Video: Johnson County dentist’s car where body found pulled from Table Rock Lake
Less than one year ago in July, Debbie Lieurance — a long-time Wichita resident who moved to Overland Park with her husband — took to Facebook to publically remark on a happy and monumental moment: her 50th wedding anniversary with her husband, Steve.
“50 years,” Lieurance wrote on July 11, 2025. “I cannot believe that Steve and I have been married 50 years. I wouldn’t wanna do this life with anybody else but if I told you, it’s been a bed of roses all 50 years there’s been up and down that any marriage has but when you love somebody, you wanna work through everything.
“We have been blessed with two daughters two wonderful son-in-law‘s and five grandkids which is the perfect ending to our love story. Also down this road we have had so many friends that made the journey easier. The saying it takes a village is so true Happy Anniversary Steve.”
Friends and family are now present to help the Lieurance family mourn, as questions remain regarding the disappearance of Steven Lieurance on June 2 and, 12 days later, the discovery of his body and silver Mercedes submerged beneath the waters of Table Rock Lake in the heart of the Ozarks 225 miles away.
Lieurance, 73, was a dentist who maintained a years-long practice in Wichita before moving to Overland Park, reportedly to be closer to his children and grandchildren. He joined Esthetic Enhancement, a dental practice in Olathe.
On June 3, a flyer announcing Lieurance’s disappearance, who had last been seen at his dental practice on West 135th Street around 4:30 p.m., spread across social media.
On Monday, the Overland Park Police reported that Lieurance’s body had been discovered in his vehicle the evening before on June 14, in the lake alongside Joe Bald Park in Kimberling City, Missouri, about 18 miles east of Branson.
A recreational diver called law enforcement after diving and spotting a car in the waters approximately 100 feet off the shore of Joe Bald Park. Law enforcement began investigation on Saturday, June 13. On Sunday, June 14, a diving team from the Missouri State Highway Patrol recovered the 2008 Mercedes-Benz and Lieurance’s body, which reportedly had been there for several days.
A video of the car being extracted from the water, its front end crushed, appeared on social media through Table Rock Lake Fire/Rescue Incidents Facebook page at 5:47 p.m. on Sunday.
Contacted by The Star, Delores Lieurance said she was too emotional to speak about her son. She said that his wife and children were “devastated.” Reached by telephone, Lieurance’s daughter, Kristi Starr, also chose not to speak other than to say that her father was “a wonderful man.”
Scores of effusive and heartfelt social media posts attest to as much:
“I am so sad to read this,” wrote one. “Dr. Lieurance was the kindest man you could ever meet!”
“Rest in eternal peace Dr. Lieurance, my sincerest condolences to his wife Debbie & family,” wrote another.
“Sadness for the loss of a wonderful man, prayers for Debbie and family,” wrote a third.
“So very sad,” said yet another. “He was our dentist in Wichita for over 25 years. Such a nice man. Prayers for his family.”
Cpl. Sam Carpenter, the public information officer for the Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop D, which patrols Table Rock Lake, said that an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, and the results would be released to the Overland Park Police, which lead the investigation into Lieurance’s disappearance.
Lieurance’s car was found in the water perhaps as much as 100 feet away from the concrete boat ramp in Joe Bald Park. The boat ramp sits near a parking lot at the outer edge of a large peninsula, accessible by Joe Bald Road, which winds through several hundred acres of thick trees. Missouri Route 13 is the main highway into the park, about a four-hour drive from Olathe.
Carpenter said it is at best rare for cars to lose their way and mistakenly drive into the lake.
“Unfortunately, a lot of times when we have vehicles in the water,” Carpenter said, “It’s either due to a crash that ended up in the water, and or intentionally went in the water. I don’t know what the situation is in this case.”
Carpenter said he was unsure when the results of the autopsy would be available.
This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 5:09 PM.
