Lisa Stebic: Her Disappearance Still Remains a Mystery

Lisa Stebic’s family and friends still hope that she will be able to come home safely.

April 30, 2007

PLAINFIELD, ILL. – Her name is Lisa Stebic. And two of the things that a person close to her may notice the most when looking at her are her tattoos - a small rose tattoo on her ankle, and a butterfly tattoo on her lower back.

Her neighbors, husband, and their two children – daughter Lexi, 12, and a son named Zach, 10 – have been graced with her fun-loving presence for many years as she may sometimes smile with those twinkling brown eyes of hers, framed perfectly on her chiseled features and softened by a healthy brown mane (her best features), as she would lightly move around her home at 13244 Red Star Drive – bringing her 5’ 2” frame in a graceful stride with her. That was the usual scene of their home then.

It seemed like a picture-perfect close-knit family to some, although Lisa and her husband of fourteen years, Craig, 41, were already in the middle proceedings of a divorce case.

Nonetheless, the couple still agreed to stay together with their children while the proceedings were still ongoing.

But, the divorce case wasn’t the least of the family’s problems as a devastating event happened without anyone understanding how it occurred.

No one had thought that 37-year-old Lisa Stebic, described by close family relations to be a loving lady who has an enduring love for life and her children, to grace the family’s home on the evening of April 30 for the last time, and disappear without a trace as reported to the authorities the next day by a concerned neighbor.

As of this writing, no one could pinpoint what really happened to Lisa.

When the authorities came after hearing the report, they found that there was no sign of abduction or foul play in Lisa’s home. What’s more confusing was that they even noticed that Lisa’s car was still parked in the garage, although her personal belongings such as her cell phone and purse (usual things that were assumed to be brought by Lisa if ever she did leave the premises of their abode voluntarily) were nowhere to be found.

Further investigations also revealed that everybody was home that day before Lisa disappeared, but the children went out to enjoy a bicycle ride for a few moments. When they arrived, their mother was already nowhere in sight, and didn’t come back ever since.

Because of this, police thought that the children can reveal other important matters about their mother’s disappearance like what she wore that night she disappeared and other pertinent things, but, unfortunately, they weren’t able to question the children because of their father’s disapproval of further interrogations as advised by his attorney, Dion Davi.

But, the grief didn’t end there. Lisa’s close family relations on her side were so distraught with the incident that they couldn’t bear facing the media. Thus, two of her relations, her cousin, Mark Greenberg, and wife, Melanie (living in Naperville), were the chosen spokespersons of the family to handle these things. Their first brush with the media, regarding Lisa’s disappearance, was on May 4 where they held a press conference on behalf of the parents of Lisa.

Ever since this incident, news of her disappearance spread far and wide, and prompted the authorities and those who knew her to take immediate action to find her whereabouts and bring her back home.

Everyone wanted to help the family. Volunteers from neighboring towns and in other parts of the country helped search for Lisa by combing through the most likely places that she may have gone to, distributed her photos to the people who may have seen her, and also joined the family vigils and prayed for her safe return.

While all these things were happening, Craig wasn’t seen as an accessory to the case by police officials since it was observed that he was willing to comply with the investigations – initially.

When a search warrant to search the premises of their home was garnered because of a blood match with Lisa’s DNA that was found on Craig’s truck (to which Craig denied involvement), Craig allowed the authorities to perform their task even if this was done in the middle of the night – according to Craig’s attorney – and the children taken out of their home, and made to sleep in the car while the hour-long search was being conducted.

Although Craig showed that he was cooperative with the investigations and coverage of the event during the first few months of Lisa’s disappearance, he refused to succumb to a polygraph test that Lisa’s close family relations wanted him to undergo.

To reach more people, a website was established by Lisa’s family where photos, info, and the latest news on her case are shown. The reward money is also posted there for anyone who would be able to relate relevant information, and provide closure to the case.

But as the days go on, the family gets more desperate. That was why some close friends and colleagues of Lisa, led by Betty Stubner (who was able to work with Lisa before at Lincoln Elementary School preparing the children’s lunches), even hired a psychic to help with the search to which Melanie Greenberg commented that even though she doesn’t really believe in psychics, she didn’t really oppose what Betty did to facilitate a psychic search for Lisa Stebic. Melanie was open to anything that can show the family what really happened to Lisa that night.

Still, the searches led to nowhere. So, Betty Stubner also made a personal flower ritual in remembrance of Lisa where the flowers are placed at the doorstep of Lisa’s home – where her last presence was seen.

It is clearly noticeable from recent reports, the media, and online coverage, that more efforts have been executed by Lisa’s close family relations.

Some may probably speculate if Craig was indeed innocent after learning of what Glenn Kahn, Lisa’s attorney, had to say about a petition that Lisa mailed to him before she disappeared. In the note, it appears that Lisa does not like to live with her husband anymore, and had even mentioned many attitude problems of her husband. Specifically, it was a petition to evict her husband from the couple’s home.

However, Craig’s attorney denied these things – claiming that Craig wasn’t such, although he is reported to have a criminal record, with two felony counts, for a particular case on the unlawful use of a weapon.

According to Craig, they only had sporadic contact prior to her disappearance, and her staying-out-at-night times weren’t an unusual gesture of Lisa.

Where all these things will go, no one can still say up to now. It’s been a few months already since Lisa Stebic disappeared that evening. But, Lisa’s side of the family, together with those who know her, still keep their hopes intact that someone can point the way, or be able to tell them what really happened. Since Lisa’s side of the family claims that it is so unlike Lisa to just abandon her children, they hope to find more reasons and answers to the questions that continue to come.