Suzanne G. Lyall, born on April 6, 1978, in Saratoga Springs, New York, was the youngest of three children.
Growing up in Ballston Spa, she exhibited a strong interest in computers, often building them from scratch.
Suzanne, a distinguished graduate of Ballston Spa High School, initially enrolled at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oneonta for a year before transferring to SUNY Albany to pursue advanced computer science courses.
Her relationship with Richard Condon, a fellow student whom she had been dating since high school, continued to be a significant part of her life, and relocating to Albany brought them closer together.
He shared Suzanne's passion for computers and he configured her computer in such a way that he could access it from his own.
Despite attending different colleges in the Albany area, they bonded over their shared interest in computers and maintained close communication.
Suzanne also balanced her studies with two part-time jobs: one at a computer company in Troy and another at Babbage's store in the Crossgates Mall.
The Night of the Disappearance
In late February 1998, Suzanne's manager at Babbage's said she was stressed about an upcoming midterm exam, which she felt she needed to pass at all costs.
She took the exam on the morning of March 2, attended other classes until 4 p.m., and then went to her job at Babbage's.
Her manager mentioned that she felt she had done "OK" on the exam and seemed somewhat subdued.
She worked until the store closed at 9 p.m. and then took a bus back to campus.
The bus driver, who often worked that route, confirmed seeing her board the bus but was unsure if he saw her get off at the Collins Circle stop on campus, a short walk from her dorm.
He could only confirm she was not on the bus when he reached his final destination.
A friend of Suzanne said she saw Suzanne exit the bus at the Collins Circle stop around 9:45 p.m.
That was the last known sighting of Suzanne and she has not been seen since that night.
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| Collins Circle Bus Stop |
Investigation and Key Findings
The next morning, Suzanne's boyfriend, Richard Condon, along with some of her friends, reported her missing when she did not return to her dormitory and failed to contact anyone.
Initially, campus police responded nonchalantly.
They attributed her absence to typical college behavior and said they expect her to reappear soon.
However, the Lyall family and friends knew this was out of character for Suzanne, prompting them to raise an alarm.
Suzie was not a risk-taker", her father said. "She didn't party or use alcohol or drugs".
A campus police officer went to her next scheduled class and did not see her.
Her roommates reported that Suzanne did not come back to their room on the night of March 2, noting they would have heard her keys and fobs jingling as usual upon her return.
Further investigations by her parents revealed that Suzanne's ATM card had been used to withdraw $20 that same afternoon she was reported missing.
This detail sparked curiosity among everyone because she had not been seen for nearly 24 hours and she never returned to her dormitory.
Two days later, after Suzanne missed another midterm test and her other scheduled classes, campus police agreed that her disappearance was not a typical case of a missing undergraduate.
They called in the New York State Police for assistance.
The Lyalls and SUNY Albany put forward a $15,000 reward for any information, and flyers featuring Suzanne's photo were distributed across campus and surrounding areas.
The police initially focused their search around the Collins Circle area, covering 300 acres including wooded areas and nearby Rensselaer Lake.
Despite extensive efforts, no significant clues were found.
ATM Withdrawals
The ATM withdrawal attracted considerable attention as it was highly suspicious and the sole clue available at that time.
The Stewart's store where the withdrawal took place had a security camera that focused on the cashier area only.
The camera did not capture the ATM, making it impossible to identify the person using it at that time.
Whoever used the card knew the correct PIN, which only Suzanne and her boyfriend Condon knew.
According to her parents, Suzanne always withdrew exactly $20 each time she used the ATM, which was the exact amount she withdrew on the afternoon she was reported missing.
Suzanne's parents noted that the Stewarts where the withdrawal occurred was not a place Suzanne usually visited.
The clerk on duty did not recognize her.
Clues and Suspicions in Suzanne's Disappearance
A man wearing a Nike baseball cap was seen around the time of the withdrawal and was sought as a potential witness or person of interest.
Police later located the man and determined he was not connected to the case, though they couldn't entirely dismiss him as a possibility.
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| Suzanne G. Lyall |
A convicted rapist who had violated parole and left the area around the time Suzanne disappeared was briefly considered a suspect.
However, after police interviewed him upon his return to New York from Illinois, he was excluded.
Due to the bus driver's uncertainty about whether Suzanne had disembarked at Collins Circle, police began considering the possibility that she might never have returned to campus that night.
Some investigators even theorized that she might not have boarded the bus at all.
In May, her Babbage's name tag was found about 90 feet away from the bus stop, in a parking lot opposite the direction she would have walked if returning to her dorm.
However, it could not be determined how long the name tag had been there, and police were unable to recover any forensic evidence from it.
Another possibility came from one of Suzanne's coworkers at the store.
She told investigators that about a month before Suzanne disappeared, Suzanne had mentioned believing she was being stalked by someone she didn't know.
However, the coworker noted that Suzanne did not seem afraid of this person.
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| Suzanne G. Lyall |
Police also investigated her boyfriend but they didn't find anything suspicious about him.
Mary Lyall later told CBS News that Suzanne had tried to end the relationship several times, but after Condon became emotional, she would stay with him.
Following Suzanne's disappearance, Condon informed the police that she was his fiancée, a statement contradicted by the Lyalls, who said Suzanne, with whom they spoke almost daily, had not mentioned such a relationship.
Two weeks before Suzanne vanished, Mary recalled that she and her daughter had been on a trip to visit Mary's mother when Suzanne requested to stop at Condon's house along the way.
Suzanne said she wanted to deliver a Valentine's Day card to Condon.
Although nothing unusual occurred during the brief visit, Mary revealed in 2012 that she had felt her daughter had given Condon a breakup letter.
Concerned about the increasing tension she perceived in Suzanne's life, Mary began to suspect whether Suzanne might have become involved with someone else.
However, police have never found any evidence to support this.
Condon provided an alibi for the time Suzanne went missing, stating he was playing video games with a friend, which the friend confirmed to police.
After initial discussions with law enforcement, Condon declined to undergo a polygraph test and insisted on having his lawyer present for any further interviews.
In subsequent years, Condon refused to respond to inquiries from the media about the case.
His mother informed CBS in 2010 that he had married and moved forward with his life.
Condon was never arrested or charged in connection with Suzanne's disappearance, but police have never completely ruled him out as a suspect.
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| Mary Lyall, Suzanne's mother |
Over the years, investigators considered various other suspects, including John Regan, who was arrested for attempted abductions.
In 2005, John Regan, facing trial for a 1993 kidnapping in Connecticut, was arrested after attempting to abduct a female student from Saratoga Springs High School by pulling her into his van near the school.
Given the proximity of Saratoga Springs to Ballston Spa, the place where Suzanne disappeared, both police and the family wondered whether he could have been involved in Suzanne's disappearance.
Despite Regan's conviction for the attempted kidnapping in Saratoga, he declined to discuss the Lyall case with investigators.
Police later looked into whether Suzanne's disappearance might be linked to another case involving a missing SUNY Albany student, Karen Louise Wilson, who vanished 13 years earlier under similar circumstances.
Wilson was last seen boarding a bus near the Butcher Block restaurant on Central Avenue.
Witnesses reported seeing her there shortly before she disappeared, and she has not been heard from since.
This link was also thoroughly explored but yielded no concrete links and Suzanne remained missing
In 2018, New York State Police Senior Investigator John Camp commented on the case saying, "We believe it's a homicide.
Is there a chance she moved away? It's a possibility, but the reality is she's probably been a victim of a homicide."
The case remains open, with the New York State Police continuing to follow leads.
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