New interest registered into Bristol University graduate who went missing 35 years ago

New interest has been registered into the case of a University of Bristol graduate who went missing 35 years ago.

34-year-old Stephanie Rose Whittaker from Newport went missing in March 1990 on what was supposed to be a short walk to meet friends.

Interest in Stephanie’s case was reignited after Gwent Police responded to a Freedom of Information request by confirming she is still considered a missing person, WalesOnline reports.

Over the past three decades, the case has received little media coverage on Stephanie, mother of three, and no new public appeals for information have been officially launched.

Despite this, awareness of Stephanie’s disappearance was rekindled earlier last year when a Freedom of Information request urged Gwent Police to confirm Stephanie was “still regarded as a missing person,” which led to the case being discussed on the Persons Unknown Podcast.

Stephanie, also known as Stevie or Steve, was described as 5ft tall, blonde, and with blue eyes. The Bristol University psychology graduate worked for the Gwent Health Authority as a home adviser for people with learning difficulties.

Prior to the birth of her youngest child, who was 18 months old at the time of her disappearance, she had been on a counselling and communication course at Allt-yr-Yn College.

via YouTube

On 23rd March, 1990, Stephanie said goodbye to her husband Tony at around 8:25pm and began the walk from their Llanthewy Road home to the town centre. Tony, then 37 years old, told the Echo that his wife was planning to go out “after a family night of domestic rush, much like any mother.”

Tony stayed at home with their children, Tom, 12, Rose, nine, and 18-month-old Adam.

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According to The Sun, Stephanie was due to meet her friends at a spiritualist meeting at St John Ambulance Hall in Caxton Place, less than half a mile from her home. For Stephanie, this was a common Friday evening activity and was typically followed by drinks at a nearby pub. When her husband woke at 3am to find his wife still not at home, he called one of Stephanie’s friends who confirmed that she had not made it to the meeting spot, which then prompted him to alert the police.

Stephanie’s husband showed his confusion, saying: “It just wouldn’t make any sense for her to leave.”

He added: “If she’d left her family for good willingly, I wouldn’t believe in anything anymore.”

The week following her disappearance, a handbag containing makeup was found on the pavement outside a pub with investigators trying to determine whether it was Stephanie’s, as reported by the Western Daily Press. While there were multiple supposed sightings in the days and weeks that followed, police were said to be concerned as they had received a poor response from the public, with just 30 calls logged at the incident room at Newport Central police station at that time. This led the police to believe Stephanie was no longer in Wales and they were “working on the assumption that she is alive.”

On a 1994 episode of BBC’s Crimewatch, police considered the disappearance “highly suspicious” and clues as to Stephanie’s whereabouts have been elusive. Months into the search, the lead detective Bill Glynn told the South Wales Echo, “basically, we don’t have a bloody clue” regarding the search for Stephanie.

Today, Stephanie’s whereabouts remain a mystery since there is little in the news archives beyond 1994.

She was last known to be wearing a pin-striped blue and white shirt with dark trousers, black ankle-high boots, and a three quarter-length navy blue waxed Barbour-type jacket before she went missing.

A spokesperson for Gwent Police said: “Stephanie Whittaker, now 68, was last seen on 23 March 1990 after leaving her home address in Newport at around 8.30pm. If you’ve seen her or have any information on whereabouts, you can call us on 101 or direct message us on social media quoting log reference 2300205250.”

Featured image via YouTube