Karen Spencer

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Miami Township Police Department (OH)

Missing From:

Miami Township, Ohio

Summary:

Karen Ann Spencer, 17, disappeared on December 29, 1989, from Miami Township, Ohio after exiting a vehicle on Interstate 275 during an argument with her sister-in-law. Her body has never been found, but detectives believe she is deceased and have interviewed her suspected killer multiple times.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Karen was driving Christy's black Buick Regal when, at approximately 3:00 a.m., the two women got into an argument regarding plans for Karen to move to Florida with her brother and Christy. Karen pulled over between the Montgomery Road and Ohio 28 exits and got out. According to Christy, Karen began walking north after she left her sister-in-law's vehicle. Christy drove away; Karen has not been heard from again. Witnesses came forward, police said, claiming they had seen Karen walking along the highway overnight.

Additional Details:

Family members, including Karen's parents Richard and Diane, and her six siblings, searched far and wide for days but found nothing. A man in a red vehicle claimed he had stopped and offered to help Karen when he saw her walking along the highway. A former detective on the case told Karen's brother that the man went to the hospital hours later for a groin injury. His wife told law enforcement she didn't give him the injury. According to Jim Campbell, this man is a person of interest and still lives in Ohio. The suspect is a man who was in his early 20s at the time of the murder. In 1989, he was recently discharged from the military. The suspect isn't in jail and has a clean criminal record. In 2000, the Spencer family dealt with a hoax when a male caller claimed that Karen was buried in Kentucky; however, the story ended up being proven false and the man was charged with interfering with a police investigation. He was fined $500 and given a sentence of 45 days in jail. In 1993, a truck driver from Miami Township told police he had seen a man with a truck burying a woman's body near Lake Isabella in late December 1989. He recognized the dead woman as Karen when he saw a missing child poster for her. The truck driver led authorities to the alleged gravesite, but extensive searches turned up no evidence that anybody had been buried there. Karen Spencer was a senior in high school when she went missing in 1989. Karen was a senior at Reading High School, and was employed by Frisch's Restaurant as a waitress. According to Karen's father, she had an alcohol problem at the time of her 1989 disappearance. Her father had enrolled her in an alcohol treatment program, but she refused to stay in it.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 07, 2026