Dana Lenell Stidham

Girl Goes to Store and Disappears

From: Cold Case Squad:

At the age 18, Dana Lenell Stidham was already an academic leader who graduated from Gravette High School, Arkansas class of 1989. She was born on March 8th, 1971 and lived in the nearby town of Hiwasse, Benton County, Arkansas. Dana had been employed by the former Phillips Grocery Store, now Harp's Grocery Store in Bella Vista, Arkansas. On July 25, 1989, Dana left to run an errand at a nearby grocery store in Bella Vista, and she never returned home.

At around 9:30 AM the next morning, Dana's brother, Larry, called the Bella Vista Police sub-station to report that his sister hadn't come home. He sensed something was wrong. Early that morning her car, a gray Dodge Omni, was found in the Northbound lane on Highway 71 N. The rear tire was low, the keys were still in the ignition, but there was no sign of Dana. Was she forced off the road, or did a "good Samaritan" stop to help her with the tire, and other questions remain a mystery. The lone piece of the investigative timeline was a receipt found in her car that was time stamped 3:17PM.

On September 17, 1989, a squirrel hunter found the remains of a young women buried in a shallow grave, scraped out of a dry creek bed. The location was in a wooded section of the County, that only a few people would know. That body turned out to be Dana Lanell Stidham. The Arkansas State Medical Examiner's Office in Little Rock, Arkansas said Dana died after being stabbed in the neck - the manner of death was Homicide, but the cause of death could not be determined. The body was badly decomposed and efforts were made to determine if she had been sexually assaulted. Her clothes were found strewn nearby. Dana's purse was found in nearby in the area of Chaucer and Hanover Roads in Bella Vista. Personal items, including her check book, driver's license and other items were found a few miles North of where her car was found along Highway 71 N.

To add insult to injury, her gravestone was stolen in December 1989 by a former classmate of Dana's, Michael Earl McMillan. He was convicted of the offense and paid a fine. However, he has retained a lawyer in the matter, so police will unlikely be able to get a crack at him and what he knows and why he stole the gravestone.

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This case was sent to me by a reader. I actually did a reading for her and then asked her if I could share my findings on the blog. I enjoyed doing this case because the charts were very readable and they made sense. You'll see how smoothly they fit the facts as I show you what I found.

I ran charts for the time on the receipt found in her car because this was from the store she visited and was probably the last time she was seen alive. That was for 3:17 pm on the day she disappeared. This time (3:17 pm at that location) shows her leaving a public establishment (first house ruler leaving the tenth and moving into the ninth) and heading out to a parking lot. In this same chart, the seventh house ruler, the person she is "next to meet" is in the same establishment (the seventh house ruler in the tenth house). It also looks like this event had something to do with her job (Moon in the sixth) which means she was either in a place similar to the one she worked in, or she was going there because she knew someone who worked there OR she was sent there directly by someone at her job. I am thinking it is most likely because she knew someone who worked there or was sent there directly (perhaps asked to come for some reason related to work). I say this because the Moon is disposed of by the seventh house ruler, showing her purpose to have something to do with a person, most likely the one she is "about to meet". Following the charts for the next several minutes I see this same person FOLLOWING her out of the store and into the parking lot (seventh house ruler moves along with the first house ruler into the ninth house in the chart for 3:30 pm). I am pretty sure, from what I am seeing in these first two charts, that this girl was targeted.

The placement of both the first house ruler (Mars) and the seventh house ruler (Venus) in the ninth house shows both people in cars. They are in separate cars because these planets are in different signs but they are heading in the same direction. I believe this direction to be southeast from this grocery store (the ninth house ruler, the Moon, in Taurus AND the ninth house being the twelfth from the tenth) but it also looks like they may be heading back to her place of employment for some reason (ninth house ruler the Moon in the sixth house). I am pretty sure the charts are saying that these two people (Dana and her abductor) worked at the same place or, at the very least, in the same industry and knew each other. I do not like the placement of the secondary first house ruler, Pluto, in the twelfth house. Pluto is along combust way and is in dignity in Scorpio, giving it power and a lot of negative energy in this chart. Pluto also directly opposes the chart co ruler, the Moon, and this always looks like violence to me (in the form of a personal attack). The north node in the third house disposed of by Uranus in the second looks like a "ruse" was used involving the car and money. I do not know if the car was out of gas, for instance, or if the tire repair would require money Dana did not have so I cannot say for sure that this is what the chart is referring to but it might be something like this. It could, on the other hand, have to do with money such as a paycheck or a promise of a pay raise, if she were to go along somewhere or do something. This would be especially possible if the person she was with did, indeed, work with her in a superior position. With the seventh house ruler (Venus) disposed of by Mercury (the traditional ruler of children and the ruler of the tenth house) the chart seems to indicate this person was interested in Dana because she was young or much younger than he was. She wasn't a little kid but she was certainly a young lady. Men who are attracted to big ego themes like power and authority are often also attracted to innocent and naive young women and girls. Notice in this chart that, at the same time, Mercury is under the Sun's beams, seeming to indicate that any young girl in this situation would be in danger. The tenth house also implies that this was a person in a position of authority, perhaps even her boss, which dovetails with the overall energy in the chart. From all factors considered, we can certainly assume that this person was an adult male.



Although we see them going in the same direction, the planets do seem to indicate that they had different purposes. His marker, Venus, is disposed of by Mercury, which seems to indicate that his purpose was HER, this being the case especially if you consider that he was interested in her because of her age. Now, her marker, Mars, is disposed of by the Sun, which has no power or placement in the chart, meaning she was just going along with no clear purpose of her own. But the Sun represents male energy and authority in traditional astrology and she may have been unable to say no to this person because he was an older male she either feared or respected. Considering all of this and perhaps thinking this were her boss, for instance, and he had simply asked her to go somewhere or do something, I would assume she would simply do it. This chart, in that regard, is saying that she had no agenda of her own, which would seem to imply that she was, indeed, just "going along" and doing the bidding of an older man.

The chart for 4:10 pm shows some interesting activity. For instance, Uranus, the third house ruler, is just entering the first house, which means she had a surprise en route. I am not sure what kind of surprise but it could have been the tire... or it could have something else. Uranus is huddled together with the second house ruler, Saturn, and Neptune, which rules the fourth. At the same time, the first house ruler, Jupiter, has just entered the seventh house. She is in the company of her abductor and since Jupiter is disposed of by the seventh house ruler, I would guess that she was where she wanted to make this person happy. She had "gone along" and ended up with a flat tire. He had either sent her somewhere, following along as she went or he was directly responsible for the problem with her tire and then "happened along" to help her. Jupiter is in fall in Gemini and disposed of by Mercury, which indicates that she was a definite disadvantage here both for her being a woman and for being young. Jupiter in the seventh disposed of by Mercury can show us someone who is a shyster or a bit of trickster, such as Mercury can be. He was having fun with this situation, even if she were not. She just didn't have the "worldliness" to handle or even understand the ruse that was being played on her. Mercury in Leo now rules the seventh house and disposed of the Sun in the eighth house. There was a sexual component to this meeting; this person was sexually attracted to Dana. This is especially noted by the progressions in the chart as the chart co ruler, the Moon, enters the fifth house in Taurus and becomes sinister to an opposition with Pluto in Scorpio, now in the eleventh house. It looks to me that he chased her down with the Moon in Taurus conjoined the fixed star Schedir at the same time as squaring Asellus Austrel. He let her go so he could chase her and trap her. Again, the placement of Jupiter shows enjoyment and the sign Gemini indicates a game.

The charts all seem to describe a superior from her job or possibly a superior at another job, where she was interviewing at the time. This because we again have the seventh house ruler also ruling the tenth. This is consistant throughout the time frame for her abduction. Did she go to this place because she was called for a second interview? Could it be that this person called her back just so he could attack her? Or did her boss from her own job send her over to another location to deliver something or pick something up? Any of these scenarios, and many more, I might add, could have happened here.

Moon opposes Pluto from the fifth house to the eleventh. This is a strong sign of sexual activity and with Pluto it is often forced. This is why it looks like this girl was stalked and raped. After she was sent off and chased down. The tire may have been punctured in advance and then she was followed. She didn't have the money to call a tow truck or to have the tire patched so along came this man, someone she knew and had no reason to fear. He offers to drive her somewhere to get help or to get someone to fix the tire, or whatever, and once she is in his car... And I believe she got into his car and went off with him. Notice how the first house ruler, Jupiter, is in the seventh, which shows her to be in the company of this person. And Jupiter is disposed of by Mercury, which rules cars and transportation. Mercury is conjoined the Sun, which rules the ninth house and the ninth is the third from the seventh. And then also consider that the third house, which represents her car, is Uranus in the first and it is conjoined Saturn, both in the sign Capricorn. Her car is stuck somewhere and with Neptune also nearby, I would say she had no idea why or how this happened.

The charts for the following few hours show her in the company of this same person. She is "doing his bidding" as shown by her ruler, Jupiter in Gemini, in the seventh and disposed of by his ruler, Mercury, in the eighth house. There appears to be sexual activity. The Moon in Taurus in the fifth house directly opposes Pluto in Scorpio in the eleventh and this configuration not only shows the probability of sexual activty but also sexual activity of a deviant nature. Pluto implies violence and forced rape. There is a T square that has formed between Pluto, the Moon and Mercury. Mercury in Leo rules the seventh house and is his "signifigator" which shows us that he is the only one who could control this volatile situation. His marker is on the open end of the T, telling us that he was the one who started this sexual activity and he was also the only one who could stop it. Mercury in Leo is disposed of by the Sun, which means he had the all the power and control in this situation; the Sun being male, showing male physical strength. She was unable to fight him. She was too young and too small (Jupiter in Gemini). Moon in Taurus square Mercury in Leo also tells me he fantasized about Dana for a long time before acting on it. Pluto in Scorpio in the eleventh gives us another clue: he may be recently divorced or had a romantic breakup that has left him lonely and angry. This breakup or divorce could have been the catalyst that pushed him into his fantasy with Dana. I think, from this configuration, he may have been highly upset when she refused him or tried to fight him off and he killed her in the process of trying to control her. But this is just a guess and I just cannot be sure.

This configuration remains in place for two hours, showing these people in a struggle for some time. And then, at 7 pm, the charts begin to show us a death pattern. So this is saying that she died the same day, later in the evening. In the chart for 7 pm, you can see the first house ruler in the twelfth, the Moon entering the fourth house and tenth and fourth house rulers in the eighth. These are powerful placements and they describe death. Dana's ruler in this chart is Saturn, which depicts the dead body and the bones of the body, in particular. I don't want to get all graphic in describing her death (it tends to upset me) but I think she may have been strangled because Taurus describes the throat region. But, then again, she was stabbed in the neck so perhaps this is what I am seeing.

At the time of her abduction, the seventh house ruler was Mercury in Leo. The person who abducted and killed this girl was an old fashioned man with rigid beliefs, especially about romance. He had certain ideas about children, too, and young women. He likes order, authority, control. He is not very bright, however, is not much of a schemer. He is more lucky than anything else and likes to take chances. He might have just taken this girl on a lark. He is a rather large man with a large frame, although he is no more than average in height. He is likely dark skinned or swarthy (having an olive complexion and could be any race). Probably brown eyes or maybe hazel. The hair would be light brown or possibly blond (perhaps lightened or highlighted). This man is very vain and proud, he has a good self image and may even think he's more important than he is. He is well groomed, neat and always clothing conscious. He may consider himself a "ladies' man". He would dress neatly and with a flair. This person can be somewhat of a showoff but wants everyone to think highly of him and he would not do anything to look foolish. He cannot handle criticism and gets his feelings hurt when he hears it. He likes to win, to be the best at everything, even though he is NOT a perfectionist. He just wants everyone to overlook his flaws. He is stubborn and will not change for anyone. He always thinks he's right, even when he's totally stupid. He likes being the boss. It is very likely that he was insulted by her lack of interest in him romantically and ended up angry enough to force himself on her, killing her during the struggle.