This is a very under-discussed case about a man who disappeared from Yakima, Washington, on Christmas Day in 2009. As such, it’s a bit difficult to find a particularly flashy way of introducing the material. However, I am convinced that someone needs to draw attention to this cold but by no means unsolvable case. Lawrence Jay Riegel, known as “Larry”, was born on December 15th, 1952, and he had just turned 57 years old when he seemingly vanished from his Yakima home on Christmas of 2009. With no credible sightings or use of his credit card or bank account since that day, as well as some other circumstances which I will discuss, foul play can be considered a strong possibility.

Not much has been reported about Riegel’s early life. He was raised in Washington with his four sisters, and was listed as being divorced at the time of his disappearance. He had two children with whom he was in frequent contact, and he was close to his mother and sisters. At different points in his life, he had worked as a carpenter and a contract pilot, although a neck injury rendered him disabled and unable to work. His family was aware that he struggled with alcoholism, but described him as “outgoing, talkative, and outdoorsy.” He was a frequent visitor to local bars, where he was also known as being friendly and social.

At the time that he vanished, Riegel was living with his girlfriend, Ladena Mann, just a few blocks from his mother’s home. On the morning of December 25th, 2009, his mother, Cecelia Downy, stopped by to drop off Christmas gifts. He called her later in the day to thank her, although the time is unspecified. The whole family had plans to get together the following day, and Riegel was planning on joining them. However, he never appeared, nor did he answer the phone when his son tried to call him on the evening of the 25th. Phone records showed that, on Christmas afternoon, three calls were made from his phone in quick succession between 5:16 pm and 5:23 pm to an unnamed man living in Lower Valley. This man rented property from Riegel’s family, and has been reported as owing $3000 in rent, which some speculate as being the reason for the phone calls. The rest of the information we have comes entirely from Ladena Mann, and that is not much. She told Cecelia Downy that Riegel had left to spend the holidays in Seattle, although why he would have done so is unclear. Later, Ladena would say that the two of them had gotten into an argument, and that Riegel left their home for an unknown destination. She further alleged that he had assaulted her before he left.

A few weeks after Larry vanished, Ladena used his EBT card to purchase groceries, ultimately resulting in her being charged and convicted of fraud. When questioned, Ladena stated that she always did the grocery shopping, and that she expected her boyfriend to return. She also reported that various people had seen Riegel, including a former boss of his. I have not found any independent confirmation of these sightings or an explanation as to why they were reported only to Ladena and not Larry’s family or law enforcement. One neighbor also reported seeing two men packing up items from the home on or around the day Riegel vanished.

Although the above information describes the extent of the publicly available information about Larry Riegel’s disappearance, his family has not allowed the case to stagnate. His sister, Susan Vaughn, has been active in attempting to keep media attention on her brother’s case. His mother would continue searching rural Washington for any trace of her son, despite being over 90 years old. His family has hired an private investigator and offered a reward of  $25,000 for information. At one point, cadaver dogs were brought in to search the rental property, but nothing of interest was found.

What information we have tends to coalesce loosely around a certain type of scenario, but I want to explore all reasonable possibilities. Could Riegel have been the victim of a random violent crime? It’s certainly possible. He walked with a limp and had recently undergone neck surgery. It’s not entirely beyond the realm of probability that someone saw him as an easy target for robbery, and that things escalated. However, I cannot see this as an especially likely chain of events, either. Larry would still have been an adult, mostly able-bodied male, and this attack would have occurred in a residential area on a day when most people would have been home for the holidays. Then there are Ladena’s inconsistencies to consider. She may have used the EBT cards simply because they were available to use towards groceries, but the changing stories and sketchy-sounding sightings knock my eyebrows up a notch. Also, if Larry left of his own volition, wouldn’t the EBT cards have been one of the most important things for him to take with him?

There are also allegations that Larry and Ladena had a less than healthy relationship. All couples argue from time to time, but Larry’s sister Sally has stated: “My brother told my mom about a week before he disappeared that if something happened to him, Ladena did it.”* If Larry really did say this, that’s an awfully unsettling coincidence. Coupling this with Ladena’s own statements about getting in a fight and it is easy to construct a situation in which a dispute between them turned physical, and Riegel was fatally injured. However, I question Ladena’s ability to move and dispose of the body of an adult man without assistance. This leads me into speculation about the two men packing up items from the house that the neighbor reported seeing. Was this true, was it connected to the disappearance, and if so, who were the men and why were they there?

I also have some questions about the “Lower Valley” tenet that Riegel may have been trying to contact. There is almost no information about this man ,who is now deceased. I am curious as to what he and Larry were discussing, or if it was even Larry he spoke to and not someone using his phone. One thing that struck me about the phone calls was that there were three in quick succession, and it is not stated how long each one lasted. If no one answered the 5:16 call, most people would wait more than seven minutes before calling two more times. There’s nothing innately sinister about the timing of the phone calls–for all I know, one party could simply have struggling to find good reception. Yet it does jump out at me as unusual, and given that the man to whom one of the phones belonged to has been missing for fourteen years, I think it’s fair to take note of it. Also missing from this puzzle is any data as to where these calls were made from. If Larry was the one initiating the calls, it seems reasonable to assume that they were made from his own home in Yakima. If that is not in fact the case, where was he (or to be more precise, his phone) during this time?

I have very little to add to this raw summary of events beyond the questions I have listed above. All that I can say for certain is that Larry Riegel had potential conflicts with two other individuals on Christmas of 2009; there was the reported personal dispute with his girlfriend Ladena (who was the last person known to have seen him), as well as three phone calls with a man who owed him money. At this juncture, some people might speculate that Ladena and the tenet conspired together to dispose of Riegel, but to me this seems a stretch given that there is no evidence that the two ever communicated directly with one another. So I am left to forego any further explanation and let this write-up serve as a way to increase awareness of the case. Riegel’s family obviously cares deeply about him and wants to know what happened to him. He now has two grandchildren that he never got to meet.

Riegel is described as sometimes wearing glasses, although I am not certain if he had them with him at the time of his disappearance. He has scars on the left side of his neck and on his right knee, and wore a “unique opal ring” which has apparently never been accounted for. He now has two grandchildren that he never got to meet.

To contact the Yakima Police Department: 509-576-6573

Missing Larry Riegel on Uncovered

Larry Riegal’s Charley Project Page

Cold Case Spotlight: What happened to Larry Riegel?

Yakima Valley family continues 10 year search for missing man

Namus Page

“They need closure.” Families of men who went missing in Yakima County ask for public’s help.

Find Larry Riegel Facebook Page

*If you are in a relationship to which this statement could honestly apply, please exit said relationship as