On Wednesday, June 5, 1974, seventeen-year-old Catherine Lynne Sjoberg of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, headed to one of the most coveted events among high schoolers– prom.
Catherine, also known as Cathy, attended with her boyfriend Timothy as her date. And for a while, the evening went magically.
Then, at about 3:00 a.m., she reportedly left the post-prom party– which was being held at Concord House– following a disagreement with Timothy. One of Catherine’s friends witnessed her storming off.
But where exactly Catherine went and what happened next during those early morning hours has remained unknown– because Catherine was never seen or heard from again.
No alarm bells had gone off in her mother, Ruth Schwartz’s, head until Friday night. Apparently, Catherine was supposed to have spent the night at a friend’s house, so she was not expected at home until then.
By that evening, though, Timothy called Ruth to tell her that “Nobody can find Cathy.”
The police were immediately notified, but due to wet and cold inclement weather, a search was not launched until Saturday. And even after both foot and air searches were conducted, no evidence of Catherine was found.
So, the searches continued for weeks, according to former Sheriff Roger Reinel. Still, these efforts never found any evidence to indicate that Catherine was dead.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; pictured above is Catherine
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On top of the searches, the Sheriff’s Office would also receive a tip or two every year regarding Catherine’s whereabouts. One tipster claimed to have spotted her in Delafield; meanwhile, another suggested she was getting married in California. But unfortunately, none of the tips ever checked out.
Bizarrely, though, the Concord House was the same location where a young couple, Timothy Heck and Kelly Drew, were last seen alive in 1980– six years after Catherine’s disappearance.
Both cases remained cold for decades, and with the Concord House being a common factor between them, the Sjoberg family began to believe that perhaps the same perpetrator had committed both crimes.
Then, in 2012, investigators announced that DNA evidence had led to the arrest of a man named Edward Edwards– who was seventy-six and living in Louisville, Kentucky, at the time.
It was at that moment that the Sjobergs began to clutch onto a sliver of hope.
“The only hour in maybe thirty-five years that we had hope,” Catherine’s sister, Wendy Tesch, said.
Sadly, though, a detective who reopened Catherine’s case would ultimately shatter that hope. The detective revealed that investigators did not believe Edwards had killed Catherine.
Apparently, Edwards was a drifter who had been at the Concord House while working as a one-time handyman. And when Catherine disappeared in 1974, he was not in Wisconsin.
“Even if he was not involved in this, maybe somebody else might feel guilty enough to say something, so I can at least bury my daughter,” Ruth said in an interview with TODAY.
To this day, though, no one has ever come forward regarding Catherine’s disappearance, and her case has remained cold for over forty-eight years now.
No remains were ever found, so the Sjoberg family was never able to hold a proper funeral. Instead, a memorial service for Catherine was held in 1995.
“I know something happened to her that night. She would never have run away,” Ruth said.
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; pictured above is an age-progressed photo of Catherine
Catherine was scheduled to work at her high school’s commencement ceremony rehearsal the day after she was reported missing. She was also set to be the maid of honor at a wedding the very next weekend.
“Everyone that knew Catherine knew she didn’t run away. She was a happy teenager. There was no reason why she would,” Ruth added.
Catherine was five foot five, weighed one hundred and twenty pounds, and had brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing a light blue prom dress with pink and brown trim.
If you have any information regarding Catherine’s disappearance or whereabouts, you are urged to contact the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office at (920) 674-7363.
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