Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 07/02/1988
- Missing From:
- Missing From Port Arthur, Texas
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 01/18/1937 (88)
- Age:
- Age 51 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’4, 165 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Klumpp has a scar six inches in length on her right arm starting at her armpit. She may use the last name Reed.
- Details of Disappearance:
- In July 1988, a woman named Klumpp vanished from Port Arthur, Texas. Police suspect foul play.
A major suspect is Roy Allen Melanson, a career criminal with a long history of violence against women, including burglary, rape, and murder. He’d spent much of his life in prison.
In 1988, Melanson lived in Port Arthur with his ex-wife and her boyfriend, who rented their house from Klumpp. Klumpp went to their house to retrieve a TV and asked Melanson for help with her air conditioner. They left together; Klumpp was never seen again. Her car was found a few days later with the TV inside, but no sign of her.
A man who traveled with Melanson later claimed Melanson confessed to killing women and dumping their bodies in a swamp near Fort Worth.
Melanson has been convicted of other crimes, including murder in Colorado (a crime committed in 1974) and California (a murder committed in 2010, linked to him by DNA). He’s serving a life sentence in Colorado. Because of these convictions, he will never be released from prison.
Although Melanson is a prime suspect in Klumpp’s disappearance, he has never been charged with it, and the case remains unsolved.
- Agency:
- Port Arthur Police Department 409-983-8600
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 07/02/1988