Police Don’t Believe Any Links Exist Among Three Missing Venango County Men

| January 31, 2018

OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — While rumors may be rampant about possible connections among three missing men in Oil City, police have no such suspicions.

In the past two months, three Oil City men have gone missing with little or no information about their whereabouts.

The trio includes, John G. Stegall, 61, Daniel Kulling, 34, and Steven T. Martin (Rudge), 23.

In a phone interview with exploreVenango.com on Tuesday, Oil City Police Chief Robert Wenner had no new developments to report and squashed rumors of a possible connection between the cases.

“We have no reason to believe there is any connection among them,” Chief Wenner added.

The first man to disappear was Stegall, pictured above. He went missing from his Plummer Street home at 4:15 a.m., Monday, November 27.

Police and fire departments searched for Stegall in wooded areas and the Allegheny River.

Stegall is described as 5-feet, 11-inches tall, 140 pounds, with gray hair.

He was last seen wearing black sweatpants, a green and blue sweatshirt and camouflage slippers.

He is believed to have left his home on foot.

Kulling, pictured above, was the next to disappear. He was seen by family members at his residence the night of December 23. After three days of searches conducted by family members, a missing person report was filed at teh Oil City Police Department

Since that time, police, in conjunction with the Cherrytree Township Volunteer Fire Department’s K-9 Search and Rescue Unit, have conducted several searches of various areas – along with the cooperation of Kulling’s family.

There have also been private searches conducted by friends and family at various locations in the city.

Oil City Police have conducted several interviews and are continuing an ongoing investigation into Kulling’s disappearance.

In addition, the Kulling investigation led to the January 11 drug arrests of an Ohio woman, Deidra Rose Cunningham, of Medina, Ohio, and Timothy Geiger, 29, of Oil City.

Kulling has his own criminal record dating back to 2002. He has convictions for making terroristic threats, corruption of minors, theft, criminal conspiracy, and drugs.

Kulling is described as 5-feet-5-inches tall, weighing 140 pounds with short blonde hair and blue eyes.

The most recent person to go missing was Martin, pictured below, who was last seen at his Oil City residence at 2 p.m. Saturday, January 27.

Martin is deaf and is believed to have “diminished mental health,” according to police.

Martin is described as 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds. He has brown hair, a beard, and blue eyes.

Martin was last seen wearing a “Tap Out” sweatshirt, blue jeans, and cowboys boots.

Chief Wenner said each case is being handled differently due to varying circumstances.

He went on to explain his department’s procedures when receiving a missing persons report.

GE DIGITAL CAMERA“When we take a report, we try to find out as much information as we can about the person to help determine if it’s suspicious, a runaway or something else,” Wenner said.

“If the report is about an adult, how we handle it depends on the circumstances. If we believe it’s foul play versus someone who we believe wanted to disappear, that all goes into how we investigate.”

“For people with health concerns, such as specific medications they must take regularly or those with Alzheimer’s or dementia, that also plays a role in how a case is looked at,” Wenner said.

Anyone with information related to the disappearance of any of the men is asked to call Oil City Police at 814-678-3080.


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