Episode 144: Alana "Laney" Gwinner

Alana Laney Gwinner was born on March 18th, 1974 in West Chester, Ohio. After graduating from Lakota high school in 1992, she attended the University of Cincinnati to study accounting. She attended classes while working. On December 9th, 1997, she met up with a friend at Gilmore bowling lanes in Fairfield, Ohio. The plan was for the two friends to have some drinks and shoot some pool.


It's believed she left the bowling alley sometime between 12:30 AM and 1:00 AM on the morning of December 10th, 1997. After leaving the bowling alley, she planned on driving to her boyfriend's house, which was only two miles away. Before leaving the bowling alley, she called her boyfriend to let him know that she was on her way. She never made it to his house. It wasn't until 10:00 AM that her friends and coworkers became concerned. She was a responsible young woman and would not miss work or fail to contact her friends. Eventually law enforcement became involved after Alana was reported missing. Her body was found on January 11, 1998.


Alana's body was discovered during the search for a deceased police officer named Michael Parton, who had fallen into the Ohio river and drowned. Alana's death was ruled a homicide. Her body was fully clothed and she wasn't raped or robbed today. The motive remains a mystery.


For this story, I spoke to a high school teacher named Randy Hubbard, who works with students at Mason high school in Mason. The class is called cold case MHS. The students study different local cold cases and speak with law enforcement and do research on specific cold cases. Randy has spoken to retired law enforcement officers who have worked on Alana's case. He has also spoken to her brother about the case.


If you have any information about this case, please contact the Butler county Sheriff's department at (513) 785 - 1236 or the Fairfield police department at (513) 829 - 8201. And if you would like more information about this case, please visit the Mason High School cold case class website at: https://coldcase2.wixsite.com/mhscoldcase or their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/randy.hubbard.73594. You can also visit the Justice for Alana "Laney" Gwinner Facebook page.


Please also visit my website for more information about my true crime and paranormal newspaper columns at www.themarcabe.com. You can also help support my podcast by purchasing a cup of $5 coffee every month. To help support the podcast, please visit https://www.buymeacoffee.com/catchmykiller. If you would like to contact me about this podcast, please visit my websites www.catchmykiller.com or www.themarcabe.com where you can submit a case.