10 Baffling Cases Of Missing Persons In Indiana Dunes National Park
Located along Lake Michigan close to the Indiana coast, Indiana Dunes National Park complex history and attractive features, including 50 miles (80.5 km) of sand dunes, forests, prairies, and wetlands, make it a popular destination for birdwatching and fossil hunting.
Despite the park’s beauty, several people have disappeared from Indiana Dunes National Park over the past few decades. This list looks at ten cases of people believed to have gone missing in or near the park. From unidentified persons who went missing to an infamous 1966 case involving the disappearance of three young women, we focus on investigating the details surrounding some of the disappearances that have taken place in this beautiful and nuanced park.
Related: 10 missing persons cases solved by YouTube Divers
10 Michael Steven Bickel
In March 2012, Michael Steven Bickel was last seen in Portage, Indiana before disappearing during a trip to Lake Michigan. Bickel’s Subaru was located and impounded after Bickel went missing. Oddly enough, Beckel wrote two suicide notes, one of which indicated that Bickel swam 30 miles from Portage Lakefront Park to Chicago’s Navy Pier. Authorities later stated that Bickel drowned while swimming in Lake Michigan. One of the notes also suggested that Bickel was planning to take his own life.
While drowning is not an uncommon method of suicide, trying to swim 30 miles in Lake Michigan is an unusual feat. Another unusual aspect of this case is Bickel’s missing toenail on his right foot, which would likely help distinguish him from other unidentified bodies.[1]
9 Mary Jo Kleen
After her disappearance in 2000, what happened to Mary Jo Klen in 2023 is still a mystery. Klen was 40 years old when she was last seen in Valparaiso, located in Porter County, Indiana, close to Indiana Dunes National Park. Little information has been found about Klen’s case over the past two decades, making it even more difficult to determine the mystery of what happened to Klen.
Unusually no details about Klen’s clothing, jewelery or personal items she may have been carrying at the time of her disappearance. Often small clues left on or by an unidentified body can make a difference in later discerning this person’s identity.
One possible lead involving Klen is a Jane Doe found in Indiana a month after Klen went missing. Many of Jane Doe’s physical features, including her weight and height, matched Klen’s. However, it is impossible to confirm what happened to Klen without additional details. Klen’s case highlighted the important role that even the tiniest clue can play in missing persons cases. Without minor clues such as vehicles or clothing, it is much more difficult to determine what happened to a missing person in most situations.[2]
8 Unknown victim from 2007
Rangers at Indiana Dunes National Park discovered the deceased body of a missing person in one of the park’s rental homes on April 23, 2007.
The man faced charges of possessing child pornography and making bombs. Earlier, the US Secret Service served a search warrant on the man’s property and seized his computer and other items related to the production of child pornography. No explosives were found in the man’s rental home or vehicle at the time his body was discovered.
While many properties in Indiana Dunes National Park are routinely rented out for recreational purposes, the man appears to have used the homes to hide from the federal government. It is not certain whether he legally rented the house or sneaked into it illegally. Given the seriousness of the charges he faced, he probably had the motivation to avoid being found by the police.[3]
7 Bryce Dunfee
A 22-year-old man, Bryce Dunfee of Indianapolis, went missing in 2022 after falling through the ice of Lake Michigan while exploring West Beach, Indiana, close to Indiana Dunes National Park with a group of friends. A graduate of New Haven High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Dunfee had previously lost a brother. After his disappearance, police searched for Dunfee despite challenging weather conditions, including high winds and waves that temporarily delayed the search for boats.
Dunfee was walking on the ice with his friends when an ice shelf collapsed. Unfortunately, Dunfee’s friends were unable to rescue him due to the strength of the surrounding waves. Law enforcement officials argue that ice shelves should only be observed from land because they are routinely unstable.
The case of Dunfee highlights the high degree of caution people should exercise when exploring outdoor areas, especially ice shelves, which are natural features created when strong winds push water against the shores of lakes and then freeze. While ice shelves serve to protect coastlines from erosion, they can be deadly if not solid.[4]
6 Ann Miller, Patricia Blough and Renee Bruhl
Three women – Ann Miller, Patricia Blough and Renee Bruhl – visited Indiana Dunes National Park on July 2, 1966 and mysteriously disappeared. What happened to these women is still unknown. The trio were last seen on the beach, where they left their belongings after entering Lake Michigan.
A week-long massive search was conducted by the police, coast guard and volunteers, but no traces of the women were ever found. When three females matching the females’ descriptions were spotted aboard a smaller boat, the search expanded to a 6-mile (9.7 km) circumference around the beach and more witnesses began giving substantial initial reports on the females.
Several theories about the disappearance of the women have been put forward. Witnesses claimed to have seen the women talking to an unidentified man in his early twenties with dark, wavy hair and wearing a beach jacket, who was driving a boat. What the women discussed with the man remains unknown. All three women loved horses and had connections with men with a criminal past in the horse market. One of the women is said to have lost a lot of money gambling on horses, which may have been the cause of the disappearance.
In addition, each of the three women eventually faced personal issues that could have led to their disappearance or faking their deaths. Some reports stated that Blough had trouble with “horse syndicate people” before disappearing. In 2023, Blough’s sister also said that Blough was dating a married man and may have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance.[5]
5 Johnice “China” White
Park ranger notes reveal that on August 7, 1995, a girl went missing from her home close to Indiana Dunes National Park. The next day, the girl’s deceased body was found in a remote area of the park in Gary, Indiana. The notes of the incident state that the park was willing to work with the Gary Police Department to investigate the crime. No further notes of the disappearance or death are made in the Indiana Dunes National Park ranger’s notes.
In 2015, Barry Taylor of Gary, Indiana was questioned for the first time about the death of a 15-year-old girl, Johnice “China” White, whose body was discovered in the park on August 8, 1995. , this JW appears to be the girl referenced in the park ranger’s notes. White, who attended Wirt High School, disappeared hours before her 15th birthday. The Gary community searched for her for more than a day before finding her body at the foot of a hill in the park with her bicycle nearby.[6]
4 Roxanne Shah
Roxanne Shah, an Indianapolis resident who enjoyed camping and hiking, went missing in February 2011, prompting searches. Her minivan was later discovered in the parking lot of Mt. Baldy, a landmark in Indiana Dunes National Park. Shah, however, had not brought any camping equipment. In addition, temperatures in the area were below zero at night that month.
Shah’s husband initially expressed hope that she had traveled to Chicago, as it was not uncommon for her to spontaneously leave home several times a year.
However, on October 11, 2011, the body of an unidentified person, referred to only as RS in the park ranger’s incident notes, was found on one of the park’s beaches. These notes seem to reference Shah’s disappearance, and her obituary uses the date her body was discovered as her date of death. A medical examiner determined that Shah’s cause of death was drowning without any signs of foul play.[7]
3 Martha Nehring Pilnok
Martha Nehring Pilnok disappeared about twenty minutes from Indiana Dunes National Park on January 15, 1944 in Valparaiso, Indiana. At the time of her disappearance, Pilnok was living on a farm with her husband and father. A white female, 5’2″ tall, between 130 and 150 pounds, Pilnok is believed to have also sometimes used the name Martha Lena Pilnok.
In 1965, Martha’s daughter approached the police and stated that she had not seen Martha in over 25 years. This means that Martha’s daughter would not have last seen Martha in 1940, several years before Martha’s disappearance. More than a decade later, in 1958, Martha’s husband, Fred Pilnok, filed for divorce stating that Martha was alive and living out of state. Martha did not contact her husband or her children after 1944. It remains uncertain whether Martha remarried or went missing.[8]
2 1989 Burns Harbor John Doe
The body of a 17- to 25-year-old John Doe of uncertain race was discovered in a wooded area on March 28, 1989 between US 20 and Old Porter Road, close to Interstate 94 between Gary and Michigan City, Indiana.
The man was found in green/aqua shorts and a baseball cap. Interestingly, while NamUs reports that the cap bore the logo of the minor league baseball team, the Rochester Red Wings, the Doe Network believes the hat bore the Detroit Red Wings logo.
The man was also wearing low Fila tennis shoes. Around the man’s body were white plastic cigarette holders, an empty Coca-Cola bottle and a bottle with white residue. While the man had near-perfect teeth, he had cosmetic caps on his two upper front teeth.
Law enforcement officials aren’t sure how John Doe died, but have stated he was likely hit by a large vehicle. The man’s leg and collarbones were broken, suggesting he was dragged off the road and subsequently died.
It is possible that John Doe traveled through Indiana Dunes National Park before he died, given the heavily traveled roads in question and the perspective that John Doe was a hitchhiker who was hit by a vehicle. While an investigation into the matter is underway by the Porter County Coroner’s Office and the Burns Harbor Police Department, John Doe has never been identified. However, as of 2023, the case remains open and unexplained.[9]
1 [1945PorterCountyJaneDoe
Een Jane Doe werd in 1945 ontdekt in Porter County, Indiana, door een jager in een struikgewas ongeveer een halve mijl ten zuiden van US Highway 6 en anderhalve mijl van de La Porte County-lijn.
Jane Doe, vermoedelijk jonger dan 60 jaar en 1,85 meter lang, droeg een blauwgrijze jas en nylonkousen en had met goud gevulde tanden. Er werden slechts gedeeltelijke skeletdelen gevonden, wat aangeeft dat de vrouw ongeveer een jaar overleden was voordat ze werd ontdekt.
Vreemd genoeg probeerden wetshandhavers in 2021 de overblijfselen van Jane Doe uit 1945 op te graven, maar ontdekten in plaats daarvan de overblijfselen van een andere vrouw. Ze dachten dat het lichaam toebehoorde aan een andere Jane Doe, aangezien de overblijfselen geen natuurlijke tanden hadden en alleen een bovengebit. Door de verslechterde toestand van het lichaam kon de politie het geslacht, ras, leeftijd of andere identificerende kenmerken niet onderscheiden. Er is wel materiaal uit de botten gehaald voor DNA-analyse.
Na verschillende onderzoeken zijn de identiteit en omstandigheden die hebben geleid tot de dood van de Porter County Jane Doe uit 1945 niet bekend. Deze Jane Doe-zaak is al 77 jaar open en vertegenwoordigt een van de langer bestaande onopgeloste Jane Doe-zaken in de geschiedenis van Indiana.[10]