The Unsolved Abduction of Diana Jane Braungardt
She was kidnapped as she left work one evening, and her abductor has never been identified.
Diana Jane Braungardt, an 18-year-old senior in high school, was in a hurry to leave work on the evening of March 11, 1987. She worked part-time as a clerk at the Venture store in Crystal City, Missouri, and when her shift was over at 10:00 pm that Wednesday night she immediately punched out and headed for the parking lot. Diana told her coworkers that she wanted to go right home to study for a test she had to take the following day. Diana’s home in Festus, Missouri was located just a few minutes away from the mall, but she never made it there.
Her parents, Marvin and Jane Braungardt, started to get concerned about Diana when she wasn’t home by 10:30 pm. She was a responsible teenager, and would always call them if she were going to be late. They sat up for an hour, anxiously waiting to hear the sound of Diana coming up the front steps. When she didn’t come home, Marvin drove to the Twin City mall, where the Venture store was located.
It didn’t take him long to locate the bright yellow 1982 Ford Escort Diana used to get back and forth from work; it was one of the few cars left in the mall parking lot. There was no sign of Diana in or around the car. The mall…