Donamae Bourgeois Bayerl, 38, was last seen the evening of May 6, 1979, at her Muskego, Wisconsin, home on Fennimore Lane. Her husband, John H. Bayerl, said they argued and she left in the family car to cool down; he later reported hearing the car return and movement in the house, then a vehicle leave the gravel lot across the street. When he checked, the family car was in the garage but Donamae was missing. The garage door was open and a pin that secured it was gone and never recovered.

John did not report Donamae missing for three days. Family members said she was a devoted mother who would not have abandoned her two young daughters and grew suspicious of John’s behavior after she vanished — he went bowling soon after and reportedly did the laundry, though a quilt and a rug still showed stains. Investigators later found bloodstains on a garage wall that were identified as Donamae’s. Letters from Donamae to a close friend describe a troubled marriage with instances of physical abuse by John and fear for her life.

Donamae was legally declared dead in 1986, though no remains had been found. John Bayerl has long been treated as a person of interest in the case. Does anyone from Muskego or the surrounding area remember Donamae, the family, or anything unusual on May 6 or in the days that followed?