Stacey Lynn Balas was a 25-year-old woman from North Ridgeville, Ohio, who was working to rebuild her independence after a severe car accident years earlier. The accident, which occurred in 1988 when she was seventeen, left her with a significant head injury that had lasting effects on her cognitive abilities. Despite these challenges, Stacey was determined to live a full life.
She had a fiancï and had recently started a job at a Subway restaurant in Fairview Park, Ohio, a step towards the independent life she was striving for. Her family described her as having the mental capacity of a younger teenager as a result of her injuries, a vulnerability that they believe may have been a factor in what was to come. Stacey was last seen on November 26, 1996, at approximately 1:00 a.m. as she was closing the Subway with her manager.
Stacey never made it home that night, and she did not show up for her next shift at 11:30 a.m. Her blue 1995 Nissan Pathfinder was found later that day in the parking lot of the Cleveland Motel, just a few blocks from her workplace. Her purse was inside the vehicle, but Stacey was gone. In the days following her disappearance, her credit card was used three times for small purchases in Brooklyn and Cleveland, Ohio, but there was no other sign of her. The investigation soon focused on the last person known to have seen her, her manager, Larry Wade. He was considered a prime suspect from the beginning of the investigation. Three months after Stacey vanished, Wade was convicted of the rape of another woman, a crime that heightened suspicion about his involvement in Staceyï s case.
For nine long years, Staceyï s family waited for answers, enduring the anguish of not knowing what had happened to their daughter. A significant break in the case finally came in November 2005, when Larry Wade confessed to Stacey's murder. He admitted to strangling her in the kitchen of the Subway after she rejected his sexual advances. Wade stated that after he killed her, he disposed of her body in a trash bin. In May 2006, he pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping and was sentenced to twenty years to life in prison. Despite his confession, Stacey's body has never been found, and authorities believe her remains are likely in a landfill. The case is a story of a young woman's determined effort to overcome adversity, tragically cut short. While the legal case is closed, the lack of a proper burial has left her family without complete closure.Last Seen: Nov 26, 1996
