ST. LOUIS — On July 15, 1999, Heather Kullorn disappeared while babysitting for a friend of her mother’s in Richmond Heights. The police later found the baby alone and crying, along with a crime scene that contained Heather’s blood.
A neighbor reported a man leaving the apartment around 2:00 a.m. that morning with a child around Heather’s age wraped in a blanket. A comforter was also missing from the apartment. Kullorn has been missing for 24 years.
Kullorn’s body has never been found. She is a mild diabetic, the likelihood of survival without her medication for an extended period is slim. For her survival, it is necessary for Kullorn to use daily insulin injections to manage her condition, along with frequent blood sugar testing, performed four times a day.
What did she look like?
Kullorn is a white female with brown hair and hazel eyes. She has a birthmark on her inner right thigh and has multiple piercings in her ears. Prior to her disappearance, she had shaved her eyebrows.
During her last sighting, she was dressed in green plaid shorts and a dark blue cut-off t-shirt adorned with an emblem. The day she disappeared she was 4 feet and 10 inches and 87 pounds.
What happened?
Kullorn attended Blow Middle School in St. Louis, Missouri. During the night of July 15, Kullorn was watching Dana Madden and Christopher Herbert’s two-month-old baby. Madden was working the night shift and Herbert was away from home. The apartment is located in the 1600 block of Yale Avenue.
Police suspected that Kullorn’s disappearance was not a result of random violence, but rather, they believed the attacker(s) likely had some connection to her family or the friends of the family she was staying with at the time.
The investigation focused on a methamphetamine ring in Missouri. There was evidence of a meth lab in the apartment. Police suspected that Kullorn might have witnessed drug activity in the apartment’s garage, which led to her abduction and presumed murder.
In April 2000, nine months after Kullorn vanished, her mother, Christine Kullorn, had an argument with Madden during his work shift at a convenience store in St. Louis.
Christine believed that Madden and Herbert were hiding information about her daughter’s disappearance. Herbert provided conflicting accounts of his whereabouts at the time of Kullorn’s disappearance, while Madden was at work during the incident.
Christine had been actively involved in Heather’s case from the beginning and was never considered a suspect herself. She held onto hope that her daughter would eventually return home safely. Christine passed away in 2017 at the age of 52. In her obituary, Christine listed Heather as a survivor.
Heather’s disappearance is ruled as foul play. Despite extensive efforts, her case remains unsolved to this day.