Replay: Sandy Rea

The Vanished Podcast

Wondery

True Crime, Society & Culture, Cold Case, Investigative, Find The Missing, Vanished, Missing Persons, Documentary, News, Disappeared, Exhibit C

4.5 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode originally aired on April 6, 2020. On the night of September 19, 1984, 17-year-old Sandy Rea was last seen at the Windsor Bowling Alley in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Her cousin, who was working there at the time, had a brief conversation with her. Sandy then made a phone call, though it’s still unclear who she contacted. Sandy mentioned to her cousin that she was heading to a party and invited him to come along. He declined, needing to finish his shift.

Her cousin walked away to go clean a lane and around 8:30PM, when he looked up, he saw Sandy walking out of the bowling alley. This is the last confirmed sighting of Sandy Rea.

More than 41 years later, Sandy’s family is still waiting for answers.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Sandy Rea, please contact the Shawnee Police Department at 405-273-2121.

If you have a missing loved one that you would like to have featured on the show, please fill out our case submission form.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I've never been involved in something where there was so many different stories to one girl's disappearance,
0:21.5	and we still don't know what's happened to her.
0:24.2	And so I kind of made a vow to my family that no matter what I was going to find out what
0:29.1	happened to this, what happened with the band is and I just felt a 17-year-old woman.
0:33.6	Doesn't deserve to be killed, doesn't deserve to be chopped up, doesn't deserve to be put in a well or a hole in the ground, and that she deserves some danger.
0:41.9	There was corruption in the Shawnee Police Department and that there was judicial corruption that contributed to all of the circumstances that she was involved in.
0:50.6	They didn't believe it at the time.
0:53.6	On September 19, 1984, 17-year-old Sandy Ray was last seen at the Windsor Bowling Alley in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
1:03.0	At the time, Sandy's cousin was working at the bowling alley, and the two had a brief conversation.
1:10.0	Sandy made a phone call, but it's unclear exactly who she called.
1:14.7	She mentioned to her cousin that she was going to a party and asked if he wanted to join her.
1:20.2	Her cousin declined. He couldn't abandon his shift. Her cousin walked away to go clean up a lane.
1:26.9	And around 8.30 p.m. when he looked up, he saw Sandy walking out of the bowling alley. She appeared to be in quite a hurry. This is the last confirmed sighting of Sandy Ray. In the years following Sandy's disappearance, many people have come forward with tales of what happened to the teenager.
1:46.4	Stories that connected her to other young women in the area who had disappeared or were murdered.
1:52.2	Some of these stories seemed unbelievable. Tales of local corruption at many levels.
1:58.5	Several years ago, one of Sandy's cousins, a classmate and a local reporter,
2:03.1	banded together to dig for answers and hopefully find the truth. I'm Marissa, and from Wondery,
2:09.7	this is episode 219 of The Vanished. Sandy Ray's story. Hi, I'm Mr. Ballin, the host of Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries.
2:39.0	And each week on my podcast, you can expect to hear stories about bizarre illnesses no one can explain, miraculous recoveries that shouldn't have happened, and cases so baffling, they stumped even the best doctors.
2:50.9	Listen to Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
2:55.8	When a young woman named Desire vanishes without a trace, the trail leads to Kat Torres,
3:01.3	a charismatic influencer with millions of followers.
	...

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