Missing Persons

On August 8, 1977, I was 12 years old and ready to start sixth grade at Coe Elementary School. My sister, Kathy, was almost 16 and living in a different world, North Olmsted High School.  Late summer for my sister was all about marching band. In early August, she was already gearing up for NOHS's mini band camp: 7:00AM marching drills, 8 to the 5, the piccolo part to Stars and Stripes Forever. In other words, just the kind of stuff an incoming junior and now upperclasswoman should be consumed with.

On August 8, 1977, one of Kathy's classmates, Yvonne Regler, was pumping gas at the Sunoco station on the 18900 block of Lorain Road in Fairview Park. She'd previously worked at a Sunoco station in North Olmsted, but transferred to FP station to fill in for a vacationing employee. August 8 was her first day at the new position, and she was scheduled to work alone. Around noon, some of the station's employees stopped by to bring her lunch. They were the last people to report seeing her. At approximately 1:30PM, when a coworker arrived at the station, Yvonne was gone. Her purse, cigarettes and lunch were in the office. No signs of a struggle were apparent, yet investigating officers eventually concluded she did not leave the station of her own free will. Later reports came out stating that Yvonne had been dealing with some personal issues at the time. However, she had no history nor any pre-indication of runaway behavior. (Summation based upon citation on Charley Project ( http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/r/reglar_yvonne.html ).

When Yvonne disappeared, things changed in our household. Suddenly, my parents were concerned that my sister was biking three-and-a-half miles to NOHS at the crack of dawn every morning. Alone. I remember some muted conversations being shielded from my twelve-year-old ears. Then, eventually, Yvonne Regler's vanishing faded into the background hum of life in the 'Sted, as late summer marched into football season, Homecoming, the holidays, spring break and eventually another summer vacation. Yvonne's fate never really left my mind, though. I simply couldn't understand how and why she was never found.

Then, almost three years later in June while I was preparing to enter high school, Tiffany Papesh went missing while walking home from a Convenient Food Mart in Maple Heights. Although career criminal, Brandon Lee Flagner, later confessed to Tiffany's abduction and murder, many (including Tiffany's own family) discount his confession and eventual conviction due to the inconsistencies in his account and an alibi that certainly raises the specter of reasonable doubt. ( http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/papesh_tiffany.html ). For the sake of brevity, I won't rehash what happened to Amy Mihaljevic nine years later in October 1989. James Renner tackles the case in its entirety in Amy: My Search for Her Killer and his current blog: http://amymihaljevic.blogspot.com/ . I will say, however, that like Renner I find myself somewhat obsessed with missing persons and unsolved murders, a fascination which certainly inspired me to write and finish Cat & Cat.

Although I tend to abhor puzzles and riddles in the abstract, I find myself drawn to them in their tangible, real-life manifestations. I find it inconceivable that a person can simply just vanish without a trace, much in the same way I'm frustrated by UFO sightings, paranormal encounters, conspiracy theories or paradoxes in theoretical physics. Every mystery ultimately possesses a rational and in many cases an empirical solution. As human beings, I believe we have a responsibility to seek and hopefully find these solutions.

Cat & Cat portrays Chris Telamon's efforts to unravel one such multi-layered mystery - What exactly is Ron Barnes, and did he have anything to do with the disappearance of Lena Drajan? Having personally known victims of abduction and murder in his youth, namely Tamara Beckley and Bobbi Jo Retskin, Chris Telamon isn't just obsessed with the tragedy, he's haunted by it. Likewise, rookie Detective Ryan Leach is also obsessed with finding out what really happened to Tara Shumway and who is responsible for her death. This shared obsession, then, forges a bond between the blogger and the detective that enables them to look past their differences and work together.

In future blogs, I'll explore a number of missing persons cases that personally vex me. Some victims, like Holly Bobo and Lauren Spierer may be known to you. Others, from the newspapers and history books, will probably be unfamiliar. If anyone out there is fascinated by a particular case, please let me know, and I'll do my best to provide my informed opinion.

Until next time.

MK