Carrie Culberson

Twenty-two-year-old Clarissa "Carrie" Culberson was last seen on August 28, 1996 in Blanchester, Ohio.

Background
From 1994 to 1996, Carrie dated a man named Vincent "Vince" Doan. Their relationship was very abusive. Carrie told the police that Vince smashed her car windows while she sat inside her car; he also hit her in the lower stomach, bruising her kidneys in 1995 and again in 1996.

During the summer of 1996, Vince allegedly hit Carrie on the head with a space heater which required to get five surgical staples to close the wound in her head. Carrie filed a criminal complaint against Vince, and the two of them were supposed to appear at a court hearing in early September of 1996 about the complaint.

Three days before her disappearance, Vince kidnapped Carrie and held her at gunpoint for five hours before she convinced him to drive her home. Carrie's family has described Vince as being very controlling towards her and that he was obsessed with Carrie.

Disappearance
Carrie was last seen on August 28, 1996 at approximately 11:30 in the evening. She was dropped off at her home after she went to a volleyball game with two of her friends. One of Carrie's neighbors said that Carrie left her house in her car a few minutes after she was dropped off. The next morning, Carrie's mother discovered that Carrie and her car were missing.

Vince had appeared at the volleyball game that night; he was angry with Carrie because she wouldn't go with him to court where Vince had to appear for a traffic violation. He wanted to drive Carrie home, but she tried to avoid being alone with him. Carrie was seen shaking her head "no" to Vince numerous times, telling him that she was the designated driver and had to see her friends home. Vince left the bar angrily and those inside of the bar could hear his tires squealing as he left the parking lot.

At first, Vince denied that he saw Carrie, but he later changed his story, saying that Carrie arrived at his house at 12:30 in the morning and honked her car horn, but he refused to talk to her. Vince told the police that Carrie appeared to be drunk at the time of the alleged incident, but Carrie's friends said that she only had one beer when she was with them and wasn't drunk.

Vince changed his story again, saying that Carrie went to his house. He came outside wrapped in a towel and told Carrie that he didn't love her anymore. Afterwards, Carrie left and hadn't been seen since.

In 1997, Vince was charged with kidnapping and murdering Carrie. He maintained his innocence throughout the trial, refused to answer the prosecutors' questions about the whereabouts of Carrie's body and he utilized his Fifth Amendment rights during the court proceedings. A neighbor testified that she witnessed Vince assaulting Carrie in his front yard on the morning of her disappearance.

The ex-wife of Vince's half-brother, Tracey Baker said that Vince arrived at their house at 3:15 in the morning. Vince was dishelved and looked distraught with blood smeared on his clothes. At 4:30 in the morning, Vince and Tracey left the house after Vince took a shower, taking a gun and some trash bags. When the men returned at approximately 5:00 in the morning, both men had blood on them.

In August of 1997, Vince was found guilty of one count of aggravated murder and three counts of kidnapping. He was sentenced to life without parole for murder and nine years for kidnapping. Tracey Baker was charged with obstruction of justice and sentenced to eight years in prison. 

The jury reached a verdict after four days of deliberation on August 7, 1997. They found Doan guilty of one count of aggravated murder and three counts of kidnapping, determining that Doan kidnapped or tried to kidnap Culberson and she died as a result. They rejected the alternate prosecution theory that Doan killed Culberson to keep her from testifying against him in the assault case.

In 2001, Carrie's family won a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Blanchester. The city paid the family $2 million and pleged to establish a memoral for victims of domestic violence, make sure that the police will be trained in handling domestic violence complaints and continue to search for Carrie's body.

Carrie's body has yet to be located; her case is still classified as an endangered missing person.