October 14, 2025 • 17 mins
High school student Michele Reidenbach wasn't feeling well and left her part time job to get some cold medicine. She was never seen again.
Thank you WPXI, News Library, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Butler Eagle, Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NamUs, The CharleyProject, The Doe Network, Websleuths, Reddit, The YouTube channels Dark Horse and Gabulosis, and of course Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode written by The Certified Roarikle and John Lordan, produced by LordanArts.
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.
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
Thank you WPXI, News Library, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Butler Eagle, Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NamUs, The CharleyProject, The Doe Network, Websleuths, Reddit, The YouTube channels Dark Horse and Gabulosis, and of course Wikipedia for information contributing to today’s story.
This episode written by The Certified Roarikle and John Lordan, produced by LordanArts.
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.
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
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
When we talk about someone vanishing, we often say the
words disappeared from the face of the earth. It's a
phrase that sounds poetic, almost mystical, but it just isn't true.
No one simply vanishes. Every disappearance has a cause, a moment,
a reason hidden somewhere. These disappearances aren't magic tricks. They're
(00:43):
a sliver of truth that has been covered up, sometimes
by time, but in other cases by people looking to
hide a crime. For those left behind, that seriously mysterious
truth becomes a lifetime pursuit. Parents, siblings, and friends search
for what really happened, bracing themselves for the answers that
they may never want to hear. They dig through rumor
(01:05):
and memory, police reports, and newspaper articles, chasing the answers,
no matter how dark they may be, because even a
terrible answer is better than the haunting emptiness of not knowing.
In nineteen eighty one, sixteen year old Michelle Ridenbach walked
out of a pharmacy in Zelleanople, Pennsylvania, and her family
has been feeling that haunted emptiness ever since. I'm John Lorden,
(01:30):
and today, forty four years later, we are looking for
Michelle Ridenbach. Michelle was born on December twenty ninth, nineteen
sixty four. She was the youngest of seven children in
the family living in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Michelle was kind, caring, funny,
and her mother, Glorious, said that Michelle had both book
smarts and street smarts. She would attend Seneca Valley High School,
(01:53):
and Michelle had a lot of friends. At only sixteen
years old, she was already a senior with big plans
after gradt graduation, she along with a friend of hers,
were planning to attend the Bradford School in Pittsburgh. However, sadly,
she would never get the chance. Tuesday, September twenty second,
nineteen eighty one was a cold and rainy morning. Michelle
(02:14):
woke up and started her usual morning routine, well most
of it. She wasn't feeling good and decided to skip
having breakfast. Around seven forty five am, she told her
mom goodbye. Michelle caught a ride to school with her friends,
and Gloria went off to work at a manufacturing company
named Acutram about three miles from their home. That day
(02:35):
continued on the track of being a typical day. Of course,
in these stories, it's every detail of these typical days
that we wind up analyzing so intently. At school, Michelle
attended her classes and even had her senior class photo taken.
At three thirty pm, she boarded the bus with her
best friend Beth Stop. On the bus ride, Michelle seemed
(02:57):
in good spirits, with nothing appearing to be out of
the ordinary. The pair got off the bus at their destination,
the Gulf Gas station, where Beth also worked a part
time job. They planned to use the bathroom there for
Michelle to help Beth get ready for her school photo,
which was scheduled for later that day. Michelle let Beth
borrow her hair brush and a necklace, telling her friend
(03:17):
to return it after the photo was taken. Beth agreed,
and Michelle headed off to Melden's Appliance store, where she
worked part time stuffing and addressing envelopes. Michelle had only
had this job for four days. One of the owners,
Fred Landey, would say that he had hired Michelle right
off the street and he found her to be a
very dependable worker. Michelle usually worked after school with her
(03:40):
classmate Kim Charlier, but on this day, Kim wasn't feeling
well and decided to call in sick. It's a choice
that haunts her to this very day. Michelle was working
upstairs addressing envelopes, but she was also not feeling the best,
but she continued to work. Kim called to check on
her friend a little after four pm. Kim would later
(04:00):
tell the police that Michelle told her that she wasn't
feeling good and she was planning to walk to the
drug store down the road to purchase some cold medicine.
Michelle took her break at four thirty pm and headed
out to the pharmacy. Most sources say that she went
to Rite Aid, while some sources claim it was Benjamin's
Pharmacy on South Main Street. As Michelle left for the pharmacy,
she made a quick stop in the super Duper parking
(04:22):
lot and spoke with her brother, Vince, who was employed
at the store. She then continued on to get her
cold meds. It's confirmed by the cashier that Michelle did
come into the pharmacy alone and she did purchase cold medicine.
Gloria was finishing her shift at work and decided to
stop by mel Denz to see if Michelle wanted to
go to Saint Francis hospital. Michelle's thirty one year old sister, Sherry,
(04:45):
whom she was very close to, had suffered a stroke
a few months prior. Cherry's condition was improving daily and
she was set to be discharged from the hospital soon,
something that Michelle was really looking forward to. But when
Gloria arrived to pick up her daughter, she was told
that Michelle wasn't there at the time. Gloria wasn't very concerned.
Her daughter could have been on break or left work
(05:07):
early for some reason, so Gloria left and went on
to visit Sherry at the hospital before returning home. Sometime
after Gloria had stopped at Melden's, Beth would also arrive
at the store. She wanted to return the brush and
jewelry that Michelle had loaned to her. Fred Landey told
Beth that Michelle had received a phone call after that
she left and she still hadn't returned. This struck Beth
(05:30):
as a bit odd. However, she had an upcoming shift
for her job at Gulf Gas station and she figured
she could just return the items later. That later would
never come, and to this day, Beth still has the
brush and necklace that her best friend Michelle had loaned
to her that day, Michelle ridingbox seemed to do the
impossible that we discussed at the start of this episode.
(05:53):
She disappeared from the face of the earth, simply walking
back to work at the end of her break. Fred
Landai didn't think much of Michelle Ridenbach never returning to
(06:14):
her job that day. He knew she wasn't feeling well
and had just assumed that she headed home. He would
later tell police that the last time he saw Michelle
was in the parking lot of the super Duper, where
Michelle was talking to a man in a red car,
and it appeared that she knew whomever it was. It
is unclear if this was just after she had left
Melden's or if this is when she was returning, though
(06:37):
many sources make it sound like the latter. Michelle reportedly
left behind her school books, her purse, her coat, and
her cigarettes. According to friends and family, Michelle was a
chainsmoker and would not have gone anywhere without her cigarettes.
Some have theorized that because she wasn't feeling well that
she may have not been smoking as much that day. However,
(06:57):
all of her friends claimed to have seen her smoking
like normal earlier. On that same day, Michelle had also
left files strewn about on the desk, which was certainly
out of character for her. She was known to always
leave her workplace tidy. As the night went on, Glorya
became more worried when she hadn't heard from her daughter.
Michelle was very responsible. It was usual for her to
(07:19):
tell her mother exactly where she was. A good example
of this comes from the weekend prior. It was her
friend Kim's birthday, and after hanging out all day, they
decided that they were going to see a movie. Michelle
phoned her home to let her mom know. However, there
was no answer, so instead of just taking off to
the theater, Michelle went home and left her mom a
(07:39):
note saying where she would be and when she would
be home. So for her mother to have no idea
where Michelle was is certainly odd, to say the least.
Some time later, Michelle's boyfriend, who she had been seeing
for about a year, showed up to pick her up
from work. When he was told that she wasn't there,
he thought that maybe she had forgotten about their plans together.
(08:00):
He headed over to the gas station and asked Beth
if she knew where Michelle was. At this point, Beth
became far more concerned about the whereabouts of her friend.
When Michelle's brother, Vince arrived home from work around eleven
PM without his sister, Gloria's worry would turn into panic.
Vince told her that he had waited in the parking lot,
but Michelle never showed up. Gloria knew something was wrong
(08:24):
and began to call Michelle's friends. She called Beth first,
and then Kim, but when no one had heard or
seen her daughter, she knew something had to have happened.
At six am on Wednesday, the twenty third, Gloria called
the police department to report Michelle missing, and she heard
the same thing that so many other families in this
situation do. The police told Gloria that she would have
(08:45):
to wait forty eight hours to have the report taken
and filed. Gloria waited the agonizing two days with no
word from her daughter. When the time period finally passed,
she was able to successfully report Michelle missing. Many police
officers might assume that Michelle's case was yet another runaway situation. However,
the police knew from everyone that they spoke to that
(09:07):
Michelle had no reason to run away. She had a
good home life with lots of friends. She also had
left behind all of her belongings, including one hundred dollars
in her dresser that she was saving to purchase a
class ring. The police would start the search, and soon
over one hundred volunteers were looking for Michelle in Zellean.
Ople and harmony posters were circulated, and while tips did
(09:31):
get called in, they unfortunately led nowhere. The police spoke
to Michelle's friends and family to try to find out
where Michelle went that day. They questioned Michelle's boyfriend. Some
sources claim that he was given a polygraph and that
he passed. Others say that after questioning, he was not
found to be involved in her disappearance. Investigators would also
(09:51):
talk to Fred Landay, and he told them the same
information about seeing her talking to a man in a
red car. He said he did not see the man
well to give a description for such an important piece
of the story. Sources tell two different versions about how
this lead pans out. While early reports suggested that the
man was unidentified, other sources later confirmed that the man
(10:14):
in the red car was quickly located, interviewed, and officially
cleared of any involvement in her disappearance. Some theorized that
Michelle in fact made it back to the store and
that something happened to her there. Her leaving her cigarettes
behind was completely out of the norm. It seems logical
that she would have smoked on the way too or
from the pharmacy. Other people think it strange that she
(10:36):
went to the pharmacy without her purse. Others believe she
left her purse and cigarettes behind because she simply took
some money with her. The area Michelle vanished from was
a fairly populated business district. It's pretty unlikely that no
one would have noticed an abduction in the afternoon. Gloria
believes if she did get into a vehicle, it had
to be someone she knew and trusted. Her girl would
(11:00):
known better if someone had tried to abduct Michelle. Gloria
feels that her daughter would have screamed for help and
put up a fight. The days would turn into months,
and Gloria would learn about other area teens vanishing. Fifteen
year old Christine Gunther went missing on October twenty sixth
from Peter's Township, Pennsylvania, less than an hour away from
(11:20):
zellean Ople. Christine was waiting for the bus to take
her to a doctor's appointment when she vanished. Her body
would be found on October thirty first in Fayette, Pennsylvania.
On November fifth, Tony Lynn McNatt vanished from Clareton, Pennsylvania,
which is a little over an hour away from zellian Ople.
Tony left her home on foot headed for a pep
(11:41):
rally at her school. She never made it and to
this day has not been found. Some speculate that her
stepdad was involved, but Gloria couldn't help but wonder if
Michelle's case could be related to these disappearances. They all
happened within months of each other. The police have found
no evidence that the cases are connected. Those months turned
into years with still no signs of Michelle and the
(12:04):
case getting cold. Gloria wanted to keep her daughter's case
in the spotlight and to get national attention, so in
nineteen eighty nine, she contacted the producers of Unsolved Mysteries,
hoping they would do a segment, maybe a tip would
be called in and finally lead the family to Michelle.
The producers told her that due to the show's popularity,
they focused on cases of interest, and it would be
(12:26):
best if she got a petition going, as it would
help get Michelle's case featured. Gloria did just that, with
many people in the communities of Harmony and zeleian Ople signing. Unfortunately,
Michelle's case would not get that boost and coverage. It
was never featured on Unsolved Mysteries. Gloria still continued to
look for her daughter and never gave up hope that
(12:48):
one day she would find her. Meldn's Appliance store would
close down years after Michelle vanished due to numerous complaints
to the state's Bureau of Consumers, with customers claiming that
the store was advertising sales prices but would sell the
appliances at regular price. This would ultimately cost the owners,
Fred Landey and Alan Tabor, a thirty five hundred dollars
(13:09):
fine and the closure of their appliance store. Fred would
eventually open another appliance store and never got into any
serious trouble again. He passed away in twenty fourteen, regarded
as a beloved member of his community. Alan Tabor passed
away in twenty twenty. Gloria would turn to the world
of psychics to help find her daughter, something she wasn't
(13:30):
sure she believed in. However, the psychics never told her
anything promising. For years, Gloria stayed in the same home,
even keeping Michelle's room exactly how she left it. The
pain eventually became too much for her, and she sold
the house, moving her family to Evans City, Pennsylvania. The
case would seem to have some new hope come alive
(13:51):
in nineteen ninety three, when it was reported that someone
called in a tip that police said was promising. They
reinterviewed everyone involved. However, it seems that nothing substantial would
come from this. It's unclear exactly what the tip was
or why the police believed it was going to lead
them to Michelle. Gloria would pass away on November eleventh,
nineteen ninety nine, without ever knowing what happened to her
(14:14):
youngest daughter. There has been much speculation about what happened
to Michelle that day. Some believe she was taken out
the back door of the pharmacy by someone, even though
it seems to have been confirmed by police that she
left the store after the cold medicine was purchased. Others
believe the owners of Meldenz had something to do with
what happened that day. However, Kim continued to work for
(14:35):
the appliance store after Michelle vanished. She never spoke of
seeing anything going on that would support that. Some speculate
Michelle had another boyfriend from out of town that could
be potentially involved. There seems to be little reliable information
to support that. Interestingly, the thing that most people seem
to get hung up on is the fact that she
left her cigarettes behind. I have to admit I smoked
(14:58):
for a period of time when I was young, and
if I was stepping outside that pack was on me.
Why did she leave them? Is it possible that she
did actually make it back to Meldenz? How did no
one see her vanish? There are so many questions that
remain unanswered, and it seems that forty four years of
speculation is doing little to move the needle on this case.
(15:20):
This investigation is not stalled by any lack of theories,
but by a lack of information. With many key individuals
now deceased, including her boyfriend and former employer Fred Landey,
the potential for any new firsthand testimony is almost non existent.
Almost this case now depends on the one witness who
(15:42):
has yet to come forward. Kim and Beth still have
not given up the search for that person. Kim still
struggles with the belief that if she had not called
in sick that day, Michelle would still be here. She
blames herself, even after all these years. At the time
that Michelle venis she stood at five feet eight two
inches tall and weighed one hundred and ten pounds, with
(16:03):
blue eyes and dark blonde hair. She was last seen
wearing a wine colored v neck sweater with blue jeans
and a gold necklace with a knot pendant. Michelle also
wore glasses at the time that she vanished and was
a heavy smoker. Her friends and family called her Shelley.
If you have any information on Michelle's whereabouts, if you
are the person that we are all waiting for to
(16:24):
step up and help this case, please contact the Zellianople
Police Department at seven two four four five two three
zero zero three. Do you have any comments or a
case you'd like to suggest, You'll find a comment form
and case submission link at lord narts dot com. Thank you.
WPXI News Library, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, The Butler Eagle,
(16:47):
Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children NamUs, the Charlie Project, the Dough Network, Webslouth's Reddit,
the YouTube channels dark Horse and Gabulosis, and of course
Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story. This episode was
written by The Roracle and John Lorden and produced by
Lorden Arts. Thank you to our audience here for the
(17:10):
live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel Lorden Arts
Studio two. Special thanks to Seriously Mysterious financial supporters Robert Martin,
Gwen Barringer, Casey Schaeffer, Kira McQueen, Amy, Chris Donovan, Lane
Es Viv, Misty Kate, and Candice Allison. Most of all,
thank you for listening. I'm John Lorden. Please join us
(17:31):
again next week for another case I know you'll find
seriously mysterious
When we talk about someone vanishing, we often say the
words disappeared from the face of the earth. It's a
phrase that sounds poetic, almost mystical, but it just isn't true.
No one simply vanishes. Every disappearance has a cause, a moment,
a reason hidden somewhere. These disappearances aren't magic tricks. They're
(00:43):
a sliver of truth that has been covered up, sometimes
by time, but in other cases by people looking to
hide a crime. For those left behind, that seriously mysterious
truth becomes a lifetime pursuit. Parents, siblings, and friends search
for what really happened, bracing themselves for the answers that
they may never want to hear. They dig through rumor
(01:05):
and memory, police reports, and newspaper articles, chasing the answers,
no matter how dark they may be, because even a
terrible answer is better than the haunting emptiness of not knowing.
In nineteen eighty one, sixteen year old Michelle Ridenbach walked
out of a pharmacy in Zelleanople, Pennsylvania, and her family
has been feeling that haunted emptiness ever since. I'm John Lorden,
(01:30):
and today, forty four years later, we are looking for
Michelle Ridenbach. Michelle was born on December twenty ninth, nineteen
sixty four. She was the youngest of seven children in
the family living in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Michelle was kind, caring, funny,
and her mother, Glorious, said that Michelle had both book
smarts and street smarts. She would attend Seneca Valley High School,
(01:53):
and Michelle had a lot of friends. At only sixteen
years old, she was already a senior with big plans
after gradt graduation, she along with a friend of hers,
were planning to attend the Bradford School in Pittsburgh. However, sadly,
she would never get the chance. Tuesday, September twenty second,
nineteen eighty one was a cold and rainy morning. Michelle
(02:14):
woke up and started her usual morning routine, well most
of it. She wasn't feeling good and decided to skip
having breakfast. Around seven forty five am, she told her
mom goodbye. Michelle caught a ride to school with her friends,
and Gloria went off to work at a manufacturing company
named Acutram about three miles from their home. That day
(02:35):
continued on the track of being a typical day. Of course,
in these stories, it's every detail of these typical days
that we wind up analyzing so intently. At school, Michelle
attended her classes and even had her senior class photo taken.
At three thirty pm, she boarded the bus with her
best friend Beth Stop. On the bus ride, Michelle seemed
(02:57):
in good spirits, with nothing appearing to be out of
the ordinary. The pair got off the bus at their destination,
the Gulf Gas station, where Beth also worked a part
time job. They planned to use the bathroom there for
Michelle to help Beth get ready for her school photo,
which was scheduled for later that day. Michelle let Beth
borrow her hair brush and a necklace, telling her friend
(03:17):
to return it after the photo was taken. Beth agreed,
and Michelle headed off to Melden's Appliance store, where she
worked part time stuffing and addressing envelopes. Michelle had only
had this job for four days. One of the owners,
Fred Landey, would say that he had hired Michelle right
off the street and he found her to be a
very dependable worker. Michelle usually worked after school with her
(03:40):
classmate Kim Charlier, but on this day, Kim wasn't feeling
well and decided to call in sick. It's a choice
that haunts her to this very day. Michelle was working
upstairs addressing envelopes, but she was also not feeling the best,
but she continued to work. Kim called to check on
her friend a little after four pm. Kim would later
(04:00):
tell the police that Michelle told her that she wasn't
feeling good and she was planning to walk to the
drug store down the road to purchase some cold medicine.
Michelle took her break at four thirty pm and headed
out to the pharmacy. Most sources say that she went
to Rite Aid, while some sources claim it was Benjamin's
Pharmacy on South Main Street. As Michelle left for the pharmacy,
she made a quick stop in the super Duper parking
(04:22):
lot and spoke with her brother, Vince, who was employed
at the store. She then continued on to get her
cold meds. It's confirmed by the cashier that Michelle did
come into the pharmacy alone and she did purchase cold medicine.
Gloria was finishing her shift at work and decided to
stop by mel Denz to see if Michelle wanted to
go to Saint Francis hospital. Michelle's thirty one year old sister, Sherry,
(04:45):
whom she was very close to, had suffered a stroke
a few months prior. Cherry's condition was improving daily and
she was set to be discharged from the hospital soon,
something that Michelle was really looking forward to. But when
Gloria arrived to pick up her daughter, she was told
that Michelle wasn't there at the time. Gloria wasn't very concerned.
Her daughter could have been on break or left work
(05:07):
early for some reason, so Gloria left and went on
to visit Sherry at the hospital before returning home. Sometime
after Gloria had stopped at Melden's, Beth would also arrive
at the store. She wanted to return the brush and
jewelry that Michelle had loaned to her. Fred Landey told
Beth that Michelle had received a phone call after that
she left and she still hadn't returned. This struck Beth
(05:30):
as a bit odd. However, she had an upcoming shift
for her job at Gulf Gas station and she figured
she could just return the items later. That later would
never come, and to this day, Beth still has the
brush and necklace that her best friend Michelle had loaned
to her that day, Michelle ridingbox seemed to do the
impossible that we discussed at the start of this episode.
(05:53):
She disappeared from the face of the earth, simply walking
back to work at the end of her break. Fred
Landai didn't think much of Michelle Ridenbach never returning to
(06:14):
her job that day. He knew she wasn't feeling well
and had just assumed that she headed home. He would
later tell police that the last time he saw Michelle
was in the parking lot of the super Duper, where
Michelle was talking to a man in a red car,
and it appeared that she knew whomever it was. It
is unclear if this was just after she had left
Melden's or if this is when she was returning, though
(06:37):
many sources make it sound like the latter. Michelle reportedly
left behind her school books, her purse, her coat, and
her cigarettes. According to friends and family, Michelle was a
chainsmoker and would not have gone anywhere without her cigarettes.
Some have theorized that because she wasn't feeling well that
she may have not been smoking as much that day. However,
(06:57):
all of her friends claimed to have seen her smoking
like normal earlier. On that same day, Michelle had also
left files strewn about on the desk, which was certainly
out of character for her. She was known to always
leave her workplace tidy. As the night went on, Glorya
became more worried when she hadn't heard from her daughter.
Michelle was very responsible. It was usual for her to
(07:19):
tell her mother exactly where she was. A good example
of this comes from the weekend prior. It was her
friend Kim's birthday, and after hanging out all day, they
decided that they were going to see a movie. Michelle
phoned her home to let her mom know. However, there
was no answer, so instead of just taking off to
the theater, Michelle went home and left her mom a
(07:39):
note saying where she would be and when she would
be home. So for her mother to have no idea
where Michelle was is certainly odd, to say the least.
Some time later, Michelle's boyfriend, who she had been seeing
for about a year, showed up to pick her up
from work. When he was told that she wasn't there,
he thought that maybe she had forgotten about their plans together.
(08:00):
He headed over to the gas station and asked Beth
if she knew where Michelle was. At this point, Beth
became far more concerned about the whereabouts of her friend.
When Michelle's brother, Vince arrived home from work around eleven
PM without his sister, Gloria's worry would turn into panic.
Vince told her that he had waited in the parking lot,
but Michelle never showed up. Gloria knew something was wrong
(08:24):
and began to call Michelle's friends. She called Beth first,
and then Kim, but when no one had heard or
seen her daughter, she knew something had to have happened.
At six am on Wednesday, the twenty third, Gloria called
the police department to report Michelle missing, and she heard
the same thing that so many other families in this
situation do. The police told Gloria that she would have
(08:45):
to wait forty eight hours to have the report taken
and filed. Gloria waited the agonizing two days with no
word from her daughter. When the time period finally passed,
she was able to successfully report Michelle missing. Many police
officers might assume that Michelle's case was yet another runaway situation. However,
the police knew from everyone that they spoke to that
(09:07):
Michelle had no reason to run away. She had a
good home life with lots of friends. She also had
left behind all of her belongings, including one hundred dollars
in her dresser that she was saving to purchase a
class ring. The police would start the search, and soon
over one hundred volunteers were looking for Michelle in Zellean.
Ople and harmony posters were circulated, and while tips did
(09:31):
get called in, they unfortunately led nowhere. The police spoke
to Michelle's friends and family to try to find out
where Michelle went that day. They questioned Michelle's boyfriend. Some
sources claim that he was given a polygraph and that
he passed. Others say that after questioning, he was not
found to be involved in her disappearance. Investigators would also
(09:51):
talk to Fred Landay, and he told them the same
information about seeing her talking to a man in a
red car. He said he did not see the man
well to give a description for such an important piece
of the story. Sources tell two different versions about how
this lead pans out. While early reports suggested that the
man was unidentified, other sources later confirmed that the man
(10:14):
in the red car was quickly located, interviewed, and officially
cleared of any involvement in her disappearance. Some theorized that
Michelle in fact made it back to the store and
that something happened to her there. Her leaving her cigarettes
behind was completely out of the norm. It seems logical
that she would have smoked on the way too or
from the pharmacy. Other people think it strange that she
(10:36):
went to the pharmacy without her purse. Others believe she
left her purse and cigarettes behind because she simply took
some money with her. The area Michelle vanished from was
a fairly populated business district. It's pretty unlikely that no
one would have noticed an abduction in the afternoon. Gloria
believes if she did get into a vehicle, it had
to be someone she knew and trusted. Her girl would
(11:00):
known better if someone had tried to abduct Michelle. Gloria
feels that her daughter would have screamed for help and
put up a fight. The days would turn into months,
and Gloria would learn about other area teens vanishing. Fifteen
year old Christine Gunther went missing on October twenty sixth
from Peter's Township, Pennsylvania, less than an hour away from
(11:20):
zellean Ople. Christine was waiting for the bus to take
her to a doctor's appointment when she vanished. Her body
would be found on October thirty first in Fayette, Pennsylvania.
On November fifth, Tony Lynn McNatt vanished from Clareton, Pennsylvania,
which is a little over an hour away from zellian Ople.
Tony left her home on foot headed for a pep
(11:41):
rally at her school. She never made it and to
this day has not been found. Some speculate that her
stepdad was involved, but Gloria couldn't help but wonder if
Michelle's case could be related to these disappearances. They all
happened within months of each other. The police have found
no evidence that the cases are connected. Those months turned
into years with still no signs of Michelle and the
(12:04):
case getting cold. Gloria wanted to keep her daughter's case
in the spotlight and to get national attention, so in
nineteen eighty nine, she contacted the producers of Unsolved Mysteries,
hoping they would do a segment, maybe a tip would
be called in and finally lead the family to Michelle.
The producers told her that due to the show's popularity,
they focused on cases of interest, and it would be
(12:26):
best if she got a petition going, as it would
help get Michelle's case featured. Gloria did just that, with
many people in the communities of Harmony and zeleian Ople signing. Unfortunately,
Michelle's case would not get that boost and coverage. It
was never featured on Unsolved Mysteries. Gloria still continued to
look for her daughter and never gave up hope that
(12:48):
one day she would find her. Meldn's Appliance store would
close down years after Michelle vanished due to numerous complaints
to the state's Bureau of Consumers, with customers claiming that
the store was advertising sales prices but would sell the
appliances at regular price. This would ultimately cost the owners,
Fred Landey and Alan Tabor, a thirty five hundred dollars
(13:09):
fine and the closure of their appliance store. Fred would
eventually open another appliance store and never got into any
serious trouble again. He passed away in twenty fourteen, regarded
as a beloved member of his community. Alan Tabor passed
away in twenty twenty. Gloria would turn to the world
of psychics to help find her daughter, something she wasn't
(13:30):
sure she believed in. However, the psychics never told her
anything promising. For years, Gloria stayed in the same home,
even keeping Michelle's room exactly how she left it. The
pain eventually became too much for her, and she sold
the house, moving her family to Evans City, Pennsylvania. The
case would seem to have some new hope come alive
(13:51):
in nineteen ninety three, when it was reported that someone
called in a tip that police said was promising. They
reinterviewed everyone involved. However, it seems that nothing substantial would
come from this. It's unclear exactly what the tip was
or why the police believed it was going to lead
them to Michelle. Gloria would pass away on November eleventh,
nineteen ninety nine, without ever knowing what happened to her
(14:14):
youngest daughter. There has been much speculation about what happened
to Michelle that day. Some believe she was taken out
the back door of the pharmacy by someone, even though
it seems to have been confirmed by police that she
left the store after the cold medicine was purchased. Others
believe the owners of Meldenz had something to do with
what happened that day. However, Kim continued to work for
(14:35):
the appliance store after Michelle vanished. She never spoke of
seeing anything going on that would support that. Some speculate
Michelle had another boyfriend from out of town that could
be potentially involved. There seems to be little reliable information
to support that. Interestingly, the thing that most people seem
to get hung up on is the fact that she
left her cigarettes behind. I have to admit I smoked
(14:58):
for a period of time when I was young, and
if I was stepping outside that pack was on me.
Why did she leave them? Is it possible that she
did actually make it back to Meldenz? How did no
one see her vanish? There are so many questions that
remain unanswered, and it seems that forty four years of
speculation is doing little to move the needle on this case.
(15:20):
This investigation is not stalled by any lack of theories,
but by a lack of information. With many key individuals
now deceased, including her boyfriend and former employer Fred Landey,
the potential for any new firsthand testimony is almost non existent.
Almost this case now depends on the one witness who
(15:42):
has yet to come forward. Kim and Beth still have
not given up the search for that person. Kim still
struggles with the belief that if she had not called
in sick that day, Michelle would still be here. She
blames herself, even after all these years. At the time
that Michelle venis she stood at five feet eight two
inches tall and weighed one hundred and ten pounds, with
(16:03):
blue eyes and dark blonde hair. She was last seen
wearing a wine colored v neck sweater with blue jeans
and a gold necklace with a knot pendant. Michelle also
wore glasses at the time that she vanished and was
a heavy smoker. Her friends and family called her Shelley.
If you have any information on Michelle's whereabouts, if you
are the person that we are all waiting for to
(16:24):
step up and help this case, please contact the Zellianople
Police Department at seven two four four five two three
zero zero three. Do you have any comments or a
case you'd like to suggest, You'll find a comment form
and case submission link at lord narts dot com. Thank you.
WPXI News Library, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, The Butler Eagle,
(16:47):
Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers, the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children NamUs, the Charlie Project, the Dough Network, Webslouth's Reddit,
the YouTube channels dark Horse and Gabulosis, and of course
Wikipedia for information contributing to today's story. This episode was
written by The Roracle and John Lorden and produced by
Lorden Arts. Thank you to our audience here for the
(17:10):
live recording session hosted on the YouTube channel Lorden Arts
Studio two. Special thanks to Seriously Mysterious financial supporters Robert Martin,
Gwen Barringer, Casey Schaeffer, Kira McQueen, Amy, Chris Donovan, Lane
Es Viv, Misty Kate, and Candice Allison. Most of all,
thank you for listening. I'm John Lorden. Please join us
(17:31):
again next week for another case I know you'll find
seriously mysterious
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