11 replies to this topic

[Jenn]

http://www.doenetwor...s/2632dfpa.html

Karen Denise Wells

Missing since April 12, 1994 from Carlisle, Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Classification: Endangered Missing

   

Vital Statistics

    * Age at Time of Disappearance: 23 years old
    * Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 115-120 lbs.
    * Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blond, below-shoulder length hair; green-blue eyes.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Denise Wells, a single mother of Haskell, Oklahoma, was traveling cross-country in April 1994 to to visit with a childhood friend in New Jersey. She dropped off her son at her parents' home April 10 before she left on the trip. She told her mother she was going to visit a high school friend who used to live in Haskell and planned to be back in about four days.

Ms. Wells' family was not worried about the length of the trip because she had driven long distances when she lived in South Dakota.
She checked into the Pike Motel in Middlesex Township, outside Carlisle, and asked for directions to McDonald's, at about 8 p.m.
The last time anyone heard from Ms. Wells was when she called her friend in New Jersey about 7:30 p.m. April 12. She called her friend to tell her she was not going to make it to New Jersey and made plans for the friend to drive to the hotel the next day. Ms. Wells also told her friend she was going to go to a McDonald's restaurant for dinner, and then return to the motel to sleep.

Wells' disappearance was discovered when her friend arrived at the Pike Motel early on April 13 to meet Denise as they'd planned. There was no answer at the door of Denise's room. When entering the room, they found Wells' belongings, apparently untouched. Beds were undisturbed. There was no other sign of a struggle. The room key was still there.  The friend immediately filed a missing person report with Middlesex Township police.

Her white, Plymouth Acclaim, rented in Tulsa, was found abandoned in a rural part of Perry County, near New Germantown, along Route 274, early in the morning of April 13. Motorists had stopped and tried to turn on the hazard lights, but the battery was dead.
Out of gas, the car appeared to have stopped in its tracks in the road's westbound lane. It bore several scratches and was spattered with mud. The passenger's and driver's side doors were standing open.

Wells' change purse, with cash still inside, was found in a nearby ditch. There were no signs of a struggle inside the car. Investigators found some french fries in the car along with maps, a pair of shoes and empty soda bottles.
State Route 274 runs through the Tuscarora State Forest near New Germantown in the western end of Toboyne Township, Perry County. Several hunting cabins are in the area just west of Conococheague Mountain. Police combed the area with helicopters and dogs, but turned up no sign of the missing woman.

A time line pieced together from witness accounts and telephone logs places Wells as far east as Schaefferstown in Lebanon County and Bernville in Berks County before she apparently doubled back to the Carlisle area. Odometer readings from Wells' rental car showed the car traveled 700 miles more than the distance from Oklahoma to Carlisle. Denise had a forgery conviction from South Dakota, where she apparently went to live with her biological father for a short period. She returned, pregnant, to Haskell sometime in 1992 to give birth to her son and raise him in familiar surroundings. Life as an unemployed, single mother was tough, but Denise seemed to be handling it. And she loved motherhood.  Foul play is suspected.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Middlesex Township Police at 717-249-7191

[Jenn]

http://www.muskogeep..._306232734.html

Cold case of missing Haskell woman gets another look


Karen Denise Wells left her 14-month-old son with her parents before leaving to visit a girlfriend in New Jersey for a few days.

She left Tulsa on a Sunday night — April 10, 1994 — and stopped at a motel near Carlisle, Pa. about 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Wells, a resident of Haskell, never made it to New Jersey.

Now, more than 14 years since the 23-year-old disappeared, Middlesex Township Police Department detectives in Carlisle , Pa., are taking a new look at the cold case.

“There was a bunch of things in the car we’re going to test in different ways — ways we couldn’t in 1994,” Police Sgt. Bill Goodheart said.

Cigarette butts, paper cups and other items are going through DNA testing, he said Friday.

“Someone who has been arrested and put in the system may have drank from the cups or have DNA on the cigarette butts,” Goodheart said. “There were just no real clues at the time.”

The Wells case is gnawing on Goodheart’s boss — one of the few cases he has not been able to solve. His boss wants it solved before he retires, Goodheart said.

Bill and Deorma Wells, Karen Denise Wells’ parents, hope the new investigation will be fruitful, but don’t want to say much right now, they said.

Goodheart said he was in Haskell for eight days in 2006 talking to Wells’ family and friends.

The night Wells disappeared, she called her friend in New Jersey from the motel, her father, Bill, said at the time. Wells told her friend she was going to McDonald’s and then to bed.

But the last time she was seen was at the motel, Goodheart said.

The friend drove to Carlisle to meet Wells. She arrived about midnight Tuesday but didn’t find Wells.

Beds were undisturbed, and there was no sign of a struggle.

When Wells’ friend did not find her in her room at the motel, she filed a missing person report with Middlesex Township, Pa., police.

Wells’ clothes were in the motel room, Bill Wells said. Her rental car, a white Plymouth Acclaim, rented in Tulsa, was found the next morning, April 13, 1994. It had been abandoned in a wooded, rural area of Perry County, about 35 miles west of Carlisle, near New Germantown, along Route 274, according to police.

The car was out of gas and appeared to have stopped in its tracks in the road’s westbound lane, according to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa. The car had several scratches on it and was spattered with mud. The passenger’s and driver’s side doors were standing open, the newspaper reported.

Well’s change purse, with cash still inside, was found in a nearby ditch. Police said there were no signs of a struggle inside the car. Her wallet also was found, Goodheart said.

Helicopters and dogs were used to search the area for Wells at the time she went missing.

The Patriot-News reported odometer readings from Wells’ rental car showed the car traveled 700 miles more than the distance from Oklahoma to Carlisle.

Goodheart said if she had stayed on the Interstate, that Tuesday, she would have arrived in New Jersey in about an hour and a half. Instead, she drove about an hour and a half out of the way to go to Carlisle, where she was three hours away from New Jersey, he said.

“I think she was lost — but somebody may have been giving her wrong directions,” Goodheart said Friday.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.charleypr...ells_karen.html

Charley Project profile for Karen Denise Wells

[Jenn]

http://www.cumberlin...b8208026507.txt

Missing woman case still open (updated 12:45 p.m.)
State police seek break in old case.

By Heather Stauffer, Sentinel Reporter, April 15, 2009

Last updated: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 12:48 PM EDT
 
State and local police don’t have any new leads in a missing person case they have been investigating for 15 years, but they said Wednesday that they hope a renewed plea for information will give them the clue they need.

“Locally there have been persons of interest” in the disappearance of Karen Denise Wells, state police spokesman Trooper Karl Schmidhamer said. Out-of-state people have been scrutinized as well, he said, but investigators don’t have enough information to identify anyone as a suspect.

Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said investigators have interviewed people “who we believe know more than they’ve told us.” Getting a break from the physical evidence in this case is a long shot, he said, but he hopes that putting the case in the public eye again will result in new information that, even if it seems insignificant, may be enough to break the case.

Wells, then 23, of Oklahoma, who was known by her middle name, had been driving to New Bergen, N.J., to visit a childhood friend named Melissa Shepard, police said. After she stopped at the Pike Motel in Middlesex Township on April 12, 1994, she made a last call to Shepard at 8 p.m. to say she was going to McDonald’s and then to sleep.

However, police said, when Shepard arrived at the motel about 1 a.m. on April 13 to accompany Wells back to New Jersey, Wells was nowhere to be found. Wells’ abandoned rental car was found on a remote stretch of Route 274 near Tuscarora State Park in Perry County about 5:30 a.m. that day, and although an intense investigation was conducted, Wells was never found.

Police ask anyone with information about Wells to call Crime Stoppers at 866-898-8477.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.pennlive...._in_womans.html
Plea issued for tips in woman's 1994 disappearance
by MATT MILLER, Of The Patriot-News
Wednesday April 15, 2009, 11:51 AM

The Patriot-News file

Missing persons poster for Karen Denise Wells.Authorities this morning issued a plea for tips from the public to help solve the 15-year-old case involving the disappearance of Karen Denise Wells.

Wells, a 24-year-old single mother from Oklahoma, vanished in mid-April 1994 from a motel in Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, where she was supposed to meet a friend. Her abandoned car was found on Route 274 in Perry County. Wells is still listed as a missing person, but investigators believe she likely was murdered.

State police spokesman Karl Schmidhamer said investigators have followed all available leads and need new ones to proceed with the probe. District Attorney David Freed said any new information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, could be enough to break the case.

Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 866-898-8477.

[Jenn]

http://www.pennlive....5yearold_d.html

Evidence sparse in 15-year-old disappearance of Denise Wells

by MATT MILLER, Of The Patriot-News Wednesday April 15, 2009, 12:00 AM
The Patriot-News file



An untouched motel room in Middlesex Township, and a missed reunion with an old friend.

Such are the pieces of the 15-year-old puzzle regarding the disappearance of Karen Denise Wells, a 24-year-old single mother who vanished during a visit to the midstate in mid-April 1994.


Is the Oklahoma woman dead or alive?

Investigators have their suspicions, but don't really know.

The evidence is frustratingly sparse.

The only tangible thing Wells left behind, aside from a few belongings at the motel and a change purse found beside her car, is her now 16-year-old son, William, who didn't accompany her on the trip.

For Wells' mother, Deorma Wells, not knowing what happened has been an unending agony.

"I have always hoped that someday she will return, although I do feel something has happened to her," Deorma Wells said Tuesday in an e-mail interview. "I know there is no way on earth that she wouldn't have contacted her son that she so adores or the many people that love her.

"I am sure that only a handful of people know what happened and I can't point the finger at any one person."

Investigators face the same dilemma. No substantial new evidence has been gained since 1994, Cumberland County Chief Detective Les Freehling said.

Wells, who was known by her middle name, is still listed as a missing person, Freehling said, although her family convinced the courts to declare her dead years ago.

"My own professional opinion is that she's not alive," Freehling said. "She came here to meet a friend and something went bad."

There is a theory that illegal drug trafficking was involved, but no one is sure of that, District Attorney David Freed said.

The first hint of trouble came early on April 13, 1994 when Melissa Shepard, a club dancer from New Jersey and a childhood friend of Wells, told police Wells wasn't at a motel where they'd arranged to meet.

Police said Shepard claimed Wells had driven from Haskell, Okla., to see her. Shepard said she and Wells had last spoken on the phone when Wells arrived at the Pike Motel on Harrisburg Pike around 7:30 p.m. April 12.

Others later told police that Wells was visiting Shepard to help her friend deal with some kind of trouble. Shepard later stopped talking to police, Freehling said, and her current whereabouts are unknown.

Wells' belongings were in her motel room, but neither they nor the bed had been disturbed. There were no signs of struggle.

At 5:30 a.m. April 13, Wells' rental car was found out of gas and abandoned in the middle of Route 274 near New Germantown, 35 miles from the motel. The passenger and driver's doors were open. Wells' change purse was on the ground by the car, money still inside.

Investigation showed Wells had driven 700 miles farther than the distance from Oklahoma to Carlisle and had gone as far east as Bernville in Berks County before doubling back.

[Jenn]

http://www.cumberlin...bc895021949.txt

Seeking a break in Wells case

By Heather Stauffer, Sentinel Reporter, April 16, 2009
Last updated: Thursday, April 16, 2009 3:49 PM EDT

The family of an Oklahoma woman last seen in Middlesex Township in 1994 is joining investigators in urging people to come forward if they know anything at all about the disappearance of Karen Denise Wells.

“I don’t know if they’ll ever find her,” said Joanne Wells of her cousin’s daughter, who was known as “Denise.”

But, she said Wednesday, she hopes that getting people talking about the case again will unearth turn up a piece of information that will allow investigators to finish the puzzle so the family can finally have get some closure.

“There’s some inconsistencies in there,” she said Wednesday of a timeline she has assembled using publicly reported information about the case. “But if you look at it close enough, the answer may be there.”

“I know and feel in my heart, as a mother, that there is someone out there that knows something,” Denise’s mother, Deorma Wells, said in an e-mail to The Sentinel. She wants that person to know that she can forgive a past inability to come forward, she said, but still pleads for the information.

“Please come forward for Denise’s son, William, and yourself, so you do not have to live with the guilt any longer,” Deorma Well said. “This young boy needs a hero, even if you have made a mistake.”

Investigators held a press conference Wednesday to remind the public that it has been 15 years since the disappearance of Denise Wells, who was then 23 and the single mother of a young child. She may still be alive, they said, but they consider that unlikely, as does Wells’ family.

“Locally there have been persons of interest” in the case, state police spokesman Trooper Karl Schmidhamer said. Out-of-state people have been scrutinized as well, he said, but there isn’t enough information to identify anyone as a suspect.

Wells had been driving from her home to New Bergen, N.J., to visit Melissa Shepard, a long-time friend of hers who was working as an exotic dancer and according to Wells’ family was having “personal problems.”

Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said investigators have repeatedly interviewed people “who we believe know more than they’ve told us.”

Getting a break from the physical evidence available is “a long shot,” Freed said. Police have chased down every lead they had over the years, he said, and even went so far as to use ground-penetrative radar at the Pike Motel, where Wells was last seen.

However, he said, over the past few years local law enforcement officials have solved several cases at least as old as Wells’.

“What is consistent is that law enforcement continued to work on these cases,” Freed said, crediting a state police policy of checking in on even long-dormant cases every 60 or 90 days. “We never give up.”

Investigators don’t necessarily need to find Wells or her body to crack the case, Freed said, but they do need more information than they currently have.

For instance, Freed said, police believe there were indications of criminal activity in Wells’ rental car, a white 1993 Plymouth Acclaim that was discovered abandoned and out of gas more than an hour away on a remote stretch of Route 274 near Tuscarora State Park in Perry County before 6 a.m. that day.

Freed declined to specify what those indications were, but police have said in the past that they discovered a small amount of marijuana in the car.

That’s where the time that has passed since Wells’ disappearance may help investigators, Schmidhamer said. The statute of limitations has expired on smaller crimes that may have been involved in what happened, such as theft of a vehicle, he said, and police hope that knowing that may inspire people who have previously been afraid to come forward with information to do so now.

As for the inconsistencies Joanne Wells noted, police have long puzzled over them. They include the following:

• Someone called Melissa Shepard from a pay phone at the Sheetz market in Middlesex and spoke to her voicemail about 17 hours before Wells is believed to have arrived in the area.

• Before she checked into the hotel that day, Wells was seen in Scheafferstown, which is about an hour closer to New Jersey than Middlesex is, and then traveling the opposite direction in Bernville a few hours later.

After telling Shepard that she got lost several times that day, Wells checked into the motel and made arrangements for Shepard to come meet her there. Shepard reported arriving with a boyfriend, but police said she actually showed up with two men she met at a bar where she worked and “went ballistic” before it was even clear her friend was missing.

Wells’ car had logged about 700 miles more than it should have during the trip.

Wells had been dating a married man, and about six months after she disappeared his wife reported receiving a call from a person who claimed to be Wells and said, “Tell Mike I’m not coming home. I’m already married.” Investigators do not believe Wells made the call.

Police have said one of the reasons they do not believe Wells is still alive is that her son William, whom she left with her parents and who is now 16, has not had any contact from her.

“Denise had a beautiful, heartwarming smile, her laughter and her ability to make people feel loved and comfortable,” Deorma Wells said. “She loved her son so much and was truly devoted. She was devoted to her family and friends as she proved in this trip to save her friend, Melissa.”

Deorma Wells said she has no idea what could have happened to her daughter but that the family still feel helpless not knowing.

“I don’t think it ever gets easier,” she said. “The wide range of emotions is unbelievable and sometimes hard to bear, but the only thing we have to concentrate on is our wonderful grandson and his future, making sure he finds his path in life.”

Police ask anyone with information about Wells to call Crime Stoppers at 866-898-8477.

[Lori Davis]

https://www.findthem...g/cases/5386/5/
NamUs profile for Karen Wells - Case 5386