Woman’s disappearance went unsolved for 38 years. Handwritten note leads to an arrest
.jpg "A 67-year-old man was arrested on Dec. 22, 2022, and faces a homicide charge in the death of his estranged wife. She disappeared from her home in Pequea Township, Pennsylvania, in 1984, prosecutors said.")
A 25-year-old woman’s disappearance remained unsolved since 1984 — until police took a closer look at the handwriting on a note found at her Pennsylvania home.
The handwritten note led to the arrest of her estranged husband, 67-year-old Jere Bagenstose, closing the 38-year-old cold case, the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Maryann Bagenstose was last seen on June 5, 1984, by her husband, and her mother reported her missing two days later when she hadn’t returned home, prosecutors said. She had custody of their 2-year-old son and lived in Pequea Township.
When police went to her home on June 8, 1984, Jere Bagenstose was there, prosecutors said. Investigators also reported finding a piece of cardboard covering a dug out hole in her garage.
Jere Bagenstose told police he went to her house before she disappeared to help trade in her car. He said he took their son to a park because she wasn’t ready, and when they returned, she was gone, the release says.
He said he found a note she left behind that said she had walked to Turkey Hill, a store, prosecutors said.
Investigators searched the home on June 13, 1984, and found the note “crumbled in a wooden nail keg” in the living room. It said: “Had to run a quick errand, be right back.”
Investigators said they also reopened the five-foot deep hole and did not find a body.
Jere Bagenstose gave police several inconsistent statements about what the note said, why there was a hole dug out in the garage, what he was doing in the home, and what she was doing before she vanished, prosecutors said.
The two had a custody hearing on June 15 of that year, but Maryann Bagenstose never made it to the hearing, meaning her husband then received custody of the child, prosecutors said.
A breakthrough
The investigation went cold until 2018, when Pennsylvania State Police reopened the case and began looking into the note, prosecutors said.
“Investigators searched online databases to obtain public records and other documents containing the writing of the defendant,” the release says.
By September 20, 2022, investigators got another search warrant and conducted it on Jere Bagenstose’s home.
They took items that contained his handwriting and submitted it for forensic analysis at the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Forensic Services, Harrisburg Regional Laboratory.
The report concluded Jere Bagenstose had written the note in 1984, prosecutors said in the release.
Jere Bagenstose was arrested and charged with homicide on Dec. 22 in the death of Maryann Bagenstose, prosecutors said. Her body has never been found.
“An arrest in this 38-year-old case has certainly been long awaited,” Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams said. “This is not a case solved with DNA. Rather, the arrest of Jere Bagenstose is the result of decades of hard work and dedication by law enforcement.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2022 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Woman’s disappearance went unsolved for 38 years. Handwritten note leads to an arrest."
