Account
Oct 28, 2013
May 30, 2023
Penney
Cruser
58
30
65 inches
100 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the winter of 1996, just before Christmas, Penney Faye Cruser made a telephone call to her family that would be their last communication with her. During the call, the 30-year-old woman from Spokane, Washington, expressed her deep anxiety over her toddler-aged son being in state custody. She confided in her family that she was determined to get him back. Compounding her distress, Penney, who lived with schizophrenia, had stopped taking her medication, which she was known to do because she disliked the way it made her feel. Her family would never hear from her again. Although her official date of last contact is listed as March 21, 1997, she was reported missing that same month after her regular weekly calls to her stepmother ceased, turning a period of relief for her family into one of growing concern. Penney's life at the time of her disappearance was fraught with challenges. She received disability payments due to her mental illness and was known to use illicit drugs. Her life was often transient, and she was known to frequent the area of Sprague Avenue and Pittsburgh Street in Spokane, visiting places like the Hoot Owl Club and other establishments in that vicinity. Those who knew her described her as someone who would readily accept a car ride from anyone, a vulnerability that worried her family. She was also known to carry a weapon for her own protection. Penney had distinctive features, including a soft voice, and several tattoos: a butterfly inside her right ear, a cat on her pelvis, and the names of her two sons, Rodney and Arthur, on her ankles. She had previously suffered a broken nose and a broken right hand. The investigation into Penney's disappearance has left her family without answers for decades. In the years following her vanishing, detectives considered the possibility of a connection to the serial killer Robert L. Yates Jr., whose killing spree escalated in 1997 and 1998. Penney's lifestyle and the area she frequented were similar to some of Yates's victims, making her a person of interest in that investigation. Despite these efforts, which included showing her photograph on East Sprague street corners years after she was last seen, no solid leads emerged to resolve her case. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain unclear, and her case is an unsolved and open investigation with the Spokane Police Department. Her family has been left in a painful state of ambiguity, holding onto the memory of a distressed mother who vanished without a trace.
Mar 21, 1997
Spokane
Washington
Spokane County
No
14444
Spokane Police Department
Spokane
Washington
Spokane County
99260
Mark Burbridge
Detective
1100 West Mallon Ave, Washington
5096254100
Local
Law Enforcement
97-71368
1996-12-20
Spokane Police Department
Brown
Brown
Brown
06/19/2026
