Cold case files, in Denton
Greetings from the Denton Record-Chronicle newsroom.
Someone in Denton got away with murder 30 years ago.
Reporter Donna Fielder is working a story this week about the cold case that has never been solved.
Twelve-year-old Susie Mages disappeared from the Burger King on Eagle Drive in Denton Sept. 25, 1977. She was supposed to be watching the laundry at the coin laundry next door for her mom, who was gone only half an hour.
Witnesses saw her talking to a man she seemed to know. Then she vanished.
On Oct. 4, someone spotted her body floating in a gravel pit in Oak Cliff in Dallas. She died of drowning and apparently had not been sexually assaulted.
Who kidnapped Susie? How did she come to be in the gravel pit? No one ever found out. Thirty years later, one of her friends still wants to know and a retired police officer says he's never given up trying to find out.
Donna Fielder will bring us a story that is both compelling and heart-wrenching at the same time. Watch our Web site and the paper for the story.
Here’s what else we are working on this week:
NCTC ENROLLMENT
Enrollment at North Central Texas College’s Corinth campus dropped by 41 students compared to last fall. But don't tell anybody on that campus. The building is full at certain times. The college is leasing classroom space on Pinnell Square to handle the overflow of students. Reporter Matthew Zabel is on the story.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT?
Denton Mayor Perry McNeill will launch the city’s “carbon footprint project” Thursday night as the city participates in the National Conversation on Climate Action. Residents will be able to calculate their carbon footprint through a link on the city’s Web site. Thursday’s event, held at the Civic Center, will also feature speeches from climate scientists and others about what local communities can do to combat global warming. Reporter Lowell Brown previews the event for us.
LIBERTY ANNIVERSARY
Liberty Christian School is celebrating its 25th anniversary this weekend with a full slate of homecoming events. We’ll give a look back at the school, its beginnings, and its plan for the future from reporter Amy Dodd Thompson.
Best to you,
Annette Fuller
Managing Editor