PASTOR FOUND: Rhodenizer found inside Ohio strip club

Local News

March 29, 2008

By Dan Miner/minerd@gnnewspaper.com The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sat Mar 29, 2008, 01:26 AM EDT

Susan Rhodenizer had finally fallen asleep Thursday night.

Two phone calls from police later, the wide-awake Rhodenizer had her missing husband back.

“We are ecstatic that this was the outcome,” she said. “I thought, earlier, that I was going to be planning a funeral.”

Craig Rhodenizer, a 48-year old Town of Lewiston resident and pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Lyndonville, was found early Friday morning inside a strip club near Dayton, Ohio, the apparent victim of a mental health crisis.

Before he was found, Rhodenizer was last heard from in a phone call to his wife at around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday as he was driving to Best Buy in Amherst to have a computer fixed. Police have no idea what he did in between the time he went missing and when he was found.

“He drove his vehicle there, as far as we can determine,” said Sgt. Frank Previte of the Lewiston Police Department. “The time in between, we have no answer for, since he was saying he didn’t remember anything or how he got there.”

When officers from the Riverside Police Department approached him, Rhodenizer appeared distraught and told him he didn’t know who he was or how he got there. He was checked out at Grand View Medical Hospital and found to be physically fine. He was picked up by friends in the area and was staying at their home.

“It’s a situation of stress over time from his job,” Susan said. “With working with people in crisis, this unfortunately happened and this is how it manifested itself.”

Since Rhodenizer was reported missing, an investigation was initiated involving the Lewiston police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. His cell phone registered several “pings” Wednesday night from towers in Pennsylvania.

In a Thursday interview, Susan described her husband as an “outgoing and gregarious” person. Before he went missing, the couple had been set to take a work trip and vacation to Florida. Their 9-year old son, Stephen, was ready for his first trip to Walt Disney World.

Contact reporter Dan Minerat 282-2311, ext. 2263.

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