Denise Pflum was a senior at Connersville High School. She was 18 years old and wanted to go to college to study microbiology. She had planned to go to Ohio in the fall to attend Miami University. She ran track in high school, and she hoped to get a track scholarship to go to college. Denise was very smart and was the science club’s treasurer. She also played volleyball, softball, and basketball. Denise was excited about going to her senior prom the next month. Denise and Shawn M. McClung, who she had been dating for three years, broke up. Her mother, Judy, says that since her breakup, her daughter has been getting out more.
The day Denise disappeared. Denise went to a party with a few hundred other students the night before she went missing. It is said that she forgot her purse. The next day, on March 28, 1986, around 12:30 p.m., Denise left her house to get her purse. Denise called a few of her friends to see if they could help her get her purse, but none of them could. She had a short talk with her neighbor before she left. This is the last time Denise was seen for sure. Denise’s mother, Judy Pflum, would hear from a friend that she saw Denise at the Fashion Bug clothing store. But what the friend said about her clothes was wrong.
When she was found out. When Denise doesn’t come home that night as usual, her parents start to worry. Her parents told the police that she was missing. Denise’s car, which was locked, was later found parked near a farm. The car was parked near a barn on Tower Road, which is a gravel road east of Glenwood. Later, the farmer told police that it hadn’t moved from that spot since 12:30–1:15 p.m. the day before. At first, the farmer thought that mushroom hunters owned the car. Denise didn’t have a reason to be there.
How the case stands right now. Shawn McClung told police in July 2020 that he killed Denise, but the case is still not solved. But before he could be tried for Denise’s disappearance, McClung died in police custody of a terminal illness that no one knew about. The family has put up a $100,000 reward so far. If you know anything about what happened to Denise, please call the Fayette County Police Department at (765) 825-1110, extension 604, or send an email to laughlin@co.fayette.in.us.