In the winter of February 1985, the life of 21-year-old Terri Lea Schlatter took a dark and mysterious turn when she vanished from Tulsa, Oklahoma, along with her one-year-old son, Nathan. The circumstances leading up to their disappearance were turbulent; Terri and her husband, Darrell Schlatter, were facing federal bank fraud charges. The turbulent nature of their marriage had come to a head with these legal troubles.
After being indicted, Terri fled but was later located in Colorado and extradited back to Oklahoma. It was upon her return that she agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify against her husband, a decision that set a grim new course for her and her young son.
Against the wishes of her family, Terri had retrieved her son Nathan from his grandparents' home in Indiana, where she had sent him for safety while she tried to sort out her life. Shortly after returning to Tulsa with the child, Terri made a final phone call to her mother regarding Nathan's medication; it was the last time her family would ever hear from her. The last known sighting of Terri was when she dropped Nathan off at his babysitter's house. Later that day, her husband Darrell arrived to pick up the boy, informing the babysitter that her services were no longer required. From that moment, both Terri and little Nathan were never seen or heard from again.
For years, the case languished, with authorities initially considering Terri a fugitive from the law due to the outstanding fraud charges against her. However, a significant development occurred in 1993 when Darrell Schlatter was arrested and charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Erica Hartwick. This prompted investigators to take a fresh look at the disappearances of his wife and son, leading them to drain a local pond in search of their remains, a search that ultimately yielded nothing. Shortly after this search, Darrell Schlatter committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell in June 1993, taking any secrets he held about his family's fate with him to the grave. The prevailing theory held by law enforcement is that Darrell murdered Terri to prevent her from testifying against him and then killed his own son to make it appear as if she had fled with the child once more. Despite the grim outlook and the passage of decades, the cases of Terri and Nathan Schlatter remain open but unsolved, a heart-wrenching mystery of a young mother and child who vanished amid a backdrop of crime and betrayal.Last Seen: Feb 1, 1985
