Post by Graveyardbride on Dec 5, 2016 11:32:29 GMT -5
The Disappearance of Laurie Partridge
There are more questions than answers in the Laurie Partridge case. She was the oldest of six children in a family that had just relocated to Spokane, Washington, from Fountain Valley, California. And though, at times, the 17-year-old seemed to be somewhat homesick for her old school and friends, she had adapted. The petite, blue-eyed blonde had no problems at Ferris High School, where she was a member of the drill team, wrote for the school newspaper and was making plans to marry her sweetheart after graduation.
Wednesday, December 4, 1974, seemed like any other day. Around noon, Laurie called her mother and complained of cramps and obtained to permission to leave school. She did not have a car and couldn’t find anyone to give her a ride, so, around 12:30 p.m., she began walking the two miles toward her home at 5405 South Custer Street. A little later, someone spotted the 5-foot, 110-pound girl walking south on Havana Street near 37th Avenue. There were also reports of a green Pinto station wagon in the same area, possibly following Laurie. When she failed to show up for her part-time job at the Lincoln Heights Theater, her parents were notified and reported their daughter missing. Her mother and sisters told police Laurie was wearing a tan sweater, tan plaid pants, blue denim crepe-soled shoes and a hooded navy blue coat.
Initially, police suspected the girl might have run away, but her family insisted she would never leave on her own. She had just become engaged to her 20-year-old boyfriend the two had plans to pick out an engagement ring the following day. From all accounts, she was a well-adjusted young woman.
Investigators extensively questioned her fiancé, but were never able to connect him to Laurie’s disappearance and he was never named as a suspect.
The Beach Boys were scheduled to appear at the Spokane Coliseum and Kenneth Partridge had purchased general seating tickets for his daughter and she had them in her purse at the time of her disappearance. The family said there was no way she would miss the concert if she were able to attend, so police attended the event in case she showed up. She didn’t, but her tickets had been used, however, investigators never ascertained who used them.
Over the years, police questioned many men, including notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, but because he was attending law school in Utah at the time Laurie vanished, never considered him a serious suspect.
In 2010 in an interview with KHQ, Laurie’s younger sister, Kimberly Carroll, said, “Laurie was such a beautiful, beautiful person. Whoever took her changed the whole course of our lives. It’s torture not knowing,” she told NBC affiliate KHQ. “It’s absolute torture.”
The following year, detectives announced they had a new witness who claimed to have seen Laurie around 4:15 p.m. the day she disappeared talking to a man in his 40s or 50s near a white truck with a “van-like back end” that had a darker-colored door. Unfortunately, the new lead led nowhere.
Today, Laurie’s five siblings live in various parts of the country. Her parents divorced, but reconciled and remarried several years later. Mrs. Partridge died in 2004.
If you have any information concerning the disappearance of Laurie Partridge, call Spokane Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.
Sources: Rachael Trost, NBC News, November 27, 2016; The Charley Project; and Dean Marie Pyle Peters & Cold Cases.
