Buzz
Picture this classic horror movie trope: your car sputters to a halt late at night in a desolate area. Luckily, gas stations are now ubiquitous, with many operating around the clock. This makes the likelihood of such a situation occurring in reality quite slim. However, service stations can still be eerie locations where unsettling events unfold.
10. The Mysterious Vanishing of Kelly Dove
On the night of June 18, 1982, 20-year-old Kelly Dove was working solo during the late shift at the Imperial gas station in Harrisonburg, Virginia. At some point that night, Kelly disappeared without a trace, though not before informing the police about several alarming instances of harassment.
Just after midnight, Kelly dialed 911 to report receiving lewd phone calls. She requested police assistance, but no one arrived. Later, she called again to report harassment from a male customer, suggesting he had behaved inappropriately toward her.
Around 2:30 AM, a terrified Kelly made her third 911 call, reporting yet another lewd phone call. She mentioned that the same customer had arrived in a silver Ford and parked in the lot. Police finally responded, but when they arrived just two minutes later, Kelly had vanished. Her purse was left behind, yet there was no indication of a struggle or theft.
Authorities faced backlash for not responding until Kelly’s third emergency call. They also failed to secure the store or collect fingerprints after her disappearance. Kelly’s family has long suspected a former high school acquaintance, known for indecent exposure and making obscene calls, might be linked to her vanishing. However, no evidence has ever connected him to the crime.
Kelly Dove has been missing for over three decades. The most heartbreaking detail is that she had swapped shifts with her sister and wasn’t scheduled to work that night.
9. The Vanishing of Susan Swedell
Around 4:00 PM on January 19, 1988, 19-year-old Susan Swedell left her workplace in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, and was heading to her home in Lake Elmo. She was just 2 kilometers (1 mile) away from her destination when she had to pull over at a gas station because her vehicle was overheating.
The gas station attendant reported that Susan entered another car driven by an unknown man. This was the last confirmed sighting of her.
Given that Susan vanished on a cold, snowy day, her car overheating seemed unusual. Upon inspection, it was discovered that the radiator’s petcock had been tampered with. One hypothesis suggests the unidentified man at the station may have deliberately damaged Susan’s car earlier, allowing him to trail her from work and offer assistance when her car broke down.
The mystery deepened when Susan’s mother visited her apartment and found the red pantsuit Susan had worn to work lying on her bed. Did Susan or someone else return to the apartment after her disappearance? Despite 27 years passing, the fate of Susan Swedell remains unknown.
8. The Vanishing of Tangena Hussain
Around 9:00 PM on October 2, 2008, Jamrul Hussain stopped at a gas station in Hamtramck, a suburb of Detroit. Jamrul stated that two-year-old Tangena Hussain was in his car at the time. Although they shared the same last name, Tangena was not his daughter; he was in a relationship with her mother, Nilufa Begum.
Jamrul alleged that he left Tangena inside the locked car while he went into the gas station’s convenience store to buy a few items. Upon returning minutes later, Tangena was nowhere to be found. Despite the presence of surveillance cameras, Jamrul’s car was parked outside their range, leaving no footage to confirm his account. Suspicion quickly turned toward Jamrul.
Rather than immediately searching for Tangena or contacting the police, Jamrul made the puzzling choice to pick up Nilufa from her workplace. He behaved oddly when she inquired about her daughter’s whereabouts. It wasn’t until after Jamrul drove Nilufa back to the gas station that Tangena’s disappearance was reported to authorities.
The case took a strange twist when a 15-year-old girl came forward, alleging that Jamrul had kidnapped and assaulted her earlier that year. Investigations suggested their relationship was consensual, leading to the kidnapping charge being dropped. However, Jamrul was convicted of statutory rape and sentenced in December 2009 to 18 months to 15 years in prison. He remains a person of interest in Tangena’s disappearance, but the child has never been located.
7. The Killing of Leo Lamontagne
On September 7, 1957, 19-year-old Leo Lamontagne was working the night shift alone at the Hub Service Station in Winnipeg. Around 4:20 AM, a police officer arrived at the station and was horrified to find Leo lying unconscious over the office desk, surrounded by blood. He had suffered three blows to the head from a blunt object. Although Leo briefly regained consciousness, he couldn’t explain what had occurred. He was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to his injuries four days later.
A large bloodstain in the garage suggested that Leo was likely attacked there. He had managed to reach the office but collapsed before he could seek help. Cash was missing from the register, and some gasoline had also been taken. The last verified sighting of Leo was about 2.5 hours before he was discovered.
However, something unusual occurred during that period. At 2:30 AM, two young men arrived at the station for gas, but no one came to assist them. Eventually, they noticed a man entering the station’s office. He approached them, claiming he was washing cars in the garage and that the pumps were temporarily closed.
The man appeared to be in his thirties and was clearly not Leo Lamontagne. It is believed he killed Leo during a robbery attempt, but the murderer’s identity remains unknown.
6. The Vanishing of Cheryl Scherer
In 1979, 19-year-old Cheryl Scherer worked as an attendant at the Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own service station in Scott City, Missouri. Initially assigned to the night shift, her family was relieved when her hours were changed to 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM. However, in a tragic turn of events, Cheryl disappeared during daylight hours.
Between 11:40 and 11:50 AM on April 17, Cheryl vanished while on duty at the service station. Her car and purse were left behind, but $480 was missing from the cash register, suggesting she may have been abducted during a robbery. The station was adjacent to a usually bustling grocery store, but coincidentally, the store was closed that day as the owner attended his mother’s funeral.
At first glance, Cheryl’s case appeared to be a flawless crime. However, it was later connected to notorious serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole. After Lucas was arrested in the 1980s, he confessed that he and Toole had abducted and killed a young woman near Scott City, then disposed of her body. Cheryl’s disappearance was the only unresolved missing person case in the area during that time.
It was confirmed that Lucas and Toole were in Scott City on the day Cheryl vanished. However, after viewing her photo, Lucas denied she was the victim. Since both Lucas and Toole are now deceased and were known for falsely confessing to crimes, the complete truth about Cheryl Scherer’s disappearance remains unknown.
5. The Vanishing of Kelli Cox
On the morning of July 15, 1997, 20-year-old Kelli Cox visited the Denton Jail as part of her criminology class at the University of North Texas. Since personal items weren’t allowed inside the jail, Kelli locked her purse and car keys in her parked vehicle. She hid a spare key under the fender, intending to use it to unlock her car after the field trip.
When Kelli returned to her car, the spare key didn’t work. She attempted to use the jail’s phone to seek help, but she wasn’t permitted to make a long-distance call. Instead, she walked to a nearby Conoco gas station to use a pay phone.
Kelli called her boyfriend, Lawrence Harris III, and requested he bring her another spare key. Around 12:30 PM, Lawrence arrived at the gas station. Her car was still in the same location, but Kelli was nowhere to be found.
After Kelli was reported missing, authorities suspected Lawrence’s involvement. He was required to undergo multiple polygraph tests before being cleared of any connection to her disappearance. Kelli’s family criticized the investigation, arguing that the police spent too much time focusing on Lawrence.
Her family maintained that the timeline made it impossible for Lawrence to have abducted Kelli. Investigators also neglected to check her car for fingerprints, potentially overlooking critical evidence. Nearly 20 years later, Kelli Cox’s mysterious disappearance remains unresolved.
4. The Vanishing of Andy ‘Joe’ Lepley
On May 30, 1976, 18-year-old Andy “Joe” Lepley arrived for his shift at a Texaco station in Colorado City at 6:30 AM. Within the next 30 minutes, he vanished without a trace. When the station’s owner arrived later that morning, Joe was missing, though his pickup truck remained parked outside with the keys still in the ignition. Approximately $100 was stolen from a cashbox, and the microphone from the station’s CB radio had been torn out.
One theory suggests Joe walked into the station during a burglary. Shortly before his disappearance, waitresses at a cafe connected to the station spoke with an unidentified middle-aged man. He inquired about the station’s opening hours and mentioned he needed gas for a trip to Wyoming.
The man drove a striking Pontiac Grand Prix with a peculiar plywood trailer covered by a tarp. He was seen near the gas station after Joe arrived for work and was observed leaving around 7:00 AM. It’s unclear if he was involved in Joe’s disappearance, but he was never found. Andy “Joe” Lepley remains missing to this day.
3. The Vanishing of Jessica Heeringa
On April 26, 2013, 25-year-old Jessica Heeringa was working alone during the evening shift at the ExxonMobil gas station in Norton Shores, Michigan. The last confirmed sighting of her was at 10:55 PM when a female customer bought a lighter at the station.
About 15 minutes later, another customer arrived and found that the station was empty. During this short period, Jessica had vanished without explanation. All her personal belongings were left behind, and there was no evidence of a struggle or theft. However, a small drop of blood was found outside the back door.
In a strange development, a significant lead came from the gas station’s manager and her husband, who were riding their motorcycles through the area around 11:00 PM. They reported seeing a silver minivan parked near the station and observed an unidentified man opening and closing the van’s rear door before driving off.
Since the manager didn’t notice anything unusual, she didn’t check on Jessica inside the station. Surveillance footage from nearby businesses confirmed the presence of the van in the area at that time. A potential suspect is Brad Mason, a convicted rapist living in a halfway house just a few kilometers from the station. He had no verified alibi for the night Jessica disappeared.
In February 2014, police arrived at Mason’s apartment to arrest him for abducting and raping another woman. Mason responded by brandishing a toy gun and was fatally shot in what appeared to be a case of “suicide by cop.” If Mason knew anything about Jessica Heeringa’s disappearance, he took that secret to his grave.
2. The Union 76 Gas Station Victim
On August 29, 1979, a horrifying discovery was made in a dumpster behind a Union 76 gas station in Long Beach, California. Inside two trash bags and a cardboard box were the dismembered remains of a young white male, estimated to be between 18 and 30 years old.
The remains included the victim’s head, torso, and left leg, but the rest of his body was never recovered. A sock had been inserted into his rectum. Although the victim was never identified, his case was later linked to infamous serial killer Randy Kraft.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, Kraft raped, tortured, and murdered numerous young men, primarily in California. He was eventually convicted of 16 murders, though experts suspect he may have killed over 50 more. Kraft is currently on death row.
Kraft earned the nickname “Scorecard Killer” due to a coded list he kept, containing cryptic references to his crimes. The list included 61 entries. While some have been linked to his known victims, others likely point to unsolved cases.
The 30th entry on the list was the number “76.” Given that the crime aligns with Kraft’s profile, this may refer to the Union 76 gas station where the dismembered remains of a young man were discovered in 1979. However, Kraft was never formally charged with this murder, and the victim’s identity remains a mystery.
1. The Vanishing of Amy Sue Pagnac
On August 5, 1989, 13-year-old Amy Sue Pagnac left her Maple Grove, Minnesota, home to spend the day at her family’s farm in Isanti County with her stepfather, Marshall Midden. Around 5:00 PM, while just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from home, Marshall stopped at a Holiday gas station in Osseo to use the restroom. Marshall claimed Amy stayed in the car, but when he returned, she had vanished without a trace.
Since Amy had a history of running away, authorities initially assumed she would return. However, she never did. Amy also suffered from seizures, leading to speculation that she may have had an episode, become disoriented, and wandered off while her stepfather was inside.
In May 2014, the case was reignited in the public eye when authorities conducted thorough searches of both the Pagnac family’s home and farm. While police did not reveal what prompted the search or what they were seeking, no significant findings were uncovered. The mysterious disappearance of Amy Sue Pagnac remains unresolved.
