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in: Florida, 1989, Disappearances,
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Donna Callahan

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Donna callahan

Donna Callahan

Real Name: Donna Marie Susino Callahan
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Gulf Breeze, Florida
Date: August 6, 1989

Bio[]

Occupation: Clerk at Sunshine Jr Food Store
Date of Birth: July 30, 1960
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Marital Status: Married
Characteristics: White female with dark brown shoulder-length hair. She was three months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. She was wearing dark pants, a light blouse, and a dark blue smock with the Jr Food logo on it.

Case[]

Details: Twenty-nine-year-old Donna Callahan worked as a convenience store clerk at the Sunshine Jr Food Store on U.S. Highway 98, next to the entrance of the Bal-Alex Estates in Gulf Breeze, Florida. She was three months pregnant and the mother of a two-year-old daughter. She had started the job in late July 1989, after her boyfriend of six years, Danny Knight, lost his job.
On the night of August 6, 1989, Donna worked the 3pm to midnight shift at the store. She had not been scheduled to work that day, but a coworker had called in sick, so she agreed to work for them. At around 11pm, she called her friend who was babysitting her daughter. A witness reported seeing her behind the counter at 11:30pm. Sometime between then and midnight, she vanished.
Donna was supposed to close the store at midnight and set the burglar alarm. When she did not do so, the alarm company called the store. When they got no answer, they called Donna’s manager. When she arrived at the store, she found it unlocked and empty. She immediately called the police.
There were no signs of struggle in the store. Nothing appeared to have been stolen. Donna’s purse and keys were left on the store counter. Her car (with her gun inside) was still in the parking lot. A search of the surrounding area turned up no trace of her. The police and her family believe she was abducted.
Donna was not the only store clerk in Florida to disappear on the graveyard shift. Five weeks later, on September 18, thirty-six-year-old Darlene Messer was abducted from a Lake City convenience store. Two days later, her body was found in a nearby creek. She had been bludgeoned to death. Five months after that, on February 4, 1990, twenty-six-year-old Deborah Poe disappeared from a convenience store in Orlando. As in Donna’s case, there were no signs of struggle at the scene.
Immediately following Donna’s disappearance, her parents flew from New York to Florida to help search for her. Danny has also been involved in the search. In March 1991, her parents moved permanently to Pensacola to continue their search.
Suspects: Donna’s parents initially believed that Danny may have had something to do with her disappearance. He told the police he was working that night, and they were able to verify it through his work records.
Donna had problems with some of the store’s customers. She kicked one customer out after he got into an argument with another customer. The customer threatened to kill her. After her disappearance, he told people that he had buried her under a concrete slab. However, he was later ruled out.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the November 6, 1991 episode, which focused on Deborah.
  • It was later profiled on To Catch A Killer.
  • Some sources say Donna was abducted between 11 and 11:30pm.

Results: Solved - In 1992, Donna’s parents requested that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigate her case. FDLE Special Agent Dennis Haley was put in charge and began re-examining the evidence. In Spring 1993, he was contacted by a guard at a Florida prison. An inmate told the guard that another inmate, twenty-five-year-old William Alex Wells, had confessed during a prison bible study that he had killed a woman.
Wells had been in prison since October 1991, serving seven years for assaulting and kidnapping a DeFuniak Springs woman at knifepoint in May 1991. After talking with the informant, Agent Haley concluded that Wells was talking about Donna’s case. According to the informant, Wells had confessed to abducting and killing her, then burying her on his family’s property. Wells refused to speak to Agent Haley about the case other than to say, “No body, no crime,” and “prove it.”
In June 1993, investigators searched for Donna’s remains on Wells’ parents’ property in north Walton County, five miles northeast of DeFuniak Springs. During the search, Agent Haley was approached by Wells’ thirty-three-year-old half-brother, Mark Allen Riebe. He said he believed he knew where Donna’s body was located.
Riebe took Agent Haley to an oil drum on the property. Nearby was a suspicious mound of dirt. A cadaver dog was brought in to search the area. The dog alerted on the dirt mound, indicating there were human remains there. However, despite an extensive search, no remains were found. Agent Haley still suspected that Donna had been buried there but that Wells had moved her to another location. Testing on soil samples from the scene indicated that a large mammal had decomposed there.
Shortly after the search, Riebe and his wife abruptly moved to Illinois. Agent Haley traveled there to question him again. At first, he was reluctant to talk about Wells. Eventually, however, he explained to Agent Haley that Wells was a serial killer and that some of his other victims were buried on their parents’ property. Over the next few months, Agent Haley traveled to Illinois several times to question Riebe.
At one point, Agent Haley noticed cut marks on Riebe’s arms and realized he was suicidal. Agent Haley had him visit with a doctor who specialized in repressed memories. Finally, he admitted seeing Donna’s body in the trunk of Wells’ car that night. He said that Wells came to his house that night and said, “Man, I really messed up.” He then showed him Donna’s body. Later, he told Riebe that he had buried her body on their parents’ property.
Meanwhile, a woman watching news coverage about Wells recognized him as one of the men who robbed her at gunpoint while she was working at a Circle K convenience store in Mary Esther, Florida, in November 1989. In October 1994, he was convicted of that robbery. In March 1995, he was sentenced to thirty years in prison. That same month, based on statements from Riebe and the jailhouse informants, he was charged with murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping in Donna’s case.
In November 1995, Riebe was committed to a mental hospital after he threatened suicide again. Agent Haley was unsure if he would be able to testify. In July 1996, shortly after Wells’ trial began, his mother met with him and his attorney. She was certain that he knew more than what he was saying. She told his attorney that he would confess and tell everything he knew about Donna’s case if he could plead no contest to murder and avoid the death penalty. After speaking with Donna’s parents, prosecutors agreed to the plea deal.
Wells told Agent Haley and his partner that on the night of Donna’s disappearance, he and Riebe drove to Gulf Breeze, planning to rob a convenience store. After they arrived at Donna’s store, Riebe went in and abducted her at gunpoint, forcing her into the backseat of their car. He then strangled her to death as she begged for her and her unborn child’s lives. Afterwards, Wells helped him bury her body. Agent Haley was surprised to learn that Riebe, who had been helping him with the investigation, was actually involved in the murder.
Two days after his confession, Wells led investigators to Donna's remains, which were found in a wooded, rural area next to his parents’ property that had not been searched before. Her identity was confirmed through dental records. As a result of Wells’ plea, he was given two consecutive life terms in prison.
In May 1997, Riebe was arrested and charged with Donna’s murder. An inmate told police that Riebe had confessed to the crime. In May 1998, he admitted killing her and pleaded no contest to first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for twenty-five years.
Just three months after Riebe began serving his sentence, he confessed to Agent Haley that he had killed thirteen women (including Donna). The first victim, Bonnie Gayle Ryther, was killed in Fort Walton Beach in 1978. Another victim was Pamela June Ray, who was also featured on the show and went missing in Panama City in 1992. The other victims included Jackie Bryant, Lindsay Sams, and Ronda Taylor. He reportedly knew details in some of the cases that had not been released to the public.
Riebe later recanted his confessions. However, Agent Haley believes he still committed at least seven of the murders (including Donna’s). He also believes that Wells helped him in at least two of the cases (including Deborah’s). Other investigators and family members of the victims believe Riebe was responsible for several murders.
In August 1996, Donna’s remains were cremated, and her family held a funeral service for her. Her parents have since passed away.
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