Personally I think the group of boys are suspect. I think the moving of the car is key - if it hadn't been moved it would have implicated someone because it was outside a residence. The boyfriend is sketchy but had no access to a car at the time and his home was searched
On March 20th, 1988, two friends—Stacie Madison (17) and Susan Smalley (18)—vanished after a night out together. They visited the apartment of another friend, then returned to Susan’s home briefly, where one of them made a call just after midnight.
Later on, they were seen at a local convenience store and then, finally, at a restaurant. Stacie waited in the car while Susan spoke to one of her coworkers at the Steak and Ale before the pair departed. From here, their trail goes cold.
Stacie’s Mustang would be located on Monday afternoon, sitting in the parking lot of a Dallas shopping center around five miles away. The vehicle was locked and there were no obvious signs of foul play inside, though the convertible was never processed for evidence.
Over the course of the investigation, there would be multiple unconfirmed sightings, numerous tips—suggesting everything from satanic sacrifice to the girls having fallen victim to a serial killer—and a disturbing confession, but no hard evidence to explain their disappearance.
Geez who was the cop working their case? Barnie Fife? Why would they assume they were runaways when they left a perfectly good car behind that would’ve assisted in the running away part 🤦🏻♀️
This is likely the outcome. I remember being a teenager in the 80s and hooking up with people to party (access to alcohol). But I think the college boys lying about seeing the girls is a huge red flag. Maybe things got out of control. The girls were raped and murdered. They disposed of the bodies and leave the car in a parking lot.
Honestly sounds like typically lazy police work, assuming they just ran away. I wonder how many times they sctually believe thst rather than it being just an excuse to not bother investigate.
The way it was written on the web page, it sounds like the new girlfriend could have repeatedly asked him, "Are you sure you didn't have anything to do with the disappearance of those two girls?" and after repeated denials he got frustrated and blurted out, "Yeah, I killed them both with a shovel and (buried them in the cemetery/disposed of them at the fish hatchery)!" Possibly meaning it in a sarcastic way, but of course the new girlfriend did not report it that way.
A lot of how reliable her testimony might be would depend on whether she stayed with him after his alleged confession or continued to date him, indicating she didn't take the so-called confession seriously.
The detail about the Mustang being found locked at the mall with their personal items inside is textbook 'staging'.
In my experience analyzing cold cases like this, genuine runaways take their essentials. Leaving everything behind suggests the perpetrator wanted to create a diversion—making it look like they went shopping or ran away—to buy himself time. It’s frustrating how the 'runaway theory' in the 80s allowed so many leads to go cold. The offender likely knew them well enough to know where to plant the car to mislead the initial investigation.
Personally I think the group of boys are suspect. I think the moving of the car is key - if it hadn't been moved it would have implicated someone because it was outside a residence. The boyfriend is sketchy but had no access to a car at the time and his home was searched
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Sounds like the Forth Worth Trio!
Sounds also like the Springfield Three!
It reminds me of those cases too!
I wonder if all these cases are connected?
I was just skimming it because at first I thought this was the case they were talking about!
Geez who was the cop working their case? Barnie Fife? Why would they assume they were runaways when they left a perfectly good car behind that would’ve assisted in the running away part 🤦🏻♀️
“Hey, meet me/us at the mall and I/we will take you to a party. Bring some beer.”
This is likely the outcome. I remember being a teenager in the 80s and hooking up with people to party (access to alcohol). But I think the college boys lying about seeing the girls is a huge red flag. Maybe things got out of control. The girls were raped and murdered. They disposed of the bodies and leave the car in a parking lot.
Honestly sounds like typically lazy police work, assuming they just ran away. I wonder how many times they sctually believe thst rather than it being just an excuse to not bother investigate.
The boyfriend Kevin, moved to another state and changed his name. Huge red flag right there!
You would too if you were innocent and tied to this case, right?
If he was innocent why would he tell his girlfriend he killed them?
The way it was written on the web page, it sounds like the new girlfriend could have repeatedly asked him, "Are you sure you didn't have anything to do with the disappearance of those two girls?" and after repeated denials he got frustrated and blurted out, "Yeah, I killed them both with a shovel and (buried them in the cemetery/disposed of them at the fish hatchery)!" Possibly meaning it in a sarcastic way, but of course the new girlfriend did not report it that way.
A lot of how reliable her testimony might be would depend on whether she stayed with him after his alleged confession or continued to date him, indicating she didn't take the so-called confession seriously.
The boyfriend probably did!
Why didn't they process the vehicle for evidence? When that happens it makes me wonder if they knew a cop was involved.
The police assumed they were runaways to begin with and didn't bother processing the car for evidence.
Classic
Or maybe police are just often incompetent
This is likely the answer
Don't be paranoid they probably did poor police work.
DNA processing was like 2 years new at the time.
But fingerprints were not. Plus, what cop would assume a kid ran away but not use the vehicle they owned to do the running away.
The detail about the Mustang being found locked at the mall with their personal items inside is textbook 'staging'.
In my experience analyzing cold cases like this, genuine runaways take their essentials. Leaving everything behind suggests the perpetrator wanted to create a diversion—making it look like they went shopping or ran away—to buy himself time. It’s frustrating how the 'runaway theory' in the 80s allowed so many leads to go cold. The offender likely knew them well enough to know where to plant the car to mislead the initial investigation.
it’s definitely the boyfriend… it couldn’t be clearer imo
When did the "runaway' theory end in police work for missing people?
I would expect that for cases from the '60s and '70s but not as late as 1988!