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"[This Night Wounds Time] was written to reignite fires that had long grown cold. I stand here tonight happy to report that it served that purpose; the Carrollton Police Department is back on this case [and] the Denton County District Attorney’s Office is assisting the Carrollton Police Department with the investigation...this is a direct quote from [the Denton County District Attorney’s Office] to me, '[O]ur office became involved after the book revealed a possible Denton County connection to this crime.  At that point we offered our assistance to the Carrollton Police Department.'"

- Shawn Sutherland addressing the Friends of the Carrollton Public Library on Monday, May 24, 2010
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THE FACTS:
Since it was the last night of their Spring Break, 17-year-old Stacie Elisabeth Madison (right) and 18-year-old Susan Renee Smalley (left), both seniors at Newman Smith High School in Carrollton, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), were determined that the night of Saturday, March 19, 1988 would be devoted to carefree, youthful fun.  This included shoe shopping at Prestonwood Town Center and visiting friends in Arlington.

Shortly before midnight, the two returned to the Carrollton home owned by Susan Smalley's mother.  They remained there but a few minutes before venturing out into the night one last time.  They would never return.  Sometime between midnight and 1:00 a.m., on the morning of Sunday, March 20, 1988, the girls stopped at the Steak and Ale restaurant in nearby Addison, where Susan visited with friends.

It is believed that Stacie and Susan traveled from Steak and Ale to Forest Lane, the legendary cruise strip known to every North Dallas teenager as the premier hot spot for meeting up with friends.


Photo by the author

Two days later, on Tuesday, March 22, 1988, Stacie Madison's pale yellow 1967 Ford Mustang was discovered in the parking lot of Webbs Chapel Village on Forest Lane.  Original case investigator Ohlen L. Sapp asserts that, "For certain [Stacie and Susan] ended up on down on Forest Lane...whoever's vehicle Stacie Madison and Susan Smalley got into, they knew them."

By all appearances, the girls parked and locked their car with every intention of returning to it later and proceeded to their final destination with persons unknown.  Where they went in those early morning hours, what their plans were, and the extent to which they knew the enigmatic person(s) from whom they accepted this mysterious ride are questions that remain unanswered 22 years later.


Photo courtesy of Ida Madison

Stacie Madison and Susan Smalley have not been seen or heard from since March 20, 1988 and, in the 22 years since they disappeared, with the exception of one "person of interest" whom original case investigators assert was never "properly eliminated as a suspect in the case," substantive leads regarding what became of the girls have never materialized.

In 2001, Joe McKey, Program Administrator for the Missing Persons Clearinghouse of the Texas Department of Public Safety, declared, "No other missing persons case in the history of North Texas law enforcement has been as baffling as this one."  Likewise, in 2009, Ida Madison, the mother of Stacie Madison, offered that the mystery of her daughter's disappearance would be solved only "by getting that one person who knows something to come forward."

    
Photo by the author 
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THE BOOK:
This Night Wounds Time, the first book devoted to the Madison/Smalley case, is the product of six months of original research conducted in 2009 by author Shawn Sutherland who, as book reviewer Dan Marvin describes it, "talked to virtually everyone associated with the case that would talk to him.  This included parents, friends, police detectives, and even the most likely suspect."

In this regard, Anne Rice, author of Angel Time and Interview with the Vampire, says, "[T]he story here is a compelling one, and the author's dedication is inspiring."

The Carrollton Police Department credits Sutherland's independent research, and the resulting book, with revitalizing its own investigation into the events of March 20, 1988.  (In July 2010, Sgt. Joel Payne, the detective assigned to the Madison/Smalley case, told The Dallas Morning News, "What this book did was push the full reset button.  We threw out all the assumptions, and we started from scratch."  Sgt. Payne would also tell The Carrollton Leader, "In talking to the author and looking back over everything I began to make different connections that were not there before.")  Consequently, following the publication of This Night Wounds Time in November 2009, Sutherland was invited by the Carrollton Police Department to serve as a pro bono consultant on the Madison/Smalley case.

The book, which is being sold at cost to raise awareness regarding this cold case, features original landscape illustrations by photographer Laura Marie Jimenez and examines the intertwined stories of:

*  The lives of Stacie Madison and Susan Smalley, as recalled by family and friends;

*  The history of Carrollton, Texas, the town Stacie and Susan called home;

*  What it meant to cruise Forest Lane between 1960 and 1990, and the ways in which the discovery of Stacie Madison's Ford Mustang on Forest Lane inadvertently dictated the Carrollton Police Department's initial handling of the case;

*  Long standing allegations that - by releasing Stacie Madison's car to her family without fingerprinting it, rebuffing the probability of foul play for nearly a month, and dismissing a suspect who confessed to murdering the girls based solely on the results of a polygraph test - the Carrollton Police Department was negligent in 1988;

*  What is known about the fateful night on which these two young ladies disappeared;

*  The bizarre theories and outrageous speculation regarding the girls' final fates that has been offered in the years since their disappearance;

*  The person of interest whom the Madison and Smalley families, as well as original case investigators David W. Bock and Ohlen L. Sapp, believe the Carrollton Police Department should reconsider; and

*  The haunting impact Stacie Madison's and Susan Smalley's mysterious disappearances still have on the Carrollton/Farmers Branch community today.

Of the book, Rich Smalley, Susan Smalley's brother, has observed, "I never thought this book would do more than just get the story back out there in the public eye again, but I am beginning to believe otherwise.  This book has a great chance of bringing closure to the story."
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BUYING THE BOOK:
*  This Night Wounds Time is available online via Amazon and the publisher.

*  Autographed copies may be purchased at:  The Vintage House, 1101 E. Belt Line Road, Carrollton, Texas 75006 (972-242-5616); and Sooz Boutique, 1100 W. Main Street, Carrollton, Texas 75006 (972-446-2410).

*  The book may also be borrowed from The Farmers Branch Manske Library, The Carrollton Public Library, and The Colony Public Library.
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RELATED WEBSITES:
In January 2009, Marisa Barrier, a former classmate of Stacie's and Susan's, created a Facebook Group in their memory.

For additional information and updates, visit http://www.missinggirlsbook.blogspot.com/.
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Questions or concerns regarding the content of this website or the book This Night Wounds Time should be directed to  shawn_sutherland_1964@hotmail.com.

Persons with any information regarding the Madison/Smalley case should contact the Carrollton Police Department at 972-466-3300.
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