Decades old murder case reopened

Captain Michael Hill was just a rookie patrol officer on the Springfield Police Department 30 years ago, when he got the call to take a report on a missing 18-year old woman.

"There's a lot of cases that you think about over the years. Some of them just more than others and this is one I think about more often," said Hill.

Hill and another officer were called to a home on Erter Drive January 7, 1985, where Denise Chance had been living with a family friend. The friend said Denise went to bed around 1:30 a.m. and was gone when she got up. She was concerned because Denise's purse, keys and car were still there.

"There was snow on the ground. It was like one of the first snows of the year. It was cold," said Hill. "There were no tracks leading away from the house where she would have left so we believe that she probably left prior to the snow sticking to the ground. My partner and I had a feeling from the very beginning that this isn't just a regular missing."

Phillips said Denise had taken her brother out to play pool the evening before she went missing. When she dropped him off, they had a brief conversation about getting together for Linda's birthday on January 9th. She knew something terrible had happened because her daughter was not the kind of girl to just take off.

That was confirmed two months later on March 20, when a man looking for aluminum cans stumbled upon a body in a ditch on Baldwin Lane.

"It's just a lonely country road out there. There's nobody close by to where they would have seen anything," said retired detective Bob Kerr who was at the scene that day. "She was completely snow covered. The ditch, I don't remember how deep it was, but deep enough you wouldn't see her driving by in a car."

Denise had been under the ice and snow, unclothed except for her socks. Kerr said he hasn't been able to forget the pretty, dark-eyed brunette from Springfield. Denise's murder rocked the town and has had a life-long impact on her sister Dena, who was only eleven at the time.

"I was scared to turn eighteen, I thought I was going to die. I was afraid to have kids." said Dena Daugherty. "Now, I feel guilty because I'm happily married for 22 years. I have kids and she still has nothing."

Springfield detectives met recently with Dena and her mother to discuss new evidence in the case. They were especially interested in a telephone call made several weeks ago to Detective R. W. Jordan.

"This person started telling me some things, things they knew about that night," said Detective Jordan. "Some things were said that I think definitely require some more investigation."

Detectives do have some evidence and they believe that there are others in the community, who have important information that could close this cold case.

"Thirty years we've lived this way. There has to be closure," said Dena. "My grandpa has passed away but there's still several of us left. I don't want to die not knowing."

Anyone with information about the murder of Denise Chance in January of 1985 should call Detective Jordan at 937-324-7707.