ST. LOUIS — Craig Dowell’s disappearance has left a void in Hannibal, Missouri for 56 years. Alongside his two companions, Joey and Billy Hoag, he went missing on May 10, 1967.
The boys left school that day and returned to Murphy’s Cave, last seen between 4:30 and 5:15 p.m. The Mark Twain Emergency Squad and National Speleological Society searched for them, fearing they might have been trapped. Hannibal mayor requested help from the Missouri National Guard.
By June, other searches were over with no new information about where the boys might be. Joey Hoag, Billy Hoag, and Craig Dowell had simply vanished without a trace.
Their mysterious vanishing is just one chilling tale among many that contribute to Missouri’s dark history of unsolved disappearances.
To this day, the numbers remain disconcerting, with 589 adults and 682 children still unaccounted for in the state of Missouri. The data, sourced from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, sheds light on the issue of missing individuals.
In St. Louis County there are a total of 150 people still missing.
Phyllis Marie Corbin went missing on Oct. 1, 1963. She was 16 during the time of her disappearance. She was a resident at the House of Good Shepherd in St. Louis, Missouri. During her time there in the fall of 1963, she met another young woman, and the two of them decided to run away together.
Corbin was reported to have been driven to a bus stop, where she was going to catch a bus to New Orleans. The home supposedly told the police that she had gone missing, Corbin’s family never saw a police report or was able to prove that Corbin ran away.
Since 1963, there have been no clues regarding her whereabouts, and as a result, her case remains unresolved. The Unfound Podcast Channel did an interview with Donna Corbin, Phyllis’ nice, and the podcast can be found here.
Cherie N. Barnes
Cherie N. Barnes has been missing since 1986. She was two when she went missing. The last time anyone saw Barnes was on January 7, 1986. She was seen with her stepfather, Larry Vasser, in Kansas City, Missouri.
On the day of her disappearance Barnes was a height of 4 feet and a weight of 80 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Her middle name is Nicole.
Later in the year Barn’s mother Elizabeth Vasser, was reported missing in December 1986. Elizabeth Vasser’s remains were later found in the Mississippi River.
Larry Vasser has been in jail since the mid-1990s for armed robbery. He is expected to stay in jail until at least 2028.
Tracey Yolanda Turner
Tracey Yolanda Turner was an adult when she went missing in 1995. Turner was last seen in St. Louis, Missouri, either in March 1995 or 1996. A friend who has since died said that Turner and another man were seen getting into a truck together.
At the time she went missing, Turner’s height ranged from 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, with a weight between 160 and 180 pounds. Her features are black/dark brown hair, which she often wore short or shoulder-length, and dark brown eyes. Her middle name is “Yolanda,” and in addition to her original last name, she also used the surname “Pierce.”
Kimberly T. Tatum
Kimberly T. Tatum was an adult when she went missing in 1999. Tatum, who is also known as Kimberly Lewis, was last seen on her way to work at a Sam’s Club in St. Louis, Missouri. Her paycheck was never picked up.
She was reported to have lived with a man named Tatum, no first name was given, but her family members aren’t sure if they were really married.
On her left shoulder, she has a tattoo of a black tiger with the name “Kim” written across the top. During the period of her disappearance, Tatum had a height of 5 feet 8 inches and weighed 160 pounds. She has black/dark brown hair and brown eyes. Furthermore, she also uses the last name “Lewis” on occasion. TheDoeNetwork says that Tatum’s DNA is on file.
Robert King Costello Jr.
Robert King Costello Jr. was an adult when he went missing in 2000. At the age of 24, Robert “Bobby” King Costello Jr. disappeared from St. Louis, Missouri in February 2000.
His family remains actively engaged in searching for Costello. He was born on August 11, 1975, he is an African American and 6 feet 2 inches, tall and was between 195 and 220 pounds at the time of his disappearance. His hair is black, and he has brown eyes. Commonly known as Bobby or “Little Bobby,” he does not possess any distinguishing marks or features. For identification purposes his fingerprints are on record.