Chapter 129: Small Town Silence-The Murder of Corinne Perry

0:01 Every story has a beginning, but not everyone has an ending. In the shadows of headlines and buried police reports lay the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten, waiting to be heard and have their stories told. This is The Book of the Dead, a true crime podcast where we remember forgotten victims of heinous crimes, reopen cold cases, re visit haunting disappearances, and uncover the truths buried beneath the years of silence. I'm your host, Courtney Liso, and every week we turn to another chapter, one victim, one mystery, one step closer to justice. Brought to you by Darkast Network INDEP Podcasts with the Twist. Hello, Hello, Welcome to the next chapter in the Book of the Dead. Just shy of. Two years after the nineteen eighty two disappearance of twelve year old Johnny Gosh while delivering newspapers in West de Moines, Iowa, two other teenagers vanished, one another male,

1:31 also a newspaper delivery boy named Eugene Martin in nineteen eighty four, and in nineteen eighty three, a teenage girl sixty six miles away from Johnny's last known sighting seventeen years old, beautiful with an incredibly vibrant personality. She did her laundry one April night, placed her clothes in her car, and then she was gone. Over four decades later, her her case has yet to be solved. While likely not connected to each other, it's unbelievably unsettling that three people under the age of eighteen all vanished in such a short amount of time, All of their cases are unsolved, and only one family has been able to bury their child.

2:22 This is the murder of Kurinn Perry. Corinn Elaine Perry was born on August twenty eighth, nineteen sixty five to Donald and Barbara Perry at a Libyan Air Force base where her father was stationed with the Air Force. Kurin was the youngest of four children, all girls, and after many years of moving around for Donald's job, the family ultimately settled in Creston, Iowa after his retirement. Growing up, not only was she described as beautiful with long, strawberry blonde hair and gray eyes, Korinn had a big personality and she was incredibly intelligent. Her father said that Karin had grown up with the love of books endote. She liked to dream, to make believe she never left home except to maybe visit her sisters or to go to a slumber party. Her older sister, Letitia told Dateline quote she had everything going for her. She was this vivacious, smart girl who loved being on stage. That was her thing.

3:29 When Karin was a young teenager, Donald and Barbara divorced, and Karin ended up living with her mother, who was a home health aid for Adams County, while Donald moved about fifteen minutes away to Kent. As she got older, she loved makeup and she was very close with her older sisters. Karin would go on to attend Creston High School, where she not only excelled in her classes, but she thrived in theater, acting in several school plays and participating in her school's mime troop. She also competed in various speech competitions, winning awards for speech and acting. By the time nineteen eighty three year old Around Cournn was seventeen years old and in her senior year of high school, Her sister, Letitia nineteen, had recently moved out and had enrolled in classes at Southwest Community College, according to NBC, but she came home frequently to spend time with her younger sister. This was a very exciting time for Curin.

4:28 In early April, just a month away from graduation, she had gotten word that she had earned a scholarship to Simpson College in Iowa, and she was planning on double majoring in psychology and acting. By all accounts, of which there are an alarming few, April seventeenth, nineteen eighty three was an ordinary day for Curin. While there is so little information on this case and on current in general, what is known is that on that Sunday, Kurin had laundry to do. At around six ten in the even she said goodbye to Barbara and Letitia, who was visiting, grabbed her clothes and pursed, and took the car she shared with her mom to Highlander Laundromat, a coin operated laundry facility on Highway thirty four. As anyone who's ever don laundry at a laundromat knows, you're usually there for a couple of hours, and the time spent at Highlanders was as one would expect whenness is reported seeing Korin washing her clothing and then folding it when it was dry in an adjacent room. After which she left some time between eight thirty and nine pm, according to NBC.

5:37 As the hours ticked by, Letitia and Barbara grew concerned, Karin had been gone far longer than expected and it wasn't like her. Letitia said quote When Karin didn't come home that night, we started to worry. It got so late. We started calling her friends as they called around, and her friends all responded with they hadn't seen Korin. That concern and worried turned to panic. The crest and police were called soon after, but the police were less than helpful. Though her family didn't want to believe that something terrible had happened and that maybe Kuran had been driving around and the police would come across her and let her know her mother was worried, the police were unconcerned. Letitia said of the police's initial response, quote, it was really frustrating.

6:25 I just remember getting really upset with each question they asked. We were wasting time and I just wanted to find my sister. That night, the police dismissed the report of Kurin being missing, reportedly believing her to be a runaway, and critical hours were wasted by that dismissal. That could have been used to look for her, especially when no one in Karin's life believed that she would have just up and left with no word. The next day, found in the parking lot of the laundromat was Curran's car. While it's unknown who discovered it, what is known is that inside, clearly visible was Current's clothing, folded and neatly placed in a box on the seat. What was not located in or near the car was her purse. Even though the discovery of the car strongly supported the idea that something had happened to Kurin and she hadn't just left of her own volition, the fact was, even if the police took the missing person's report seriously that first day, most law enforcement agencies in the state were required to wait seventy two hours before asking the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation or DCI, for assistance if foul play was suspected to be involved. Sometime shortly after the car was discovered, investigators began to look for any sign of Current or any evidence as to where she could be, and they spoke with witnesses who had been at the laundrymat at the time Current was there. A couple of witnesses were

7:57 called seeing her finishing up her laundry, and they they also noticed a man leaving shortly after her. According to the Des Moines Register, the man was described as being in his early to mid twenties, approximately six feet tall, clean shaven, and wearing glasses. Investigators did look for this man but were never able to find him, and it is unknown of his departure right after Karin was a coincidence, or if he was somehow involved in her disappearance. About a week after she disappeared, on a bridge about nine miles away, midway between Kent and Lennox, the missing handbag was found. Inside was Karin's license, her makeup, and her glasses, all of which were on damaged. Apparently, the bag had been found by someone soon after Karin's disappearance, but they didn't realize the significance until reading the paper. According to the Des Moines Register, Barbara believed the purse had been placed on the bridge rather than tossed, due to its contents not being broken. But notably missing from the bag were photos of Currance friends, which she carried with her quite frequently. The discovery of the makeup and glasses was a particular concern to Curran's family. Corinn, first of all, had bad eyesight, and while she could get by all right without them, her family did not believe that she could go very long without meeting them, and this was her only pair Carin. Also, as I mentioned, loved makeup and was always wearing it. Latitia said when her sister's

9:29 belongings were found, quote, my little sister was all about the way she looked. She loved makeup and never left the house without makeup, and her purse while it was filled with her makeup. To find that purse with her makeup just proves that she didn't run away. Now, there was some speculation that with the purse being found midway to Kent, that perhaps Karin was going to visit her father, but she would have no reason to leave her car behind to do so while he was only a fifteen minute drive away. To walk all the way to Kent from Creston took over three hours. No one would choose to take that walk at night, especially when they had a working vehicle available to them. As the weeks passed, searches were conducted in nearby areas looking for any sign of Krinn and the body of water that ran under the bridge. The West Platte River was searched multiple times, with the focus being downriver in case Karin had fallen in and was swept downstream dawn. For his part, walked and drove over miles of back roads to look for his daughter, searching empty buildings and ditches, as well as handing out countless flyers and newspaper clippings to anyone who would take them. Also formed was the nonprofit Kurinn Perry Support Group Incorporated, comprised of her family and friends, as well as community members who gathered weekly to strategize on different ways to get the word out about her case and places to look for her. Of the support group,

10:59 Barbara pass He told the Des Moines Register quote, I'm thrilled. The first night we had the meeting, I had no idea who'd come. Then they started streaming in they did come. The support group was inspired by the Goshes, who also formed their own nonprofit in the wake of their son's disappearance, and they offered help and support to the Paris after Kurin had got missing. Barbara hoped that the nonprofit would encourage donations to come in to assist in the funding of a private investigator that had been hired in order to help find Kurin. Regarding the hiring of the private investigator, who was never named in any publications during the investigation, there was a bit of a minor discourse surrounding the idea outsource help. Kristin Cole Brown, the spokesperson for New York's nonprofit Fine Children, Incorporated, said it's never considered a bad idea, but warned of possibilities of being exploited, saying, quote, there's absolutely nothing wrong with parents asking for the help of private investigators. We always encourage parents' participation because they are the most motivated. But the problem is is that they are so vulnerable to exploitation. There are so few investigators that have a proven track record. Not so fond of the idea, though, was the recently retired chief of the IOWA DCI, Gerald Shanahan, who said, quote, work within the system, stay with public authorities. I have no objection to private investigators. Any help would be helpful, but people

12:31 end up paying twice with taxes for the police and money for the investigators. Barber's stance, though, was that while she really believed the local investigators as well as the DCI were doing a wonderful job in working their hardest to find her daughter, the extra help was absolutely needed. In addition to raising funds for the private investigator, the organization also raised money to help fund a reward to anyone that could find current. By the time Karin had been missing for two months, the reward money stood at one hundred and thirty eight dollars and fifty five cents, and this was later bolstered by another one hundred and three dollars and fifty five cents from the Cromwell United Church of Price Bible School. This money was in addition to the two thousand, five hundred dollars that the family raised for a reward after the third week with the help from the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Creston.

13:26 According to the Daily Reporter, the group also planned dinners and dances to assist in raising more funds. Karin's family did hold meetings every week. The room filled with photos of Kurn and excerpts from her poetry, as well as fake flowers to symbolize that her loved one's hope would never die. Letitia also faithfully wrote down all the goings on around Creston, which was a very small town, in a notebook, so that when Korn came home, she could be caught up on all the small town gossip, who got married, who divorced, and who moved where. One month after Carind disappeared, Iowa Governor Terry Branstead conditionally approved a proposal to remove the seventy two hour hold that some agencies were required to wait before seeking help from DCI in missing persons cases was suspected foul play. This was done in the hopes that it would prevent delays in other cases, as it had in currents. This came from pressure from the Perry family after they were vocal in their frustration that investigators did not take their original report seriously hindering the first critical hours in the investigation. Just a few weeks later, on May twenty fifth, Branstead declared the day as being National Missing Children's Day. The parents of Johnny Gosh, Barbara, and Letitia, as well as the directors of Child find attended the proclamation. This was done in conjunction with President Ronald Reagan's own proclamation on the same day in memory of six year old Eton Pats

14:59 who disappeared from a New York street corner on May twenty fifth, nineteen seventy nine. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the day is dedicated to quote encouraging parents, guardians and caretakers, and others concerned with the well being of children to make child safety a priority. Ten months into the investigation, by February of nineteen eighty four, no headway had been made in Kurin's case, though the police did continue operating under the assumption that current had been abducted. While investigators were still interested in speaking with the man who may or may not have followed her out of the laundromat, no one had come forward with his identity, and it didn't seem like it was a big priority to find him. With so little evidence to point police in the right direction, the nonprofits sent and put up flyers wherever they could, truck stops, hospitals, police departments, theaters, and even optical shops, as her family believed that at some point Kurin would definitely need a new pair of glasses.

16:02 These flyers and photos went out all over the country, and police did have quite a few tips come in, including from an optician in Missouri and three tips from officers who had reported finding human remains, but none of the tips panned out. The fall after Kuran disappeared, when hunting season began, flyers and notices were put up in various motels for the hunters and trappers that came from out of town for them to be on the lookout for any sign of Curin or what may have happened to her, but no additional information came from that. In September of nineteen eighty four, when Kuran had been missing for almost a year and a half, Barbara Perry received a strange phone call from a man who claimed to have seen her daughter. The man called at six a m.

16:47 Waking Barbara, but hung up before it could be determined if the call was a cruel prank or real. Barbara said quote he asked for a Curran. He seemed very definite. I said she wasn't here right now, and he started to hang up. I asked him how he knew Kurin, and he said he'd seen her in the last couple of days in Creston. Then he hung up. The Creston assistant police chief said investigators didn't know what to make of the call based on the little information that Barbara was able to get, and they urged the public to call if they had any information, but no leads came of it. Barbara was not the only one who received a strange call, though. Soon after Kurin had been reported missing, her father Don had received strange calls as well. He told the Des Moines Register that on April twenty seventh of nineteen eighty three, he had received a call late in the evening by what sounded like a young woman.

17:40 They said quote Kurrinn was nine miles south of Ossola, but Don couldn't be sure if the caller was current or not. The police had searched the area indicated, but nothing had been found, and Don also received a voicemail that was hard to understand, but he believed the caller repeated the phrase it's not easy in a whisper. But the identity of this caller was also never found. After nineteen months of holding out hope that Karin would be found alive, a devastating discovery was made on November third, nineteen eighty four, six and a half miles northeast from Lenox, just south of Creston two teenage pheasant hunters were walking through a stream when they came across human remains comprised of a skull in a few bones. The area in which the remains were found was in a heavily wooded area near a railroad right of way, barely a mile from the bridge where Karin's purse had been found. The remains were also upriver from where the initial searches had been concentrated, and the community was sure that Karin had been found even before a positive identification was made. According to Dateline, Latitia said, quote, everyone in this area knew about Karin, and I think they knew right away that it was her. A few days after they were found, after using dental records to make an identification, the remains were positively identified as Karin Parry. When Letitia was notified of the news by her mother, she said quote, I

19:10 was in another part of Iowa at a friend's house when my mom called. She told me Karin's body had been found. I hit the floor, I dropped the phone. I couldn't breathe or think my sister was gone. Even though Karin's remains had been found and some clothing that was determined to be hers was found nearby. Police had very little to go on regarding cause of death or even how her remains had gotten there in the first place. Dciagent Sam Swain told the des Wine Register that because of how long the bones and clothing had been exposed to the elements, likely the entire time Karin had been missing, they were in a very degraded condition, which made testing near and possible. Unfortunately, because of the condition of the remains, pathologists were unable to determine a cause of death, but investigators did believe that this was a homicide with a lack of evidence. President at the grave site, investigators announced that they would be increasing their efforts to find the mystery man that had been seen following Current and following the announcement of Kern's death, Creston High School started a drama scholarship in her name, and the community hoped that soon the police would be able to provide answers to the family. As the years passed, though, those answers would never come. In two thousand and nine, long after Current's case had been cold, the DCI established a cold case unit, prioritizing one hundred and fifty on solved cases Currents being one of them. The hope was that advancements in DNA technology would allow for these cases to be solved, or

20:41 at the very least more progress would be made. Although the funding from the federal grants used for the cold case unit had been exhausted by twenty eleven, new agents were continuously assigned to these cases as new leads came up and more technological advancements were made, but Current's case has still never been sold, though investigators still urge people that may have information to come forward. DCI Assistant director Mitch Mortfetz said, quote in Miss Perry's investigation, just like any other enresult investigation, we strongly urge anyone with information to contact us with any information they may have. Oftentimes people feel that the information they have is not worthy of blondeforcement attention, or it is not relevant. My statement to them is let law enforcement be the judge of that, and no piece of information is ever not worthy or irrelevant in an investigation, and especially a cold case investigation.

21:40 As the decades had passed, the hope for answers is dwindled. For her family, Don died in two thousand and one and Barbara in twenty seventeen, with neither of them ever getting closure in knowing what happened to their daughter, though at the very least they were able to lay her to rest. Current's sisters have all gone on to get married and have children, moving to Missouri and Nebraska, with Letitia having two girls of her own, the youngest the spitting image of her baby sister quote, she looks exactly like my sister. We've done a side by side with their pictures, and it's absolutely incredible. I see my sister in her every day. Though her case is cold and there is little evidence, Kurin's remaining family tries to hold on to hope that one day her killer will be found and justice will finally be served. Letitia said, quote at the thirty year mark of her death, I sort of quit having expectations, but I can't give up. She was my little sister, and I'm not going to give up.

22:38 And I truly hope that one day all these years of waiting will finally result in investigators finding out what happened. Anyone with information about the murder of Carin Perry is asked to contact the Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation at five one five seven two five six zero one zero, or you can email DCI info at DPS dot State dot Ia dot US, or you can contact the Creston Police Department at six four one seven eight two eight four zero two. Unfortunately, Kurin's cases is one of those with so little evidence from the absolute get go. There was no sign of a struggle at or around her car, There was no evidence found on her purse that helped investigators in any way. Her remains and her clothing that were found were too degraded to do anything with, and a cause of death was never found. And that man that may or may not have anything to do with her disappearance and subsequent murder was never identified. No one has any idea who he is. No one came forward to the police saying I know this guy, and I just don't understand that. I don't understand how no one knew who this guy was. Just it's possible maybe no one at the laundromat knew who he was, but maybe there just wasn't enough of a description to make a composite sketch for people to be on the lookout for him.

24:02 And unfortunately, in Karrn's case, there is so little information about her. The Des Moines Register is really the only publication that ever covered it, and if another newspaper did mention her, it was articles written by people who worked for the Des Moines Register. In fact, the only information you can find about current after nineteen eighty four is in the two or three articles I found that NBC and People Magazine had done to commemorate the anniversary of her death, And honestly, both of those articles were pretty much carbon copies of each other. This is the kind of case where, realistically, the only way it'll be solved is if someone comes forward, and I really and truly hope that they do. As always, I thank you so much for listening. And to those who got absolutely dumped on by the snowstorm we got, I hope that you stayed warm and see and you did not lose power.

25:02 But I hope you have a wonderful week and I will see you in the next chapter of the Book of the Dead. Bye, guys, Another page closed. But the story isn't over for the families left behind. The pain doesn't end when the headline's fade. And for the victims, we owe them more than silence. For our on solved cases. If you have any information, please reach out to local authorities or visit our show notes for links and resources. Someone out there knows something, maybe it's you. Thank you for listening to the Book of the Dead. If this story moved or spoke to you in some way, talk about it, share it, keep their names alive. Until next time, I'm Courtney Liso. Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant.

25:59 And remember the dead may be gone, but their stories will not be forgotten.