Jeanette Maria Corpuz was a 28-year-old mother navigating significant life changes in early 2003. Living in Reno, Nevada, she had recently married Lyle Marsh Montgomery, a man 14 years her senior whom she had met while they were coworkers at a local Super Kmart. Their relationship was tumultuous; Jeanette had previously reported to police that Montgomery was abusive and had threatened her life.
In the days leading up to her disappearance, Jeanette confided in a real estate agent on January 13, 2003, that she intended to divorce Montgomery and move with her young son to Redding, California. The last known contact anyone had with her was a phone call to her ex-husband on January 21, 2003, with whom she shared children. He later reported that nothing seemed out of the ordinary during their conversation. After this call, Jeanette was never heard from or seen again.
The alarming circumstances of Jeanette's disappearance began to unfold on January 25, 2003, hundreds of miles away from her home. Her three-year-old son was found alone in the toy department of a Shopko store in Salt Lake City, Utah. It took authorities several days to identify the little boy, as he was too young to know his full name or his mother's. Once he was identified, the search for his mother began, and authorities realized Jeanette was missing. Surveillance footage from the store showed that the man who abandoned the child was Jeanette's husband, Lyle Montgomery. After leaving the boy in the store, Montgomery fled but was apprehended a few days later and charged with misdemeanor child abuse. The young boy was eventually reunited with his biological father and went to live with him in California.
With Montgomery identified as the person who abandoned his stepson, the focus of the investigation turned to him and the home he shared with Jeanette. When police executed a search warrant on their Reno residence, they discovered disturbing evidence. The bed and dresser were missing from the master bedroom, and a significant amount of blood was found. The blood had soaked through the carpet and padding, staining the wooden floor beneath, with smaller amounts found in the bathroom, hallway, and entryway. DNA testing confirmed the blood belonged to Jeanette Corpuz. This discovery led investigators to treat her case as a homicide. Montgomery became the primary suspect in his wife's disappearance. After being questioned, he attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol and was temporarily treated in a psychiatric hospital. In April 2003, shortly after being released on bail, Lyle Montgomery committed suicide by shooting himself, leaving no note behind. His death brought the investigation to a standstill, and though he is believed to be responsible for her disappearance, the case officially remains unsolved.Last Seen: Jan 13, 2003
