Carlene Sessions Tengelsen, 16, disappeared from Macon, Georgia, on June 21, 1972. Driving for the first time alone since obtaining her driver’s license, Carlene went to the Westgate Mall and vanished into oblivion.
Arnold Tengelsen’s parents were born in Norway and emigrated to the U.S., where Arnold was born in Connecticut in 1925. His father was a fisherman.
Arnold met his future wife, Joan Sessions, at the University of Miami. They married in 1953 and settled in Clearwater, Florida. They had four children: Arnelle, Carlene, Joanette, and Thomas.
In 1966, the Tengelsens moved to Macon, Georgia, where it was easier for Arnold to travel for work as a manager of three dozen fabric stores. Joan was a second-grade school teacher. The family lived in a split-level home on Easy Street in West Macon.
The Tengelsens were a close-knit family and took many trips together in the family’s white 1963 Pontiac station wagon.
Carlene had recently completed her sophomore year at Southwest High School and had learned to drive in that same station wagon. Like any teenager, she was happy and excited when she received her driver’s license in May 1972. Joanette was about to turn 15 in a couple of weeks. Both girls were excited about what the rest of summer would bring and anticipated the upcoming school year. However, Carlene never started her junior year.
Disappearance of Carlene Sessions Tengelsen
Wednesday, June 21, 1972, started with some rain. Carlene’s father was on a business trip to Florida, leaving her mother to handle things at home until his return.
Joanette volunteered at Camp Joycliff, a summer day camp for underprivileged children, and the group took a campus tour at Mercer University due to the wet weather.
Excited to drive anywhere, Carlene agreed to pick her sister up at the university that afternoon. She asked Thomas if he wanted to ride along, but he declined. Carlene asked Arnelle, but Arnelle had curlers in her hair, so Carlene went alone. It was the first time she had driven anywhere by herself.
To kill some time before getting Joanette, Carlene headed to Westgate Mall. Opening in 1961 and located off Pio Nono Avenue, Westgate Mall was Georgia’s first fully enclosed air-conditioned shopping mall. The shopping center was anchored by the five-and-dime store J.J. Newberry and grocery store chains Piggly Wiggly and Colonial Stores.
After leaving the mall, Carlene went to Winn-Dixie behind the mall where her boyfriend worked and left a note on his car:
Came by to see you. See you tonight. (Kovac, 1999)
Her boyfriend never saw her that night or ever again.
Meanwhile, Joanette waited outside a building at Mercer in the 92-degree heat for Carlene to pick her up. After five o’clock had passed without Carlene, she called home, and Arnelle answered. Arnelle was getting ready for a date but agreed to get her. Carlene’s mother notified the police, but they refused to start a search until 24 hours had passed since Carlene had gone missing. (Good)
Carlene failed to return home, and her family started searching for her. On June 22, 1972, Joanette and Arnelle’s boyfriend, Marvin, drove to Macon’s south side looking for Carlene. At 1:45 a.m., they found the family station wagon parked at Westgate across from a Krispy Kreme donut shop. The car was unlocked, and the windows rolled down. Carlene’s family believed she would not have left the car in that condition by choice. They also believe Carlene’s kidnapper abandoned the car shortly before discovery.
Limited Investigation
Arnold Tengelsen had just checked into his motel room in Deland, Florida, when his wife called to tell him their daughter was missing. Hurricane Agnes had started wreaking havoc on Florida’s panhandle, and Arnold had to drive through the storm. He pulled over a few times and hurriedly went home to Macon.
When Arnold finally arrived, he went to the police station. However, officers were of no help and assumed Carlene had run away, even though someone had abandoned the car and she had taken no belongings with her. She also planned to pick up Carlene at Mercer.
Arnold knew someone had abducted his daughter and begged them to dust his car for fingerprints. They did, but the vehicle had been wiped clean.
Some teenage boys told the police they had seen Carlene at Westgate Mall when she vanished.
The Tengelsens plastered fliers with Carlene’s picture and information:
5’9″, 115 pounds, curly brown hair, hazel eyes, mole on her left cheek, and braces. She wore her father’s blue dress shirt, blue jeans, a Mickey Mouse watch on her right wrist, and a Vietnam Prisoner of War’s bracelet on the left. She also wore her boyfriend’s white gold class ring with engraved initials.
Carlene’s family and friends searched around Macon and the nearby wooded areas but found no sign of her. The police investigation turned up no solid leads or evidence in her disappearance, and the case went cold.
Life After Carlene
Carlene’s parents gave away the station wagon, and Joan began writing letters to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“We set the table for six because we are a family of six, not a family of five,” wrote Joan. “So many people are praying for our child. Please pray harder. … Please help us.” (Kovac)
Joan Tengelsen, then 39, fell into a deep depression. She left her teaching job, stayed in bed most of the time, and friends bought the groceries. Joan refused to leave the house, fearing she would miss a call from Carlene. She stood vigil over the beige, rectangular telephone on the wall next to the side entrance door leading to the carport. Every time it rang, Joan jumped to answer it. However, they were usually hoax calls or people saying they’d seen Carlene to get the reward money. The disappointing calls caused a waterfall of tears.
For months, Joan remained that way, never stepping outside. And then, one day, she made herself walk to the mailbox. From that day forward, she walked daily to get the mail and was overwhelmed to receive cash donations, letters, and sympathy cards from people across the country.
Eleven months after her daughter disappeared, Joan realized she could not bear another day in that house, and the family relocated to North Carolina. Before they left Macon, Joan wrote another letter to the ACJ.
“The time has come that we must leave Macon. … Someone said, ‘Aren’t you glad to leave so many memories and Macon?’ I said, ‘No, I’m leaving Macon; that’s just a name of a town,'” she wrote. “It is you the people of Macon I shall miss. … You are people who have given a town a heart.” (Kovac)
However, the family left a phone at their neighbors, Culas and Joanne Hutchinson, to answer should Carlene ever call home. The phone was set up only to receive incoming calls; one could not make outgoing ones. It sat in their closet for three years, and during that time, the phone rang a few times, either the wrong number or someone trying to sell something.
Arnold and Joan ran a steakhouse, Western Sizzlin’, in Durham, N.C., but it eventually flopped. In 1977, the Tenglesens moved back to Macon and settled into another home near the one they shared with their missing daughter.
After graduating high school, Joanette enrolled in Western Kentucky University’s criminology program to become a police officer but gave up that dream upon graduation. Instead, she became a traveling magazine salesman, hoping to find her sister, but failed.
She returned to Macon, married, and had a family. Her sister’s disappearance unlocked new fears she didn’t know existed until one day, she lost sight of her son, Daniel, then 4, in a Kroger grocery store. Luckily, he had wandered off to the candy aisle, but it scared the living daylights out of her, and she told her son never to do that again.
Sadly, Carlene’s parents and sister, Arnelle, are now deceased. Joanette and Thomas are now in their 60s and reside in Georgia.
TCD’S THOUGHTS
I think someone saw Carlene leave the note on her boyfriend’s car, followed her to the station wagon, and forced himself into the car. We know she made it inside Westgate Mall because the boys saw her. Did the police extensively question them? Who were they? It’s weird that these boys reportedly saw Carlene, but nobody else at the mall did. She was in the parking lot putting a note on her boyfriend’s car in broad daylight. But nobody saw her do that either, apparently. Nobody saw an abduction, which I also find strange. Maybe she willingly let the assailant in her car, which indicates she might have known him or them.
The kidnapper either drove the Pontiac wagon or made Carlene do it. His motive was likely sexual, so he probably took her somewhere remote and raped and killed her. The killer then disposed of her body where it will never be found, such as swamps or wooded areas. Maybe he even destroyed the remains.
But Carlene’s killer likely murdered others because he got away with killing her.
One possible suspect could be Paul John Knowles. He murdered several people during a multi-state killing spree in 1974. However, he was familiar with the Macon area and killed one victim, a 13-year-old girl in Warner Robins, about 20 miles south of Macon. He also killed a 24-year-old mother in Musella, GA, 30 miles west of Macon. Both murders occurred in August of 1974, 2 years after Carlene vanished. It’s unclear whether Knowles was in Macon in 1972. He was incarcerated at 19 in Florida, but I do not know when he was released. Police believe he killed his first victim in July 1974, but they have not confirmed this.
Paul John Knowles, also known as the Casanova killer because of his charm and good looks, claimed to have killed 35 people in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Virginia and Florida in 1974. The murder spree began following his release from prison in Florida. He was finally caught in Henry County, where he was shot to death after trying to grab the gun of a GBI agent. In 2011, the remains of a young female found in 1976 were matched to 13-year-old Ima Jean Sanders, believed to be one of his victims. —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 26, 2018
The body of a white female was found in McDonough, GA, about 60 miles northwest of Macon, on Nov. 11, 1973. Due to decomposition, officials could not determine height, weight, hair, and eye color. Only the skull was found. Could this be her?
I want to mention the telephone installed at the Hutchinson home. One thing I thought of was the possibility that Carlene could have called the number but thought she got the wrong number when the Hutchinsons answered, so she hung up. I don’t believe this happened; however, I think her abductor killed her on the day she vanished, but there is a possibility that he kept her alive for a while or sold her.
The Tengelsens lived at 3960 Easy Street, I think. It’s the only house that resembles what news articles describe – a split level with bricks, siding, and a carport. All that’s left of Carlene at the house is her hand imprint on the concrete in the driveway.
Sources
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40484830/arnold_whittington-tengelsen: accessed August 19, 2024), memorial page for Arnold Whittington “Ting” Tengelsen (29 Sep 1925–9 Feb 2004), Find a Grave Memorial ID 40484830, citing Macon Memorial Park, Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, USA; Maintained by Mz Fish (contributor 46622368).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/174707962/joan-tengelsen: accessed August 19, 2024), memorial page for Joan Sessions Tengelsen (20 Mar 1933–29 Dec 2016), Find a Grave Memorial ID 174707962, citing Macon Memorial Park, Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, USA; Maintained by Loree & Billy Beacham (contributor 47243131).
Good, Meaghan. “Carlene Sessions Tengelsen.” The Charley Project. https://charleyproject.org/case/carlene-sessions-tengelsen
Kovac, Joe Jr. “52 Years Later, Missing Girl’s Keepsake Makes Its Way HOme.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 10, 2024.
Kovac, Joe Jr. “The Miracles of Loss.” Blog. Joe Kovac Jr.: Collected Works of the Reporter, July 11 & 13, 1999. https://joekovacjr.blogspot.com/2011/04/carlene-tengelsen-story.html
Sky City: Retail History. Westgate Mall (Westgate Shopping Center) Caption & image. https://skycity2.blogspot.com/2010/09/westgate-mall-brochure-photos-macon-ga.html