The Springfield Three Disappearance 

I genuinely think they were kidnapped as that's the most likely scenario, so many things don't make sense though. What do you think happened to the Springfield Tree?

People just come by, sweep the porch, clean the house, and delete their messages? Who TF are these people?

As a smoker I can tell you, I would forget my wallet and keys and cell before I forget my cigs, and if I did, I'd notice in five minutes and immediately return for them. They were abducted for sure.

Did you just say 18 people came and went from that household in the timeframe of these women going missing...AND the people cleaned the house?!? Who are these people? I need 18 people to randomly come into my home when nobody's there and clean my house...like shit man. 😕

Mike carefully pronouncing “three” is easily the cutest moment of this series.

If they are smokers and left their ciggies behind, 110% something sinister went down...

I was worried at first when he said Springfield Three, but right in the next sentence there were already tree women appearing, so everything's fine.

How is there "not enough evidence" to rip up the concrete? I would say the 3 grave-sized anomalies would be enough to have a look. Jesus, if it were my kid, I'd go out in the middle of the night and smash the concrete myself. There, it's done, let's dig up the area while we have the opportunity, I'll take the charges for my vandalism.

Suzie was a good friend of mine, I graduated a year ahead of her. She was an amazing girl and truly missed.

Listen if I was ever to turn up missing, I’m going to leave as many clues and dna as possible so don’t be coming over tryna clean my house ok.

Mike *slowly and carefully*: "The Springfield THree" Me: "Who are you and what have you done with Mike, you imposter!"

Suzie and I were friends. This was so tragic and just so unfair. I wish we could find out what happened to them. Thank you for covering their story. 💗

Yup, look at the friend who referred to one of her best friends as "the other girl", the same one who contaminated the scene by cleaning up the evidence.

This case still scares the hell out of me. How can three women be taken from their home and this many years later still no new clues or leads. That’s creepy.

Hol up did Mike just say “three” instead of “tree”??

It's strange that Janelle and her boyfriend cleaned up the glass and threw it in a dumpster before looking for their friends. Who does that??

I wonder how deeply Janelle was investigated, her demeanor was strange and how she referred to Suzanne as "the other girl" was odd as well. Wouldn't be the first time someone got ganked out of jealously and others become collateral damage. Plus, she was the first to "contaminate" the scene. Just something to ponder.

The most concentration I've ever seen by a human being. "....THREE...."

I can't imagine the police being unwilling to dig up a small bit of pavement to just SEE if they were down there. It wouldn't be a big deal and would be quick and inexpensive to pour some more concrete. The handling of this whole case was pathetic!

I think they were abducted by someone they knew. One thing I’ve learned from watching and reading about cases like this is that it’s actually rare for crimes of this nature to be committed by strangers.

13:51 "Vandalizing a mausoleum and stealing the gold teeth filling from skulls". I nominate this for the Most Interesting Shameful Deed Award.

If that was my family, I'd be renting a jackhammer and illegally digging up that parking garage. Sue me, fine me, jail me, at least I'd know if they were there or not. It cant cost more than the 40thousand reward to dig that small area up and re do it.

Im a unreliable stoner,but even I would have called the police the moment the door was left open and no one was answering inside ,despite 3 cars parked outside and no one answering their calls.

Never go to the second location. Much worse things than death will happen at that second location. Fight for your life to prevent leaving location 1. This could either foil their plans or at least leave the evidence needed, to gather information to find you or solve your case.

“They were going to the other girls house”? I thought the three were best friends? Why make that kind of statement?

Me: looking for insight in the comments Comments: Tree > Three

If I was told my house had a gas leak at 3am, I wouldn't exactly tell them to go away and go back to bed. I would at least tell everyone inside to step outside until it's sorted. Especially if I was a mum. It's not the worst rouse.

I swear to God, the scream of sadness I let out when he said three, dude, wHY I CAME HERE FOR THE 🌲🌴🌳🌴🌲🌳🌴

the look of pride on his face when he said "three" :) i love

It seems funny that in that interview with Janelle, she calls her (supposed) friend "the other girl."

That's one of my worst fears. Someone kidnapping me and not letting me take my cigs

This us soo sad for the mother of the 18yr old most of all - her daughter just vanished and was never found. ❤😢. I feel so sad for her. Even if they eventually find remains she can stop looking. I'd never stop looking for my kids - ever!!

Why didn’t they check the phone records to see who called the house?

Wait so her and her boyfriend swept up the glass from a broken light and walked it to a neighbors trashcan all before they even tried to make contact with their friends? Wouldnt the normal reaction be to ask the residents of the house what happend or atleast inform them of the glass before touching it? The door was even open when they allegedly got there, this would have added to the probability of informing the residents first. Also while there they managed to experience a phone call from a sexual deviant, wich is very convenient to draw away suspicion. I would be asking her and her boyfriend alot more questions.

This guy deserves 10 mil subs

I’m so uncontrollably addicted to your channel. Thanks GOD you have a HUGE amount of these. Been watching for at least a week solid every night for hours and hours.

I've been looking this up for about 45 minutes. The people that first went to the house didn't think the women were "missing", but just "gone" and expected them to come home at any second. That's why they cleaned up the place. "I didn't want to call 911," Janis tells Crime Watch Daily. "Because that would be an emergency and I thought they were going to come back any minute. I thought they were going to come back in that door and walk in." While patiently waiting for the women to return, friends and family tidy up the house, even repairing an awkwardly bent window blind. "You have a dozen people in a house emptying ashtrays, cleaning coffee cups, but nobody could grasp that this was anything but a misunderstanding," said Sherrill's friend Debra Schwartz. Sherrill's house phone rings. They let her answering machine pick it up. Everyone expects to hear one of the women, but it's a stranger calling. "It was a very rude phone call. Lewd sexual content," said Janis. Everyone assumes it's simply a post-graduation prank call, so someone hits "delete." "Somehow it got erased," said Janis. As night falls in Springfield, everyone's concern quickly swells to full-blown panic. It was time to make that 911 call." In any "real world" investigation, Robert Craig Cox would be a "prime suspect". "But who could have stormed a house with military precision and subdued three strong young women? Then a tip comes in all the way from Florida that sends shivers down cops' spines. "We did receive information reference Mr. Cox," said Sgt. King. Robert Craig Cox, a highly trained Army Ranger once named Soldier of the Year -- now a suspected killer. Cox had been convicted and sentenced to death in Florida for the brutal murder of 19-year-old Sharon Zellers. But that verdict was reversed and he was handed over to authorities in California. "There was never enough to say that definitively that he was involved," said Sgt. King. Cox served nine years for abducting two women there. So what's his connection to the Springfield Three? "Robert Cox worked at the dealership where Stacy's dad worked," said Sherrill Levitt's friend Debra Schwartz." Apparently, Cox had his death sentence overturned by a judge. "A 12-member jury decided that Cox was guilty of first-degree murder. The same jury recommended 7 to 5 last month that Cox should die in Florida's electric chair. Conrad was not bound by that recommendation. Zellers was last seen alive about 10 p.m. on Dec. 30, 1978. She was leaving her job at Walt Disney World, apparently for her Pine Hills home. Six days later, Orange County deputy sheriffs found her badly beaten body stuffed in a manhole at a Sand Lake Road pumping station. Her blood-stained car was in a nearby orange grove. Testimony that Cox, then 19 and a U.S. Army ranger stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., was staying with his parents at a Days Inn about 100 yards from where Zellers' body was found. The night of the murder, he returned to his parents' room bleeding, with an inch of his tongue bitten off. Cox told deputies he had accidentally bitten his tongue during a fight miles away outside a roller skating rink, but two Orange County deputy sheriffs working as security guards said no such fight occurred. A surgical technician and doctor testified that the wound could not have been caused by Cox biting his own tongue. Assistant state attorneys Jeff Ashton and Fred Lauten argued at last month's sentencing hearing that Cox should die because of the cruelty of the beating and because Cox was twice convicted of abducting two other women at knifepoint in 1985 while stationed at Fort Ord, Calif." Looks kind of suspicious.

This case was infuriating...good god. This all seems really suspicious- so everybody come over, let’s clean up the house and delete the voicemails.

A family handing out fliers for a missing loved one, always breaks my heart❤️

This happened where I’m from. The man who owns PFI western store did it, he poured the foundation of his business the night the girls went missing. He paid off 3 Springfield officers, a lot of people have been paid to keep this quiet. if you live here, & if you know Randy Little, the owner of PFI, you know what exactly happened.

I live in Springfield, and I know there are rumors that the owner of PFI may have been involved. Maybe buried under the PFI parking lot... I heard Randy Little (owner of pfi) knew Cheryl and MAY have been involved

The friend and her boyfriend cleaning the scene seems suspicious

If the dog could talk, it too would certainly have gone missing.

I was born and raised here in Springfield and we all know the crazy stuff that has happened. Like this case and the Blanchard nightmare. I want to say one thing...u have to live here to know and that is about the parking garage. It’s the one connected to the Cox South Complex which was in its early years at the time of the disappearance. The area that is now the parking garage where the 3 anomalies were indicated was excavated and left to set for months prior to its construction. Most would drive by daily and wonder when it was finally gonna be poured. So for someone to say an excavator would have found them is simply not true. It was marked and flagged for pouring for months before the pouring began. There r people here still trying to get this area dug up but it will never happen sadly. Multi billion $ health care business will win out. This is good ole boy mentality here.

Such a sad case. I can’t imagine the pain the families are still in. It’s the not knowing that is so infuriating.

So sad that this case has gone unsolved for so long.

I strongly feel their friend Janelle has something to do with this . God!🙏

What if he's somewhere in the comment section? Maybe he enjoys watching these videos?

I was born and raised in Springfield, so I’ve heard all the theories, speculation and local gossip. These women were most certainly kidnapped, and there wasn’t a struggle because the person was known to them and/or had a weapon. Someone (in LE) should start a new investigation from scratch; “fresh eyes” on the case, so to speak. A lot of information has become convoluted, and I don’t think Kathee Baird has done much to clear up matters. Incidentally, BART STREETER , (son of Sherill, brother of Suzie), was arrested earlier this year after attempting to kidnap a girl outside of a beauty salon. 🤔

I was living in Branson when this happened and the two young girls were just three years younger than me. Those flyers that you see on the video were everywhere for at least two years. I was really excited to see this video, hoping that this case had finally been solved. I don't live in that area anymore so I don't see the local media. Please follow up if anyone ever gets charged for this. Thank you.

why couldmt that girl say her friends name?? She said "That Girl" they just finished school together.. Why can't she say her friends name ?? 10:18 in.

Do people seriously delete voice messages and throw away notes of license plates? Like, are Springfield people stupid?

I’ve been waiting for new information on this case for YEARS. God, I’m so disturbed from this after so much time that nothing has been found.

Thank you for covering this. This is my hometown, and I was living on my own in my first apartment when they disappeared. Springfield was a different place back then. We were a larger town, but still very small town in personality. Their high school was one of the two "rich" schools and they lived in a nice neighborhood. Heck, the night they disappeared I was out taking a walk at 2 am alone and thought nothing of it, and I lived on the poor side. The Springfield police really worked hard on this case, to be fair. Remember, it was a different time. You didnt assume the worst, heck may parents never locked their door. Now, I don't even recognize springfield.... since the meth trade has taken over. Their friends thought they were helping.

I live just outside Springfield and work in Springfield and I remember seeing the missing posters everywhere back when this happened.

I love the way he said “thhhhree” trying to emphasize the th sound when he first said the title of the video. Then it goes back to his normal “tree”. Oh Mike, let’s have gew, m’8

When a known smoker leaves behind their ciggys, you instantly know something messed up happened, another stellar chapter Mike ! 🤟🏻👽

I am especially thankful for cases involving the number “tree”... I am crushed by the forced “three”

Who in their right mind would clean up a crime scene i mean seriously wtf are you thinking

*Me anticipating the "tree"* Mike: THree. Me: >:(

If only dogs could talk, how many times have detectives probably said that?

I hope one day you'll cover the cases of Felipe Santos and Terrence Williams, both men disappeared after crossing paths with the same dodgy AF sheriff's deputy.

I live in Springfield Missouri, still not solved, & there’s never any talk about this case.

That detective calling her "McCall girl", was in quite bad taste.

What a bungled case from the get go. Cleaning the crime scene, deleting messages, throwing away evidence..

The problem was at the time of the disappearance delmar St was largely undeveloped, was only 1 house across the road & that house was unoccupied, this made it an easy target for the killer

Seems like they were lured outside before being abducted, would explain why there were no signs of struggle inside and explains the the broken light outside. Maybe by someone they knew?

This is one of those cases that makes me so angry. Because it seems like there were possible clues, that were lost due to negligence. For instance, I cannot believe that people went over and cleaned up the house and front porch (crime scene). And it sucks that Stacy’s mom deleted the voicemails. I feel there were direct clues in those. That was no coincidence that a creeper was calling. But that poor woman has lived a parent’s worst nightmare. And I am sure she has beat herself up more than anyone else ever could. She was freaking out that her daughter was nowhere to be found and she made a mistake. And it has been said that so many different police departments had gone through the house, before anything was bagged/taken as evidence. WTH?? As far as the America’s Most Wanted tip- the person called in and seemed legit. And AMW stresses that all tips can remain anonymous. And first thing they do is try to connect them to the Springfield police. They were probably already taking a big step by calling and that freaked them out. I think that should have been handled differently. At least got all the information first, before suggesting they speak with law enforcement. My gut feeling is that whoever did this is now deceased. But I also feel that they told others or had help. Maybe someone will talk one day. But this case has become so infamous, think anyone would be so scared to say anything. Just like the person who called into AMW. My heart hurts for all their loved ones. But I have always felt exceptionally bad for Stacy’s mom. It really does seem like that girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And her poor mom has been through so much, trying to accept the senselessness of all this. I don’t know how anyone, with a heart, could see her speak and know something, and not tell. But there is true evil in this world.

It really pissed me off how so many people just walked in, touched everything, listened to their voicemail, deleted the msg, swept the broken glasses on the front door and basically destroyed every god damn evidence, forensic, finger prints and clues in someone else's home while they're missing and the circumstances looks odd according to them...But then again this was in the 90s and people weren't knowledgable and crime savvy like they are now. So it's understandable, but still annoying.

Uh, who cleans up the glass on front porch of someone’s house before entering the house with an open door?

I binge watch your videos every single day and you genuinely seem like such a lovely person! I adore you and your content so much!

Thank you for covering this! This story is local to me & was frightening as a kid, I wish it got more coverage! 🧡

The amount of pieces of vital information that went wrong is amazing. A registration number that got lost, a deleted voice mail, a cleaned up crime scene, a call that disconnected. It's as if the case just isn't meant to be sold

I remember watching this story on Unsolved Mysteries when I was younger and my first thought was it could have been a neighbor because they would have seen that it was only 3 woman in the house. Seeing the details of this I still get that feeling because the crank calls that were made, the calls were made once the friend came over... perhaps they seen them cleaning the broken light or enter the home then made thencall thinking they would taunt them. This case has always been especially sad to me because I pictured them so Happy to have just Graduated and thinking of how they would be spending their summer and thinking of the next chapters in their life of college.

The outside light was broken. That would have made someone come outside to check what happened. Once outside, there's no light. Bet that's how it started.

Not knowing what has happened to a loved one has to be worse than knowing. You're running the worst case scenarios in your mind, nonstop.

Okay, I have been fascinated by this case for years and years, every since I saw it on Unsolved Mysteries a long time ago. So I love that you did this video on them. But I also have to say, your commentary never ceases to crack me up. 'They would never leave without their ciggys.' I love how you bring a modicum of humor respectfully to these. Instead of the overdramatics some channels have, you bring a realness to it with no disrespect needed. Like in the story with that hairdresser who went missing and her coworker with the 85 aliases was suspect, her name was Jolleen and you made a subtle nod to Dolly Parton's legendary song. Love it, man. And love all of your maroon shirts. Keep up the stellar work, Mike! You are a genius, turty tree times over! :D Also, my humble theory is that the girls were followed to the house. No one even knew they were going there, including them until the last minute, so I think they were maybe stalked by someone at the party or who saw them driving alone. It's a shame but I really feel that their killer will never be caught, let alone convicted due to the hugely compromised crime scene.

Thanks for covering this one, Mike. I'm from Springfield and went to Kickapoo at the same time. It's a fairly small city, so I had mutual acquaintances with those girls. The most commonly accepted theory was that the mother was involved in some way with a gang that distributed meth, and that the girls were in the wrong place when someone came to collect on a debt. I remember when they built the parking garage as I grew up only a mile or so from the hospital. People often speculated that the house was cleaned because of the evidence of drug use (paraphernalia, etc).

Great as always, Mike! Thank you for your work and a purrrfect three 👌

This is where I live. I was very little when this happened and Everyone is still stumped.

there would be no mess or struggle if they just put up their hands and went, which is highly likely if he had a gun on any one of them..

Seems like it has to be people from that party. And an exploratory hole could be drilled, rather than taking out the whole parking garage.

It was a neighbour. He watched the girls come home late. Broke in afterwards. Took them at gunpoint. Stashed them and returned home. Watched the couple walk into the house in the morning. Feeling high on his own success calls the house to stroke his ego and deviousness by taunting the girl.

I'm still trying to figure out why those idiots scrubbed down the house, they should get a prison sentence for stupidity

Lmao love how he delivered "three" in the beginning. You could see that little smirk 🤣🤣

this case and the maura murray case haunt me. i hope that they're resolved at some point in my life time.

The Springfield 🌳🌲🌴! Your channel is the best! Binging episodes 2022!

Mike, thank you so much for covering this. Our community hasn't ever forgotten them and the theories.....wow! Your channel is the best. I look forward to ya!

I feel like who ever did this threw something to break the light build to get their attention to find out what happened outside basically they got up to see what was the noise and took them that way, I truly think that person never entered the house but had them come out, so terrible

If someone has a gun pointed at their (or a loved one's) head, well, most people are going to cooperate and _not_ put up a struggle, especially if they're women and the assailant is male... _or_ if the assailant is someone known to them, like, say... a son or brother. In subsequent years, Bartt Streeter has had multiple run-ins with the law, including attempting to abduct and imprison a young woman in a case that is eerily similar to that of his "missing" mother and sister. I'm not making any concrete accusations here, I'm simply saying Occam's Razor, yo.

Wait a sec... Why would a parking garage owner object to a corner spot being temporarily dug up JUST TO CHECK?

I hope the community gets their tree back.

That’s an abduction van if there ever was one.

Another excellent less known case. Top quality again Mike.

I'm from the Springfield area, and while I was 4 years old when they vanished, I remember hearing about it my entire life. Thanks for shedding some light on this not-so-well-known mystery.

Think what you do Mike is so informative great work Mike...

*20 seconds in* “..threee” 👀😃my boy!✊🏽 *50 seconds in* “tree turdy” 😔🤣

Jennell erased the answer machine, and cleaned the house "by accident"? That needs a deeper investigation?

Don’t ever try to change your accent! It’s the best! Btw, been hooked on your videos and have been binge watching them for weeks (when not at work and being forced to be a good mom and stuff lol). Love your videos. Thanks!

Haha. Mike...I always tell my wife I’m going to watch a “Tree” video before bed. You actually said “three.” That’s was pretty funny!! We like your videos. Keep them rolling.