Detective says 33-year-old Brenda Condon's cold case is 'no longer unsolved' – GantNews.com

The investigation into the disappearance of a Center County woman has been going cold for 33 years.

Brenda Louise (Coon) Condon, of State College and formerly of Clearfield, disappeared on February 27, 1991. She was 28 – almost 29 years old at the time.

Condon was last seen alive between approximately 12:45 and 1:15 a.m. at Carl's Bad Tavern, where she had just started bartending.

The tavern was formerly located on State Route 550 – two miles north of Bellefonte – near Interstate 80 in Spring Township, Center County.

According to several witness statements, an unknown man was reportedly at the tavern and Condon was seen interacting with him in the hours before her disappearance.

She was supposed to close after last call and then reopen at 11 a.m. as a day shift bartender. However, the tavern was found unlocked when Condon's colleagues arrived to relieve them at 6 p.m

Her gray 1986 Mercury Capri was in the parking lot, but Condon's purse and keys were missing and she hadn't shown up for her shift.

The bar's receipts from her previous shift had been properly stored in the business office.

There were no signs of a robbery or other violent crime at the bar. Condon was reported missing and investigators discovered her black cowboy boots – undisturbed – in the men's room.

Condon was never heard from again in 33 years. She shared two children with her ex-husband and lived in Harvest Circle, State College in 1959, where she lived with her boyfriend.

A 1980 graduate of Clearfield Area High School, Condon operated a home cleaning service in the State College and Williamsport areas. She had just started working as a bartender when she disappeared.

But for cold case expert in unsolved murders and unsolved mysteries, Detective Ken Mains, this case is “no longer unsolved.”

He documented his investigative work in the 26-part series “Brenda: The Carl's Bad Tavern Mystery” on his YouTube channel, which led him to a male offender and what he believes happened to Condon.

The “crux” of the case: a single beer bottle and a few dollars left on the bar overnight, Mains said in his final episode, admitting it was a detail he initially overlooked.

“That bottle, that single bottle, is from your abuser… and that money – those few dollars there – was her tip.

“…She was ready; The evening was over, but there was someone sitting there waiting for her to close the bar.

“Details – it’s in the details.”

So who is the perpetrator according to Mains?

He is reportedly a known hotheaded “ladies man” who Mains believes decided to play a flirtatious game of “cat and mouse” by leaving Condon's boots in the men's room and turning off the lights.

And members of his work team suspected he was the perpetrator, as Mains does now – and also pointed to his “obsession” with her missing person case.

That beer bottle belonged to the perpetrator and that beer bottle had the perpetrator's DNA on it, but it was long gone, he said.

For Mains, all of the perpetrator's evidence, eyewitness testimony, and biases support his investigative conclusion, as do the perpetrator's deceptive tactics – downplaying and even lying about his actions in connection with the case.

“The gig’s over, buddy.”

Mains turned his findings over to Condon's family so they could turn them over to state police investigators. He also offered them his ongoing support and guidance.

He said it is now his hope and prayer that the perpetrator will come forward and give Condon's family the peace, resolve and peace they so richly deserve.

Anyone with information about Condon's disappearance is asked to call or visit PA Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (1-800-472-8477). Online tip hotline.

You can also provide tips to the Pennsylvania State Police, Rockview Station, which is conducting the investigation, at 814-355-7545.

Facebook photo courtesy of Detective Ken Mains.

You can watch the full series, Brenda: The Carl's Bad Tavern Mystery, on Mains' Unsolved No More YouTube channel.

Mains is the founder of the world-renowned cold case group, the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases (AISOCC), created to assist law enforcement and victims' families in solving the plethora of unsolved cold cases.

Mains is a US Marine Corps veteran (1992-1996). During his deployment in the Marine Corps, he was assigned primarily to the Special Operations Training Group (SOTG), II Marine Expeditionary Force, with a focus on administrative intelligence.

Mains' law enforcement career included service as a member of the Williamsport Bureau of Police (2003-2011), the Lycoming County Drug Task Force (2005-2011), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (2007-2011) and the Lycoming County of Pennsylvania District Attorney's Office (2011-2018).

In 2015, he was appointed by the Lycoming County District Attorney to serve as Coordinator and Supervisor of the Lycoming County Narcotics Unit Drug Task Force until his retirement in 2018.

In 2017, Mains was asked by the History Channel to serve as an on-air expert for the investigation and production of a five-part true crime documentary about the unsolved “Zodiac” murders in California in the late 1960s.

His investigation into these murders can be viewed on various platforms including the History Channel, A&E, Amazon Prime and YouTube.

In 2020, Mains appeared in 10 episodes of Discovery Science Channel's series “Conspiracies Decoded” and appeared as an on-air consultant for the Reelz Channel show “When Friends Speak” in 2021.

Mains' current YouTube show, Unsolved No More, has over 100,000 subscribers and continues to be the fastest-growing true crime show on the platform.

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