Missing
Stephanie Lynn Douglas
Stephanie, approximately 1990
Date and time person was reported missing : 11/27/1990
Missing location (approx) :
McMinnville, Oregon
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 08/31/1965 (55)
Age at the time of disappearance: 25 years old
Height / Weight : 5'4, 115 - 125 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Stephanie has a scar beneath her nose and a scar on her abdomen. She may use the last name Burnell. She wears dentures.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Stephanie was last seen at 10:30 p.m. on November 27, 1990, when she put her three children and her niece to bed in their McMinnville, Oregon residence. Sometime during the night she apparently taped a note to her neighbor's door, reading "Please check in on my kids. I had an emergecy [sic]." She has never been heard from again.
Stephanie's husband, Stan Douglas, arrived home from work the following morning and found the children safe in bed and his wife missing. Stan told the police he found her car the morning after her disappearance in the parking lot of a department store in McMinnville. Other cars in the lot were covered with ice, but Stephanie's car was not.
Harold Stookey was convicted of murdering Stephanie's best friend, June Cross, who disappeared two weeks after Stephanie did. Cross vanished from Tacoma, Washington, but her body was found in Yamhill County, Oregon, where Stephanie lived.
Authorities believe Stookey convinced Stephanie to leave her home the night she went missing, but they are unsure why. One theory is that she went into the woods to retrieve a cache of drugs. Stookey refused to take a lie detector test in Stephanie's case, and also denied involvement in Cross's murder.
Stookey is not the only suspect in Stephanie's case; she had been involved with drugs and prostitution and knew several violent criminals. Stan had allegedly been abusive towards his wife and he failed a lie detector test after her disappearance, but he had an alibi for the time she vanished and authorities have never been able to tie him to her case.
Stephanie was also a close friend of Larry Shipley, a convicted murderer who had once been married to Cross, but no evidence links Shipley to Stephanie's disappearance. Scott Cox, a presumed serial killer who is currently incarcerated, is another possible suspect.
Authorities investigated several possible sightings of Stephanie in the months following her disappearance, but none of the sightings were confirmed. They believe she was murdered, but they cannot charge any suspect due to a lack of evidence. Her case remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Yamhill County Sheriff's Office
503-434-7506
September 2021 updates and sources
The Doe Network
Cyberpageheaders International
The McMinnville News-Register
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
October 12, 2004. November 7, 2018; middle name added, Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: updated.
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