Karen Denise Wells: Oklahoma Woman Vanishes During Road Trip
Her rental car would be found the next day, with the doors open and an empty gas tank, but Denise was nowhere to be found
Single Mother Vanishes During Road Trip
In April 1994, 23-year-old Denise Wells drove across the country with the intention of visiting a friend who was going through a difficult time. Yet she would never make it to her destination. After checking into a motel in Middlesex Township, Pennsylvania, the sleep-deprived Denise said that she planned to go out to eat and then take a nap in her room.
This was the last time that anyone would ever hear from her.
The next morning, a chilling discovery was made: Denise’s rental car was found abandoned on a desolate stretch of road, 35 miles away from the motel, with the doors open, an empty gas tank and a dead battery. But there was no sign of Denise anywhere.
What happened to Denise Wells?
Karen Denise Wells
Karen Denise Wells (who went by her middle name) was born on September 22nd, 1970, in Oklahoma, to parents William and Deorma. She has one younger brother.
Growing up, Denise was a kind and curious child who was close to her family. But as a teenager she fell in with the wrong crowd, creating tension in her relationship with her parents. She began drinking and her grades soon suffered.
Denise moved to South Dakota, where she lived with an aunt. During her time there, she was convicted of check forgery and put on probation. The exact circumstances surrounding her choice to commit this crime are not publicly available.
Back to Oklahoma
Eventually, Denise permanently returned to Oklahoma and revealed to her family that she was pregnant. At that point, it appears that the father of the baby was already out of the picture.
She gave birth to a son, whom she named William Blake. By all accounts, Denise was a devoted mother who dearly loved her baby. In an attempt to get her life together, the single mother secured a part-time job at Haskell Airport. However, early on in her time there, she began having an affair with her married boss, Michael.
A Friend in Need
Denise received a phone call in April 1994 from 24-year-old Melissa Shepard, an old friend from high school. Melissa had since moved to New Jersey and was going through a time of personal crisis, as she allegedly had a problem with drug abuse and was claiming to be suicidal.
Denise felt that Melissa’s distress required her immediate attention and decided that she would drive out to see her in North Bergen, New Jersey, approximately 1,400 miles away.
Road Trip to New Jersey
She dropped off her 14-month-old baby at her parents’ home on April 10th, assuring them that she’d only be gone for 4–5 days. Then she rented a white 1993 Plymouth Acclaim and left Haskell, Oklahoma, that night.
The two women would be in frequent contact throughout Denise’s journey. But, as Melissa would later explain, this was merely because Denise became lost multiple times and needed directions.
On April 12th, Denise reached Middlesex Township, Pennsylvania, and checked into Pike Motel around 5:45 p.m. She explained to the owner at the front desk that she simply wanted to take a nap and only needed the room for a few hours.
Within an hour or so of arriving at the motel, Melissa called her four separate times: at 5:59, 6:06, 6:13, and 6:59 p.m.
Around 6:30 p.m., Denise returned to the front desk and asked for a book of matches, which she was given. After that interaction, neither the owner nor her husband saw Denise again.
Sometime between 6:45 and 7 p.m., Melissa called the front desk and asked for directions to the motel. Her plan was to drive there that night and have Denise follow her to New Jersey in her rental car, so that she wouldn’t get lost again.
At just after 8 p.m., the two friends spoke for the last time. According to Melissa, Denise stated that she was hungry and that she was going to get something to eat at a local McDonald’s before she went to sleep.
Denise Wells would never be seen or heard from again.
Where is Denise?
Melissa Shepard showed up at the Pike Motel after midnight. She would initially tell police that she and her boyfriend—and no one else—made the trip together, but this turned out to be a lie.
She was actually accompanied by two men, whom she described as being casual acquaintances from the bar where she worked. Why she felt the need to bring them on this trip has never been explained.
Additionally, there are discrepancies between her version of events and the story told by her companions.
Upon pulling into the parking lot and discovering that Denise’s rental car was not there, Melissa immediately “went ballistic,” the men said.
Conversely, Melissa claimed that it was only when an employee gave her access to Denise's room and she saw the state of it that she began to panic.
Regardless, Melissa reported Denise missing at 12:49 a.m.
Things Appear Normal
Interestingly, the police didn’t find anything particularly strange about the condition of the motel room. It was in good shape, they said, with no signs of a struggle or forced entry. Her suitcase was open on the bed and some of her clothes were beside it. Her room key was also there.
A pack of cigarettes (Denise's brand) and a magazine sat on the bedside table. The only odd thing about the room to investigators was that they found a cigarette in the ashtray that appeared to have been lit but not actually smoked—it had apparently burned out on its own.
Abandoned Rental Car
At 5:30 a.m. the next day, a motorist found Denise’s rental car abandoned on an isolated stretch of Route 274, near Tuscarora State Park, approximately 35 miles away from Pike Motel. The road is bordered by dense woods.
It was an eerie scene.
Both of the vehicle’s front doors had been left wide open and the hazard lights were switched on, but the battery was dead and the gas tank was empty. The car was also scratched and splattered with mud, perhaps indicating that it had been driven off road. Inside, investigators saw remnants of a Hardee’s meal, empty soda bottles, maps, and a pair of shoes.
Personal Items Found
In addition to these items, they also discovered Denise's birth certificate, driver’s license, probation card, as well as a small amount of marijuana, a pipe, and what they believed to be cocaine. (It remains unclear if this substance was ever confirmed to be cocaine.)
Melissa, who described Denise as being “like a sister” to her, said that the single mother never drank or did drugs. Yet her two male acquaintances told a story that suggested otherwise. According to them, when they couldn’t find Denise in her room that night, the first course of action taken by the three of them was to look for her in the local bars.
Denise’s purse, containing $13.71, was located in a nearby ditch.
To this day, the keys to the Plymouth have never been found.
Sightings and a Strange Call
A businessman came forward to report having seen a woman matching Denise’s description walking along the side of the road in Schaefferstown, Pennsylvania, around 11:30 a.m. on April 12th—before she went missing.
As it turned out, she needed assistance because she was out of gas. After the man helped her, she asked for directions, telling the man that she’d just been to New Jersey and was on her way back home to Oklahoma.
Had Denise already been to New Jersey? And if so, what happened?
Investigators learned that the odometer of her rental car displayed an extra 600–700 miles that couldn’t be accounted for. Additionally, phone records showed that Denise had placed a call to Melissa from Schaefferstown at 11:39 a.m. that day, lending credence to the businessman’s story.
Timeline Doesn't Make Sense
In another bizarre twist, police discovered that a phone call had been made to Melissa from a Sheetz pay phone in Middlesex Township, 17 hours before Denise arrived. It went to voicemail. When questioned about it, Melissa—who told investigators that she had no connection to that area—said that she couldn’t remember anything about the call or who made it.
Corporal Les Freehling of the Pennsylvania State Patrol:
“I will say we are not satisfied with a lot of the answers that we got from Melissa.”
Yet it’s important to note that Melissa Shepard has never been named as a suspect in Denise’s disappearance. In fact, no one has been.
An extensive search of the area was carried out by police and volunteers on foot, horseback, and all-terrain vehicles. No trace of the missing woman was found.
Calls came in from around the state to report sightings of Denise, but none of these tips could be substantiated.
“She has a baby who’s a year-and-a-half old. You’re talking about a child that’s not going to have a mother,” Melissa said in a 1994 interview.
Then the authorities received another lead that defied explanation. The wife of Denise’s married boyfriend contacted the police to tell them that Denise had called their home around Thanksgiving 1994—several months after she vanished—to say:
“Tell Mike I’m not coming home. I’m already married.”
Investigators were unsure of what to make of this. While they didn’t believe that Denise had actually made the call herself, it was possible that someone else had, posing as her.
Further Developments
Detectives visited Melissa in New Jersey multiple times to question her. She was initially cooperative, but eventually refused to answer any more questions, explaining that she wanted to move on with her life and put this “incident” behind her.
(Melissa has found herself in unrelated legal trouble in recent years.)
They also interviewed multiple other individuals, whose names haven’t been released to the public, some of whom they believed were likely withholding information.
Family Tries to Cope
Denise’s family struggled to come to terms with her disappearance and continued to hope that answers would be forthcoming. They knew that she would never willingly leave her son behind.
“I do call the police once a week or so because I want to do everything I can. But I do try to block it out and try to enjoy my family, what’s left of it,” said Denise’s mother, Deorma.
William was raised by his grandparents.
“For him to not ever know what happened to his mom is hard,” Deorma said of her grandson.
In 2008, investigators decided to take a fresh look at the Denise Wells case.
“Someone absolutely knows what happened to Denise and we’ll get to that eventually,” stated Trooper John Boardman.
Both the Wells family and authorities firmly believe that foul play was behind Denise Wells’ disappearance, possibly due to a drug-related motive, but in the absence of solid evidence, the case remains at a standstill.
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Sources
The Sentinel, April 15th, 1994
The Sentinel, April 16th, 1994
The Sentinel, April 18th, 1994
The Sentinel, April 1st, 1995
The Sentinel, April 13th, 1995
(This article was originally published on HubPages)