14/11/2025
Carrollton, Texas, was once the kind of place where everyone knew everyone, safe, suburban, and full of promise. But in the spring of 1988, that sense of innocence shattered with the disappearance of two teenage girls: Stacie Madison, 17, and Susan Smalley, 18.
They were best friends, full of energy and plans for the future. Stacie, a bright blonde with a dazzling smile, worked for a local allergist and was getting ready for college. Susan, with her warm personality and striking green eyes, dreamed of moving to Florida. Both were just months away from graduating Carrollton Newman Smith High School, and March break was their chance to celebrate being young and free.
On the night of March 19, 1988, the girls planned a simple sleepover at Stacie’s house — their last night before returning to school. They climbed into Stacie’s light yellow 1967 Mustang convertible and headed to the Prestonwood Shopping Center, where they stopped to give Susan’s mother, Carolyn, a lift home from work. The girls changed clothes, chatted for a bit, and promised to be careful before heading back out.
Their next stop was a small house party in Arlington, where friends said they were in good spirits. They left briefly around 10 p.m., returned to Stacie’s home, and made a long-distance phone call, before deciding, impulsively, to go back to the party after midnight, despite having a curfew.
Around 12:30 to 1 a.m., witnesses saw them at the Steak and Ale restaurant in Addison, where Susan worked part-time. She chatted with a coworker before leaving again with Stacie in the Mustang. That was the last confirmed sighting of either girl.
Neither returned home. Stacie’s car was never found. Theories have circulated for decades — from foul play to someone close to them knowing more than they ever admitted — but the case remains unsolved.
More than three decades later, Carrollton still remembers Susan and Stacie, two young women frozen in time: best friends who set out for one last night of freedom and never came home.