Mary Wegner has grown familiar with the ache of unanswered questions. Since August 1992, she has lived through waves of hope, grief, and painful speculation, all tied to the sudden disappearance of her daughter, Laurie Jean Depies. But in the spring of 2011, almost two decades after Laurie vanished, one phone call brought fresh agony.
On the other end was news about a man named Larry DeWayne Hall, a serial offender who had confessed to abducting, assaulting, and murdering Laurie before dumping her body in a wooded area. Hall’s statement, though never corroborated, cut deep into a wound that had never healed.
“It shook me,” Mary said quietly, reflecting on the ordeal from the farmhouse she shares with her husband near Amherst Junction. “To hear someone describe something so cruel, and to not know if it’s the truth… it changes you.”
Laurie had been missing for nearly 25 years at that point. Her face had graced missing persons posters, newspaper columns, and television screens across Wisconsin. Still, no one could say with certainty what had happened to the outgoing, spontaneous 20-year-old who left work one evening and simply vanished.
A Quiet Night Turns Into a Lifetime of Grief
August 19, 1992, was supposed to be an ordinary Wednesday. Laurie worked her regular shift at a shop in the Fox River Mall called Graffiti. Throughout the day, she took her breaks as usual and even picked up a ring for her boyfriend from a nearby jewelry store. The ring was a gift, and she seemed excited about it. She clocked out shortly before 10 p.m., locked up the store with a coworker, and they parted ways in the parking lot.
Laurie got into her 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit and headed for her boyfriend’s apartment complex in the Town of Menasha—now known as Fox Crossing. It was just a short drive along College Avenue. The muffler on her car was loud, and her boyfriend, who was home with his sister and a friend, heard it pull into the lot around 10:15 p.m. But Laurie never came up the stairs.
A few minutes passed. Then a few more. Eventually, the group grew concerned and stepped out to look for her. They spotted her car in the lot, parked and locked. On the roof sat a drink she had picked up—partially full, undisturbed. But Laurie was nowhere to be seen.
That was the last time anyone reported seeing her.
A Case That Never Broke
The call to police came shortly before midnight. By the next morning, Mary and Laurie’s father, Mark Depies, were thrust into a nightmare. They searched. They hoped. And when hope ran thin, they grieved.
From the beginning, the investigation faced steep odds. There were no eyewitnesses. No security cameras. No signs of struggle. The only physical evidence was the car and the cup on the roof—neither yielded fingerprints or DNA useful to investigators. Police canvassed the area, followed up on tips, and conducted interviews that took them out of state. But every promising lead dissolved into dead ends.
Jason Weber, who worked for the Town of Menasha Police Department at the time and now serves as a liaison officer for the Fox Crossing force, summarized the difficulty: “It was as if she disappeared into thin air.”
Over time, the Wisconsin Department of Justice took over the case, though updates have been few and far between. Even today, the investigation remains open. Authorities insist they continue to pursue viable leads. But there have been no breakthroughs.
A Name Surfaces
Larry DeWayne Hall’s name first entered the case in the 1990s. Arrested for the kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl in Illinois, he later became a suspect in a string of disappearances across the Midwest. In his van, investigators found unsettling notes referencing the Fox River area and the name “Lori.” He had attended a Civil War re-enactment in Kaukauna the weekend Laurie went missing, placing him within range of the abduction.
In 2010, Hall gave a detailed confession to Laurie’s murder. He described abducting her, drugging her with chloroform, and leaving her body in a remote wooded area. But without physical evidence, authorities could not charge him. Attempts were made to bring him to Wisconsin to point out where he buried Laurie, but that effort never materialized.
Even Laurie’s father was skeptical. “I don’t think she would’ve gotten into his car unless he forced her,” Mark said. “And I still believe it was someone she knew.”
To this day, Hall has not been charged in Laurie’s case, and investigators acknowledge that there are other persons of interest still being considered.
Living With the Unknown
Mark Depies remembers the phone call that shattered his normal life. He had been preparing to go fishing when Laurie’s boyfriend called to say she hadn’t arrived at his apartment. Mark rushed to Appleton, where a frantic search had already begun.
Decades later, the questions remain.
“What happened to her?” he wonders aloud. “It’s hard to believe something can remain unresolved for so long.”
The anniversary of Laurie’s disappearance is no easier now than it was in the early years. Her family has marked the date quietly, preferring private reflection over public ceremonies. Her parents have tried, in their own ways, to find peace.
Mark, now retired, admits he has come to terms with the likelihood that Laurie is gone. “I’ve lived this long without the answer. If we ever do find out, I’ll have a whole new wave of emotions to deal with.”
For Mary, grief arrives more forcefully around Laurie’s birthday in September than on the day she disappeared. She finds some solace in the quiet beauty of her home, but Laurie is always present in her thoughts.
“She was strong-willed,” Mary said with a small smile. “She liked working with people. She was just fun to be around.”
The Timeline That Haunts
The timeline that investigators reconstructed has remained consistent since 1992:
- Laurie started her shift at the Fox River Mall around midday and took routine breaks through the afternoon and evening.
- Around 7 p.m., she picked up a ring she had purchased for her boyfriend.
- She closed the store at about 9 p.m. and walked to her car with a coworker.
- Between 9:55 and 10 p.m., she was last seen driving away from the mall.
- At 10:15 p.m., her car pulled into the apartment complex on West Wilson Avenue.
- Minutes later, her boyfriend’s group noticed the car—but Laurie had vanished.
That gap of just a few minutes has puzzled investigators ever since.
A Memorial and a Hope
At a cemetery in Chilton, a memorial was quietly added to a family gravestone, bearing Laurie’s name. It is not a gravesite, but a marker of love and loss.
Over the years, people have offered theories, sightings, and stories. Some have been dismissed; others are still on file. But nothing has brought Laurie home.
The investigators who worked on the case when it first broke have mostly retired. New officers have taken up the search, aided by state officials and cold case specialists. Each tip is recorded. Each possibility is considered. Still, the void remains.
Mary and Mark continue to hope—less for a miracle, perhaps, and more for the truth.
Maybe someone saw something that night in the parking lot. Maybe someone heard a scream, or remembers a detail that once seemed unimportant. Maybe, someday, someone will speak up.
As Jason Weber said, “We believe someone out there knows what happened. We just need them to come forward.”
If you have any information related to the disappearance of Laurie Depies, please contact the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation at 920-751-4180. Even the smallest detail could make a difference.
