Theresa J. Brown

• Missing Since 06/26/1989
• Missing From Lenexa, Kansas
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 22 years old
• Height and Weight 5'4 - 5'6, 115 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue/brown eyes. Brown frequently frosts, highlights or tints her hair.

Details of Disappearance

Brown and her roommate, Christine Rusch, were last seen in their apartment at Trafalgar Square in Lenexa, Kansas on June 25, 1989. The following day, Rusch called Brown's employer and her own to state they would not be appearing at work, as both of them were feeling sick. Neither woman has been heard from again.

On June 28, authorities found Richard Grissom Jr.'s car, packed with his belongings, outside of an apartment in Grandview, Kansas. Brown and Rusch's jewelry and credit cards were in the vehicle, as was the key to their apartment and the apartment of another local missing woman, Joan Butler. Grissom operated a painting company and, as a result, had master keys to many apartment complexes in the area. A photo of him is posted with this case summary.

Grissom was arrested in Texas on July 7, 1989. In 1990, he was convicted of murdering Brown, Rusch and Butler. Grissom, who was also convicted of eight charges related to the murders, was sentenced to four life terms in prison; he will not be eligible for parole until 2095. He is also a suspect in at least two other murders, but he has not been charged in those cases. He is a career criminal who committed his first murder at the age of sixteen.

Brown, a graduate of Camdenton High School in Missouri, worked as a dental assistant and planned to become a dental hygienist at the time of her disappearance. Despite extensive searches, none of the missing women have ever been found. Dan Mitrione wrote about them in a book entitled Suddenly Gone - The Kansas Murders of Serial Killer Richard Grissom.