Still Missing: Rethinking the D.B. Cooper Case and Other Mysterious Unsolved Disappearances (2 page)

Dick and Jackie high school prom photo.

Jackie would have none of this. She convinced her parents to drive to Chicago and meet with Dick’s family. The very persuasive Jackie then convinced Dick that the two of them belonged together. Whatever she said, it worked! On March 15, 1955, not even a year after graduating, Dick and Jackie were married. Opting not to listen to their parents, who recommended slowing things down a bit, the couple decided eloping was the best option, so off they went to the justice of the peace to become Mr. and Mrs. Lepsy. After the small ceremony, the Lepsys rented a tiny upstairs apartment in Chicago, across from Wrigley Field. The newlyweds soon produced two children. Richard was born in 1956, followed quickly by his sister, Lisa, who was born in 1957.

Dick, a natural candidate for college, forwent higher education to make a living for his burgeoning family. He started working in the grocery business as a clerk and stocker. The young family quickly outgrew their tiny apartment, and the busy city. Jackie and Dick decided it would be in their best interest to move back to Grayling, and raise their family in the relatively slower pace of a quant Northern Michigan town.

Dick was hired by Glen’s Market, a grocery store in the neighboring town of Gaylord, which is located about 28 miles north of Grayling. Dick was a natural. Bright and hardworking, Dick quickly caught the eye of C. Glen Catt, the store’s owner, and was quickly promoted to produce manager.

Although he was considered bright and an innovator, he could also be a rather moody and temperamental. Sister Susie shared the story that one time, after repeatedly admonishing a little old lady customer for touching, feeling and then misplacing vegetables in his produce department, he said “Lady, if you pick up another piece of fruit and put it back in the wrong place, I’ll chase you out of the store!” Sure enough, the stubborn lady kept up her produce-molesting antics, and Dick followed through with his threat and chased her out of the store, giving her a piece of his mind every step of the way.

Dick Lepsy with his children, Richard, David and Lisa.

Still, Dick’s excellent work ethic and people skills, along with the combination of his “nice guy” charm, metropolitan street smarts, and boldness, all served him well. So, when Glen Catt had an opening at Glen’s Market in the Lepsy’s quasi-hometown of Grayling, he selected Dick as the store’s manager. This was an enormous responsibility for a young man nearing the age of 30.

It was a dream job for the Lepsys. Dick would earn a good living and be close to home. The responsibilities of his new position would often require Dick to work six days a week. Monday through Friday he would manage the store, and then often return after closing on Saturday to do book-keeping.

By all accounts, Dick Lepsy was a typical family man, neighbor, co-worker, and friend. Sundays were “family days,” which meant in the summertime, the Lepsy tribe would often load up their station wagon and head to Sleeping Bear Dunes, Harbor Springs, Charlevoix, and any other location that would be suitable for picnicking and relaxing. In the fall, Dick would watch football, and also cook and grill delicious treats for the family. He would purchase cookbooks during their travels and loved creating elaborate dishes from them. The kids often spied on their father in the kitchen with a towel over his shoulder, slaving away.

His kids were his life. He would spread a blanket out in the backyard for the kids to lay on and read poetry to them. The four children kept Dick and Jackie very busy with school, sports, activities, and the everyday hustle and bustle of life.

Dick was a voracious reader. His favorite reading materials was centered on ancient philosophy. He soaked up teachings of Archimedes, Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and any other philosophers about whom he could find books pertaining to. But that wasn’t all he read. He would read magazines and books on a variety of topics… whatever he found interesting, really. Dick wasn’t what we would call an institutionally educated man, but he was well-read and highly intelligent.

Every evening during the week, he would come home from work and watch the evening news. Occasionally, he would wander downstairs to the basement and work in his woodshop, creating picture frames and pieces of furniture. Ever concerned with quality, he would only use wooden dowels in his creations, never nails. Dick also bought a new Harley Davidson motorcycle. He loved the feeling of falling down the road while riding it, his arms outstretched, the air rushing through his hair and around his body as he put miles of asphalt of behind him. He would give his kids rides on it, one at a time, down the country roads, which surrounded Grayling. From time to time, he would also ride with a friend or two.

One of these friends, one of his
closest
friends, was Jay. Jay worked in the meat department at Glen’s Market and often he and Dick would take their motorcycles out and “terrorize the campers” as they liked to put it.

In the summer months, the Lepsy family could often be found on a beach somewhere in Northern Michigan: sometimes Lake Michigan, sometimes Otsego Lake, and almost always with a picnic lunch in their well-worn wicker picnic basket. Dick would take advantage of this downtime and play catch and Marco Polo with the kids, chat with Jackie, and bask in the sun’s rays. Dick loved to lie on a beach towel, close to the water’s edge and relax. It was therapeutic for him, allowing him to decompress from busy days at the grocery store and ponder the majestic mysteries of life. By the end of summer, he would have a golden bronze tan to go with his dark hair and eyes.

Life was good for the Lepsy family. They bought a house not far from Glen’s Market. The kids were getting older and bigger. Seasons and holidays came and went. They were a typical family, living in a typical town, enjoying their somewhat typical lives.

When the Lepsy family vacationed, they usually traveled to Chicago via car, or sometimes, via airplane. They would spend time with Dick’s parents, sisters, friends and family, and take advantage of the culture a large city offers. Dick loved to take Jackie and the kids to the Field Museum and the Chicago Art Institute. On occasion, they would visit the zoo, or the Museum of Science and Industry. Dick found these things intellectually stimulating, and wanted to share them with his family.

Reading poetry to the children at bedtime or on a blanket in the backyard was not an uncommon occurrence at the Lepsy household. Nor was Jackie and Dick getting dressed up and meeting friends for cocktails on the weekend, though no one claims ever to have seen Dick Lepsy drunk. Life was good in that northern town.

The year of 1969 rolled around with an enchanted verve about it. The Beatles released their Abbey Road album, which became an enormous commercial success, and the soon-to-be hit show “The Brady Bunch” was broadcast for the first time on ABC. On July 21st, the Lepsy family watched in awe as Neil Armstrong made “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Dick Lepsy with his children, David, Lisa and Richard.

A week after the historic moon landing, nearly half a million people gathered at a 600-acre farm for the legendary Woodstock Music Festival. The following month, August, Jackie and Dick traveled to Chicago for the wedding of Dick’s younger sister, Suzanne. At the reception, someone snapped a picture of the happy couple. It was the last known picture taken of Dick Lepsy. The couple looked happy, content; if there were any troubles between the two; the photograph didn’t offer any clues of that being the case. After the festivities that weekend, the Lepsys headed back home to Grayling, thankful for a weekend getaway and time together.

October 29, 1969 started like any other autumn morning in Michigan. The sunrise appeared in a mostly blue sky, which was a welcome change from the previous few days, which were cold, wet and gloomy, with occasional snowflakes. It was Wednesday. The Lepsy household was bustling with morning activities such as a hurried breakfast, and six people fighting for time in the one bathroom of the modest two-story Lepsy home. The kids were sent off to school, Jackie went to her job at the courthouse, and Dick made his way to Glen’s Market.

Dick Lepsy usually came home for lunch, hopping in his company car, a station wagon and driving a short distance to his home. On some occasions, Jackie would pick him up at the store and then bring him home for lunch. However, October 29th was different. Dick talked with Jackie over the phone and said he was going for a ride for lunch. It was not unusual for Dick to take a drive at lunch to center himself and unwind when things were hectic at the store. Around noon, Dick climbed into the wood paneled station wagon and drove off. A couple hours later, he called his assistant manager at the store, Kay Eisenhower, and told her he was taking the rest of the day off, and he would not be returning to the store that day. This was the last time family, friends and coworkers ever heard from Dick Lepsy. He simply vanished. No one ever reported seeing him or hearing from him again. Ever.

Naturally, Jackie waited for Dick to come home that night. The more time passed, the more nervous she became. “Maybe he needs some alone-time, and he got a motel room somewhere?” she thought to herself. She was hoping they would work it out the following day.

The following day, the 30th, came around, but Dick Lepsy did not. There was no sign of him. It was as if he fell off the planet. It was a cold day, leaves fell, low flying clouds passed overhead, but there was no trace of Dick Lepsy. The sun set, evening came, and the Lepsy family anxiously waited, and waited.

Friday was October 31st, Halloween, but there would be no Trick-or-Treating for the Lepsy children that night. Jackie could feel in the pit of her stomach that something was drastically wrong. The wounded mother sat her children down in the living room that evening and told them “I don’t think daddy’s coming home again, ever.” The children, especially the older ones, were hurt and confused. They wanted to know why their father wasn’t coming home. Jackie didn’t have an answer for them. That Halloween, the Lepsy’s porch light remained off.

On the following morning, Saturday morning, Jackie and Dick’s good friends, Jay and Valerie, drove Jackie to the Traverse City area to look for signs of the missing husband and father. Jackie was thinking that Dick could have possibly gone off and killed himself. They went to his favorite beaches, sand dunes and any place they thought he might go. After finding nothing, they decided to call it a day and head back to Grayling. It was then that Jay suggested they check one last place, the Cherry Capitol Airport in Traverse City. It was on the outskirts of the southeast side of town, and also right on their way. Jackie questioned the suggestion: “Why should we look there?”

As they drove through the airport parking lot, Jackie caught glimpse of something that made her heart sink…she saw Dick’s abandoned station wagon. When the group inspected the vehicle, they found his keys still in the ignition and a half a pack of his favorite cigarettes, Chesterfield Kings, on the dash. This set off alarm bells because Dick, a diehard chain-smoker, never went anywhere without a pack of his favorite smokes.

Jay drove the station wagon home with Jackie in the passenger seat, and his wife drove her and her husband’s car back to Grayling. When Jay and Jackie arrived at the Lepsy residence, young Lisa looked out the window, saw the station wagon pull into the driveway, and with her mother blocking her view of the driver, thought Jay was her father. She was crestfallen when she realized it was Jay sitting next to her mother and not her father. “I’ve never been so up and so down in less than 10 seconds in my life.”

That day, America had a new number one hit song: “Suspicious Minds,” by Elvis Presley. The haunting song seems apropos, considering the suspicious circumstances surrounding Dick’s disappearance.

According to Dick’s daughter, Lisa Lepsy, police later interviewed airport staff and showed pictures of Lepsy. No one at the airline counters recognized Lepsy, nor did anyone witness someone resembling him board a flight. If that was true, what was his car doing in the airport parking lot? None of this made any sense to Lisa.