In the vast flyover country far from the patrician class, the state fair remains a cultural touchstone, a cornerstone of life bookending the hard growing season. At large-scale events like the Oklahoma State Fair, farmers, their children, and those on the agri-periphery flood into Oklahoma City, drawn by food, the midway, entertainment, and agricultural exhibits. For many, it is the highlight of the year.
Horror in a Happy Place
But in the shadows of a happy place, sometimes evil lurks, poised to unleash unimaginable horrors. The Oklahoma State Fair has been unluckier than most in these matters. The first sorrows came on September 26, 1981. For kids of the era, going to the state fair was their first foray into adulthood. Cinda L. Pallett and her friend, Charlotte Kinse, both 13, went on their own to the fair. They were never seen again.
According to police, the teens left the fairgrounds with a man who offered to pay them and two boys cash money if they helped him unload stuffed animals. The meet-up place with another truck was off-site. Their bodies were never found. Obviously, the assumption is they were killed. The case has been looked at numerous times over the years by other homicide detectives and the cold case unit. Sadly, it remains unsolved, said Sgt. Gary Knight of the OKC Police to Oklahoma Cold Cases.
As the months dragged on, cops had narrowed the grim investigation down to three possibilities: Cinda and Charlotte ran away, they were abducted, or worst of all and most likely, murdered. We have some suspects, Det. Don Pennington told The Oklahoman in 1981, but suspects to what?
Long Looked Like the Stuffie Guy
Two boys who said they were hired to move the stuffies pointed the finger at Donald Michael Corey, a 36-year-old drifter who was working at the Oklahoma State Fair that year. He looked like the stuffie guy, but detectives were able to verify Corey was working in Dallas on the day the girls disappeared. However, there was another man cops liked: Royal Russell Long of Evansville, Wyoming. He was serving two life terms in prison in 1985 after pleading guilty to abducting and attacking two girls (ages 15 and 12) hitchhiking across the Cowboy State. Cops say he reportedly sexually assaulted the older girl before she was able to escape and contact authorities. When the FBI arrested Long in New Mexico weeks later, they were unable to find the younger girl. He is a suspected serial killer.
Unlike Corey, detectives could put Long at the fair on the day Cinda Pallett and Charlotte Kinsey disappeared. A judge dismissed first-degree murder charges in December 1985, putting cops back at zero. Long later offered to solve the case for a price. He died of a heart attack in November 1993 at a Wyoming prison.
Grim Reaper Strikes Again
Six years later, the Grim Reaper again visited the state fair. On September 23, 1987, Lisa Pennington, 17, and her sister, Cheryl Genzer, 25, were last seen alive at the crowded exposition. One month later, the siblings were found slain in a shallow grave. Each had been shot in the head but with different caliber weapons. Cops learned the pair had been seen with a man named Lane Henley and a pal of his. Henley had earlier told their father that the girls had used the phone at his house for someone to pick them up. He claimed they later left his house to use a pay phone at the neighborhood 7-Eleven. But Henley's narrative changed like the sands in an hourglass.
He was arrested in Mexico in 1987 and extradited back to Oklahoma. However, all charges were dismissed as a result of faulty forensic evidence submitted by then forensic chemist Joyce Gilchrist. Cops and the girls' family have always suspected more than one killer was involved in their deaths. The mystery man was charged with perjury in the case relating to Henley and pleaded guilty. As for Henley, he's not talking; he died in 2015. The other suspect is believed to be still alive.
That has left the girls' friends and family holding the bag. The family is suffering, friend Dorian Quillen said. Every time the fair comes around they try to go on with their lives. This always comes up and they have to deal with it again. She added: They left the fair with a couple of guys and ended up at a guy's house. No one in the family ever saw them again. A month later, they were found in a shallow grave. We believe there is still a suspect out there and lots of information and evidence that hasn't been tested. We would like an accounting of that so we can move forward.
