Randolph County the setting for mysterious missing person case

Feb. 3 was National Missing Persons Day and the Penn Yan Police Department in upstate New York continues to work on a 1973 missing person/homicide case with the hopes that it can someday be solved.

June Allison Streeter, 42, was last seen alive on Oct. 8, 1973, at a roadside pull-off on Highway 431 near Wedowee. June, her husband, Lawrence D. Streeter, and her two children from a previous marriage were traveling from Lawrence’s parents’ home in Altha, Fla., to New York. Lawrence was driving the car, which was pulling a small travel trailer. The couple was allegedly arguing that day and pulled into the rest stop on Highway 431 to spend the night. [This rest stop consisted of a place on the side of the road to pull off with picnic tables. It was located in the Midway community.] He, June and their two poodles slept in the travel trailer, and June’s children, Jeffrey Lee, 13, and Laura Lee, 12, slept in the car. A noise complaint was called in at the rest area by a neighbor that night. An Alabama State Trooper drove by and noticed the vehicle and trailer but didn’t hear any commotion and cleared.

The next morning, Lawrence woke the children and told them their mother had left during the night. The children stated they could hear their mother’s dogs barking inside of the trailer, but Lawrence would not let them enter to get their belongings. Lawrence unhooked the trailer and drove the children to LaGrange, Ga., and put them on a bus to Bath, N.Y., where their father lived. They arrived there two days later ill-dressed for the weather and one without shoes. After dropping the children off at the bus station, Lawrence drove back into Alabama, registered the trailer under a false address and returned to Florida. He never contacted the authorities to report June missing.

According to her family, it was uncharacteristic of June to leave without warning; she always kept in touch with her family. She had met Lawrence four years earlier while he was working with a carnival and donkey basketball game. After their marriage, they traveled a circuit as a husband and wife country music duet, singing at clubs and carnivals. However, by the time of her disappearance, June’s family reported she was tired of traveling and said she wanted to settle down. Her sister stated June was afraid of Lawrence and that she had left him several times, but would always return to him. He had allegedly threatened her with a pistol on multiple occasions.

June’s sister reported her missing to the Penn Yan Police Department on Feb. 4, 1974 (four months after she was last seen alive). Penn Yan Police Department worked with authorities in Alabama, Florida, Texas and Georgia, but June has never been found. Investigators interviewed Lawrence and executed a search warrant on the travel trailer, which was located in Altha, Fla. Police found a .32-caliber pistol and some of June’s belongings and various articles of evidence. However, Lawrence insisted June had simply left him during the night and never returned. Lawrence was arrested in Georgia for failing to return June’s property to her family. In 1974 he submitted to a lie detector test, which he failed. Police continued to work the case throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s with no new evidence emerging. DNA was collected from June’s daughters and is on file in case her remains are ever discovered. Lawrence passed away in 2021 and was the last person to see June alive and was the only known person of interest in this case.

June’s family believes she is dead and may be buried in Florida, Alabama or Georgia. Her remains have never been recovered, and her disappearance remains unsolved. Police have entered June into the national database of missing persons and continue to investigate the matter.

According to a 1982 article from The Rochester, N.Y., Democrat and Chronicle, over the years, when female remains have been found in east Alabama or northern Florida, forensic scientists have compared June’s dental records and x-rays to theirs. None have been a match and her whereabouts remain a mystery.

Anyone with information on the matter is asked to call the Penn Yan Police Department at (315) 536-4426.

Other known local unsolved missing person cases

In an effort to recognize other persons missing from Randolph County, we have been unable to find what seems to be a comprehensive list.

These are the ones we are aware of:

Willie Ralph Thomas was last seen walking on Highway 77 near the Clay County line in the direction of Wadley on April 3, 2021. He is a 47-year-old black male, standing 6 feet tall and approximately 195 pounds.

Jamie Madison Davis, 48, was last seen in Roanoke on July 18, 2017. She is a white female with brown hair and eyes, 5-foot-2, weighing 156 pounds.

Billy Douglas, 31, of Ranburne was last seen in the Flat Rock area of Lake Wedowee on July 13, 2015. Douglas is said to have jumped out of a boat at night after arguing with the other two passengers. Although a two-week long search of the lake was conducted, he was never found.

Dennis “Bo” Culbertson, is a black male, age 55, 5-foot-10 and approximately 185 pounds. He was last seen Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. He was last seen around Avenue A, the package store and Chestnut Street in Roanoke.

Yvonne McClendon was last seen at her home in Roanoke on Sept. 20, 1995. She was 59 years old at the time. Her husband, Norman, was convicted of criminal solicitation for trying to find someone to murder her. He was sentenced to life in prison and died in November 2005. Yvonne has never been found.