The Disappearance of Kerry O’Brien Krueger

Kerry O’Brien Krueger lived in Burlington, Wisconsin with her husband, Tracey, and their 3-year-old daughter, Megan. The 31-year-old was a former journalist who worked in Public Relations at Gander Mountain, a now-defunct chain of outdoor recreation stores, in Wilmot, Wisconsin.

Kerry grew up in a tight-knit Catholic family with six siblings. She met Tracey while working as an editor at the Burlington Standard Press. Soon, they got married and started a family together.

According to Tracey, Kerry received a call from a co-worker at 8:30 pm on December 5, 1989, requesting she attend a trade show for Gander Mountain in Wyoming early the next morning.

Tracey said that Kerry was going to drive to Chicago’s O’Hare airport with a co-worker named Jim and from there, they would fly to Wyoming; Kerry was to return home on Sunday, December 10.

Tracey said that Kerry kissed him goodbye at 4:30 am, told him to take care of Megan, and took off. A neighbor said she saw a man sitting in a black car outside of the Krueger home around that time.

The next morning, Tracey received a call from Kerry’s supervisor, Jim, inquiring why she didn’t show up to work. Jim told Tracey that there were no trade shows scheduled for that day. Phone records later proved that Kerry never received a call from work on December 5, 1989.

Tracey reported Kerry missing on December 7 but only at the insistence of her siblings. All of her personal belongings were left behind including her medication, suitcase, brand-new makeup, hair tools, and even her winter coat, despite the fact she was supposedly going to Wyoming in December.

Investigators later discovered that Tracey often told his boss he needed time off to take care of Megan while Kerry was away on a business trip. In reality, Kerry only traveled once for work and it was two years earlier in 1987. Tracey also once told his boss that Kerry was going to Alaska. When his boss ran into Kerry and asked her about the trip, she knew nothing about it.

For six months prior to her disappearance, Kerry suffered from a bizarre gastrointestinal illness that would cause her to vomit and have abdominal pain for days at a time. She had trouble eating, and lost a significant amount of weight. Kerry often missed work due to her illness and she went to see a doctor shortly before she vanished but they were unable to figure out exactly what was causing it.

While some of Kerry’s siblings now believe she was being poisoned, her daughter Megan, who is now 35, says that both she and her father also have gastrointestinal issues and that it runs the family.

Tracey took a polygraph test but the results were inconclusive. He was scheduled to take a second test on January 6, 1990, the one-month anniversary of Kerry’s disappearance, but he didn’t show up.

That day, Tracey was admitted to the hospital where he spent 28 days recovering from what he said was a stroke caused by intense grief. When he was discharged, Tracey said he had amnesia and couldn’t remember where he worked or what happened the week Kerry vanished. Despite this, Tracey remembered Megan and said he still loved Kerry deeply.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for the Krueger home and discovered that the mattress in the master bedroom had been replaced. They were never able to locate the original mattress. It was also revealed that Tracey purchased a truck shortly before Kerry went missing and told her that he borrowed it from a fictional character named Bob. In reality, Tracey forged Kerry’s name on the loan.

What remains a mystery is who lied about the business trip to Wyoming; Tracey or Kerry herself. Tracey maintained his innocence for years but he has never been ruled out as a suspect and loved ones insist that Kerry would not have left Megan, who she adored. Additionally, Kerry loved Christmas and she was planning a large event when she went missing.

Megan believes that her mother left voluntarily. She said that Kerry had a diary in which she wrote about her struggles with motherhood and an argument she had with her mother a few days before she went missing.

This month marks 31 years since Kerry O’Brien Krueger was last seen. Her bank account and her social security number haven’t been used since. Today, Kerry would be 64 years old. If you have any information, contact Racine County Sheriff’s Office at 262–636–3367.