Police reopen '93 cold case

Armed with new forensic evidence, the Lacey Police Department is reinvestigating the unsolved disappearance of a young mother from Lacey in 1993 as a likely homicide.

Connie Vannausdle, who was 31 at the time of her disappearance, vanished April 25, 1993, from the home on 25th Avenue off College Street that she shared with her husband, Mark, and their two young children. Mark Vannausdle, who is a person of interest in the case, never reported his wife's disappearance, Lacey Police Lt. Jim Mack said Thursday.

Connie Vannausdle's sister in California, Virginia Bruce, reported her missing to Lacey police July 2, 1993, after she was unable to reach her by telephone, Mack said. At the time, Mark Vannausdle said his wife simply walked away from the residence they shared and did not return, Mack said.

Mack said it was "very suspicious" that after more than two months, Mark Vannausdle never reported his wife as missing.

Mark Vannausdle moved out of state after his wife's disappearance, Mack said. He is serving a lengthy prison sentence based on a 2002 case in which he returned to Washington and shot a cab driver in the DuPont area. At the time of Mark Vannausdle's arrest, he had a 1993-era map in the stolen cab and other suspicious items, Mack said.

Evidence from Connie Vannausdle's disappearance is being reviewed for resubmission to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for analysis using technology that was not available in 1993, Mack said. He would not elaborate on the nature of that evidence Thursday.

"We owe it to the family of Connie Vannausdle to use this new technology and bring this case forward," Mack said.

Connie Vannausdle was born in the Philippines, and she came to the United States with her husband in 1987, according to Lacey police. Connie Vannausdle had a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter at the time of her disappearance, and she may have been pregnant with a third child, Mack said.

Lacey detectives are consulting with the FBI's behavioral analysis unit, as well as law enforcement agencies from various other jurisdictions where the Vannausdles lived, including Dover, Del.; Mountain Home, Idaho; and Harris County, Texas.

"In addition to new forensics, family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances of the victim will be reinterviewed about their recollection from 15 years ago and to develop a more complete victimology or in-depth look at Connie and why she would become the victim of a homicide," a news release from the Lacey Police Department claimed.

No one has been excluded as a suspect, Mack said.

Although Connie Vannausdle's body has never been found, Lacey police still think a successful prosecution of the case as a homicide can occur. Mack noted that there have been several "no-body" prosecutions in Washington and in other parts of the country.

Mack said that in a couple of months, Lacey police likely will submit evidence to the Thurston County Coroner's Office in the hopes of getting a death certificate. Thurston County Coroner Gary Warnock said that in cases in which there is no body, a "presumptive death certificate" must be obtained.

After the case is re-investigated, in several months, Lacey police will turn over a case package to the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, and prosecutors will decide whether criminal charges will be brought.