Christine Rusch was 22 and living in Lenexa when she and her roommate, 22-year-old Theresa Brown, were last seen at their Trafalgar Square apartment the evening of June 25, 1989. On June 26 Christine phoned employers to say both women were ill and would not be at work; that call was the last time anyone heard from them and they were reported missing that day.

Investigators linked their disappearances to that of 24-year-old Joan Butler, who had gone missing a week earlier from Overland Park. Maintenance worker and house painter Richard Grissom Jr. became the primary suspect after authorities found Christine’s and Theresa’s jewelry, credit cards, and apartment key in his vehicle, plus keys to Joan Butler’s apartment and hairs consistent with all three women in a rented storage locker.

Grissom was arrested on July 7, 1989, and a Johnson County jury convicted him in 1990 on three counts of first-degree murder and other charges. He has not disclosed the location of the women’s remains; Christine Rusch’s body has never been recovered.