Cheryl Genzer

Date Found: October 1987

Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Investigating Agency: Oklahoma City Police Department

(405)297-1000

Seventeen year old Lisa Pennington, along with her twenty-five year old sister, Cheryl Genzer were last seen alive at the Oklahoma State Fair on September 23, 1987.

The sisters would both be found a month later, their bodies in a shallow grave. They had both been shot in the head- but each with a different caliber of weapon. It was known within days that the sisters had last been seen with a man named Lane Henley and another male friend of his. Their father even spoke with Henley prior to making the missing person’s report, according to court records. Henley told Mr. Pennington that Lisa and Cheryl had gone to his residence to use the phone in order to have someone come and pick them up, however Henley stated to Mr. Pennington that the sisters had subsequently left his residence and gone to the 7-11 to use that phone, presumably on foot. The story that Henley told to Mr. Pennington changed several times over the course of the conversation. Lane Henley would be arrested in October 1987 in Mexico and extradited back to Oklahoma to stand charges of murder for both Lisa and Cheryl.

In early 1992, all charges against Lane Henley were dismissed by request of the state. The case had fallen apart on numerous fronts, not the least of which was the faulty forensic evidence submitted by then forensic chemist, Joyce Gilchrist. Though authorities, and the family, have long believed that there were two killers involved, charges of murder were never brought against the other man. Though for what it’s worth- he was charged in April 1992 with perjury relating to the case against Lane Henley, and the man plead guilty to the charge. Lane Henley died in 2015. It’s believed the other man suspected in the killings is still alive.

Either way, Lisa and Cheryl’s murderer has gone free for nearly thirty-seven years. Neither of her parents lived to see justice for their daughters.

If you know anything about the murders of seventeen year old Lisa Pennington and twenty-five year old Cheryl Genzer, please contact the Oklahoma City Police Department at 405-297-1000.