Left and Center: Susan circa, 1986
Right: Age Progressed to age 45
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: April 25, 1986
Missing From: Modesto, Stanislaus County, California
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Date Of Birth: November 27, 1970
Age: 15 years old
Height and Weight: 5’5″ and 130 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Biracial Female; Susan is White and Hispanic, Black hair, Brown eyes, Susan has freckles and her ears are pierced, she is of Native American descent
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A light colored blouse, a white vest, a light blue skirt with multicolored dots
NCMEC Number: 600289
Details of Disappearance
Susan was last seen in Modesto, California on April 25th 1986. She told her mother, Patricia Chupco, that she was going to take a bus to Carmel for a few days to visit some friends before she left her residence. Susan went to the Greyhound bus depot located on 10th Street and G Street in Modesto where she ran into a friend whom she talked to for a few minutes. She told the friend that she was heading to Carmel.
The girl saw Susan talking on the telephone at the depot and ten minutes later, she was seen getting into a full-sized olive green 1977 Ford van outside of the depot before driving away. Her friend was unable to tell if the individual driving was male or female. Susan did not get on the bus that day and never returned home. Her mother filed a missing persons report on May 1st 1986.
Police initially suspected that the girl had left on her own accord. Susan had previously ran away from home twice but would always call her mother and return home within a few days. Patricia also said she and her daughter were on good terms in the months prior to her disappearance and that she gave no indications of wanting to run away.
On August 9th 1986, Patricia contacted police and said her daughter had returned home for five hours before she left without saying where she was going. This was reportedly the last confirmed time she was seen alive. Its unclear if this actually happened or not. Investigators and her family now suspect Susan was abducted by a non-family member.
For years, Patricia believed she knew who was responsible for her daughter’s abduction. The man, Raymond Lewis Stafford, owned a security business at the time of the kidnapping in the downtown area of Modesto and Susan’s mother previously worked for him in August of 1985. They apparently dated on a few occasions but Patricia said they didn’t do anything more than get coffee. The relationship was not serious.
Patricia said that one day, Stafford called her residence looking for her but Susan picked up the phone. After this, Stafford and Susan began a secret relationship which her mother eventually discovered. One of Stafford’s former employees, Diane, told investigators that she saw the girl in his office multiple times and that she would ask him for money while sitting on his lap.
He became a suspect in Susan’s disappearance in May 1986 after he was arrested for robbery and attempted arson at a plumbing company. It was discovered that he was the individual driving the van that Susan got into on the day of her abduction. The van was a rental vehicle and he had taken it out on the day of the girl’s disappearance. Records show he returned the vehicle a day afterwards.
On July 17th 1986, Stafford was interviewed regarding Susan’s disappearance and his home as well as his business were searched for any clues related to her disappearance. During the search, detectives recovered Susan’s phone book, her black bathing suit, and her pink underpants. They also found a desktop calendar with Susan’s name and phone number written on it.
During the interview, Stafford denied any involvement in the girl’s disappearance. He did admit that he rented the green van that day and did indeed drive by the bus depot where she was last seen but he claimed he didn’t stop there. He said he drove the vehicle to several locations in Fresno, Mariposa, and Tuolumne in order to visit friends, attend a dance, and walk around. Detectives drove the route he claimed he took and discovered that it was 134 miles longer than the mileage logged by the rental company.
Three days after he was interviewed, Stafford faked his own kidnapping. According to reports, one of his employees witnessed three masked individuals force Stafford into the bed of a pickup truck and speed away with him. A few days later, the employee told investigators that the kidnapping was a hoax and that Stafford said he wanted to “start all over again.”
Raymond obtained a new driver’s license using a former employee’s name and evaded police for nearly a month. He was eventually located in what was described as a “Hollywood flophouse.” Stafford was arrested and prosecuted for filing a false police report. Stafford was not charged with any crime related to Susan’s disappearance despite her personal belongings being found in his possession.
Around the same time he was secretly seeing Susan, Stafford ran an unsuccessful race for Modesto City Council and was charged with violating a state business and professions code of operating a private investigations business without a license. He was also arrested for soliciting an undercover female sheriff’s deputy for prostitution on South Ninth Street in Modesto.
In 2001, detectives interviewed a former wife of Stafford’s who told them they were married at some point between 1991 and 1992. She stated he was abusive and once recalled he forced her into prostitution when he lost his job at the time. She also said Raymond had molested her twelve year old daughter. He was indeed convicted of this crime in 1994 and served prison time until being released and forced to register as a sex offender.
In 2004, Susan’s pink underwear that were found 18 years earlier were sent to the California Department of Justice for DNA testing. The samples found on the clothing were proven to belong to Susan. This proved she was with Stafford after her disappearance in 1986.
His employee, Diane, told investigators that Stafford rented the green van on the day of Susan’s abduction and said he was using it for a business trip to Los Angeles, California. However, she said he returned home with the van 24 hours later and was very concerned about cleaning it before having to return the vehicle. She didn’t think much of it at the time.
A few days later, Raymond confessed to Diane that he had killed a female whom he didn’t identify. He said he murdered her by strangling the victim with a wire or cord for 40 minutes until she died. He then stated he buried her body in a shallow grave near a campground by Big Oak Flat Road entrance to Yosemite National Park. Asked why he killed the girl, he stated the reason was “payback.”
A lead detective on the case said that the area Stafford claimed to have buried the body was searched by foot and horseback but nothing was found to indicate Susan was in the area. Investigators were certain he had abducted and murdered the teenager but they lacked the physical evidence to file charges in 1986.
In 2020, the investigation into Susan’s disappearance was reopened and a detective went to interview Stafford in Texas where he was in jail for violation of his sex offender registration. He asked Raymond about Susan’s case and this time he denied knowing the girl or her mother at all. When asked if he remembered being questioned about the case in 1986, he said he could not remember any of it.
Stafford only acknowledged police were onto him when he was confronted with all the evidence collected in the investigation. A search warrant was later obtained for his Google search history which showed that following this latest interview, Stafford had researched about bail amounts for murder in California and the penalties for a conviction in that state. He also searched “What evidence is needed to convict someone of murder in California” and “Murder conviction without a body.”
It was additionally found that he had searched for information about the process of being extradited to the state of California from Texas and which countries didn’t have an extradition treaty with the United States.
On August 10th 2023, police issued a warrant for Raymond’s arrest in connection with Susan’s presumed murder in 1986. He was arrested a few days later at his home in Texas and was handed a charge of murder with special circumstances. This is because investigators allege Stafford killed Bender during the course of kidnapping. He is currently awaiting extradition to California where he will be tried for the case. Police suspect Susan’s remains are buried in Yosemite National Park but to date, her body has not been recovered.
Susan’s mother never gave up hope of finding out what happened to her daughter or getting justice for her. She stated she suspected from the beginning that Stafford had murdered her daughter and has questioned why police didn’t arrest him back in 1986. She is happy that he’s been charged with the crime and has hope she can finally say goodbye to Susan properly. Patricia described her daughter as outgoing, funny, and a normal teenager trying to find her place in the world.
Foul play is strongly suspected in Susan’s disappearance.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Modesto Police Department 209-572-9551
Source Information
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
ABC10 Northern California News