College Student's Disappearance Unsolved for More Than Two Decades
Very few places in the world are truly safe. Much to our dismay, and much as we would like things to be different, college campuses are very commonplace for misfortune to befall our young women. Some girls get bullied. Some girls are assaulted by young men they consider friends, or who they met at a party. Some far less fortunate girls get kidnapped. Suzanne Lyall of Saratoga Springs was just such a girl.
The Computer Scientist in Training
Suzanne was a smart, inspired girl; “the darling of the family”, as her brothers described her. She was the kind of person who ran out of the shower, hair still soaking wet, to write a poem as inspiration struck. She showed an early interest in computers and even built a few from scratch. After graduating from high school in her hometown of Ballston Spa with honors, she first attended the State University of New York at Oneonta for a year, after which she transferred to the State University of New York in Albany, in pursuit of more challenging computer science courses.
The transfer to Albany brought her closer to her family, but also to her boyfriend Richard Condon, whom she began dating in high school, and with whom she shared an interest in computers. She earned some money while supplementing her learning through two off-campus jobs: one at a computer company in Troy, and one at a mall in the suburb of Westmere. Lyall called or emailed her family and boyfriend daily. Her mother recalls that the last time she spoke to Suzanne was March 1; Suzanne had complained about being short on cash and refused her mother’s offer to lend her some.
The Disappearance
On March second, Suzanne had left her job at 9:20 pm and took a bus back to the school’s North Campus where she lived. The bus driver who regularly worked the route confirmed in later investigations that he saw her board the bus, though he said he couldn’t be sure she got off the bus at Collins Circle, her regular stop, only that she hadn’t remained on the bus by the end of the route. However, a friend of Suzanne’s later confirmed that he saw her get off at the stop, at around 9:45 pm. That was the last time anyone has seen her.
The Fallout
The next morning, Condon, Lyall’s boyfriend who studied at a different university in the area, called her parents to let them know that she hadn’t returned to her dorm the night before. She would normally call or email him whenever she got back from work, but he didn’t get any messages from her, nor any responses when he phoned her dorm. Lyall’s parents called campus police to report her missing, but they were dismissed as it was common for students to take brief absences from school. They were advised not to worry as she would likely reappear soon.
This did little to reassure the Lyalls, however. Suzanne simply wasn’t the type of person to take a sudden leave of absence. “Suzie wasn’t a risk-taker,” said her father, “she didn’t party or use alcohol or drugs.” An officer went to her next scheduled class but did not see her there. Her roommates also said she never returned on the night of the second, and that they would have noticed if she had. The Lyalls also called Suzanne’s bank, who let them know that Suzanne’s Debit card was used to make a $20 withdrawal at an ATM in Albany. Two days later, campus police agreed with the Lyalls that something was wrong, as Suzanne had missed one of her midterm exams and a number of other scheduled classes; this disappearance was not typical of an undergraduate student. Campus police then asked New York state police for assistance. The Lyalls and SUNY Albany put up a $15,000 reward for information.
The ATM withdrawal was of particular concern. Whoever had Lyall’s card, knew the correct PIN. Condon said that only Suzanne and he knew the PIN. According to her parents, she would always draw $20 when she went to an ATM. The only information on who it may have been comes from the peripheral of a security camera where the ATM is stationed, which showed a man with a Nike baseball cap at around the time Suzanne would have been there. This otherwise unidentified person was sought out as a potential witness or person of interest. The bank also told the Lyalls that two withdrawals had been made that day; one by the Collins Circle station, and one at the Westmere mall, both at times Suzanne would have been there.
Possible Culprits
There is no certain answer as to who is responsible for Lyall’s disappearance. The bus driver’s uncertainty opened police to the possibility that Suzanne never disembarked at her usual stop, but her name tag from work had been found in the Collins Circle parking lot some 90 feet in the opposite direction of the one she would take if she were returning to her dorm. Unfortunately, investigators were unable to get any forensic evidence from it. Another possibility for what happened was offered up by one of Suzanne’s co-workers, who told police that Suzanne had told her about someone who was stalking her a month prior.
Police were unable to rule out Condon as a suspect. Mary Lyall told police that her daughter had tried to end the relationship a number of times, but he would become emotional, and she would continue to be with him. After she disappeared, Condon called Suzanne his fiancée, a development in the relationship Suzanne had never mentioned to her parents despite her near-daily correspondence. Condon had an alibi, however; he was playing video games with a friend, who corroborated this to the police.
While no answer could be found to the mystery, Lyall’s parents have remained active in their pursuit of justice. They learned of a California couple who successfully lobbied legislators to affect change after the disappearance of their daughter, Kristin Smart, in 1996. They reached out to state legislators who intern passed a bill, formally called the “Campus Safety Act”, more often referred to as “Suzanne’s Law”, which required colleges and universities in the state to have detailed plans for the investigation of violent felonies and missing persons cases that occurred on campus, as well as reporting the latter promptly to the state.
Food for Thought
It’s a tremendous shame to have lost someone with as much potential as Suzanne to college-campus violence. She might have made great strides in the field of computer science and tech, but we may never know. She is still missing after two decades, and while her case is likely a homicide, we should continue to pray for justice, if not her safe return. On the other hand, it is lovely to see that the Lyalls went to lengths to ensure that crimes like this are harder to commit against our fledgling adults.