Overview of Connie Royce
Connie arrived at a popular local bar with 2 men, but left alone. Can security camera footage shed light on her 32-year disappearance?
Connie Lynn Royce is a 24-year-old recently divorced business school student who was just beginning to get back out into the dating scene after a failed relationship.
Standing at 5’3” and 120 pounds, Connie is traditionally attractive with shoulder length dirty blonde hair and curtain bangs. She has two known tattoos: one that is a bumblebee on her right wrist, and the other is a set of two names and a heart on her right shoulder.
The night Connie disappeared
At 9:00pm on June 1, 1990, the night Connie disappeared, she drove in her light blue 1980 Chevy Citation to a man’s apartment, Greg, whom she had met a few days earlier, to meet up with him and his friend Brad before going out for drinks at a local bar. Connie, Greg and Brad all drove together to the Hayloft Bar around 10:00pm, leaving Connie’s car back at Greg’s house. Connie and the two men arrived early on in the night, where Connie can be seen on the front door’s surveillance camera wearing a black form-fitting sleeveless minidress with a flower-print skirt.
After checking in with the bouncer, the trio were seated at a table within the bar. The bar staff later reported to law enforcement that they were all “behaving normally” and that there was no apparent argument or anything particularly unusual happening with the group at their table.
Seemingly out of nowhere, at 11:00pm while Greg was in the restroom, Connie’s behavior suddenly changed where she told Brad: “I have to get out of here.” Abruptly, she walked away from the table, leaving her black purse behind. Surveillance footage by the front door captures Connie attempting to walk out while carrying her black heels in her hand, but she bumps into the wall and stumbles out. She appears heavily intoxicated.
When Greg gets out of the bathroom and back to the table, Brad tells him what happened, and the two of them walk out to the parking lot to see if they can catch Connie to see what’s going on and give her purse back. By the time they get outside, Connie is nowhere to be seen.
Greg and Brad then stay at the bar until 2:00am — the Hayloft Bar’s closing time — waiting for her to come back. Connie never does.
Not long after Connie left the Hayloft, police note that someone reported that they supposedly saw someone matching her description at a payphone near the bar. Along with the woman resembling Connie, there was also a late 1970s model car was near her — but no one saw if she got in it or not. This sighting was never confirmed.
A few days after, Connie was reportedly seen at the Newport Apartments about five minutes away from the Hayloft — but this sighting was investigated by the police and the lead was concluded to be unrelated and not Connie.
Where the case stands today
Both Greg and Brad have been cleared of any suspicion in Connie’s disappearance, and were even described by police as “forthcoming”.
In 2019, Det. Lt. Melissa Stevens with the Macomb County Sheriff's Office breathed new life into Connie’s case by reopening the investigation to explore potential new leads. At the same time, Nina Innsted of Already Gone podcast discussed Connie’s case on the 112th episode of the show.
Lt. Stevens shared with reporters that she personally believes Connie got into a car with someone, and that “something happened.” If you know anything that could help investigators close Connie’s case, please call the Macomb County Sheriffs Detective Bureau at 586-307-9358.
