Nancy Kathleen Renkas

Renkas, circa 2016; Louise Wender

  • Missing Since 07/18/2016
  • Missing From Iron Mountain, Michigan
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Age 47 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'4, 200 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A dark blue short-sleeved t-shirt, jeans and gray and pink Reebok sneakers.
  • Associated Vehicle(s) White SUV (accounted for)
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes. Renkas has a an L-shaped scar on the back of her left hand. She wears prescription eyeglasses and she walks with a limp.

Details of Disappearance

Renkas was last seen on July 18, 2016. She left her Florence, Wisconsin at 11:00 a.m. to get the mail and some food, and said she'd be back by afternoon. She never returned, and after her sons' calls and texts to her phone went unanswered, they reported her missing.

Investigators learned that after leaving home, Renkas visited a relative in Iron Mountain, Michigan. She left that person's home at 1:30 p.m. and said she was going to stop in Menominee, Michigan to look at a camping trailer.

She was last seen getting into a white SUV at the Super One Foods parking lot in Iron Mountain later that afternoon. The vehicle left the parking lot driving eastbound on U.S. 2. Renkas's vehicle was found abandoned in the Super One Foods parking lot the next day, with perishable meat and groceries inside it.

In August 2020, Louise Wender was named as a suspect in Renkas's case. She is Renkas's sister-in-law, works at the Super One Foods store, and was person whose SUV Renkas was last seen getting into.

Investigators stated the two women may have had a strained relationship and that although they did initially question Wender about her sister-in-law's disappearance, she soon stopped cooperating with police, and they later learned what information she did provide had been "false and misleading."

A photo of Wender is posted with this case summary. She maintains her innocence in Renkas's case.

Both Michigan and Wisconsin authorities are investigating Renkas's disappearance. Foul play is suspected.

Investigating Agency

  • Iron Mountain, Michigan Police Department 906-774-1234
  • Dickinson County, Michigan Sheriff’s Office 906-774-6262
  • Florence County, Wisconsin Sheriff’s Office 800-235-9897

Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004. Last updated August 23, 2020; casefile added.