Case Details
- Photo URLs:
-
- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 11/26/1996
- Missing From:
- Missing From Fairview Park, Ohio
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 07/12/1971 (53)
- Age:
- Age 25 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’5 – 5’6, 130 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A green shirt with the Subway logo imprinted on the front, black pants and black shoes.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Balas’s eye color may occasionally change to hazel. She has a tracheotomy scar on her throat. Her nickname is Spacey and she may use the alias names Sara Lindway and/or Sarah Lindway.
- Details of Disappearance:
- On November 26, 1996, a woman named Balas disappeared. She was last seen around 1:00 a.m. locking up her Subway restaurant job in Fairview Park, Ohio, with her manager. She never went home that night.
Her blue Nissan Pathfinder was found abandoned a few blocks away at a motel, with her purse inside. Her credit card was used a few times for small amounts after she disappeared.
Police investigated several things, including whether someone tried to take advantage of a large insurance settlement she’d received years earlier, but found no evidence.
Eventually, in 2005, her manager, Larry Wade, confessed to killing her. He said he strangled her in the Subway after she rejected his advances and threw her body in a trash bin. Wade had already been convicted of raping another woman and was the main suspect from the start. He pleaded guilty in 2006 and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Balas’s body has never been found.
- Agency:
- North Ridgeville Police Department 440-327-2191
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 11/26/1996