NEW LEADS POSSIBLE IN CASE OF WOMAN MISSING SINCE 1991

Editor’s Note: This story first appeared in the Centre Daily Times on February 24, 1997

Since Brenda L. Coon Condon’s disappearance nine years ago, her sister Iris Myers never once thought she’d see her again.

Instead, it’s the answers to “What exactly happened?” and “Who was responsible?” that Myers has never stopped looking for year after year.

Condon, then 26, was last seen Feb. 26, 1991, tending bar at the former Carl’s Bad Tavern in Spring Township, where she had been working for only three days. Her boots were found in the bar’s men’s bathroom and her car left behind in the parking lot.

At home were her two children, Shawna, then 10, and Todd, 12.

“I never believed she left that bar (alive). Whatever happened to her happened in that bar, “ said Myers, who regularly talks to police about the case. “It would be wonderful if she would come zipping up my driveway and onto my porch and say ‘Is anybody home?’ like she used to, but I just can’t see that happening.”

Next Thursday, Rockview state police will hold a press conference to announce new leads in the case but not a major breakthrough, the lead investigator said Wednesday.

“There’s not anything earth shattering, “ Rockview state Trooper Joseph Cigich said. “In reinterviewing people, some new leads have come up.”

Former Spring Township Officer Ron Schall, who first investigated the case, said investigators were left with several clues at the scene.

“(That night) everyone left, and she didn’t lock up, “ Schall said “Her vehicle was there, and she was gone. It was something of a strange one.”

Condon’s purse and car keys also were never found.

Myers of Clearfield said all of the clues were uncharacteristic of Condon, who had frequented the bar before working there.

“Never, never, never from the first time I got the phone call did I believe she would leave her car and kids, “ said Myers, who helped raise Condon after their mother’s death. “She would have never done that to her own kids because she knew what it was like to be without a mother.”

The Spring Township department turned the case over to Rockview police in 1997, and their investigators started back at square one, Cigich said.

“We reinterviewed, in-depth, everyone who may have been a part of Brenda’s life, “ Cigich said Wednesday. “I can’t comment on what those leads are.”

Cigich said Rockview state police would re-release composite sketches of the last man Condon was seen talking to that night and would also provide photographs of Condon.

The case was not easy to investigate, though, even when it was fresh, Schall said.

“The bar owner (Carl Easterling) said nothing was taken, so it wasn’t a theft, “ Schall remembered. “There was a lot of speculation ... there was nothing really to go on.”

Easterling could not be reached for comment.

Regardless of how much new information is disclosed, Schall said Wednesday that there’s a good reason to air all the facts again.

“Somebody might come forward with some information, “ Schall said. “Somebody must know something.”

Meanwhile, Condon now has a granddaughter, born last summer, named after her. Myers said each time she sees a resemblance between the two -- like the dimples in their elbows -- she thinks of Condon.

One day, Myers said, she hopes someone will step forward with information that will break the case and provide peace of mind.

“Maybe something is going to hit them, and they’ll say: ‘Maybe (Condon’s) family should know what happened, ‘” she said. “Her kids would know exactly what happened.”

This story was originally published August 10, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "NEW LEADS POSSIBLE IN CASE OF WOMAN MISSING SINCE 1991."