SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — 30 years have passed since Stacy McCall, Suzanne “Suzie” Streeter, and Suzie’s mother Sherrill Levitt disappeared without a trace.
Stacy and Suzie, both Kickapoo High School graduates, were celebrating their success after their graduation ceremony by attending several after-graduation house parties. After the parties were over, the two friends decided to go back to Suzie’s house where she lived with her mother.
No one has seen or heard from the three women since that night in 1992.
June 6, 1992
This was a Saturday and Stacy, 18, and Suzie, 19, had just graduated from Kickapoo High School. The two best friends along with several others planned to celebrate that evening by going to several house parties. They even had plans to drive to Branson at the end of the night to go to White Water the following day.
At around 10:30 p.m. Janis McCall, Stacy’s mother received a call from her daughter. Stacy said the group had decided to wait until the next morning to drive to Branson and that she and Suzie would be staying at their friend Janelle Kirby’s house.
However, because it was graduation week it was a bit crowded at the Kirby residence. Stacy and Suzie decided to drive to Suzie’s house and left the Kirby’s around 2:00 a.m. They both drove from Kirby’s, in separate vehicles to Suzie’s house at 1717 East Delmar Street.
47-year-old Sherrill, Suzie’s mother, was last heard from at around 11:15 p.m. that night. She was on the phone with a friend, painting a chest of drawers.
June 7, 1992
Photos taken at the residence show the girls arrived at Suzie’s house. Their vehicles were parked out front and their personal belongings were still there. However, when Kirby tried to call the house around 8:00 a.m. there was no answer.
After calling the Streeter’s house several times, Kirby and her boyfriend decided to drive there around 12:30 p.m. The first thing that caught the eye of the couple was glass shattered on the front porch. The glass was from the front porch light. Kirby’s boyfriend swept up the glass.
The front door was unlocked, but this was considered normal in the 1990s, and kidnappings and murders were rare in Springfield during this time.
The couple entered the house and found some of McCall, Streeter, and Levitt’s personal belongings there. The house was tidy and even Suzie’s bed looked as if the girls had climbed into it only hours before. Another thing the couple noticed is Suzie’s and Levitt’s dog, Cinnamon, was more jumpy than usual. They also found packs of cigarettes left behind. Both Kirby and her boyfriend found this to be odd since Suzie and Sherrill were known to be smokers and normally wouldn’t leave their cigarettes behind.
After finding no trace of the women, Kirby and her boyfriend began calling friends who they thought might know where the women went. No one had any answers.
As the day went on Janis McCall became more worried about her daughter Stacy. Her daughter was known for calling and letting her parents know where she was. Janis found out through Kirby’s sister that Stacy had not spent the night at Kirby’s house but instead went to Suzie’s house. Just like Kirby, Janis began calling the Streeter home, but no one answered.
On the evening of June 7, 1992, Janis jumped into her car and drove to the Streeter/Levitt residence herself. Janis wasn’t the only one at 1717 Delmar Street. Around 10 other curious people had filled the house and as the evening pressed on Janis decided to call the police.
It wasn’t long before police arrived on the scene.
The long investigation begins
It became apparent to law enforcement the three women didn’t leave of their own accord. Police quickly suspected foul play was involved.
“I don’t remember if it was that day or night that the crime scene van was pulled in front of Suzie and Sherrill’s house and that yellow tape was put up saying crime scene. And not to enter,” said McCall.
Soon tips started to flood into the police station and even Janis McCall started getting calls about sightings of her daughter.
“I remember the different calls that they would say they had seen them. They said they had seen Stacy driving a little red sports car down Battlefield. Well, it wasn’t Stacy it was our oldest daughter.
“I remember calls that said they were cut up into pieces. I remember one that said they were fed to the hogs. You know horrifying things for a mom to hear,” said McCall.
The FBI was called to help investigate the case Tuesday, June 9, 1992, just days after the women’s disappearance. By Wednesday, June 10, more than 20,000 posters were hung throughout Springfield. Some of these posters remain in storefronts today.
Community-wide searches were conducted. Divers inspected Lake Springfield and a stretch of the James River, and investigators ran polygraph tests on those close to the women.
As days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, tips continued to stream in. One of the first tips of the case involved a green van seen in the area of 1717 East Delmar.
Police received a tip from a woman who claims she saw a van, being driven by who she thought was Suzie Streeter the morning of the disappearance. Police searched thousands of vans and even painted a van green and kept it outside the police department.
Former Prosecuting Attorney Darrell Moore said, “Everybody on this case wanted it resolved.”
Moore was one of the dozens of investigators who spent days, sleepless nights, and hundreds of hours trying to solve this case.
“Through the years there have been various leads but it got to the point where even today I still get calls from people,” Moore said.
Retired Springfield Police Sergeant David Asher said, “I just felt like when we were given the case when we actually got it late, we didn’t start from the very beginning.”
Suspects
Bart Streeter: Springfield police looked into Bart, Suzie’s brother, early on in the investigation. However, Bart had an alibi and was cleared of suspicion.
Robert Craig Cox: Cox had been released from a Florida prison on a trial technicality. He was convicted of killing a woman in Florida but was free and in Springfield at the time the women disappeared.
“He stirred up a lot of interest and there was some concern that he may have been playing people so he could get transported back here and get out of prison for a bit,” said Moore.
Cox’s girlfriend at the time stated Cox was with her the night of the disappearance. Years later she retracted her statement and told police Cox was not with her that night. Cox was sent to a Texas prison and he agreed to an interview concerning the three missing women.
During the interview, Cox said, “I know they are dead. I’ll say that. And I know that.” Cox refused to give any more details.
June 7, 2022
The McCall family is hosting a vigil for the women at the Victims Memorial Garden in Phelps Grove Park, located at 950 E. Bennett St., on June 7 at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are welcome to bring a blanket, chair, and battery-operated or safe candle.
The Springfield Police Department labeled the case as a cold case. If you have any information about the disappearances of Stacy, Suzie, and Sherrill you are asked to contact the police department at 417-864-1810 or call Crime Stoppers at 417-869-8477.
To view all the videos of KOLR10’s coverage of Springfield’s three missing women and the search for them, click here to watch our YouTube playlist of news reports from 1992 and several years after. There’s also a documentary produced to mark the 25th anniversary of the disappearance of McCall, Streeter and Levitt.
