People don't just
disappear. They cannot vanish into thin air. How can no one know when
someone was last seen? Most missing person cases have at least a solid
last sighting, but not this case. In fact, nothing about this case is
solid.
The case of Melinda
Creech is that of a 13 year old girl being rebellious. She was trying to
grow up too fast. On a September night in 1979, Melinda Creech and male
teenager were arrested for trying to steal a motorcycle from a local
dealership in Anderson, Indiana.
The boy was taken to an
all male facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana; meanwhile, Melinda was taken
to a facility in Anderson. Melinda was taken to the Blake house, which
was a branch of the Bronnenberg House.
The Bronnenberg house
was the last orphanage in Madison County. The Bronnenberg home was in
operation until the 1980's. It was located on Mounds Road just East of
Anderson. The building was torn down and a new facility built. The new
facility still stands and I pass it every day on my morning commute.
It turns out, at the
time of Melinda Creech was taken to the Blake house, my aunt worked at
the Bronnenberg. She was able to confirm that the girls home was indeed
located on the campus on Mounds Road in Anderson, Indiana.
The Blake house was an
all girls juvenile facility. There are conflicts between sources. Some
sources say the arrest and booking was on September 4, while others
claim that it was the 5.
An old police report
stated that when police returned to Blake House to talk to Melinda
Creech about the attempted burglary, they were unable to locate her. So
at some point in the two month window of dropping her off at the Blake
House and returning to question her, Melinda had vanished.
No records are avaliable
from the juvenile home or the Bronnenberg Home after 1959. These
records have not been released because it is believed that the records
being provided would violate the privacy of individuals named in the
documents.
Shirley Creech told her
other children that Melinda had run away from the Blake House in
September of 1979. Later in the 1990's, Shirley would tell her family
that a badly decomposed body found on the East Coast was that of
Melinda. Melinda's brothers and sister were leery to believe their
mother. No service was ever held for the girl.
Shirley, who suffered
from Dementia, passed away in 2003. As her remaining children cleaned
out their mother's home. They made a horrifying discovery.
In a box, letters were
found. Three letters from 1990 were found. These letters were
correspondence from a New Jersey Police Department. The letters informed
Shirley that Melinda's dental records did not match those of the badly
decomposed body that had been found.
Why would a mother lie
to her children about their sister being found dead? Was she trying to
end their hurting for their sister? Or was her motivation something more
sinister? It would later come out that Shirley had been abusive to all
of her children. This would bring back questions about what really
happened to Melinda.
Along with the letters
about the remains not belonging to Melinda, there were letters regarding
Melinda's arrest and soon-to-happen court dates. Letters were found
that advised Melinda's mother to get an attorney on her daughter's
behalf and that she, Shirley, would be responsible for the cost. Another
letter stated that Melinda's court date would be on of the following
days in April of 1980: the 2nd, 8th, or 9th.
The court would not have
issued a letter about an upcoming court date if they were aware the
child had runaway or was missing from their custody without good cause.
So did Melinda really disappear from government custody or did something
else happen?
Darryl Creech, Melinda's
older brother, began searching again for his sister when he found the
letters in his mother's home in 2003. He began posting online asking for
information. Soon after, he was put in touch with the Doe Network.
Working with the
network, he looked through thousands of composite photographs and
sculptures, never finding a match for his sister. Her dental records
were given to the network and no matches were made. When this was done, a
member of the network encouraged the family approach Madison County
Police about "re-opening" the case.
A missing persons report
was never filed on Melinda. Police had to start from scratch in 2004.
With no solid facts, they had very little to go on. The police took the
dental records and entered them into their databases. They also took DNA
from the family members in hope of finding a match, sadly to no avail.
So, what do police have
to go on? They know that two months after police dropped Melinda off at
the Blake House she was no longer there. They don't know if Shirley
signed over her parental rights so that she would not have to deal with a
delinquent daughter or a debt to the state. They know that the boy she
was arrested with never saw her again.
Melinda's remaining family has relocated to Oklahoma and no longer comments on the case.
Anyone with information
regarding this case is asked to contact the Madison County Police
Department at (765)646-4017 or (765) 646-4014.
(Photo on the left is an actual photo of Melinda. The photo on the right is an age progression.)
_____________________Sources________________________________________
"Anderson Missing-Teen
Case Reopened After New Discovery-Mother lied about Finding Girl's
Body." The Associated Press. The Journal Gazette. September 6, 2004.
http://www.doenetwork.org/media/news172.html
"Indiana Missing: Girl
Disappeared From Anderson Juvenile Detention Center." Kristine Guerra.
January 7, 2014.
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2014/01/07/indiana-missing-girl-disappeared-from-anderson-juvenile-detention-center/4357865/
Interview: November 6, 2017. Former Bronnenberg Employee.
Melinda's Candle. March 2007. Darryl Creech. http://www.oocities.org/mindyscandle/
"Melinda Creech." Whereaboutsstillunknown. https://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/melinda-creech/
Melinda Creech. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. http://api.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/1036765/1
Melinda Karen Creech. The Charley Project. http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/creech_melinda.html
The Bronnenberg
Children's Home. Digital Archive of the Anderson Public Library.
https://digital.library.in.gov/Record/ISL_p1819coll7-178