The Last Night Anyone Saw Them
Around midnight on June 6, 1986, Sherry Wrisinger and her youngest daughter, 15-year-old Johnna, were in Richmond, Missouri.
Earlier that evening, Sherry had been playing cards with several female friends. Johnna had been out on a date and was last seen when she was dropped off at the family’s home before curfew.
They lived on Ottman Street.
By the end of that night, both mother and daughter had disappeared.
And neither has ever been confirmed seen again.
The Story That Didn’t Add Up
Sherry’s husband, Ronald D. Wrisinger, eventually told investigators that his wife had left him for a wealthy veterinarian and taken Johnna with her.
But there was a problem.
Investigators could find no evidence that the veterinarian even existed.
The circumstances surrounding the disappearance became even stranger when police learned that Sherry and Johnna had apparently left behind nearly everything they would have needed if they had planned to start a new life.
Their clothing was still at home.
So was Sherry’s car.
Both women also left behind uncashed paychecks from their jobs.
On September 16, 1986, Ronald’s brother reported them missing.
By then, weeks had passed since anyone had heard from them.
Threats Before the Disappearance
There was another disturbing piece of the story that had begun months earlier.
During January and February of 1986, members of the Wrisinger family started receiving anonymous threatening letters.
The messages referred to a relative who had already died and suggested that someone else would soon join that person.
Around the same period, other relatives and close friends reported strange acts of vandalism. Car windows were shot out. Tires were slashed. Lug nuts were reportedly loosened.
The FBI eventually investigated the incidents as possible extortion.
But no suspect was identified.
And once federal investigators became involved, the threats and vandalism suddenly stopped.
Authorities later considered whether those incidents might have been connected to Sherry and Johnna’s disappearance.
A Family Left With Questions
At first, investigators considered the possibility that Sherry had willingly left, as Ronald had claimed.
But as the months and years passed without a single confirmed sighting, that explanation became increasingly difficult to accept.
Ronald’s brother had reportedly doubted the story from the beginning. He could not understand why Sherry would voluntarily abandon her two older daughters.
According to the source, Sherry had herself experienced abandonment as a child and was deeply devoted to all of her children.
There were also rumors that Sherry and Johnna had been killed and buried beneath a concrete slab at their home on Ottman Street.
Investigators looked into the claim.
But the concrete had been poured before the two disappeared, ruling out that particular theory.
A Murder Case That Fell Apart
Ronald eventually moved to Arkansas.
More than two decades after the disappearance, authorities took a major step. In May 2009, Ronald was charged with the first-degree murders of both Sherry and Johnna.
For a time, it appeared that the long-running mystery might finally reach a courtroom.
But the case did not go forward.
In April 2010, prosecutors dropped the charges. They said the death of a key witness had left them unable to proceed with the prosecution.
The dismissal did not establish Ronald’s innocence or guilt. He has maintained that he was not responsible, and authorities have indicated that he could potentially face charges again if sufficient new evidence emerges.
Still Missing After Four Decades
Sherry and Johnna have never been found.
There are no recovered remains to provide their family with a final answer, and the circumstances of their disappearance remain deeply troubling.
The abandoned belongings, the nonexistent veterinarian, the threatening letters that came months beforehand, and the later murder charges all became pieces of a mystery that has never been fully resolved.
What happened to a mother and her teenage daughter after that night in June 1986 remains unknown.
Their disappearance began with a few hours of silence.
Decades later, that silence has never been broken.