TN TN - Thelma Melton, 58, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, 25 Sept 1981

The Doe Network:
Case File 483DFTN

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/483dftn.html

Thelma Pauline Melton
Missing since September 25, 1981 from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee.
Classification: Endangered Missing


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Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: 1923
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 58 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'11"; 170-180 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: Auburn hair; brown eyes. She wears eyeglasses.
•Medical Conditions: Melton was overweight, suffered from high blood pressure and nausea, and took medication for these ailments.
•Clothing: Melton was last seen wearing a white and pink sleeveless striped blouse, tan polyester pants and tan, low cut, size 8 1/2 shoes with crepe soles. The left soul had a crack across the ball of the foot, which would have given distinctive footprints. She also had with her Virginia Slims cigarettes, a diamond studded white gold wristwatch and a wedding bank.
•AKA: Polly

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Circumstances of Disappearance
On September 25, 1981 Polly Melton was hiking Deep Creek Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park together with two friends. On the hike back she walked ahead of the others and disappeared. She had hiked this trail for almost 20 years.

Prior to hiking, Polly had prepared sauce for the spaghetti she intended to cook for supper and had taken a short nap. If she took money, identification, or medicine with her, these items had been concealed from her friends. Polly was barred from driving that summer, so she had no car keys.

No one in Polly's family could believe she would leave of her own free will and fear she met with foul play.


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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Tennessee Bureau Of Investigation
615-744-4000

Source Information:
Smoky Mountain Disappearances
"Unsolved Disappearances in the Great Smoky Mountains", by Juanitta Baldwin. 2001

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/melton_thelma.html
More details at Charley Project.

Disappearances in the Great Smokey Mountains - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
Cold Case thread.

TN TN-Disappearances in the Smoky Mountains - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
Thread for all missing from Smokey Mnts.

Archived articles:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...g=6044,3414373&dq=thelma-pauline-melton&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...pg=3022,485992&dq=thelma-pauline-melton&hl=en

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/f...ery-surrounds-disappearances-over/?printer=1/
(Wonky webpage, scroll to bottom).

snipped from last linked article:

Thelma Pauline Melton, Jacksonville, Fla.The 58-year-old Melton was last seen by her two hiking companions late in the afternoon of Sept. 25, 1981, on Deep Creek Trail. She was walking ahead of the other two, who last saw her walking over a hill. Melton was overweight and suffered from high blood pressure, so her two friends thought it was odd she would be walking so fast. According to stories from the time, when the two made comments about her pace Melton turned to them and laughed and kept going. The search for Melton was called off on Oct. 5, 1981

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Thelma is originally from Jacksonville FL.

Thelma has been missing almost 29 years. Come home soon.

Brief mention of Thelma in this article from 2012
Some Smokies disappearances never solved
http://www.thedailytimes.com/news/some-smokies-disappearances-never-solved/article_ca8015f0-3ecf-5391-93c8-388518e77ed1.html

NAMUS: https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/14284

Thelma Pauline Melton
Reported missing Sept. 25, 1981. Melton, 58, of Jacksonville, Fla., was hiking near Deep Creek Campground with two friends when she went out ahead of them and disappeared. Melton was familiar with the trail, having hiked it many times before.

Mysteries of the Smokies: Five missing people never found

Polly has been missing for 38 years today.

Name: Thelma Pauline "Polly" Melton

Missing from: Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Date Missing: September 25, 1981

Description: Melton was 58 years old when she went missing. White female, 5'10" tall, 180 pounds, brown eyes, red hair. Last seen wearing a pink and white blouse, tan slacks, low-cut tan shoes, and eyeglasses.

Case Info: Melton was last seen hiking on the Deep Creek Trail. Her companions lost sight of her as she walked ahead at a faster pace.

Cold Cases - Investigative Services (U.S. National Park Service)

Pauline Melton - Obituary

William Thomas Melton - Groce Funeral Home

Dates and ages are a bit off, but the pic of Polly is spot on, names are accurate. Please help me solve this riddle.

Polly has been missing for 39 years today.

Mr.G1987 said:

Pauline Melton - Obituary

William Thomas Melton - Groce Funeral Home

Dates and ages are a bit off, but the pic of Polly is spot on, names are accurate. Please help me solve this riddle.

Click to expand...

Nope, two different women in my opinion, from the picture to the name. Thelma Pauline Melton and Pauline Field Melton are different though they are both nicknamed "Polly". That would also explain why the dates and ages are off. Comparing the pictures, the mouth does not look similar at all to me. No riddle = different people.

Bump

As of yesterday, Pauline has been missing for 40 years.

What Happened To Polly Melton, Unsolved Case

What happened to Polly Melton? Was it foul play or did she just walk off from her current life to start a new life elsewhere? You decide.

THELMA PAULINE “POLLY” MELTON, DISAPPEARED SEPTEMBER 25, 1981, GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK, NORTH CAROLINA

On September 25, 1981, 58-year-old Thelma Pauline Melton (Polly) started down the Deep Creek Trail in the Smoky Mountains with two companions. She liked the cliffs and expended as much time as she could in the Smokies. She adored hiking the Deep Creek Trail and had been hiking it for almost 20 years. She was exceptionally aware of this particular region of the park. As they reached the park Bob parked their Airstream trailer and stayed inside while Polly and her two companions readied for a leisurely hike (Bob was 20 years older than Polly and in bad fitness, he wasn’t able to join in on the hikes). The trail they were walking is summarized as ‘easy’ so there weren’t any challenges to face in the path of tough terrain.

Polly Picked Up
As the hike began, Polly unexpectedly picked up her pace and stepped ahead of her friends (around 4:00 pm) rapidly leaving them behind. The friends saw her walk over a little hill and go out of sight, and they inferred they would see her back at the trailer. At around 4:30 pm they made it back to the trailer. Bob was inward but Polly was nowhere to be found and Bob hadn’t noticed her since she’d left for the hike.
Polly’s two companions went back to the region they last saw Polly and they started searching for her but were incapable to locate anything that indicated in the way that she may have gone. She was reported disappearing at 6:00 pm that evening, and a much bigger search effort was soon underway.

Over that week, some 150 people scoured for Polly, as well as numerous search dogs. At one point a dog alerted to a tree that was downed, and searchers think she may have halted to rest there for a moment. They didn’t pick up on her odor in any other area.
Not so much as a trace was discovered of Polly.

Unusual
According to her day-to-day routine, not much extraordinary happened on the day Polly went disappearing. The only thing extraordinary was that she decided against going to the volunteer job she went to every day, passing out meals to the elderly. The day before that, nonetheless, it was reported that she made various phone calls using the work phone. It was told she never used the phones in the 4 years that she had been volunteering. Law enforcement was incapable to trace the phone calls so we don’t understand if they were in any way related to her disappearance.

Her pastor did express that she had been battling with a bout of depression after her mum had perished earlier in the year, and it was presumed that she was remotely suicidal. She has prescribed Valium in 1979 as a muscle relaxant but had quit taking them before 1981. Yet, her spouse’s bottle of Valium was found to be missing after she vanished, but it’s never been assumed that she was the one who took them. Her pastor also indicated that he thought Polly may have been having a relationship with another man at the time. This has also never been verified.

In April 1982
Possibly one of the most interesting things about this disappearance is that in April 1982, a check was written presumably by Polly Melton and cashed in Birmingham, Alabama in her name. Googling her name directs to the obituary of a man who perished in 2013 who resided in Birmingham. It also listed that he was preceded in death by two sisters. One of which had the name, Thelma Pauline Melton Coincidence? Or perhaps, just maybe it was Polly.

The only assumption, but most believe, including me, Polly schemed to vanish that day. I think she was depressed and exhausted with the life she had, living with a husband that was sick and couldn’t join in the actions she enjoyed. She met someone and on the day before she went missing, she organized everything utilizing the phone at the place she volunteered. That day, she accelerated her pace so that she could get in front of and leave her friends behind so that they wouldn’t notice where she went. Her lover was waiting for her and she fled with him, leaving her former life behind in the cliffs she so dearly adored.

What say you?

What Happened To Polly Melton, Unsolved Case - Basic Trendy

Today is Pauline’s birthday.

If she disappeared to a better life, I say more power to her in spite of the people who cared about her. I think it is more likely that she used the hike in a place that she loved to tuck herself away in a cozy space with the missing bottle of Valium and go to sleep forever. The friends may have been chosen to be alibis for the husband so that even if she was found he wouldn't be blamed. Just my thoughts.

Catmommy said:

I think it is more likely that she used the hike in a place that she loved to tuck herself away in a cozy space with the missing bottle of Valium and go to sleep forever.

Click to expand...

I think if she did that, her body would likely have been found during the searches with the dogs....

While I heartily advocate using trained search dogs, they are, unfortunately, not infallible. Until we know the truth, which looks unlikely now, most any scenario is possible.

Appalachian Unsolved: Polly Melton Missing in the Smokies | wbir.com

May 21, 2018

"Overweight and a smoker, Polly Melton may not sound like a hiker.

But she loved the mountains.

Polly spent the fall living at the base of the North Carolina side of the Great Smoky Mountains at the Deep Creek Campground. She’d been calling that area her second home for more than 20 years."

"It’s the place where Polly would disappear forever.

Her story isn’t well-known, but one author made sure it was told.

A mystery buff, author Juanitta Baldwin researched the tales of the missing, including Thelma Pauline “Polly” Melton."

Appalachian Unsolved: Polly Melton, missing in the Smokies

WBIR - Dec 8, 2017

It’s been more than 40 years since Thelma Pauline “Polly” Melton disappeared while hiking with friends in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The 58-year-old went hiking with friends in the Deep Creek area on September 25, 1981. Around 4 p.m. Melton picked up her pace and walked ahead. Her friends told investigators they watched as she walked over a hill on the trail and out of their view.

The friends assumed Melton had returned to the campground where an Airstream owned by Melton and her husband was parked, but when they arrived half an hour later Melton’s husband — who had remained behind — said he hadn’t seen her.

Around 6 p.m., the group reported Melton missing to a park ranger.

Description

• Height: 5 feet, 10 inches
• Weight: 180 pounds
• Eye color: brown
• Hair color: Auburn/red
• Other: Wearing a pink and white blouse; tan slacks; low-cut tan shoes and eyeglasses. She was also wearing diamond-studded white gold wristwatch and a wedding band.

Melton was said to be familiar with the trail, and no indication was found that anyone had ventured off the path. She was taking medication for high blood pressure and nausea at the time of her disappearance.

The Charley Project, a website that seeks to raise public awareness for thousands of “cold case” missing people, reports that Melton was grieving the death of her motherthat year, but was not considered to be suicidal.

The site also reports that Melton, who is reported to have smoked two packs a day, had cigarettes with her, but no cash, ID or medications on her when she disappeared.

Pauline has been missing for 41 years today.