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1995 Stump, Thomas S. July 25, 1995; Summerland Key 41 YO
Topic Started: Nov 21 2006, 11:23 PM (467 Views)
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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/stump_thomas.html

Thomas S. Stump


Above: Thomas, circa 1995


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: July 25, 1995 from Summerland Key, Florida
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: September 28, 1953
Age: 41 years old
Height and Weight: 5'10, 175 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Thomas's nickname is Tom. He may have a mustache and/or a full beard.


Details of Disappearance

Thomas was last seen in Summerland Key, Florida on July 25, 1995, his youngest daughter's birthday. He was planning on taking a vacation with his wife, Bernie, and their two daughters, Bonnie and Sally, and on the morning of his disappearance drove his van to the gas station and the post office in preparation for the trip. At 4:30 p.m., Bonnie called Thomas's mother, Rose Stump, to say she thought Thomas had committed suicide in the woods. Bernie allegedly told Rose that she had asked Thomas for a divorce, but she later denied having made that statement. Bernie called the Hertz car rental agency and asked for a new set of keys for the car she and Thomas had rented. She said the previous set had gotten lost because Thomas had gone out into the ocean and drowned himself.
Prior to his disappearance, Thomas had suspected Bernie of having an affair with a prominent local radio personality, Bill Becker. He had confided his marital problems to his brother. Becker moved into the Stump residence a few weeks after Thomas's disappearance. Thomas was declared legally dead in 2000, after which time Bernie married Becker. He is her third husband.

Thomas is a gun collector and Bernie says he had hidden several guns in the woods near their home, though she doesn't know where. Sally claims Thomas drove away in a car, but none of the Stump family cars were missing. Bonnie says he committed suicide. Both Bernie and Becker have passed polygraph tests in connection with Thomas's disappearance.

The families of Stump and Diana Harris, who disappeared from the Florida Keys in 1981, believe their cases may be connected. Police apparently interviewed several of the same people in connection with both disappearances, but a link between Harris and Stump has not been conclusively established.

Thomas's mother believes her son did not commit suicide. She thinks he probably met with foul play. She describes him as a devoted father and a hard worker who would never leave his children even if his marriage was troubled. Thomas's disappearance remains unsolved.



Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Monroe County Sheriff's Office
305-296-2424



Source Information
Real Crimes -- Real Cases
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
The Doe Network



Updated 1 time since October 12, 2004.

Last updated August 16, 2005; details of disappearance updated.

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Name: Thomas Stephen Stump
Place: Sugarloaf Key, Monroe County, Florida
Date of Birth: September 28, 1953, 41 years old at time of disappearance
Description: White male
5' 10" Tall
175 lbs.
Receding hairline
Trim moustache and beard
Has had appendix removed
Chip on cheek bone
Maryland bridge work

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Tom Stump disappeared on July 24, 1995 at approx 11:00 AM from his Sugarloaf Key, Florida home. No one has seen or heard from Tom since.

Tom's mother last spoke to Tom on the phone on the 23rd of July. Tom informed his mother that he had rented a van and was taking his wife and their 2 daughters on vacation. He told his mother he would call her as soon as he got back. Tom then ran some errands and had dinner with his family to celebrate his youngest daughters 8th birthday. The very next day, Tom either walked away or was driven away from his home.

There is conflicting information on what occurred that day, which leads law enforcement unable to solve Tom's disappearance.

Tom's wife and 12 year old step daughter, claim that Tom walked into the woods behind their home, and stated he was not returning. Tom's wife claimed that she had just asked Tom for a divorce and Tom stated he was going to commit suicide.

Law enforcement considers the possibility that foul play may be involved with Tom's disappearance. One factor indicating foul play comes from Tom's 8 year old daughter's statement that "her father drove off in a car", yet both the Stumps vehicles were still at the residence when police arrived. There are other details that cause law enforcement to consider the possibility that Tom did not leave his home, children, and profitable company, willingly.


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If you have any information about this case, please contact:

Monroe County Florida Sheriff at (800)346-TIPS or (305)296-2424.


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Related Web Site:

Tom's mother Rose and the family of Diana Harris believe there is a possibility that Tom's disappearance is connected to the 1981 disappearance of Diana Harris. To find out more go to www.realcrimes.com
http://www.unsolved-crimes.com/stump.html
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http://www.realcrimes.com/Stump/Tom_Stump.htm

Tom Stump

My oldest son, Tom Stump, 41 disappeared from his home on Summerland Key, Florida, on July 24, 1995.

In 2002, when I originally posted Tom's story on this web site, I had no preconceived idea about what happened to my son. I just knew that the circumstances of Tom's disappearance were suspicious and there were many questions that needed answers. Since then, however, I've received information that Tom may have become a threat to a major drug operation that links the Florida Keys with New Orleans. That may or may not be true, but it has opened my mind to new possibilities, especially since learning about another drug-related missing person's case -- Diana Harris -- that involves several of the same people who are linked to Tom's case. (See update at the end of this report.) I'm receptive to receiving further information by private e-mail sent c/o the Real Crimes web site.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

I talked with Tom by phone the day before he vanished. He had just rented a van to take his wife, Bernie, and two daughters, Bonnie, 12, and Sally, 8, on a vacation trip. He said he would call me as soon as they got back from their trip.

That evening, Tom and Bernie took the girls and two of their friends out to dinner to celebrate Sally's eighth birthday. The next morning, Tom put gas in the van and went to the bank and to the post office in preparation for the trip.

About 4:30 that afternoon, Bonnie phoned to tell me that they thought her dad had committed suicide. She said, "Dad walked into the woods, walked out, walked into the woods, walked out, walked into the woods and stayed." When I started to ask questions, Bonnie gave the phone to her mother. Bernie told me that she had "found somebody else" and had asked Tom for a divorce. (She later denied saying that.)

At 7:30 p.m., Bernie contacted the Hertz car rental office and told them she needed a new set of keys, because her husband had lost the first set while swimming in a canal. She was told to call back the next day. In her second call, she said the keys were lost when her husband went out in a boat and committed suicide. At 7:53 p.m., she told another individual at the rental agency that she thought her husband had drowned himself in the ocean.

My youngest son, Chad, and I immediately flew to Florida. Tom had discussed his marital problems with Chad and, as confirmed later by Tom's business partner, Scott Haskell, Tom suspected Bernie of seeing Bill Becker, a prominent radio personality, man-about-town, and a friend to many in law enforcement - someone with a lot of "clout." According to a newspaper article, "Bill makes or breaks the politicians in the Keys."

A search had been organized, and 26 of Tom's friends and neighbors were combing the woods. One of Bernie's ex-husbands, an ex-con by the name of Mark Ripin, whom Bernie still considered her "very dear friend," was also involved in the search. When interviewed by police, the children gave different stories. Bonnie continued to maintain that her father "walked into the woods," but Sally said he "drove off in a car," although neither of their cars was missing. The dog that detectives used to track Tom's scene did not go into the woods. Instead, it went directly to the road.

Bernie stated that, during the early morning hours, Sally walked into their bedroom and found Tom cleaning his guns. Tom was a gun collector and owned six guns; according to Bernie, one of those guns, a Glock, was missing. (According to Scott Haskell, Bernie also owned a .380 caliber pistol.) Bernie told a detective that Tom had told her that he had hidden one or more guns in the woods, but hadn't told her where they were.

That detective told me privately that something didn't seem right, and I agreed. Bernie would not allow me to talk to the children and was not happy when I was interviewed by Detective Penley. After taping interviews with Bernie, the girls, and me, Penley stated in her report, "The complainant followed me out to the car and seemed extremely nervous about my conversation with the victim's mother." Detective Penley also stated, "Complainant's demeanor was very upbeat and she spoke of getting on with her life." A few days after Tom disappeared, his business partner and an employee went to Tom's house to get tools from the company truck. As they were leaving, they noticed that the recycle bin contained champagne bottles and the trash bin held black gift wrap paper and black bows. "Somebody was celebrating something," Tom's partner observed. This information appears in Detective Penley's 8/14/95 report.

A man who worked at the Cudjo Key landfill contacted police to report a strange occurrence in which a woman arrived at the landfill with a pickup truck that matched the description of Tom's pickup. The man said he helped the woman empty the truck and was struck by the unusual nature of the items she was getting rid of - a marriage license, photo albums containing wedding pictures, and personal items that obviously belonged to a man. The woman didn't give her name, paid with cash so there was no receipt, and all the items were bulldozed into the transfer truck.

Six days after Tom's disappearance, Bernie left on vacation with the children. She returned home by herself, and the girls went to Chicago to visit their other grandparents. Bill Becker, then, began sleeping over at her house.

My husband and I hired a private investigator. He is the one who found out about Tom's preparations for a trip with his family on the day he became missing -- that he filled his pickup with gas, went to the bank, and stopped the mail. The sheriff's department supplied me with copies of their interviews with no problem, but when I requested the May-August calls to and from Tom and Bernie's home, which Detective Penley had subpoenaed, there was no information about any calls beyond the beginning of July. When I questioned the sheriff about this, he stated in a letter, "I have been assured that if they are not included they do not exist." That makes no sense at all, in light of all the calls that I know were made to and from that house in the days surrounding Tom's disappearance. Many of those calls were to me at my home in Ohio.

In March, 1997, I placed an ad in two newspapers that service the Florida Keys, Citizen and The Key Noter. The ad read: "A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of person or persons responsible in the disappearance of Tom Stump on July 24, 1995. All information confidential. Send information to (a Post Office Box)." I included Tom's picture. In May, 1997, I called the Citizen and asked them to run the ad a second time. I was told by Randy Erickson, who was in charge of advertising, that the State Attorney had forbidden him to run the ad again. When I contacted State Attorney, Kirk Zuelch, he said his office had nothing to do with the decision and that Mr. Erickson had informed him that the paper had made the decision not to run the ad. I also received a letter from Bernie's attorney saying that I should not run ads seeking information about Tom's disappearance.

In 2000, Tom was declared legally dead, and Bill Becker and Bernie were married.

In February, 2002, Detective J. Norman gave Bernie and Bill lie detector tests. Reportedly they passed. Detective Norman's official conclusion was, "Stump committed suicide; Stump has relocated to an unknown area; or Stump died as a result of accident, negligence or homicide." What kind of conclusion is that?

Who benefited from Tom's death? His wife received $150,000 in insurance money, plus the house, savings, etc. His partner, Scott Haskell, received the stocks and bonds that were in his and Tom's name and also several acres of land.

It's impossible for me to believe that Tom committed suicide and hid his own body. It is equally hard to believe that he deserted his family. He was not that kind of person. Tom was co-owner of a successful construction business and was proud of all that he and his partner had accomplished. He was a very hard worker, but above all, a dedicated father. He went in to work early each morning so that he could be there when his daughters came home from school. He was devoted to those little girls -- helped them with their homework, prepared their dinners, and made sure that they did their chores. Even if his marriage to Bernie was rocky, he still had those children to live for. To walk out on his family or, worse, commit suicide on his youngest daughter's birthday - there's no way in the world that he would have done that.

My daughter-in-law and I had always gotten along. Since Tom's disappearance, neither Bernie nor my granddaughters will speak to me. Not only have I lost a son, I have lost an entire a family. But, whether Bernie and her new husband like it or not, I am and always will be Tom Stump's mother, and I will continue to search and dig until I find out what happened to my son.

Update, April 2004: In March 2004, I was contacted by a woman named Christine Hill, whose mother, Diana Harris, disappeared from Big Pine Key, Florida, in October 1981, after phoning an out-of-state friend from a "party house" belonging to attorney Mitchell Denker. Diana told her friend a big drug delivery was scheduled, the guard dogs were out, and she was afraid the phones were tapped. Like Tom, her body was never found. Christine had been running names from her mother’s case report through a search engine, and the name “Mark Ripin” took her to the Tom Stump case on the Real Crimes web site. From information in Tom’s case report and on his message board, Christine learned that Mark Ripin was questioned in both Diana's and Tom's missing persons cases, and that other people who were linked to Diana's case were also linked to Tom's case. Among those people is Bernie Ripin/Stump/Becker, who was married to Mark Ripin when Diana disappeared and was married to Tom Stump when Tom disappeared, and who has stated on record that she once lived in Mitchell Denker's house. In 2003, Denker was convicted of two felonies -- Transporting Monetary Instruments and perjury, sentenced to prison, and disbarred in the state of Florida. (For the full story, return to the home page and click on the link to "Diana Harris.")

Rose Stump, Tom's mother

P.S. In a town near us they are putting down bricks around the downtown with family names on them. We had one with Tom's name. I guess this will be the closest to a tomb stone we can give him. This memory stone to honor Tom's life on earth has the symbol of a buckeye leaf to signify Tom's closeness to his Ohio Roots. May Tom rest in peace.


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Monroe County Sheriff's Office
305-296-2424

Agency Case Number: 95110253
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