DALLAS COUNTY, Mo. – Mysteries surrounding the disappearance of Cassidy Rainwater are gaining momentum online as little details have been released since two men were arrested late last week, accused of kidnapping the 33-year-old woman.
The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office has yet to give more details about Cassidy Rainwater’s whereabouts.
Here’s what OzarksFirst has learned about this case so far:
Cassidy Rainwater was last seen in mid-July. She was reported missing by a relative on August 25th.
A probable cause statement says on September 16th, the FBI office in Kansas City received an anonymous tip that Rainwater was being held in a cage on a property off Moon Valley Road near Lebanon in Dallas County.
Court documents say two men were living on the property, James Phelps and Timothy Norton. Both were soon charged with felony kidnapping, accused of holding Rainwater against her will.
Dallas County authorities determined Phelps was the last person to have been in contact with Rainwater while both were at his property on Moon Valley Road.
Phelps told investigators Rainwater had been staying with him until she could get back on her feet.
The probable cause statement says James told deputies that a month prior, Cassidy Rainwater had left his property in the middle of the night, met a car at the end of the driveway, and he hadn’t seen her since.
James was taken into custody on September 16th, and his cell phone was seized as evidence.
Court documents say the phone contained seven photos of Rainwater in a partially nude state being held in a cage at Phelps’ residence.
Phelps and Norton are currently in jail. They are due back in court on Oct. 5.
Little else is known about what was found on Phelps’ property, however, OzarksFirst has found more ties to the victim in Laclede County.
Cassidy Rainwater’s mother, Tracy Wahwassuck, went missing in 2007.
Based on previous KOLR 10 reporting, Wahwassuck’s remains were found scattered in a field near Lebanon a year later.
“It was unusual, some of the statements made by people, that we’ll have to go on with the new evidence we have, and see where that leads us,” former Laclede County Sheriff Richard Wrinkle told KOLR 10 during an interview in 2008.
Wahwassuck’s disappearance was reported by KOLR 10 as “suspicious,” but no cause of death has ever been released on her case, and no one has been arrested.
In speaking with the Laclede County Coroner on Thursday, Steve Murrell tells OzarksFirst it’s still an open case.
Murrell says at this time, he does not believe there is any connection between Cassidy’s disappearance and her mother’s death.
