On December 4, 1974, the 17-year-old Laurie Partridge left school because she wasn’t feeling well. She couldn’t get a ride home, so she decided to walk the two miles home, but she would vanish without a trace.
Strangely, her concert tickets were used a few days later, but the police didn’t want to inconvenience the concert goers and wouldn’t allow the people to be stopped as they checked into the venue. When the family questioned the venue, they found Laurie’s two tickets had been used. Did Laurie’s kidnapper go to the Beach Boy’s concert with her tickets? Where is Laurie?
Laurie was a senior in high school and already had enough credits to graduate, so when she told them she didn’t feel good and wanted to leave, they let her go. She reportedly left the Joel E. Ferris High School around 12:30 pm. She said she wanted to lay down and rest before she had to go to work that evening. She worked at the Lincoln Heights Theater.
She walked through the first neighborhood on her way home, and a witness noticed her walking by as he shoveled his driveway. Then, she would pass a rural area with fields and woods. No one noticed her walk through the second neighborhood, and police think she may have been kidnapped in the rural area between the houses.
Laurie had two tickets to the Beach Boy’s concert on December 9, 1974. The family tried to get the police to watch for those ticket numbers at the event, but they refused to interrupt the crowd. They also refused to let the family do it. They sent two officers who spent a short time looking around for Laurie in case she showed up to the concert. She did not. Afterward, the venue verified that all the tickets had been turned in. Were the kidnappers at that concert? We will never know.
During the 50 years since this disappearance, people have tried to tie it to Ted Bundy and other various cases. There have been a couple of witnesses and theories, but none of these tips went anywhere. This poor family has been left without answers and is in the same spot as they were on that cold December day in 1974.
At first, the police said this was a runaway, and because of that mentality, they missed the opportunity to develop the one good lead in this case. Laurie was engaged to a 20-year-old man from the area. They were going to pick out rings in a day or two. They were planning a wedding after Laurie’s graduation in the spring. She was, by all accounts, a very stable teenager with big dreams and a life waiting for her after high school.
What can we do now? Share. That’s about it. The more we talk about these cases, the more pressure we can put on those who have information.
Check out my new Chasing Justice Episode about this case:
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Madhouse Madison County
Chaos rules in a small Southeastern Missouri County. Madison County spans 500 square miles and has a population of approximately 13,000 people. The county seat is Fredericktown with a population of approximately 4,000 people. This rural county should be a safe place in beautiful Americana, but it hides a dark secret. Fredericktown is one of the most dangerous places to live in America. Check out this quote from neighborhoodscout.com.
“With a crime rate of 31 per one thousand residents, Fredericktown has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 32.”
I started researching one case sent to me by a desperate grandmother. That case led me to fifteen more. Then I realized this county has had murder, corruption, and chaos since before the Wild West days. This book will start with a lynching by a Fredericktown mob in 1844. Hold onto your seats when you read this one. You’re in for a wild, chaotic ride through rural Missouri.