Missing in the Midwest: The Disappearance of Rachel Mellon-Skemp

It's the morning of January thirty first, nineteen ninety six. Thirteen year old Rachel Mullenscump is homesick from school. Around ten forty five that morning, she picks up the phone and calls her grandparents. She's thanking them for Christmas presents. It's an ordinary conversation until she suddenly goes quiet. Her grandmother asks Rachel, is someone there? A brief pause and then she says yeah. The call ends, and by the end of the day Rachel vanishes. Hey everyone, and welcome back to Case Uncovered, where we uncover some of the most compelling and lesser known true creme cases. I'm your host, John Rivera, and this is Missing in the Midwest, where we explore unsolved disappearances from across the Midwest, cases that continue to raise questions, challenge investigators, and leave families waiting for answers. There are thousands of missing persons cases across the country. Some receive national attention, but you do not. In every single one of these cases represents a life that was interrupted and a family that's still searching for answers. Today's case takes us to Bolingbrook, Illinois, where, on January thirty first, nineteen ninety six, thirteen year old Rachel Mullens Scump disappeared from her family's home. Nearly thirty years later, her disappearance remains one of Illinois's longest running unsolved missing child cases. This is the disappearance of Rachel Mullenscump. Before we go into the details surrounding January thirty first, nineteen ninety six, I want to introduce you to Rachel because before this became one of Illinois's longest running unsolved missing child cases, there was a thirteen year old girl who dreamed about becoming a teacher and had her whole life ahead of her. Rachel Mellon's Scump was born on October thirteenth, nineteen eighty two to Jeff and Amy Scump. After her parents divorced, Amy remarried Vincent Vince Melon, and the family eventually settled into Bowling Brook, Illinois, which is a rapidly growing suburb about thirty miles southwest of Chicago. In the mid nineteen nineties, Bowling Brook was growing quickly. New neighborhoods were growing up, more families were moving in, and it was the kind of community where kids rode their bikes through the neighborhood, walked to friends' houses, and spent weekends playing outside. From the outside, it looked like a typical suburban community where families were building a life together. That's the world Rachel was growing up in. She was in seventh grade at B. Jay Ward Middle School and took school very seriously. She loved science, enjoyed music, liked spending time outdoors. The people who knew her described her as bright, compassionate, and dependable. She was a friend people could count on. As I was researching Rachel's case, I found myself coming back to her school pictures. There's one in particular, where she has this great, big smile. When you look at that photo, what stands out isn't the mystery surrounding her disappearance, it's how young she was. She was only thirteen, old enough to have dreams about the future, but still very much a little girl. I think that's important to remember before we go any further, because over the next thirty years, Rachel's name would become attached to timelines, evidence, theories, and unanswered questions. But before any of that, she was simply Rachel. Now to understand why investigators ask the questions they did. We first need to understand a little more about Rachel's family and the dynamic. Rachel's parents, Jeff and Amy, divorced when she was young. After the divorce, Amy married Vince Mellin, who became Rachel's stepfather, and the family blended together in Bolingbrooke. Like many children of divorce, Rachel loved both sides of her family, but according to later reporting, her relationship with her father's side of the family wasn't always easy to maintain. In fact, family members have said Rachel wasn't encouraged to have much contact with them, which makes what happened on the morning of January thirty first especially significant. But we'll come back to that later. As the investigation unfolded, more details about life inside the home also became public. Court records, and later media reporting revealed there had been previous domestic violence incidents involving Vince In, Rachel's mother. Rachel's biological father, Jeff, had also publicly shared that Rachel had told him she was afraid of Vince and wanted to come live with him in Texas. I want to pause here for a moment, because this is where context becomes really important. Jeff's statements are part of the public record, and they help us understand why investigators looked so closely at Rachel's home life after she disappeared. But there's still Jeff's recollection of conversations with his daughter. They don't tell us what happened on January thirty first. What they do tell us, though, is that investigators weren't starting from a blank slate. There were already questions about what life inside the home had been like. There's also another piece of Rachel's story that's often mentioned but doesn't always get much explanation. About a year before she disappeared, Rachel briefly ran away from home, but she returned on her own shortly afterward. It's an important detail because early in the investigation, police had to consider whether Rachel may have left voluntarily again. But as investigators learned more about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, they repeatedly said they didn't believe this was another runaway case. And I think that's where I'd like to leave you with a question. If investigators eventually became convinced Rachel didn't leave on her own, what changed to answer that? We have to go back to the morning of January thirty first, nineteen ninety six. Now, that day started out like any other weekday. Rachel woke up with the sword throat, so she stayed home from school to rest. It wasn't anything unusual. Kids get sick, parents go to work, and life keeps moving. That morning, Rachel's mother left for work as she normally would, Her younger siblings headed off to school, and by late morning, Rachel and her stepfather, Vince were the only two people left at the house. At around ten forty five am, Rachel picked up the phone and called her paternal grandparents. The call lasted about four or five minutes. She was thanking them for Christmas presents they had given her just a few weeks earlier. At first, nothing about the conversation seemed unusual. Then, according to her grandparents, Rachel's demeanor changed. She became noticeably quieter. Her grandmother had later asked if Vince had come into the room, and Rachel answered yes. A short time later, the conversation ended. It's a moment that's been talked about for years, not because anyone knows exactly what it meant, but because it became the last independently confirmed conversation Rachel would have. And there's an another reason that phone call stands out now. As I mentioned earlier, Rachel wasn't encouraged to have much contact with her father's side of the family, so it makes that phone call even more significant. It wasn't just the last time her grandparents heard her voice. It was a conversation that, by many accounts, may not have happened very often. After that, the timeline becomes much more difficult to piece together, because from this point forward, nearly everything investigators know about Rachel's afternoon comes from one person, the last person known to have seen her alive. According to Vince Mellen, after Rachel finished talking with her grandparents, the two of them spent hours of the afternoon together playing Nintendo. At some point, Rachel became tired and went into her bedroom to take a nap, wrapping herself in a blue blanket. If that's what happened, it sounds like an ordinary afternoon, the kind of afternoon no one would remember if nothing else had happened. But this is where I found myself slowing down and looking a little more closely at the timeline, Because when investigators reconstruct a missing person's last known movements, every minute matters. According to Vince, he left the house around two thirty that afternoon to walk the family's German shepherd. He said he left the front door unlocked while Rachel continued sleeping inside. During the walk, the dog reportedly broke free and chased a rabbit before eventually being returned by a nearby real estate appraiser. The walk was said to have lasted about thirty minutes. On paper, that doesn't sound particularly unusual, but over the years, there have been differing accounts about exactly what happened when Vince returned home. Some reports indicate he didn't immediately check on Rachel because he believed she was still asleep. Other accounts suggest he realized she was gone after returning from the walk. Now, that might sound like a very small discrepancy, but when investigators are trying to establish the last known timeline of a missing child, small discrepancies matter, especially when there are no independent witnesses who can fill in the gaps. At around five o'clock that evening, Rachel's mother came home from work. Rachel wasn't in her bedroom, she wasn't anywhere in the house. Within a short period of time the police were called. At that point, which should have been a routine sick day had become something no family ever expects. A thirteen year old girl had disappeared, and almost immediately investigators began asking a question that would shape the rest of the case. Did Rachel leave on her own? Or had something happened inside that house. As investigators began processing the scene, they weren't just looking for evidence of what had happened. They were also looking for evidence of what didn't happen, and sometimes that's just as important. If Rachel had decided to leave on her own, investigators expected to find signs that she'd plan to go somewhere. Instead, they found the opposite. Rachel's winter coat was still inside the house, so was her purse, her money, jewelry she would normally wear, even her walkmen remained behind. Think about that for a minute. This was the end of January in northern Illinois. The temperature outside was around twenty degrees and with the wind chill, it felt even colder. If you've ever experienced a Midwest winter, you know that's not the kind of weather you walk into without a coat, especially not at thirteen years old. There were also a few things investigators couldn't account for. Rachel's blue blanket was gone, so were two pillows and the red house slippers she had reportedly been wearing. If Rachel planned to leave, why take a blanket in two pillows but leave behind your coat? If someone else was responsible for her disappearance, though those items missing may make a little more sense, although those questions have never been answered. Investigators also found no signs of fourth century, no obvious evidence of a struggle, and nothing to suggest someone had broken into the home. And that's where this case becomes so difficult, because if Rachel didn't leave voluntarily and no one forced their way inside, then what happened Once it became clear that Rachel wasn't anywhere in the house? The search began almost immediately. Over the next several days, police officers, firefighters, volunteers, tracking dogs, and helicopters searched the neighborhoods surrounding Rachel's home. Ponds were searched, Wooded areas were searched, open fields were searched. Investigators followed every lead they had, but despite an enormous effort, they found nothing. No clothing, backpack, blanket, no physical evidence showing where Rachel had gone after leaving the house. It's hard to overstate how unusual that is. Missing child investigations often leave investigators with something to work from, a witness, surveillance video, a personal belonging, a confirmed sighting, but in Rachel's case, there was none of that. In those first few days, investigators publicly said they had no evidence that Rachel had been abducted. At the same time, they also said they had no evidence that she had run away, and that's a difficult place for any investigation to be, because when you can't confidently explain what happened, every possibility has to stay on the table. Just a few days after Rachel disappeared, Deputy Chief Mike kel Codno summed it up with a statement that still stands out all these years later. We don't know, we haven't a clue. That's not something you hear investigators say often, and I think it speaks to just how unusual this case was from the very beginning, because despite all of the searches, all of the interviews, and all of the resources dedicated to finding Rachel, the investigation wasn't getting closer to an answer. For the next several years, tips continued to come in. Private investigators were hired. Anonymous letters surfaced claiming to have information about Rachel's disappearance. Her family continued searching for answers while refusing to let people forget her name. Then, nearly four years after Rachel disappeared, the investigation took a dramatic turn. In the year two thousand, nearly four years after Rachel disappeared, a grand jury was convened. Witnesses were called to testify. Investigators publicly acknowledged something they had never said before. They believed Rachel had likely been the victim of homicide. That's a significant shift because up until that point, investigators had explored multiple possibilities. They had considered whether Rachel ran away. They looked at the possibility of an abduction, But after years of investigating the case, they no longer believed Rachel had simply walked away from her life. That naturally raises another question what changed. Unfortunately, investigators have never publicly answered that question in detail. Like many active investigations, they kept much of the evidence close to the vest, but we do know a few things. As part of the grand jury investigation, Vince Mellen was questioned for approximately nine hours Investigators also obtained blood, hair, and saliva samples from him as part of the investigation, Search warrants were executed, and forensic evidence was collected. Despite all of that, no charges were ever filed. And that's one of the hardest parts of this case. It's entirely possible for investigators to believe they know what happened, but still not have enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt in court. Those are two very different standards. One is an investigative conclusion, the other is a legal one. As I was going through Rachel's case, there were a handful of details that kept coming up over and over again. The first one goes back to the phone call with Rachel's grandparents. Why did Rachel suddenly become quiet? Was it simply because somebody else walked into the room, or was something else happening with Vince. Investigators have pointed to differing accounts surrounding when Vince realized Rachel was missing after returning from his walk with the family dog. It may seem like a small detail, but establishing an accurate timeline is one of the most important parts of any missing person's investigation. There's also the question of what Rachel left behind. Her coat, her purse, her mund, and her jewelry all still inside the house, yet the blanket and two pillows were gone. And then there's another piece of this case that's been widely reported over the years. Rachel's diary contained entries alleging inappropriate sexual contact by her stepfather in the months before she disappeared. Those reported diary entries became part of the investigation. However, investigators have again never publicly released the diary itself, and no criminal charges related to those allegations have ever been filed. Now, unfortunately, based on those diary entries, we can only assume what may have happened to Rachel, but we don't know all of the details, and most of all, we don't know where Rachel is today. Rachel Mullenscum remains classified as an endangered missing person. No one has ever been charged in connection with her disappearance, and despite decades of investigation, Rachel has never been found. Jeff's scump has spent years keeping Rachel's name in the public eye. Although he has said he believes his daughter is no longer alive, he's never stopped searching for answers or hoping that someone somewhere will finally come forward. Friends of Rachel's and her families have done the same, continuing to share her story and reminding people that this isn't just a case from the nineteen nineties. For them, this is still the reality every single day, And maybe that's what stays with me the most about Rachel's story. Nearly thirty years have passed, neighborhoods have changed, Children who were Rachel's age when she disappeared are now raising families of their own. But for the people who loved her, January thirty first, nineteen ninety six never really ended, because until they know what happened, there will always be another question waiting to be answered. If you have any information about the disappearance of Rachel Mullen's Scump, no matter how small it may seem, please contact the bowling Brook Police Department at six three zero two two six eight six zero zero, or submit a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at one eight hundred The Lost That's t h E l O s T. Even after all these years, investigators continue to encourage anyone with information to come forward. If you know something, say something. Thank you so much for joining me for today's episode of Case uncovereds Missing in the Midwest, and for listening to Rachel's story. If you're enjoying Case Uncovered, I'd really appreciate it if you took a minute to leave a five star rating and review. It helps more people discover the show and ultimately helps bring more attention to the cases and families we talk about each week. To learn more about my advocacy work through my nonprofit organization, The Reignited Project, visit the Reignited project dot com where you can learn more about the work we're doing to support families of the missing and those with unsolved cases. And if you like to continue the conversation, you can find me on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube at Jen Rivera Investigates. There I share additional case updates, behind the scenes content, and educational resources about ethical true crime and advocacy. And until next time, stay curious, stay vigilant, and stay safe out there. Fire Eyes Media