MISSING: Denise Pflum

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Denise Diane Pflum was a miracle.

At least that’s what her parents tell anyone who wants to know about their oldest daughter. David and Judy Pflum had lost three babies before 1968 and they were about ready to give up hope of ever being parents … until, magically, they were able to conceive again. In this case, they were hoping that the fourth time was a charm, and that’s exactly what happened. Eight-and-a-half months later, Denise came along—all five pounds and eleven ounces of her. It was a snowy winter day, and though she’d arrived two weeks early, she was as healthy as could be. David and Judy finally had the family they’d been hoping, wishing, and dreaming of.

Described as “bursting with energy and always inquisitive,” Denise was the child who made up for all the heartbreak that David and Judy had endured before she came along—she was their little answered prayer who replaced all the bad memories with light and goodness and love. But David and Judy would have to endure yet another tragic blow when, eighteen years later, Denise would walk out the front door of their home … and vanish without a trace.

In the decades following her disappearance, the Pflum family would work with three law enforcement agencies, a handful of private investigators, and even psychics, all in attempts to find their daughter … but all to no avail. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Denise’s father, David, would say. “But we can’t even find the haystack."

And then, thirty-four years later, in 2020, a dying, convicted felon would speak up to say he knew what happened to Denise—that he, in fact, had been responsible for her death. Would this deathbed confession give David and Judy Pflum the closure they’d been after for almost forty years? Would they finally find out exactly what happened to Denise Pflum?

**Denise at highschool football game with friends**

**Denise wearing dress she bought for prom, an event she’d never get to attend**

Denise Pflum is a Caucasian female with brown hair and brown eyes. Her ears are pierced and she wears contact lenses. She was last seen at the age of eighteen years old, when she was five-feet-six-inches tall and one-hundred-thirty-five pounds. She was last seen wearing a medium-sized red Motley Crue t-shirt, size eleven blue-striped jeans, size nine white sneakers, size seven hip-hugger panties, a size 34-B beige or white bra, a gold ring with a garnet, and a silver class ring with a red setting.

If you or someone you know have information about Denise Pflum’s missing persons case, you can reach the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department at 765-825-0535. That’s 765-825-0535.

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Resources

UNSOLVED: Elizabeth Salgado