She Vanished After Dropping Her Sons At Preschool And Daycare In 2001, Then Her Car Was Found Abandoned In A Mobile Home Driveway

Kev303 - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only
Kev303 - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only

In 2001, Stefanie Welch, a 23-year-old woman from Kansas, was married and had two sons – a 6-year-old named Kyle and a 2-year-old named James.

Stefanie and her two sons lived in a Lakin, Kansas, mobile home located on Lincoln Street. However, she was in the process of divorcing her husband, Brian.

Early that year, Stefanie also entered a relationship with her boyfriend, Roy. But, after making plans to move into his home, she tragically disappeared.

“This is a tremendous mystery for a town our size. It is a bewildering mystery for southwest Kansas and this is one of the more unique cases for all of Kansas,” said Kearny County Attorney Dennis Jones in 2002.

It all began on February 28, 2001, when Stefanie dropped her eldest son off at preschool. Then, she brought her youngest son to daycare in Lakin at about 9:15 a.m.

Afterward, she reportedly drove to her mobile home, possibly to pick up some remaining personal belongings since she was in the middle of moving in with her boyfriend.

“From there, she went to a home that she was in the process of moving out of. We really don’t know why she went to the home. Speculation has been that there were some kids’ toys and clothes and things like that that she was picking up,” Jones explained.

As for her means of transportation, Stefanie was using her boyfriend’s car – a silver 1990 Mazda 626.

After traveling to the mobile home, though, she never arrived to pick up her two sons from preschool and daycare. Stefanie was never seen or heard from again, and her case has remained unsolved ever since.

Kev303 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only

At approximately 6:20 p.m. that same day, the daycare called Stefanie’s boyfriend, Roy. At that point, he learned that she never showed up for pick-up at 5:30 p.m.

So, Roy picked up Stefanie’s son himself before contacting the Kearny County Sheriff’s Office and filing a missing person’s report.

Yet, earlier that day, Stefanie’s car was actually found abandoned in a mobile home park’s private driveway located southeast of Lakin. In fact, it was reported to police around 11:00 a.m., just two hours after Stefanie was last seen at her son’s daycare.

Inside, authorities found that the vehicle’s keys were missing. However, Stefanie’s jacket was left on the front seat, as well as $500 in cash.

The car’s wheels were also covered in mud and snow, leading investigators to believe that someone drove the vehicle out of town before it was returned and parked in the mobile home driveway.

Upon speaking with witnesses, authorities then learned that an unidentified male wearing black clothing had been spotted walking away from Stefanie’s vehicle.

Investigators did not think that Stefanie knew anyone in the mobile home park where her car had been left. Additionally, after extensively searching the surrounding area, no clues as to her whereabouts were found.

Stefanie’s boyfriend, Roy, and her estranged husband, Brian, were also interviewed by police. Roy claimed that he and Stefanie were engaged and intended to tie the knot in July 2001. But Brian told a different tale – claiming that he and Stefanie were working on their marriage.

Despite the conflicting statements, neither Roy nor Brian were named suspects in Stefanie’s disappearance. Rather, the unidentified male wearing black was investigators’ main focus.

“The person who got out of that car would be our prime suspect if we knew who that was,” Jones said.

In a 2022 interview with KSN, it was suggested that police believe Stefanie was murdered. Since her car was reported abandoned to police two hours after she was last seen at her son’s daycare, authorities concluded that a killer would have had about two hours to abduct her, commit murder, and get rid of her remains.

Given that the wheels of her car were also covered in dirt and snow, investigators believed whoever committed such a heinous act must have driven Stefanie out of town. So, they tried searching for her remains.

“The amount of irrigation wells that are still open that are abandoned. The amount of water wells from old settler days that are still available. The fact that we have a river changing course every day in southwest Kansas within three miles of town. There are a plethora of places a body could be placed,” Jones detailed.

So, despite conducting helicopter searches, calling in cadaver dogs, and even using heat-seeking equipment, Stefanie was never discovered.

According to her father, Jeff Petersen, Stefanie would not have just abandoned her sons.

“There was money left in her car she’d been driving. She would have never left those boys without taking them with her because she loved those boys more than anything,” he said.

As for what Jeff misses the most? Hearing his daughter’s voice.

“I just miss her voice. She’d say, ‘Hi, Daddy,’ and she was always so upbeat.”

While foul play is suspected in Stefanie’s disappearance, and her case was classified as a homicide a year after she went missing, it remains unsolved.

Stefanie was five foot eight, weighed 190 pounds, and had brown hair and blue eyes.

If you have any information regarding her case, you are urged to contact the Kearny County Sheriff’s Office at (620) 355-6211.

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Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing ... More about Katharina Buczek

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