Halfway2sane

MARYANN AND JERE BAGENSTOSE WERE SEPARATED AND WERE GOING THROUGH A CUSTODY BATTLE. SHE REMAINED IN THE FAMILY HOME ON WEST WILLOW ROAD IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, WHERE SHE ALSO HAD A BORDER LIVING WITH HER BY THE NAME OF WILLIAM YELLETS, AND JERE HAD MOVED IN WITH HIS MOTHER. 

ON JUNE 5TH, 1984 JERE SAID HE HAD GONE TO PICK MARYANN UP TO TAKE HER TO LOOK AT A CAR, BUT SHE WASN’T READY. HE SAID HE TOOK THEIR TWO-YEAR-OLD SON TO A NEARBY PARK IN THE MEANTIME AND WHEN HE RETURNED TO GET HER SHE WAS GONE. HE SAID SHE LEFT A NOTE ON THE KITCHEN TABLE STATING SHE WAS WALKING TO THE LOCAL TURKEY HILL MINIT MARKET, HOWEVER THE STORE EMPLOYEES WORKING SAID THEY NEVER SEEN HER THAT DAY. TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD MARYANN WAS NEVER SEEN AGAIN. HER DISAPPEARANCE OCCURRED THE DAY BEFORE JERE AND MARYANN WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A CHILD CUSTODY HEARING.

JERE NEVER CONTACTED POLICE TO REPORT MARYANN MISSING.  MARYANN AND HER MOTHER GERALDINE WERE VERY CLOSE. THEY SPOKE EVERYDAY AND THEN SUDDENLY THOSE CALLS STOPPED. GERALDINE IS THE ONE WHO REPORTED MARYANN MISSING. SHE ALSO HIRED A PRIVATE DETECTIVE, RICHARD JEFFRIES TO TRY AND HELP FIND HER.

TO THOSE WHO KNEW MARYANN SAID THE IDEA OF HER SIMPLY WALKING AWAY MADE NO SENSE. FRIENDS AND FAMILY SAID SHE WOULD NEVER HAVE LEFT HER SON BEHIND. A DAYCARE WORKER RECALLED A CHILLING WARNING MARYANN HAD ONCE MADE BEFORE SHE VANISHED. SHE SAID IF ANYTHING EVER HAPPENED TO HER, JERE WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE.

WHEN AUTHORITIES HAD ARRIVED AT THE PROPERTY TO INVESTIGATE THE DISAPPEARANCE, THEY FOUND JERE DIGGING A DEEP HOLE IN THE GARAGE OF THE BAGENSTOSE HOME, HIDDEN BENEATH CARDBOARD, WHICH INVESTIGATORS DESCRIBED AS GRAVE-LIKE. THIS HOLE WAS APPARENTLY NEAR SHOULDER HEIGHT TO JERE. A SEARCH WARRANT WAS OBTAINED, AND THE HOLE WAS EXCAVATED, HOWEVER NO SIGN OF MARYANN WAS IN THERE. BUT, FOR INVESTIGATORS THE MESSAGE WAS CLEAR. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MARYANN, FOUL PLAY WAS INVOLVED. 

POLICE FOLLOWED LEADS FROM THE AIR AND ON THE GROUND. THEY CHECKED REPORTS OF STRANGE ODORS, SEARCHED FIELDS WHERE TURKEY BUZZARDS HAD BEEN SEEN CIRCLING AND INVESTIGATED EVERY POSSIBLE SIGHTING. THERE WAS ONE LOCATION THAT CONSTANTLY DREW THEIR ATTENTION AND THAT WAS SHENKS FERRY, A RUGGED NATURE PRESERVE IN LANCASTER COUNTY. IT WAS AN AREA WHERE JERE WAS BELIEVED TO KNOW WELL, ALTHOUGH HE DENIED THAT TO INVESTIGATORS. BUT JERE HAD ACTUALLY CALLED PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR RICHARD JEFFRIES AND CLAIMED HE THOUGHT THAT MARYANN COULD BE BURIED THERE IF SOMEONE HAD HARMED HER. JERE OFFERED TO TAKE HIM THERE, ALTHOUGH, STATING HE HAD NEVER BEEN THERE HIMSELF. YET, HE DROVE THE INVESTIGATOR THERE AS IF HE KNEW EXACTLY WHERE HE WAS GOING. BUT ONCE INSIDE THE PRESERVE, JERE BROKE AWAY FROM THE GROUP AND WHEN RICHARD FOUND HIM, JERE WAS JUST STANDING SILENTLY AND JUST STARING. MOMENTS LATER, JERE BEGAN SHOUTING THAT THEY WERE LEAVING. AND RICHARD SAID THEY NEVER SPOKE AGAIN. 

AUTHORITIES HAD CHECKED MARYANN’S BANK ACCOUNTS AND SOCIAL SECURITY ACTIVITY. AND BONES DISCOVERED IN A WOODED AREA WERE TESTED BUT TURNED OUT TO BE ANIMAL BONES.

INVESTIGATORS NEVER STOPPED SEARCHING AND THEY HAD RETURNED TO SHENKS FERRY MULTIPLE TIMES OVER THE YEARS, USING GRID SEARCHES AND CADAVER DOGS. BUT THE TERRAIN WAS ROUGH. STEEP HILLS, THICK BRUSH AND NEARLY 100 ACRES OF DIFFICULT GROUND.

DECADES LATER, IN DECEMBER 2022, JERE BAGENSTOSE WAS ARRESTED AFTER INVESTIGATORS REVISITED THE FORGED NOT STORY. PROSECUTORS PRESENTED EVIDENCE THAT HE NEVER REPORTED MARYANN MISSING AND GAVE CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS ABOUT THE HOLE IN THE GARAGE. AND HE STATED HE HAD BEEN THREATENED BY MARYANN OVER FINANCIAL AND CUSTODY DISPUTES.  IN APRIL 2025, A LANCASTER COUNTY JURY CONVICTED HIM OF VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER, IN A RARE NO-BODY HOMICIDE TRIAL. HE WAS SENTENCED ON JUNE 17TH, 2025 TO FOUR TO TEN YEARS IN STATE PRISON. 

DESPITE THE CONVICTION, MARYANN’S BODY HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND, LEAVING HER FAMILY WITHOUT A GRAVE TO VISIT. THE CONVICTION BROUGHT A MEASURE OF JUSTICE BUT NOT CLOSURE. 

MARYANN’S DISAPPEARANCE HAS REMAINED A HAUNTING CASE IN LANCASTER COUNTY FOR OVER FORTY YEARS.