OR OR - Mary Frances Reid, 22, Portland, 8 April 1963

Kat

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I wasn't sure quite where to post this thread. If you know of a WS member that is good at tracking a person please send them a link to this thread.

The LE has identified the suspect of this homicide but they have been unable to locate him.

http://www.wwmt.com/articles/police-1393170-lawrence-michigan.html

Lawrence was born somewhere in Michigan in 1922. His last known address was in St. Louis in the 1970's.

(name is Johnny Lawrence according to the article).

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/02/portland_police_cold-case_unit.html

Lawrence was interviewed at the time of the homicide, and was 42 years old, suggesting he'd be 90 if he's still living. But police haven't been able to obtain his date of birth, other than presuming he was born in 1921.

I found it touching that after all these years her brother Joe refused to let the case die and called LE often. It was because he never gave up and because he kept calling year after year, decade after decade that he finally found someone that would work the case again.

Joe's words about it:

"There was many a day I just didn't think this would come to pass," Joe Reid said. "Her loss has been and will continuously be a life-altering experience for me and my family. You just don't know how much of a relief this is to my family."

I know we have some very skilled WS members that are very talented at tracking persons of interest or suspects. I hope that if you know of one here you will pass this case on to them and see what they might find for this family.
 
The 1963 murder of Mary Frances Reid

FEBRUARY 22, 2011


Mary Frances Reid – Portland PD
Portland Police (OR) are looking for Johnny Lawrence, a 90-year-old black man, who is about 5-foot-7. Lawrence is suspected of killing Mary Frances Reid (22) on April 8, 1963.

Whether Lawrence is still alive or, when he died, is unknown. There are no details about the connection or relationship between Reid and Lawrence. There is no photograph of Lawrence either.

Portland authorities have not been able to find Johnny Lawrence. Lawrence was interviewed at the time of the crime in 1963 . He was then a 42 years old man. If alive, he’d be in his 90s.

Police do not have his date of birth other than presuming he was born in 1921. This means that scanning databases of the missing and the unidentified gets complicated. They suspect that Lawrence fled some time after the crime and might have returned to the St. Louis, Mo., area. That is where he lived before coming to Portland in the late 50s or early 60s.

Mary Frances Reid‘s body was found by her sister Joanne. An autopsy showed she died of homicidal violence. Reid’s murder is the Portland police’s oldest unsolved case. Despite that, Mary’s case is missing on their cold cases page.

If you have any information about the Reid case or about Johnny Lawrence – include his address, exact date of birth or, his death – please call the Portland Police Cold Case Homicide Unit, 1-503-823-9748 or 1-503-823-0867.

LINK:
The 1963 murder of Mary Frances Reid - Defrosting Cold Cases
 

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