Missing Since: 05/24/1990
Missing From: Fowlerville, Michigan
Classification: Endangered Missing
Sex: Female
Race: White
Date of Birth: 02/02/1960 (60)
Age: 30 years old
Height and Weight: 5'6, 125 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A white silk blouse, baggy silk pants with a multicolored flower pattern, and a long beaded necklace. A photo of Renkoski in these clothes is posted with this case summary.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Renkoski has surgical scars on her right arm and on her right leg. She has an additional scar on her right elbow. Renkoski has two surgical screws inserted into her left knee and her right knee has been replaced.
Details of Disappearance
Renkoski was a substitute teacher from DeWitt Township, Michigan near Okemos in 1990. She dropped her mother off at Detroit Metro Airport on May 24, 1990, then turned around to go home.
Renkoski apparently stopped on the westbound shoulder of Interstate 96 one-half mile from the Fowlerville, Michigan exit at 3:30 p.m. She was last seen speaking with two unidentified African-American males on May 24, 1990. They were standing near a maroon or burgundy minivan. A photo of a similar van is posted with this case summary. There may have been a third man in or near the van. Renkoski was seen gesturing, throwing her hands up in the air, and one of the men put his hand on her shoulder.
A motorist who saw Renkoski and the individual at approximately 3:30 p.m. became concerned when he passed Renkoski's vehicle at the same location four hours later at approximately 7:30 p.m. Investigators were summoned to the scene at that time and found Renkoski's silver 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais abandoned.
The keys were in the ignition, the lights and radio were on, the doors were unlocked and the engine was idling. The driver's side door was unlocked and Renkoski's purse, wallet and shoes were found inside the vehicle, as well as an open bottle of beer. There was no damage to the vehicle. Renkoski has never been seen again.
Authorities are not sure why Renkoski was speaking to the unidentified men and they do not know if they were connected in any way to her disappearance. She had recently deposited a large sum of money in her bank account at the time she vanished, which was untouched following her disappearance. She did not have any travel plans.
Renkoski was close with her mother and was also engaged to be married in November 1990. Family members told investigators that Renkoski may have been having problems with her fiance in May 1990, but it is not believed she chose to voluntarily leave the area for that reason.
Three unsolved abduction/murders of young women occurred in the 1980s in the general area where Renkoski vanished. It is not known if these cases are related to Renkoski's disappearance.
Authorities reopened Renkoski's case in the late 1990s. An unidentified inmate in a Michigan prison was named as a suspect in Renkoski's case in May 2001. The man was in prison for carjacking; his victim was a young woman and the crime occurred only weeks after Renkoski disappeared.
Police interviewed the suspect several times and believed he had been one of the men Renkoski spoke to shortly before she went missing, but when the individual took a lie detector test, he passed and investigators eliminated him from their inquiry.
Sketches of six suspects in Renkoski's disappearance are posted with this case summary. They have never been identified. Foul play is now suspected in her case.
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