Katharina Buczek
In 2001, Stefanie Welch, a 23-year-old woman from Kansas, was married and had two sons – a 6-year-old named Kyle and a 2-year-old named James.
Stefanie and her two sons lived in a Lakin, Kansas, mobile home located on Lincoln Street. However, she was in the process of divorcing her husband, Brian.
Early that year, Stefanie also entered a relationship with her boyfriend, Roy. But, after making plans to move into his home, she tragically disappeared.
“This is a tremendous mystery for a town our size. It is a bewildering mystery for southwest Kansas and this is one of the more unique cases for all of Kansas,” said Kearny County Attorney Dennis Jones in 2002.
It all began on February 28, 2001, when Stefanie dropped her eldest son off at preschool. Then, she brought her youngest son to daycare in Lakin at about 9:15 a.m.
Afterward, she reportedly drove to her mobile home, possibly to pick up some remaining personal belongings since she was in the middle of moving in with her boyfriend.
“From there, she went to a home that she was in the process of moving out of. We really don’t know why she went to the home. Speculation has been that there were some kids’ toys and clothes and things like that that she was picking up,” Jones explained.
As for her means of transportation, Stefanie was using her boyfriend’s car – a silver 1990 Mazda 626.
After traveling to the mobile home, though, she never arrived to pick up her two sons from preschool and daycare. Stefanie was never seen or heard from again, and her case has remained unsolved ever since.
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