Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 11/27/1990
- Missing From:
- Missing From McMinnville, Oregon
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race White
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 08/31/1965 (59)
- Age:
- Age 25 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 5’4, 115 – 125 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics 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.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Stephanie disappeared from her McMinnville, Oregon home on November 27, 1990. After putting her kids and niece to bed around 10:30 pm, she left a note for a neighbor asking them to check on the children. Her husband found her gone the next morning, but her car was parked at a local store. Oddly, her car wasn’t covered in ice, while others in the parking lot were.
Police investigated several people. Harold Stookey, convicted of murdering Stephanie’s best friend two weeks later, is a key suspect. Authorities think he might have tricked Stephanie into leaving, possibly to get drugs. He refused a lie detector test.
Stephanie’s husband, Stan, also failed a lie detector test but had an alibi for the time of her disappearance. He was reportedly abusive, but police couldn’t connect him to her disappearance. Other suspects included a convicted murderer who was friends with both Stephanie and her murdered best friend, and a suspected serial killer.
Despite several possible sightings and the belief she was murdered, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge anyone. Stephanie’s disappearance remains a mystery.
- Agency:
- Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office 503-434-7506
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 11/27/1990