Clues Still Eluding Police -- Body Discovery Renews Hunt For Missing Women

The discovery of a woman's body near North Bend over the weekend has sparked renewed interest in the mysterious disappearance of four Eastside women over the past 10 months.

The King County medical examiner's office has yet to identify the body, which was found about 12 miles east of North Bend, near the Tinkham Road off-ramp from Interstate 90.

By yesterday, however, detectives handling the four cases ruled out the possibility the body is that of any of the four missing women.

They are: Erin MacGregor, an 18-year-old resident of the Sahalee area near Redmond; Jami Sherer, 26, of Redmond; Donna Barensten, 59, of Issaquah and Susan Kardas, 36, of Kirkland.

Police say they continue to walk a "thin line" in investigating the disappearances.

On one side, they have several bits of information that may point to foul play. On the other, they have no solid evidence that crimes have been committed. In all, police concede that their investigations have been stalled for months.

"There comes a point in time when you just exhaust all possibilities," said King County police Sgt. Tony Burtt. "Unless you receive more information, there's not much more you can do."

It's possible that some or all of the missing women simply left home, police say.

"It's no crime to be a missing person," said Redmond Detective Larry Conrad.

"Some people don't want to be found. But very few people can really pull it off for any length of time. In almost every case, someplace down the road, they'll screw up."

Although the four cases do not appear to be related, police say the Sherer and MacGregor cases are being investigated as potential homicides.

-- Erin MacGregor, who lived with her mother, was last seen Sept. 20, entering an apartments complex near Juanita High School. A recent graduate of Redmond High School, MacGregor had three job interviews scheduled that day but didn't show up for any of them. Her purse and money were left at home. MacGregor's car was found abandoned Oct. 3 in the Columbia City neighborhood of Seattle.

Lee MacGregor holds hope his daughter is still alive, but acknowledges he sometimes fears the worst.

"It's tough," he said. "Every time I hear about some body being found somewhere, I wonder if it's her."

-- Jami Sherer was last heard from Sept. 30, following an argument police say she had with her husband. Jami took their 2-year-old son, Tyler, to her mother's home in Bellevue to spend the night, then left. She called her mother the following day to say she was going to stop for a bite to eat, then would be right over to pick up Tyler.

She never showed up.

Nor did she cash her last pay check from Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, where she was employed. Her car was found Oct. 5 in the Kenmore area.

Without revealing details, Redmond Detective George Potts said there is some evidence pointing to foul play in the Sherer case.

"Ideally, it would be great if she called her mom tomorrow to say she was in Bermuda," Potts said. "But. . . . should she turn up as a homicide, we're that much ahead on the investigation."

-- Susan Kardas, described by police as shy and quiet, with few friends, was unemployed and lived with her parents. One day in mid-December, she told them she was going to catch a bus to the Seattle Library.

"She hasn't been seen since," said Kirkland Detective Ed Malkowski. "We have very few leads. We don't know if she just walked away or what."

Although the Kardas' parents tell police they believe their daughter has simply disappeared on her own, Malkowski remains intrigued by the fact that a suspected murderer was in town during that time.

Larry Miller, 50, was wanted for the slaying of 22-year-old Shannon Ostberg, a Spokane woman who also vanished in December.

Although Miller was arrested in Everett in January, Ostberg's whereabouts remained a mystery until April 20, when her body was found in a snow bank near Leavenworth. Nine days later, Miller hanged himself in jail.

Kirkland police know Miller was in Kirkland because they discovered Ostberg's abandoned car there in December.

-- Donna Barensten vanished in May while hiking with her husband, Ron, on Squak Mountain.

Barensten speculated aloud that his wife may have fallen into an abandoned coal mine shaft and would like search dogs to return to the mountain.

Authorities, however, tell him that they don't believe she's on the mountain. "They say they would have found her by now," Barensten said.