#Paige Renkoski's disappearance

[johnschneiderblog]

Part Two: Ardis and the agony of not knowing

Although Ardis Renkoski lived only a few houses down the block from us, we were fairly new to the neighborhood and didn’t get to know her until the 1990 disappearance of Ardis’ 30-year-old daughter, Paige, forced Ardis into the full glare of the media.

As a newspaper columnist, I interviewed the grieving mother a number of times immediately following Paige’s disappearance - and many times after that as the months, then years, then decades, passed without a single significant breakthrough.

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s blog, this is on my mind after reading about a team of MSU filmmakers at work on a documentary about the case.

Another connection with Ardis was our mutual membership in a local Catholic parish. We often chatted with her before, or after, mass.

In 2002 our daughter drowned and suddenly we had another bond with Ardis. At the time - 12 years after Paige disappeared - we thought of that bond as parents of daughters who had died, but, in fact, Ardis didn’t know for sure whether Paige was dead or alive.

That, she said, was the worst part of it. The not knowing.

In her memoir, “It’s Hard Being You,” Sharon describes an encounter with Ardis at church on  Mother’s day 2004 - 14 years after Paige’s car was found on the shoulder of I-96, its engine running, her purse and shoes still in the car.

“I’ve been missing Jess for not quite two years.” Sharon writes. “And I also have the consolation of knowing where she is ... Paige is presumed dead; no one really knows. But does Ardis presume ...?”

“Ardis and I pray together. We sing together. And in what must have been our spiritual destiny for that day, we offer each other the only salve we know: ‘Peace be with you.’”

Ardis died in December 2017, never knowing what became of her daughter. We can only hope she now has the peace that eluded her all those years.

[bafflingmysteries1]

Delve into the perplexing case of Paige Renkoski's disappearance, a compelling mystery that has puzzled investigators and haunted her loved ones. Explore the circumstances leading up to her disappearance, the investigation efforts, and the ongoing quest to uncover the truth behind her vanishing. The Disappearance of Paige Renkoski published first on https://www.youtube.com/@bafflingmysteries/

[johnschneiderblog]

(Here’s a blog that requires extra elbow room. Two parts should do it, but don’t hold me to that. We’ll call this ...

Part One: Where’s Paige?

On the morning of May 27, a Sunday, I answered our doorbell to find a cluster of distraught women on our porch. They were relatives of Paige Renkoski, the 30-year-old woman whose baffling disappearance three days earlier - on May 24, 1990 - remains, to this day, a tragic mystery.

Paige’s mother, Ardis Renkoski lived down the street from us on Greenwood Drive, in Okemos. She knew I worked at the Lansing State Journal and thought I might be the most direct route to getting the publicity that might help find Paige.

By the way, this is on my mind now because a few days ago I read that a team of Michigan State University filmmakers are working on a documentary movie about the case. It’s a worthy subject and I wish them well.

Anyway, after speaking to the women on our porch that Sunday morning 33 years ago, I phoned the LSJ news desk and spoke to an editor, who put a reporter on the story. Since then, the newspaper has published many stories about Paige Renkoski’s disappearance, some of which I wrote. 

There was ample evidence to suggest that Paige didn’t just vanish voluntarily. Police found her car in the shoulder of I-96, a busy freeway. Its engine was still running. Paige’s purse and shoes were inside.

Thirty-three year later, it’s still a story without an ending. 

Tomorrow Part Two: Ardis and the agony of now knowing.