Shannon Verhage Missing Person Case

Apr 15, 2010

Jun 03, 2021

Shannon

Verhage

28

30 inches

30 lbs

White / Caucasian

Female

In the summer of 1997, a heart-wrenching story began to unfold in Cedar Springs, Michigan, with the disappearance of 11-month-old Shannon Dale Verhage. On June 3rd, Shannon and her mother, Rachel Timmerman, were last seen at the home of Rachel's parents. Rachel, a young mother, told her father she was going on a date with a man who had specifically asked her to bring her baby girl along. She assured her family they would only be gone for a few hours, but as the hours turned into days, neither Rachel nor little Shannon returned home, sparking a desperate search and a grim investigation. At the time of her disappearance, Shannon was described as a happy baby with blonde hair and blue eyes, who had just recently begun to take her first steps. She was last seen wearing a diaper and a tri-colored dress. The circumstances leading up to their disappearance were deeply troubling. Months earlier, in August 1996, Rachel had reported to the police that she had been brutally raped by a family friend, Marvin Gabrion. She had expressed immense fear, telling her mother that Gabrion had threatened to kill both her and Shannon if she went to the authorities. Despite her terror, Rachel pressed charges, and Gabrion was arrested and later released on bail. The preliminary hearing for the rape case was scheduled for June 5, 1997, just two days after Rachel and Shannon vanished. When Rachel did not appear in court, the rape charges against Gabrion were dropped due to a lack of testimony. In the days following their disappearance, Rachel's family and the prosecutor received letters, postmarked from Arkansas, supposedly written by Rachel, claiming she had fabricated the rape allegation and had left to start a new life. However, those who knew her did not believe she had written them and feared for her safety. The grim reality of the situation became clear on July 5, 1997, when Rachel Timmerman's body was discovered in Oxford Lake within the Manistee National Forest. Her body had been horrifically weighed down with chains and concrete blocks, and her eyes and mouth were covered with duct tape. An autopsy revealed she had been thrown into the lake while still alive. The prime suspect was Marvin Gabrion, the man she had accused of rape. Investigators believe Gabrion murdered Rachel to silence her testimony. While Gabrion was eventually convicted of Rachel's murder in a federal trial and sentenced to death, Shannon's fate remains an agonizing mystery. No trace of the infant was found in the lake with her mother. During his incarceration, Gabrion made chilling statements to other inmates, implying he had also killed the baby because there was nowhere else to put her, and even drew a map indicating multiple bodies. The investigation into Shannon's disappearance remains open, and though authorities are almost certain she is deceased, her body has never been found, leaving her family with unanswered questions and the enduring pain of not knowing what happened to their beloved little girl.

Jun 03, 1997

Cedar Springs

Michigan

Newaygo County

27028

Michigan State Police

Hart

Michigan

Oceana County

49420

Ryan Maki

Detective Sergeant

Hart Post, Michigan

2318732171

State

Law Enforcement

http://www.michigan.gov/msp/

65-2363-97

Michigan State Police

Blond/Strawberry

Blue

Blue

No

06/30/2026