The Disappearance of Kortne Stouffer
The Disappearance of Kortne Stouffer
Kortne Stouffer disappeared from her apartment at 810 W. Main Street, Palmyra, between 3:50AM and 7:30AM, Sunday, July 29, 2012. She was 21 at the time of her disappearance.
Edit: I may have spelled her name incorrectly once or twice due to the sources I am using spelling it differently. I am sorry!!
Kortne was described as ‘carefree’ and ‘very loud’, as well as an ‘outdoors and nature person’.
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Timeline of Events is as Follows:
July 28, 2012, 9PM: Police responded to a report of an Underage Drinking Party at the apartment Kortne shared with Brad Herr. Herr was taken into custody for a probation violation, and the police found seven others inside. Two were cited for an underage drinking violation and later released. Kortne was the only one within the apartment when probation and police left.
10:07PM: Kortne received messages from two friends, Cody Pruett and Milton Rodriguez to join them at a bar in Hummelstown, PA. Kortne later left her car at Gas Station Bar, and rode with the others to Harrisburg.
July 29, 2012, 1:50AM: Kortne engages in a brief altercation with the girlfriend of Arvard Brown at the Hardware Bar in Harrisburg. She is asked to leave, and is briefly separated from the others. They find each other and get some pizza at a local shop, before returning to the car.
July 29, 2012, 2:45AM: The group returns to the Palmyra area. Pruett is the designated driver and is operating a car owned by Rodriguez. They drop off the couple first, and Rodriguez second, at his residence on West Cherry Street. Kortne asked Pruett to take her back to the Gas Station Bar to retrieve her car. He did so, and then followed Kortne back to her residence in Palmyra.
July 29, 2012, 3:00AM: Kortne gets into a verbal altercation with two neighbors she suspects reported her party for underage drinking. Pruett is also believed to be with her.
July 29, 2012, 3:12AM: The police are contacted by Kortne’s neighbor concerning threats being made to him. He states that Kortne went into the apartment, and a man with her is also causing issues.
July 29, 2012, 3:15AM: The police arrive. Both sides make various arguments, and due to the influence of alcohol, are told to go back into their homes.
July 29, 2012, 4:11AM: Todd (a neighbor, one of whom was involved in the verbal altercation when she arrived home) contacts the police and reports that Kortne is screaming through the walls and stomping on the floors, while threatening the other neighbors.
July 29, 2012, 4:31AM: Police arrive, and do not make contact. They hear a dog from within the residence when they first knock, and peer into windows, without any success.
July 29, 2012, 7:30AM: Todd arrived to make a formal complaint against Kortne for the incidents of the night before.
July 29, 2012, 7:56AM: Pruett awakens and leaves the residence, but not before he does a quick search for Kortne. He stops at Sheetz, and makes a purchase, which is backed up by surveillance.
July 30, 2012, 2:42PM: Scott Stouffer reports Kourtne as missing to the police. No evidence of foul play is found. Her car is still at the residence, as well as her purse that contains her shoes, money, and cellphone.
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The front door was found open, and her dog was left behind. Several neighbors homes were searched, and her vehicle was forensically searched as well. Nothing came of this, as far as we know.
In a few years time, police would follow a few leads, but not nearly as many as they should have. Many onlookers, including some members of the family, have criticized the way they handled Kourtne’s case from the beginning— stating a bias of her character led them to put minimal effort, as well as start the search for her over 72 hours later.
Her boyfriend at the time was allegedly not cooperative with authorities as well. Law enforcement cleared Cody of any and all involvement, but some think he was ruled out far too quickly, especially since he claimed to have slept throughout Kourtne’s alleged “yelling and stomping” on the floors of the apartment.
Some allege that this “disturbance” could have been her fighting off her attacker, but there were seemingly no signs of struggle within the house. That’s why the house was silent when the police arrived shortly after, as Kourtne was already dead.
Obviously, this idea is the most plausible as nobody saw her leave the home, and they definitely would have heard a struggle, I feel like Pruett is the obvious suspect that the police overlooked.
This is how the main theory goes:
According to friends and family, he had a crush on her for YEARS. Her boyfriend’s in jail, and she goes out with him for drinks. He takes her home, is spending the night, probably expects something of her. Things don’t go his way, and a fight/struggles ensues. Kourtne is unfortunately murdered during this fight, and Cody disposes of the body quietly, more than likely in the boot of his car.
He left a note in her apartment before leaving that morning, and called her phone from a PAYPHONE. He had a working cellphone. Why would he do this? To set up an alibi for himself, obviously. When she’s reported missing, he uses the “I was drinking and I’m a heavy sleeper,” excuse, and the police have him on camera at Sheetz (wow, great work here), so they practically clear him of any involvement right away.
Do I think this theory holds some merit? Honestly, Cody definitely knows a lot more than he’s letting on. That’s all I gotta say.
And a rug was found missing from the apartment, yet no one seems to know how or when it vanished. It has never been relocated.
Overall, what do we think happened? I’m pretty sure Cody knows what happened, and/or the neighbors are hiding something. It’s just so hard to believe that she vanished without a trace and left everything, even her beloved dog, behind. I don’t think she went willingly.
Extra:
-While doing some digging on the “Kortne Stouffer - Remember Me Facebook page, her mother stated that she put up flyers of Kourtne around 2015, and her neighbors lovingly threw them in the trash! Totally not suspicious. -Rumors around the locals were that she went to Florida, however this was never substantiated.
Sources:
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons/kortne-ciera-stouffer
https://www.wgal.com/amp/article/disappearance-of-kortne-stouffer-palmyra-pennsylvania/40680399
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