Possibility of 'foul play' looms as police search for man

By Scott Moyers ~ Southeast Missourian

Diane Miller is scared for her brother.

Scared that he has been in an accident and can't get to help. Scared that someone is holding him against his will. Scared of worse things, things she can't -- won't -- specify, but hints at in terms like "foul play."

Diane Miller's brother, Ralph L. Lape Jr., is missing.

On Tuesday, the Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad was activated to investigate the disappearance of Lape, a divorced father of an 18-year-old daughter.

Miller reported Lape, a retired railroad worker with Burlington-Northern, missing on Thursday. But the last time Miller knows that anybody actually saw the Cape Girardeau County resident was July 8 or 9, though police believe he may have been seen a few weeks after that.

"Something has happened to him," Miller said from her home. "And anything's possible except that he's off having a good time. And I can't rule out foul play. My mind's been working 90-to-nothing. But when I think about it, it makes me numb."

The last time the major case squad was activated was May 2000, when a 16-year-old Jackson, Mo., boy killed his grandmother. It normally operates only on murder cases. The squad is made up of city police officers in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, sheriff's deputies from Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties and highway patrol troopers.

Dead or alive?

Police say they don't know what's happened to Lape, 54, who lives alone at 1814 State Highway 177.

"We do not know with certainty whether he's dead or alive at this point," said Lt. David James, with the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department and commander of the major case squad.

"It is very possible that he has been the victim of foul play," James said. "Because the large number of potential leads that need quick attention, we decided to activate the major case squad in order to have a large number of investigators pursuing the various leads before they become too cold."

James said he could not say why foul play is a possibility, only confirming that they are following up on several leads, questioning friends and family, and actively looking for Lape's green 1996 GMC Sierra pickup, which is also missing.

Police believe Lape may have left his residence on July 18 to attend a friend's bachelor party at Kentucky Lake. They suppose that he traveled on Highways 3 and 146 in Southern Illinois, and Interstate 24 in Kentucky. According to family and friends, Lape never showed up for the bachelor party and hasn't been seen since.

Lape's sister said it doesn't make sense that Lape just took off. She said he had just sold his home recently and was expected to close the deal Friday and pick up a check.

"If you're going to take off, which wouldn't be like him at all, then you'd get your money first," she said.

Miller said her brother always returned phone calls.

"He was married to that cell phone," she said.

Miller's husband, Mitch, who has been friends with Lape for 30 years, agreed.

"If I called Ralph, I'd tell him it was his favorite brother-in-law, and he'd laugh because I was his only brother-in-law," Mitch Miller said. "But if I left him a message, I don't care if his legs were cut off, he'd crawl across hot stones to call back."

Diane Miller described her brother as a man who loved to participate in pool tournaments as a player or referee. He enjoyed boating, too. His boat still sits outside his house.

"He's really friendly," she said. "He's not shy or bashful."

Lape's neighbors said that he basically minded his own business.

Sheryl Bradshaw lives near Lape and works at Lynn Flexco Supply, a distributorship that sells tractors and other items located just across the highway from Lape's home.

"He'd come over here once in a while," Bradshaw said. "Sometimes the mailman would take our mail to his house. He was always friendly."

She said they would sometimes loan Lape a tractor to pull his truck out of the mud in his flood-prone property.

Bradshaw said she noticed police cars in his driveway last week, but figured it was about a stray dog. Bradshaw said she wouldn't be surprised if the worst has happened.

"It seems a lot of bad things are happening to people now, especially little girls," she said.

Miller said she hopes that her brother turns up all right, and if he does, she teases she's going to "beat him up" for worrying her so much. But it's a joke that belies her fear.

"I'm just really, really afraid," she said. "Every time the phone rings, I just hate to have to answer it. The worst is not knowing."

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137