Family fears for woman who left with man she met online

Story Published: Mar 6, 2006 at 2:07 PM PST

Story Updated: Aug 20, 2006 at 10:14 PM PST

- By Anna Song
and KATU.com Web Staff

NEWBERG, Ore. - A family from Newberg fears the worst after a woman left for Montana with a man she met over the Internet and then disappeared.

The man Lucille Lewis left with turned out to be a convicted felon and police are investigating him in her disappearance.

Cassie Jones says her sister, who was getting over a divorce from her husband of 20 years, started talking about Earl Stipe last summer.

Lewis had met Stipe over the Internet and even brought him home to visit one week last fall.

"Some of the things he was telling us, I'm going 'red flag, red flag.' This cannot be true," said Jones.

Stipe told the family he was a retired federal marshal now working on ranches outside Missoula.

However, it turned out he was a convicted felon on probation for forgery and cruelty to animals.

Lewis told her family she had done a background check, but now they are not sure she did.

Shortly before she left for Montana, Lewis left behind her job at Oregon Mutual Insurance in McMinnville where she had worked as an underwriter for 25 years. She also cashed out her 401k.

The last time anyone heard from Lewis was Jan. 31. She told a friend she was planning to come home and settle her finances in Oregon.

That is the same day Stipe told Cassie Jones he was dropping Lewis off at the airport in Missoula, but Lewis never came home.

"She followed this man to Montana thinking he was her true love and that he was going to take care of all of her problems and that didn't happen," said Jones.

Stipe has actually been in custody since mid-February after weapons were found in his home, a violation of his probation.

Investigators have seized a truck and a boat to look for evidence in Lewis' disappearance. They also want to know why Stipe cashed two of her checks.