It has been two weeks since anyone has been able to confirm the whereabouts of Heather Szekeres, 32, of Shawano.
She was at the Final Lap Sports Bar and Grill in downtown Shawano at 11 p.m. June 21, not far from the apartment she shares with her husband, Robert, their 11-month-old daughter, and Heather’s mother.
Where Heather went after leaving the Final Lap was still unknown as of Friday.
Police say they have no evidence indicating foul play.
“There is no probable cause to believe a crime has been committed,” Shawano Police Capt. Jeff Heffernon said.
Family members say Szekeres has disappeared before. The last time was in August, but she returned the next day.
Heffernon said more than 20 individuals and agencies have been contacted since Szekeres was reported missing, and 32 separate investigative narratives have been added to the file. The narratives include interviews, leads followed and information investigated or confirmed.
“We’re still trying to be as methodical as possible and document every fact that we can, talk to as many people as we can and keep on going,” Heffernon said.
There have been a number of false leads, including one that led to Texas.
“We got a lead that Heather had been spotted in a homeless shelter that accommodates 700 people,” Heffernon said. “An employee of the homeless shelter reported seeing her picture on the Internet and thought it was someone who had come through the line the day prior.”
The time frame of Szekeres’ disappearance and the fact that she had been in Texas before, according to family members, made the lead plausible, Heffernon said.
“It was checked out, but to the best of our knowledge right now, that’s a dead end,” he said.
Also futile were tips that Szekeres was somewhere on the Menominee Indian Reservation.
Police have also tried to locate Szekeres through financial and communication records, such as money that might have been taken out of a bank account, calls made on a cell phone or other technology that might have been used — what police call a digital footprint.
“We haven’t had anything that leads to where she’s at,” Heffernon said.
Police even made use of the department’s Facebook site for the public’s help on the case.
Through Facebook responses police were able to identify the full name of a bartender at the Final Lap who they wanted to interview. All they had previously was his first name.
Heffernon said the employee was interviewed and was very cooperative, Heffernon said, but it didn’t get police closer to finding Szekeres.
The Facebook posting also unleashed a lot of speculation about the case, Szekeres’ whereabouts and people police were interested in interviewing.
“We can’t nor do we want to control what’s posted,” Heffernon said.
New information is fact-checked against what police have already confirmed.
“It either fits the facts or it doesn’t,” Heffernon said.
There was some speculation among posters that the Szekeres disappearance could be linked to another missing person case reported earlier this week.
That case involved a 17-year-old runaway who went missing on Wednesday but returned home Friday, Heffernon said.
Some Facebook posters have questioned why police have not conducted a K9 search for Szekeres.
“If we had information to believe that evidence of her whereabouts could be found in a particular area, we would search that area,” Heffernon said. “If we thought a K-9 would be helpful in that search, we would bring in a K-9. We don’t have the information or the facts that would lead us to a K-9 search of an area.”
There are still people police would like to interview.
There were reportedly several people in the Final Lap that night who police have not been able to identify.
“We can’t interview them till we identify them,” Heffernon said.
Heffernon said police also have information to believe there was an after-bar party with patrons from the Final Lap.
“We’re looking for information on that,” he said. “We would like to interview anybody that attended that party.”
Szekeres is described as a slender, 5-foot-4-inch brunette, but she has dyed her hair blond in the past.
Anyone with information should contact officer Kurt Kitzman at 715-526-6117.
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