On October 9, 1976, 17-year-old Teresa Joanna Gossage, a female teenager from the Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri area, was last seen with 17-year-old Alfred Elmer Hoffman Marshal. Teresa was described in missing-person records as a White female, 5 feet 2 inches tall and about 105 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes; her nickname was TC. She was reportedly wearing a brown and white shirt, a brown jacket, white jeans, and sneakers.
That evening, Teresa and Alfred, both students at Waynesville High School and both children of officers stationed at the Fort Leonard Wood Army base, left together on a date in Alfred’s car at approximately 7:30 p.m. They did not return home, and they have not been heard from again.
The next day, Alfred’s car was found locked and abandoned on a side road in an isolated area of Fort Leonard Wood. The discovery deepened the concern surrounding the teenagers’ disappearance because the vehicle did not immediately explain where they had gone or what had happened after they left for their date. Alfred’s jacket was found in the backseat despite freezing weather, and his hairbrush, described as something he never went anywhere without, was found in the console. Authorities reported no evidence of foul play at the car, leaving investigators and loved ones with a painful absence of clear answers.
Investigators initially considered the possibility that Teresa and Alfred had run away, but people close to them did not believe that explanation fit who they were or what was happening in their lives. Teresa was known as a good student and a member of the Waynesville High School band. Her band had won a district contest and qualified for a state competition, and Teresa was reportedly excited about that achievement and what lay ahead. Alfred, too, appeared to have reasons to remain close to home: he had left $1,000 in the bank, was looking forward to a hunting trip with his father, planned to travel to Germany for Christmas, was a good student, and intended to attend college. These details gave their families and investigators reason to question the idea that the two teens had willingly disappeared.
In January 1977, only a few months after Teresa and Alfred vanished, Fort Leonard Wood was shaken by another tragedy involving teenagers out on a double date. Three teens were murdered at the base after military police officer Johnny Lee Thornton pulled them over as they crossed into the fort. A fourth victim survived by pretending to be dead and walking six miles to the nearest house for help. Thornton later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming he had multiple personalities, but he was convicted and sentenced to three life terms plus twenty years in prison. Because Alfred’s abandoned car had been found not far from where the later victims’ bodies were dumped, Thornton has been considered a suspect in the disappearances of Teresa and Alfred.
Even with that disturbing proximity and the similarities that weighed heavily over the community, available case information states that no evidence has been found tying Thornton to Teresa and Alfred’s disappearance. Teresa’s case remains classified as endangered missing, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command is listed as the investigating agency. The known story of Teresa Joanna Gossage is therefore one of a 17-year-old girl with school, music, family, and ordinary teenage plans ahead of her, last seen on a date at Fort Leonard Wood on October 9, 1976, followed by an abandoned locked car, clues that did not resolve the mystery, and decades of unanswered questions. In overview, Teresa’s disappearance remains an unsolved missing-person case connected in time and place to Alfred Hoffman Marshal’s disappearance, marked by a sudden vanishing from Fort Leonard Wood, a vehicle found the next day in an isolated area, loved ones who did not believe the teens had run away, and an enduring need for answers about what happened to them.Last Seen: Oct 9, 1976
