Name: Denise Newsom Porch
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: July 31, 1975
Location Last Seen: Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
Date of Birth: March 25, 1954
Age: 21 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde/strawberry, long
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Unknown
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: In progress
Clothing: Blue/green silk blouse, leather sandals
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Denise Porch disappeared from her job as manager of the Yorktown Apartments at 254 Tyvola Road in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 31, 1975.
Porch had moved to Charlotte from Denton, about 60 miles northeast of the city, after marrying the man she'd dated since they met as teens in Myrtle Beach. The two lived at the Yorktown Apartments off Tyvola Road.
She worked as a resident manager there, showing available units during the day.
She was last seen showing a man around the Yorktown Apartments. There were no signs of a struggle in Porch's apartment. The television was on, and the air conditioning left running. Her purse lay on a table and her Camaro was parked outside. The only things missing from her home were the keys to the vacant apartments and a log of available units that she showed prospective tenants. When her husband came home from work around 20.00, her usual note hung on the door: She'd left to show an apartment.
She is believed to have been abducted at gunpoint or knife point during the day. Police mounted a widely publicized search for Porch. Eventually, the leads trailed off. On September 16, 1982, she was declared legally dead.
A former electrician who lived about 300 yards from her apartment complex -- and who was later convicted of killing two SC. women -- was a suspect but never confessed to her abduction. He was executed in South Carolina's electric chair.
Agency Name: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Detective J.L. Tuttle
Agency Phone Number: (704) 336-2311
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 1975-88-325
NamUs Case Number: 2447
NCIC Case Number: M-003952302
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
NamUs
The Charlotte Observer - Jul. 31, 2005
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 04/19/2024 - By: kc
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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