In the autumn of 1983, a cloud of uncertainty descended upon Troy, Michigan, with the disappearance of 36-year-old Carol Kresge Dearment. On the evening of October 26th, Carol visited her boyfriend's apartment, leaving for home between 11:00 and 11:45 p.m. This would be the last time she was ever seen. Her 1981 Buick was later discovered in the driveway of her residence on Wentworth Place. Inside the vehicle were her purse, eyeglasses, and the keys still in the ignition, suggesting she had arrived home but never made it safely inside. All of her personal belongings, including her clothing and money, were left behind, and ominously, there was no note for her three children, an act that was entirely out of character for the devoted mother.
At the time of her disappearance, Carol was entangled in a bitter and volatile divorce from her husband, Donald Dearment, who was 21 years her senior. Friends and court documents painted a grim picture of their relationship, alleging that Donald was a controlling and abusive spouse. Carol had confided in friends that she feared for her safety and had documented instances of physical abuse by her husband. The couple was still living in the same house, though they occupied separate areas. The divorce proceedings were scheduled to go before a judge in November, just weeks after she vanished. A significant point of contention in the divorce was Donald's finances; while he claimed a net worth of $297,000, it was believed to be closer to two to four million dollars. An audit of his finances had been scheduled to take place just days after Carol went missing.
The investigation into Carol's disappearance quickly focused on her estranged husband. Investigators discovered bloodstains matching Carol's blood type on a sofa in their home and in the trunk of Donald's 1978 Mercedes. This, combined with the tumultuous nature of their divorce and the impending financial audit, positioned him as the prime suspect in the eyes of the authorities. Despite the mounting evidence, Donald maintained his innocence, claiming he had not seen his wife since a week before she disappeared. He was uncooperative with the police, and it took a warrant for them to search the home. In a tragic turn of events, Donald was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 1986, taking any potential confession with him to the grave. On his deathbed, a detective visited him one last time, but Donald refused to speak. Carol Kresge Dearment was legally declared dead in 1993, but her body has never been found, and her case remains an unsolved and heart-wrenching mystery.
Carol Kresge Dearment was a 36-year-old female last seen in Troy, Michigan, on October 26, 1983. Public missing-person records describe her as a white woman, about 5 feet 6 inches tall and approximately 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She was a mother of three and was connected by family history to the S.S. Kresge retail fortune. On the night she vanished, she visited her boyfriend at his apartment, stayed for about two hours, and was last seen between 11:00 and 11:45 p.m. when she left to go home. After that late-night departure, she was never heard from again.
The details discovered afterward made her disappearance especially troubling. Carol's 1981 Buick was found parked in the driveway of her home on Wentworth Place. The keys were still in the ignition, and her purse and eyeglasses were on the front seat. Inside the home, she had left behind her clothing, belongings, and money. Public records also note that she did not leave a note for her three children, which was described as uncharacteristic of her. Those details suggested that whatever happened to Carol was not a simple, planned departure from her life.
In the days after Carol disappeared, the case drew public attention because of both the mystery and her family background. A November 1983 Associated Press report in the Desert Sun stated that the FBI had joined the investigation into the disappearance of Carol Kresge DeArment, described as an heiress to the K mart Corp. retailing chain. At that time, an FBI spokesman said federal agents had established contact with local police to offer assistance, while the same report noted that there had been no ransom demands or evidence of foul play publicly identified then. Early public reporting therefore reflected both urgency and uncertainty: Carol had vanished, there were no clear answers, and investigators were trying to determine whether her disappearance involved abduction, violence, or some other explanation.
As the investigation developed, public reporting showed that authorities became increasingly suspicious that Carol had been harmed. In May 1984, United Press International reported that Oakland County Prosecutor L. Brooks Patterson said police believed Carol had been murdered and regarded her husband, Donald L. DeArment, as a suspect. According to that report, investigators had obtained blood samples from Donald DeArment and the couple's children under a search warrant, hoping to determine whether blood found in the trunk of his 1978 Mercedes after Carol's disappearance could be matched to her. The public sources reviewed do not state that anyone was convicted in connection with Carol's disappearance, and the presence of suspicion in the investigation did not become a publicly confirmed resolution of what happened to her.
Nearly ten years after Carol disappeared, the legal system addressed her absence in a different way. In April 1993, United Press International reported that an Oakland County Probate Court judge declared Carol DeArment legally dead, allowing her three grown children to collect from an estate that the report said could be worth as much as $2 million. That legal ruling did not mean her remains had been found or that the full truth of her disappearance had been established; it was a formal recognition that she had been gone for years without contact or recovery.
Carol Kresge Dearment's case remains one of a woman whose life appeared to stop abruptly between a late-night visit, a drive home, and a car left in her own driveway with personal items still inside. The available online record tells the story of a 36-year-old mother who left her boyfriend's apartment in Troy, Michigan, on October 26, 1983, and then vanished before returning to ordinary life with her children and belongings. In overview, Carol Kresge Dearment was a 36-year-old white female last seen in Troy, Michigan, on October 26, 1983, after leaving her boyfriend's apartment between 11:00 and 11:45 p.m.; her Buick was later found at her Wentworth Place home with the keys in the ignition, her purse and eyeglasses on the seat, and her belongings left behind, and although she was declared legally dead years later, the online sources reviewed do not document the recovery of her remains or a confirmed public resolution explaining exactly what happened to her.
Last Seen: Oct 26, 1983
