Account
Nov 30, 2010
Jul 18, 2019
Diane
Chorba
75
30
66 inches
120 lbs
White / Caucasian
Female
In the spring of 1979, Diane Faye Chorba, a 30-year-old woman, was living in the area of Luther, Michigan. A mother to a teenage daughter and a young son, she was also six months pregnant with her third child. Her family last had contact with her on May 24, 1979. At the time, she was involved with a married man named Clarence Oliver "Ollie" Bean Jr., who was the father of her young son and her unborn child. Her family grew concerned when they hadn't heard from her for a couple of months and officially reported her missing on July 20, 1979. When investigators initially questioned Ollie Bean about Diane's whereabouts, he told them a story designed to mislead them. He claimed that Diane had decided to go to California with a woman he did not know. According to Bean, he dropped her off in Big Rapids, Michigan, to get a ride to Chicago, where she was to take American Airlines Flight 191 on May 25, 1979. Tragically, that flight crashed shortly after takeoff from O'Hare Airport, killing everyone on board in one of the deadliest aviation disasters in U.S. history. Diane's family even hired an attorney to help locate her among the victims, but the coroner responsible for identifying those from the crash confirmed she was not on the plane. Before authorities could press him further or administer a polygraph test, Ollie Bean moved his family, which included his and Diane's son, to Oregon in May 1980, and the case went cold. For two decades, Diane's disappearance remained a mystery. The case broke open in 1999 when Bean's wife, Judy, finally came forward to police in Michigan. After enduring more than 30 years of marriage and abuse, she revealed the truth about what happened to Diane. Judy told investigators that on the morning of May 24, 1979, Ollie came home and later returned with Diane, telling his wife to watch their son. He left with Diane and came back alone later, stating he had killed her and needed his chainsaw. He then forced Judy into his vehicle and drove her to a remote, wooded area near Bristol, Michigan, where he showed her Diane's lifeless body in a depression left by an uprooted tree. According to Judy, he had shot Diane, and she watched as he removed her jewelry before burying her. Based on Judy Bean's powerful testimony, Clarence "Ollie" Bean Jr. was arrested and charged with Diane's murder. In August 2001, twenty-two years after Diane vanished, a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison, where he later passed away. Despite his conviction and Judy's efforts to lead investigators back to the burial site, the landscape had changed too much over the years, and a location could not be pinpointed. The case of Diane Chorba is a heartbreaking story of a young mother who was murdered, with her killer using a national tragedy to cover his tracks for decades. While the man responsible was brought to justice, Diane's daughter and her other loved ones have never been able to give her a proper burial, as her body has never been found.
May 24, 1979
Luther
Michigan
Lake County
9379
Michigan State Police
Mount Pleasant
Michigan
Isabella County
48858
Todd Parsons
D/Sgt.
Mount Pleasant Post, Michigan
9897735951
State
Law Enforcement
57-4421-79
Michigan State Police
Brown
Brown
Brown
06/01/2026
