May 18, 2007 9:37 am US/Central
Mystery Still Surrounds Stebic Disappearance
Husband Said Lisa Stebic Left To Work Out; High School Gym Didn't See Her
By Paige Winfield / Naperville Sun
PLAINFIELD, Ill. (Naperville Sun) ―
It's 16 hours that remain cloaked in mystery - from the last evening Lisa Stebic was supposedly seen to when she was reported missing the next morning.
If only seeing the events of those hours were as simple as rewinding a videotape.
But so far, the facts around Lisa's whereabouts April 30 consist merely of bits and pieces of evidence, stitched together from reports by friends, co-workers and family members of the missing 37-year-old mother of two.
Lisa's husband, Craig, says he was the last person to see her, telling reporters and authorities she was in the family's Plainfield home around 6 p.m. that Monday. When he discovered later that evening that she had left with her purse containing her credit cards and cell phone, he assumed she had gone to work out at Plainfield North High School - her typical evening routine.
But workers at the high school gym say they never saw her that evening. Employee Pete Quimby said that was unusual for Lisa, who typically visited the gym three or four times a week and stayed from about 6 p.m. until closing time at 8:30 p.m.
The gym gave her a place to spend evenings away from Craig, whom she was in the process of divorcing.
"She was probably the only firecracker in here," Quimby said. "It was the part of her day that she seemed to enjoy."
A Typical DayLisa had spent most of the day going about her typical routine, according to reports from co-workers. Ruby Zegar remembers working with her at Lincoln Elementary School, where the two both worked in the cafeteria.
"We prepared lunches, we laughed, we joked," Zegar said.
As usual, Lisa left the school around 2:30 p.m. She picked up a sandwich from Jimmy John's on Route 59 and ran some errands before returning home. Her routine would be to pick up her 10-year-old son, Zach, from Walker's Grove Elementary School at around 3:30 p.m., though no one could say with certainty that Lisa picked up Zach that Monday.
Friends say Lisa almost always made sure she was home with Zach and her 12-year-old daughter, Lexi, until Craig returned from work in the evenings.
Police say the children visited an area Walgreens to buy candy between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. that Monday - about the same time Craig says he last saw Lisa.
Since then, no one has reported seeing any trace of her. Her cell phone and credit cards disappeared as well, but have not been used. Her car remained in the garage until authorities seized it earlier this week while executing a search warrant.
Tuesday MorningThe next morning, Lisa's co-workers received a phone message from Craig at 8:50 a.m., asking if his wife had reported to work.
After Craig also called a next-door-neighbor to inquire about Lisa, the neighbor reported her missing to the police a little after 10 a.m.
While Lisa clearly was absent from her normal routine that morning, Craig and the kids went about their typical day. He went to work, but with his wife missing, drove the kids to school first.
That day, May 1, was Craig's last day at his contracting job as a pipefitter at Dial Corporation in Montgomery. A five-year employee of Freeport-based Mechanical, Inc., it was not unusual for him to have several weeks in between jobs.
He has not returned to work since, mostly remaining at home and monitoring the children's exposure to media coverage, relatives say.
Brian Helm, president of Mechanical, Inc., said Craig is an employee in good standing and has never come under any sort of disciplinary action.
"He's a good worker," Helm said.
Craig's immediate supervisor and co-workers would not comment about Craig.
Perhaps the chain of events from that Monday evening to Tuesday morning would have been different if Ruby Zegar and her husband, Amer, had acted on their whim.
The couple are good friends with Lisa and had invited her and the children over to their home on several occasions. Around 5 p.m. on Monday, Amer suggested they invite Lisa over to have a beer. But Ruby didn't want to disrupt Lisa's usual visit to the gym.
"It's just driving me nuts," Amer said. "I could have known, hey, we talked to her at 5 p.m. in the evening."
(CBS 2, the Naperville Sun and the Aurora Beacon-News are news partners covering stories in the western suburbs of Chicago.)
