you'll find seriously mysterious
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