About 4 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2009, guests partying at the home of a former Philadelphia 76er were the last people to see a Chester County nurse and mother before she vanished, leaving a chilling dearth of clues.
The inexplicable disappearance of Toni Lee Sharpless, 34, prompted numerous searches from Philadelphia to Sharpless’ West Brandywine Township residence, the distribution of hundreds of fliers, and countless news broadcasts. A section of the Schuylkill River was even dredged unsuccessfully in case her black, 2002, four-door Pontiac Grand Prix had veered off the road near Willie Green’s former Gladwyne estate.
Five years later, Sharpless’ parents, Donna and Peter Knebel, struggle to keep the case alive. They have conducted interviews, distributed fliers, participated in searches, and even appeared on national TV. “Someone out there must know something,” Donna Knebel said. “We just need the right person to hear the story or see Toni’s photo ... There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about her and pray for her.”
The Knebels, who have been raising their now 17-year-old granddaughter, desperately want closure, a quest that has involved West Brandywine Township Police Chief Walt Werner and Eileen Auch Law, a Chadds Ford-area private investigator.
Werner said Sharpless’ DNA was entered into a national database as was her license — Pennsylvania DND-7772. He said early after her disappearance, license-plate readers registered her tag number a couple of times, but her car was never found. Neither was her phone, which was never used, nor her credit cards, which also were not used.
Werner said dozens of leads have surfaced; regrettably, some — such as the caller who erroneously claimed to be an agent with the Canadian equivalent of the FBI — have been hoaxes; most have been misidentifications.
“She had a classic look for the time,” Werner said of Sharpless. “I can understand why some people thought they saw her … When we tracked the person down, they looked a lot like Toni.”
He said he has forwarded many leads to Law. “She’s been fantastic,” Werner said, explaining that she has investigated tips that his small department was unable to pursue. “She has a lot of connections.”
Law, who has attempted to verify sightings of Sharpless as far away as New York, Florida, and Ohio, set up a Sharpless Facebook page and a Web site — www.MissingToniSharpless.com — to generate leads. She keeps a map in her office with dozens of pins marking each possible sighting. She said the largest clusters of pins mark the Kensington area of Philadelphia, Lancaster City, and Camden, N.J.
Law’s commitment to the case — she is working pro bono — occurred when she first interacted with the family about a month and a half after Sharpless disappeared, she said. During an early exchange with the family, Law said Sharpless’ daughter implored: “Please find my Mommy.”
Law said she starts her day by checking the many alerts she’s set up on her computer. Sometimes she has to call a police department or medical examiner across the county to get more information about the discovery of a missing person or a body, and other times she follows up on a Craig’s List posting for the sale of a 2002 Grand Prix.
“I’ll never give up until Toni’s found,” she said. “As God as my judge, if I had a choice of winning the lottery or finding Toni, I would choose finding Toni Sharpless.”
According to police reports, the evening before Sharpless disappeared, she decided to go out with a longtime friend, Crystal Johns. Her parents said they welcomed the news because their daughter, a single mother, had been working so hard that she had virtually no social life.
Johns told police that the pair was invited to Green’s Main Line house after meeting him at a Philadelphia nightclub. She said Sharpless apparently had too much to drink, and they were asked to leave. Once outside, Johns suggested that Sharpless, who had become uncharacteristically belligerent, should not drive. The two argued, and Sharpless drove off alone, stranding Johns.
Johns later called Sharpless’ behavior highly unusual. Sharpless’ family said it likely resulted from a mix of alcohol, sleep deprivation, and medication for bi-polar disorder, an illness she had finally brought under control after struggling for years to get a diagnosis.
Police said Sharpless’ last use of her cellphone occurred a few hours before she left Green’s home when she texted her daughter and urged her to get a good night’s sleep and told her that she loved her.
Law believes Sharpless’ impaired condition could have made her vulnerable to being victimized. “Just because she’s missing doesn’t mean she’s no longer with us,” Law said, citing numerous cases of people being found decades after disappearing. “It happens more often than you might think.”
Knebel said the family greatly appreciates everyone’s help and prayers. “Not knowing is so hard,” she said.
Werner said he’s convinced that the truth will surface eventually. In 30 years of law enforcement, he said he’s never experienced such a mystery.
“We’re still hoping,” he said, citing the case of the three women who escaped last year from a decade of captivity in Cleveland, Ohio.
“Someone out there knows something,” said Werner. “In fact, there’s probably more than one person who knows what happened.”
Anyone with information should call West Brandywine Township Police at 610-380-8201 or Law at 1-800-796-9042.
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