Vanished in the Basement: The Unsolved Disappearance of Darleen May Fitchett

A Quiet Night Turns Tragic

On the evening of January 19, 1960, 28-year-old Darleen May Fitchett was ironing clothes in the basement of her home at 608 East Pleasant View Drive in Des Moines, Iowa. Her three children were upstairs when a heated argument erupted between Darleen and her husband, Alanson "Lance" Malcolm Fitchett Jr. Their nine-year-old daughter, Kathryn, later recounted hearing her mother yelling for help, followed by unsettling noises resembling sawing or digging. When Kathryn attempted to investigate, she found her bedroom door locked from the outside, and her father instructed her to return to bed. 

A Sudden Departure and Suspicious Actions

Around midnight, Lance informed his children that their mother had left for California with another man. He then took them to his sister's home in Adel, Iowa. The following day, Lance traded in his dark green panel truck for a new van. Notably, he never reported Darleen missing; it was concerned friends and neighbors who alerted the police in February 1960. When questioned, Lance maintained that Darleen had left voluntarily. ...Read More

Share

Comments (0)

Leave A Comment