Missing persons cases. Next to the BTK Strangler investigation (notorious Wichita, Kan., serial killer, still on the loose after 30 years), my biggest true crime obsession has to be those cases where people vanished, never to be seen or heard from again. If I think about it too much, I might never let my husband or son out of the house ever again.
However, there are a few particularly disturbing or puzzling cases that I'd like to highlight below (click on the name for details). Granted, statistics suggest these people probably passed on long ago and are not among the new neighbors who moved in up the street from you. But you never know. You could help solve a mystery (Robert Stack, rest in peace...).
Johnny Gosch—This young boy disappeared in 1982, while delivering the Des Moines Register in West Des Moines, Iowa. Amazingly enough, his mother now claims that he came to visit her in the late 1990s, supposedly telling her that he had been kidnapped by a highly organized, very corporate global pedophile/pornography ring that used mind control and torture to brainwash victims. If it's true, it should scare the jeebies out of you. If it's not, it'd still make a chilling motion picture.
Tara Calico—This woman, who would now be around 35 years old, disappeared in 1988 from New Mexico while on her routine, 36-mile bike route. Six months after her disappearance, someone at a convenience store in Florida found a Polaroid photograph of a young boy and a woman—who looked eerily like Tara—who were both bound and gagged with duct tape.
Jacob Wetterling—On his way home from a convenience store in St. Joseph, Minn., with his brother and a friend, this 11-year-old was taken at gunpoint by a masked man. Family and friends established the Jacob Wetterling Foundation in February 1990, four months after his disappearance, and continues to work to find missing children and to educate children, parents, caregivers, and teachers about personal safety.
Zeta Gordon—I heard all sorts of weird rumors about this beautiful woman's 1992 disappearance from Atchison, Kan., when I worked at a local paper there in the mid to late '90s. Her car was found near an abandoned farmhouse west of town; it was still running, and it contained a purse and a suitcase. She had left her home following some sort of argument. I can't find a lot of written info on her, but some people in town had their pet theories about family member(s) involved in her disappearance.
Brianna Maitland—This case haunts me because photos of this woman remind me of my own niece, Bri. The resemblance in some pictures is disconcerting. This 17-year-old left a restaurant in Montgomery, VT, the evening of March 19, 2004 and hasn't been seen since. Police found her car crashed backwards into the side of an abandoned farmhouse in Montgomery; her pay stub, some money, and her license were found in the car, but no Brianna. Her case has been linked in the media to another missing woman, Maura Murray , who disappeared in New Hampshire a little more than a month earlier. The 21-year-old nursing student disappeared from a one-car accident she got into on her way to, interestingly enough, Vermont. Police deny any connection, but the wrecked cars in both cases set off my alarm bells.
As my blog continues, I plan to post a "missing person of the week". I think abductions, assaults, and other violent crimes against people—in particular, women and children—are a serious epidemic in this country that people don't take nearly seriously enough. Until next week, check out this and this.
However, there are a few particularly disturbing or puzzling cases that I'd like to highlight below (click on the name for details). Granted, statistics suggest these people probably passed on long ago and are not among the new neighbors who moved in up the street from you. But you never know. You could help solve a mystery (Robert Stack, rest in peace...).
Johnny Gosch—This young boy disappeared in 1982, while delivering the Des Moines Register in West Des Moines, Iowa. Amazingly enough, his mother now claims that he came to visit her in the late 1990s, supposedly telling her that he had been kidnapped by a highly organized, very corporate global pedophile/pornography ring that used mind control and torture to brainwash victims. If it's true, it should scare the jeebies out of you. If it's not, it'd still make a chilling motion picture.
Tara Calico—This woman, who would now be around 35 years old, disappeared in 1988 from New Mexico while on her routine, 36-mile bike route. Six months after her disappearance, someone at a convenience store in Florida found a Polaroid photograph of a young boy and a woman—who looked eerily like Tara—who were both bound and gagged with duct tape.
Jacob Wetterling—On his way home from a convenience store in St. Joseph, Minn., with his brother and a friend, this 11-year-old was taken at gunpoint by a masked man. Family and friends established the Jacob Wetterling Foundation in February 1990, four months after his disappearance, and continues to work to find missing children and to educate children, parents, caregivers, and teachers about personal safety.
Zeta Gordon—I heard all sorts of weird rumors about this beautiful woman's 1992 disappearance from Atchison, Kan., when I worked at a local paper there in the mid to late '90s. Her car was found near an abandoned farmhouse west of town; it was still running, and it contained a purse and a suitcase. She had left her home following some sort of argument. I can't find a lot of written info on her, but some people in town had their pet theories about family member(s) involved in her disappearance.
Brianna Maitland—This case haunts me because photos of this woman remind me of my own niece, Bri. The resemblance in some pictures is disconcerting. This 17-year-old left a restaurant in Montgomery, VT, the evening of March 19, 2004 and hasn't been seen since. Police found her car crashed backwards into the side of an abandoned farmhouse in Montgomery; her pay stub, some money, and her license were found in the car, but no Brianna. Her case has been linked in the media to another missing woman, Maura Murray , who disappeared in New Hampshire a little more than a month earlier. The 21-year-old nursing student disappeared from a one-car accident she got into on her way to, interestingly enough, Vermont. Police deny any connection, but the wrecked cars in both cases set off my alarm bells.
As my blog continues, I plan to post a "missing person of the week". I think abductions, assaults, and other violent crimes against people—in particular, women and children—are a serious epidemic in this country that people don't take nearly seriously enough. Until next week, check out this and this.
Comments