Key facts
- Name: Ellabeth Mae Lodermeier
- Age at disappearance: 25 (born November 26, 1948 — per the Charley Project)
- Last seen: March 6, 1974, evening
- Location: 300 block of North Indiana Avenue, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
- Last seen wearing: Blue pea coat, blue shirt, blue jeans (per South Dakota Public Broadcasting, 2024)
- Status: Still missing — Sioux Falls Police Department open case
- Investigating agency: Sioux Falls Police Department — (605) 367-7000 (non-emergency); Det. Pat Mertes — (605) 978-6797 (per SDPB, 2024)
The bread was still rising
On the evening of March 6, 1974, Ellabeth Lodermeier was home in the 300 block of North Indiana Avenue in Sioux Falls. Her boyfriend — who also lived in Sioux Falls but was out of town that day — had agreed to call her between 9:00 and 9:30. He called three times. Each time, the upstairs tenant answered. He never got to talk to Ellabeth.
She was estranged from her husband, Gene Vernel Lodermeier, and they were in the middle of a divorce. The next morning, her coworkers told Gene she hadn’t shown up for work and couldn’t be found. Gene went to her house.
What he found has haunted the case for 52 years: a loaf of bread rising in the kitchen. Flour spilled on the floor. A fresh pizza with one piece missing. Her car parked in the driveway. The house locked. Nothing missing — except her coat, her purse, and Ellabeth herself.
She has never been heard from again.
Who Ellabeth was
The records paint a portrait of a woman mid-escape from a bad marriage. Her family never approved of Gene, describing him as controlling and abusive — he would even disable her car to keep her from getting to her college classes. In 1973, Ellabeth filed for divorce and stated under oath that Gene had abused her. He denied it.
She was working, going to college classes, living her own life in her own house. The bread rising in the kitchen says everything about the ordinariness of that evening: she was in the middle of making dinner, in the middle of her life, when whatever happened happened.
The credit cards in Canada
Later in 1974, the case took a strange northern turn: Ellabeth’s credit cards were found in a women’s bathroom at the Canadian National Railway station in Dauphin, Manitoba — nearly a ten-hour drive north of Sioux Falls. Authorities could find no sign Ellabeth had ever been in Dauphin. The working theory: someone else planted them there to drag the investigation off course.
Then, in 1992 — eighteen years after she vanished — her purse, wallet, and checkbook surfaced on the banks of the Big Sioux River near Highway 42 and South Riverview Avenue, east of Sioux Falls. Divers and searchers worked the river. They found no sign of her, and no body.
Two plantings, eighteen years apart: cards in Canada, a purse by the river. Somebody, at some point, handled Ellabeth Lodermeier’s belongings. Whether that somebody was Ellabeth herself, or someone staging a trail, has never been determined.
Theories: what might have happened
Killed by her estranged husband. The documented abuse, the divorce filing, the sworn testimony — the domestic-violence pattern is the starkest fact in the file. A woman mid-divorce from a controlling husband vanishes from a locked house mid-dinner. What undercuts a charge: no body, no forensic evidence ever publicly tied to Gene, no witness, and no arrest in 52 years. Gene Lodermeier was never charged; he is presumed innocent.
Staged disappearance. The Canadian credit cards look like deliberate misdirection — but misdirection by whom? If Ellabeth staged her own vanishing, she did it thoroughly enough to stay gone for half a century without a single confirmed trace.
Abduction by a stranger. Possible in the abstract; nothing in the evidence points to it over the domestic explanation.
The river. The purse on the Big Sioux’s banks in 1992 keeps the water in the conversation. But a purse without a body, eighteen years later, is a clue to nothing except that someone moved it.
Have information?
Contact the Sioux Falls Police Department: (605) 367-7000 (non-emergency), or Det. Pat Mertes at (605) 978-6797. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- 1973 — Ellabeth files for divorce from Gene Vernel Lodermeier, testifying under oath to abuse.
- March 6, 1974 (evening) — Last seen at her Sioux Falls home; boyfriend’s three calls go unanswered.
- March 7, 1974 — Coworkers report her missing from work; Gene finds the house as described.
- 1974 — Her credit cards found in a railway-station bathroom in Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada.
- 1992 — Her purse, wallet, and checkbook found on the banks of the Big Sioux River; river searched, nothing found.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Ellabeth Lodermeier still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Ellabeth Lodermeier has been missing for more than 52 years — one of South Dakota’s oldest open missing-persons cases.
Was Ellabeth Lodermeier ever found?
No. Neither she nor her remains have ever been located, despite the recovery of her credit cards in Canada in 1974 and her purse by the Big Sioux River in 1992.
Was her husband a suspect?
Gene Lodermeier’s history of alleged abuse and the timing of the divorce made him the obvious focus, but he was never charged and no public evidence has tied him to her disappearance. He is presumed innocent.
Why were her credit cards in Canada?
They were found in a women’s bathroom at the Canadian National Railway station in Dauphin, Manitoba, months after she vanished. Authorities found no evidence Ellabeth was ever there and believe someone else may have planted them to misdirect the investigation.
How can I help?
Share this case file — even 52-year-old cases break on new tips. Anyone with information should contact the Sioux Falls Police Department at (605) 367-7000.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Sioux Falls Police Department — (605) 367-7000.
- Reference: The Charley Project, “Ellabeth Mae Lodermeier” (retrieved Oct 2026).
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Verification corrections (October 2026):
– BEFORE: “Age at disappearance: Adult (1974)” → AFTER: “25 (born November 26, 1948 — per the Charley Project).”
– Added: “Last seen wearing: blue pea coat, blue shirt, blue jeans” (South Dakota Public Broadcasting, March 2024).
– Added direct tip contact: Det. Pat Mertes — (605) 978-6797 (per SDPB, 2024); kept the department’s non-emergency line.
– Slug and URL unchanged.
Last verified October 2026.