MARION COUNTY, Fla.— After nearly 30 years, the case of a missing Marion County woman has been closed after her killer confessed.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes detectives closed the case of Sherry Yon Petersen, who went missing on Christmas Eve in 1992.
Petersen’s daughter reported her missing just after the new year in 1993 when she didn’t show up for Christmas dinner and her family couldn’t get ahold of her.
Peterson was never found, and her case had been reviewed over and over by Marion County detectives for the past few years.
In July 2018—almost 26 years later—a phone call from Petersen’s sister to the Major Crimes Unit led the detective to look at the case another time.
Sergeant Donald Buie got curious about the case after the phone call and started to follow up on potential leads.
Sgt. Buie’s investigation led him to a man named Frank Crow, who was already serving a 30-year sentence in the Zephyrhills Correctional Institution for the murder of his former roommate, according to investigators.
Sgt. Buie and Sgt. Michael Mongeluzzo headed to Zephyrhills to interview Crow about Petersen’s disappearance, during which he made several incriminating statements, deputies said. Crow wouldn’t give the deputies any more details about the crime without documentation that would grant him immunity from prosecution.
After talking with prosecutors with the State Attorney’s Office and Petersen’s family, it was decided that Crow would not face any charges if he gave detectives and prosecutors answers about Petersen’s murder, according to investigators.
Crow allegedly told investigators that he ran into Petersen at a convenience store on Christmas Eve in 1992 and that the two then went to a tavern for a few drinks before heading Lake Catherine where they continued to drink.
Deputies Crow said he killed her at the lake, dismembered her body and “disposed of her body parts in multiple lakes in the Ocala National Forest.”
Detectives said Crow told them he had premeditated intent to kill Petersen that evening because she was a “snitch.” Detectives said they think Crow killed her after he made sexual advances on her and she denied him.
Law enforcement said because Crow said things during his testimony that only the killer could have known, detectives believe Crow murdered Petersen and disposed of her body, which was never recovered.
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