Missing New York State Teen: Suzy Lyall, 19, disappeared in 1998
(CBS) Suzy Lyall of Milton, N.Y. was 19 when she disappeared on March 2, 1998, apparently after getting off a bus on her college campus, the University at Albany in New York.
Pictures: Suzanne Lyall Missing
Her mother, Mary Lyall, recently told Crimesider, "We do not know what happened to her. It's like a needle in a haystack. She just vanished."
Crimesider previously reported in May 2010 that on the day she was last seen, Suzy Lyall spent the early evening working at Babbages, a computer software company in the Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, NY. Around 9:30 p.m., she boarded a city bus to return to her dorm.
At the Collins Circle stop on campus, Suzy got off the bus. A classmate who'd been waiting there said that there was no question in her mind that she saw Suzanne Lyall get off the bus.
From there, the walk to her dorm was three to five minutes. Suzy never got there.
According to her father, Doug Lyall, "There was an old employee I.D. badge found two months later off the visitors parking lot (at Collins Circle) in kind of a...grassy area, that had been out there for quite a period of time."
Mary Lyall recently told Crimesider that "When the dorm was looked at later it looked as if she was coming back. Her hair dryer was on the bed, all her personal items were still there...she had money on top of her desk, change."
The morning after Suzy vanished, her boyfriend, Richard Condon, got in touch with her parents to say he couldn't reach Suzy.
"Her boyfriend...told us that she was missing. I believe he said that 'Suzanne didn't come home last night' or something to that effect," Doug Lyall said.
Suzy's parents contacted campus police to report Suzy missing and called their daughter's credit card company. The company informed the parents that at approximately 4pm the next day, Suzy's debit card had been used at a nearby ATM.
"Her ATM card was used the day following her disappearance...at a convenience store that was one that she wouldn't have gone to on her own," her father told Crimesider.
The store was about two miles from campus.
Police couldn't tell who withdrew the money, a $20 bill, but the correct personal identification number (PIN) had been entered at the ATM. Richard Condon later told police that he and Suzy were the only people who knew that number.
Senior Investigator John Camp of the New York State Police said in 2010 that there was one other person who used the ATM at around the same time who was eventually located. After questioning this 'person of interest,' Camp said "the indication is that he was not involved," although he was not completely ruled out.
Police have not named any suspects, but another person they have not been able to rule out is Suzy's boyfriend, Richard Condon.
Condon and his family stopped cooperating with authorities shortly after Suzy went missing; he refused to take a polygraph and would not speak to police without his lawyer present.
Doug Lyall says, "It's disturbing to us that the family and Suzy's boyfriend Rich choose not to answer questions at this point to maybe illuminate or to revisit some of the unanswered questions."
Her mother told Crimesider the relationship between Suzy and Richard was not always a healthy one. "There were numerous times that Suzy tried to break up with him and he would get emotional and so she would stay," Mary Lyall said. After Suzy's disappearance, Condon told police that he and Suzy were engaged, which, according to Suzy's mother, no one else knew.
Mary Lyall told Crimesider: "I want her back. I don't care how I get her back but I want her back."
Born April 6, 1978, Suzy Lyall had light brown hair and blue eyes, and when she disappeared she was 5'3" and 175 lbs.
If you have information about her whereabouts, contact 1-800-920-4150 or www.hope4themissing.org
