Windows Of The Dana House

Recanted confession leaves missing girl's parents in limbo

(CNN) -- Eighteen years after Tricia Reitler's disappearance, Donna and Garry Reitler find themselves still searching for their daughter.

"You find yourself, when you're driving, looking out the window, and you're just looking," says Garry Reitler.

On March 29, 1993, their 19-year-old daughter took a break from writing a term paper to get a soda and magazine from a store a half-mile from her college dormitory at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Police say they think Tricia Reitler was abducted while walking back to her room. She has never been found.

"If you see something on the side of the road, a garbage bag, whatever, it's like, 'Could that be her?'" says Donna Reitler.

Although they say they're sure their daughter was killed that night, the Reitlers say they can't be at peace until her body is recovered.

College and sacrifice

Tricia grew up in a conservative home in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, the eldest child in a family of three girls and one boy. Her parents persuaded her to go to Indiana Wesleyan, a small Christian college, because they believed it supported their traditional values.

"We told her, 'Tricia, we feel like this is where God wants you,' " Donna Reitler says.

Tricia adjusted well to her new surroundings and earned a grade point average of 3.65, her parents say.

She worked during her summer break and never took her parents' financial sacrifices for granted.

Her mother recalls a letter Tricia wrote them from college:

"I just want you to know how much I appreciate how hard you're working to get me here. And I know that it's not easy."

Tricia even washed her clothes by hand to save money.

"She fully understood the sacrifices that were made to get her there and she was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen," Garry Reitler says.

The night of Tricia's disappearance, her father recalls almost intuitively feeling unwell.

"The phone call came a little bit after midnight. I wasn't feeling well that night, just kind of lying on the couch," he says.

"Do you know where your daughter is?" said the officer's voice on the other end of the phone.

Tricia may have been headstrong, but she was very responsible. Her parents knew immediately something was drastically wrong.

"Tricia was a fighter; she was strong. She was a small girl, but she was very determined. We knew that she was not gone by her own doing," Garry Reitler says.

The People Who Lived Here Before Were Bananas « The Funky Kitchen

Our house is one hundred and two years old this year. We have had it for just under a year, and have been living here only since Christmas. Yay for renovations! Less than 1% of the time this house has been standing has it been ours. I wonder about the people who were here before us often.

Did they love our awesome little house as much as we do now? Have any previous occupants been as scared of the basement as me? What were they thinking when they drywalled over the window in the bathroom?

We find hints about previous people living in our house often. When Mister checked out the attic we found a stack of ladies magazines from the 50′s (recipes from which will one day follow). Someone at our house must have enjoyed a game or two of marbles, because when we pulled off the deck, which was in a mostly decrepit state, we found a gaggle of marbles underneath. Mister jackhammered out and pulled up the cement sidewalks around our house, because they all channelled water towards the house rather than away, and we found some very interesting objects used as rebar, including two chairs, a trailer hitch and electrical stove elements. The people who lived here before us certainly were resourceful, but also must have been at least a little bananas. Drywalling over windows, partially converted knob and tube electric systems, amputations to support beams and patio stones sandwiched between layers of concrete using furniture for support have not made fixing up the house easier, that’s for sure. What were they thinking, who were they, where are they now?

It was a stupendously hot day the day that Mister and a few friends got most of the sidewalk removal done, so I got out our ice cream maker and made them a treat. This is a recipe from the veritable ice cream queen and fellow intrepid culinary adventurer, Trish.

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Unauthorized use of text and photography is not permitted and violates copyright. If you are looking to use my writing or photos, ask first (contact dana@thefunkykitchen.com). You will most likely be granted permission. I do my best to cite the sources of any work I do that is not original, and it would be nice if everyone reciprocated those actions.

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