Gertrude Mary Snedegar, 49, was last seen at her Astor, Florida home in late July 1986. At the time of her disappearance, she was living with her ex-husband, Stephen Cabe Snedegar, from whom she had divorced in 1983. Gertrude vanished without a trace, leaving her purse behind. Stephen Snedegar provided authorities with multiple conflicting accounts of her disappearance, generally maintaining that she had left him. However, her case was not an isolated incident; it was the fourth in a series of disappearances and a homicide linked to Stephen over five years.
The string of mysterious events began in August 1981 with the disappearance of the Snedegars' 22-year-old daughter, Lora Lynn Morris, from her home in Greenfield, Indiana. Just two months prior, Stephen and Gertrude had sold their waste oil business in Greenfield and relocated to Florida, while Lora remained in their Indiana home. Lora's body was discovered in a cornfield in April 1982; she had been shot three times in the head with a. 25-caliber gun. Her murder remains unsolved.
Following Lora's disappearance, two men with connections to Stephen also vanished. In September 1981, Paul Anthony 'Tony' Lambert, who had expressed interest in buying Stephen's business, disappeared after a meeting with him in New Orleans. Then, in March 1982, Charles Darwin 'Chuck' Smith, a former employee of Stephen's, went missing after accepting a fictitious job offer that investigators believe was a setup.
Years later, in July 1986, Gertrude herself disappeared. Her daughter, Brenda Challis, later told investigators that her mother had been fearful for her life, claiming Stephen had repeatedly held a gun to her head. The night she was last seen, Gertrude was going out with Stephen and intentionally left her purse at home. After she went missing, Stephen told Brenda that Gertrude had moved to Tallahassee. He was also seen with a suitcase containing a large sum of money, which he instructed Brenda to take if he were arrested.
Despite being the primary person of interest in these cases, Stephen Snedegar was never charged. In 1989, terminally ill with cancer, he promised to document everything he knew about the murder and disappearances, but he passed away in January 1990 before he could testify before a grand jury investigating Gertrude's case. Witnesses reported seeing papers being burned at his home shortly after his death. One theory suggests that Gertrude may have been involved in her daughter's death and that Stephen, in turn, killed Gertrude after discovering her role. However, without a confession or further evidence, the cases of Gertrude Snedegar, Paul Lambert, and Charles Smith remain unsolved disappearances, and Lora Morris's murder is still an open investigation.
Last Seen: Jul 04, 1986
