She Went to the Laundromat Alone — Then a Man Followed Her Out, and She Was Never Seen Alive Again

On an April evening in 1983, 17-year-old Corinne Perry left home to do laundry in Creston, Iowa. She never returned. Her neatly-folded clothes were found in her car; her body was discovered over a year later. 

The case remains unsolved. 

It was a quiet Sunday when Corinne, a high school senior known for her bright smile and passion for theater, walked out the door for a routine chore. She was headed to the Highlander Laundromat just a few blocks away, a familiar errand in the small southwest Iowa town where she lived with her mother and sister. 

But what began as an ordinary evening would soon become one of the region’s most haunting cold cases. 

According to reporting by NBC News, Corinne’s car was found the next day outside the laundromat, her clothes clean and folded inside. But the teen was gone. 

Police initially suspected that she had run away, an assumption that delayed what would later become a full-scale investigation. 

Witnesses later told authorities that Corinne left between 8:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. and that a man walked out behind her. They described seeing her talking to a man with glasses and brown hair, believed to be in his 20s or 30s. But that man was never identified.

Her sister, Letitia Perry, has spent decades urging authorities and the public not to forget about Corinne.

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“I know something was wrong immediately,” she told NBC News. “My sister wouldn’t just leave.”

Two weeks after Corinne vanished, her purse was found miles away on a bridge, undisturbed, with her glasses, makeup and personal belongings still inside. For more than a year, the Perry family waited in agony for answers. 

Then, on November 3, 1984, hunters stumbled upon a shallow grave, roughly six miles from Creston and near where Corinne’s purse had been recovered. Inside were human remains later confirmed to be Corinne’s 

The remains, just bones, had to be identified using dental records, per the Associated Press. Due to the condition of the body, a cause of death could not be determined. 

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) reopened the case in 2009, hoping that advancements in forensic technology might finally lead to a break in the case. But so far, no suspects have ever been named publicly, and no arrests have been made. 

Letitia believes someone in the community knows what happened — and may have even spoken with Corinne that night.  Now in her 50s, Letitia says she won’t give up until there are answers. 

“At the 30-year mark of her death, I sort of quit having expectations,” Letitia told NBC. “But I can’t give up. She was my little sister and I’m not going to give up.”

The case remains open. The Iowa DCI encourages anyone with information to call (515) 725-6010 or submit an anonymous tip through their website.