Wendy Louise Felton:1987 Gas City, Indiana

  

  Wendy Louise Felton was 16 on the fourth of June of 1987. Her parents, June and Russ Felton were going to Florida for a business trip that day.  Her older sister, Julie, 18, drove them to the airport. Then she was supposed come home and to take Wendy to their grandparents home. Wendy was going to spend the weekend with them. When Julie got back to the house near Gas City, Wendy was not there. This was not part of the plan.  Where was Wendy?

  There was no sign of foul play according to police. It was assumed she was a runaway. It was reported initially that a suitcase and some clothes were missing. But, her purse and her favorite shoes were left behind in her bedroom. Nothing else was taken from the home. 

 

  None of her friends knew anything about this plan to run away.  Some of her classmates and friends put up posters in the first weeks of her disappearance. 

  

   Sometimes young people run away. But, if Wendy ran away why has she never called. Not once. She never wrote a card or a letter. She never contacted anyone in all these decades. 

   

   This was in the days before the Internet. We know that Wendy did not meet a stranger online and take off with that stranger. 

   Who knew that she was home alone? 

Did anyone see her leaving? 

  The Felton home is west of Gas City and South of Marion.  It is still rural feeling place with cornfields right across the road. The Felton’s place is in the middle of a few other houses there.  The homes all look as if they were built around the same time. Were those neighbors questioned about what they might have seen and heard?

   There are fields across the street and another field behind the houses. That field in the backyard is surrounded by trees with houses only on one side. It’s very secluded. 

   Was anyone doing farm work around there that day? Did they see anything? 

   What was Wendy doing during that afternoon? I know what I would have been doing in June 1987.  If it was a sunny day I would have been laying out and working on my tan.  I also might have been inside watching t.v.  The high in Indianapolis was 84 that day. 

  Wendy was only home alone from 2:30 to 6 p.m.  If she was outside in the sun she would most likely have been in the backyard. It seems like it would have had the most direct sunlight at that point in the day.  Was anyone working in that backyard field that day? Cutting or raking hay? That isolated field behind the house bugs me. 

  Surely the woods and that field were searched thoroughly. Maybe not, since police initially considered her a runaway. The newspapers reported on her disappearance and even a year later they were indicating that she was considered a runaway. 

 

   It seems to me that Wendy was ambushed and taken. She was probably taken quickly to minimize the likelihood that one of her neighbors would hear or see something. 

   This killer seems like a local in my opinion. 

   

   Wendy was an outgoing young woman who was busy at school. She had a lot to look forward to. And she wouldn’t have left without her purse and her favorite shoes. She wore them nearly everyday.

  Where is Wendy? 

  Someone knows. Maybe more than one person. Loyalties change as the years go on. Maybe that person you felt protective of is no longer someone that you trust or care about. 

  If you have a tip please submit it.  If you saw something that day that didn’t seem important at the time but now you think differently; submit the tip. 

   You might help solve Wendy’s murder.

 

Call Crimestoppers at 765-762-TIPS or 765-662-8477