FL FL - Viola Findley, 28, Volusia County, 1 Sept 1983

tifflee

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Ms. Findley was last seen in Florida, but she went missing anywhere between there and Iowa. She is reported as missing in either September or October of 1983.

DoeNetwork profile: http://doenetwork.org/cases/2902dffl.html

The Doe Network:
Case File 2902DFFL
VMFindley.jpg


Viola Marie Findley
Missing since October 1983 from Volusia County, Florida
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics

  • Date Of Birth: December 17, 1954
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 29 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 170-200 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown, shoulder length hair; brown eyes.
  • Marks, Scars: Pointer Finger had a bad nail.
  • AKA: Vi
  • Dentals: Broken front tooth.
  • Fingerprints: Available.
Circumstances of Disappearance
Viola was last seen by her family in Florida in October 1983. She never made it back to her three children in Iowa.

She was reported missing, but her file has been lost over the years.

Iowa Cold Cases profile: http://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/viola-findley/
Viola Marie Findley, accompanied by a friend, left Waterloo, Iowa, in the summer of 1983 to pay a visit to Ms. Findley’s family in Florida. Findley’s three children remained in Iowa, and on September 1, 1983, Findley left her mother’s home in Daytona Beach to head back to Waterloo.

Ten days later, when Findley still hadn’t arrived in Iowa, family members in Florida were notified. Findley’s mother contacted Daytona Beach authorities to report her missing daughter.
NamUs profile: https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/2914/5/
Circumstances
My sister came to Fl. with a friend. She never made it back to her three children in Iowa. We did not know she was missing until 10 days after she left. She was reported missing from my mothers home in Daytona Beach,Fl. 12 years after she went missing mom had a Presumptive Death certificate issued. The Police then closed her file and put it in storage where it was destroyed in a flood of the records room. The Flagler county sheriffs office is looking into a jane doe found here in 1993. Cpl. Kim Davis is looking into the possibility that the jane doe may be my sister. She is the one who found out about my sisters missing persons report and what had happened to it. DNA is being done on Jane Doe. NAMUS and Cpl Davis have gotten DNA from myself and my sister's Son and Daughter.We are awaiting the results at this time. I do not know which states to look in for unidentified remains due to not knowing which state between here and Iowa she disappeared from.
 
I found a post, apparently by Ms. Findley's sister, on the Charley Project's blog:
Betti Says:
January 8, 2011 at 12:18 pm

Meaghan,
I have no LE contact Nr due to almost all the records being destroyed at the police Dept in Daytona Beach, Fl.
My mom filed the missing person report and after 10 years waiting for some word on my sister finaly had a peresumed certificate of Death issued. A Jane Doe was found not far from where my sister was last seen. The Jane Doe had been murdered and had been lying in the woods for over 10 years. I was contacted by Flagler County law enforcement who looked for my sisters information and no one at the volusia county office could find the file due to the case being closed because of the death certificate.. in 2009 after my mothers death I called FCSO and found out that the jane doe was still unidentified so we started from there, we found out that the MP file was destroyed while in storage. FCSO thought since my sister was in flagler county that maybe we should try for DNA. I found NAMUS told them the story and gave them the FCSO contact from there we got my sister put on Namus. Since then the Doe network also picked it up. I have not heard about the DNA test yet but hope to soon. I know that my Sister Disapeared form somewhere between Fl and Ia. There are no paper trails or sightings of my sister..
The only other mention I found of Viola Findley in a quick newspaper search was a short blurb in the Daytona Beach Morning Journal on October 31, 1969 (link here):
Ribbon winners in the junior baking contest: blue, Viola Findley, Daytona Beach...
She is mentioned in this Websleuths thread as a possible comparison: TX TX - Hockley, Female , 25-35, Partial Skel. by Shallow Grave -Has Given Birth, Apr'84 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community.
 
I remember the cake she won with. The DNA results showed that the skeleton found was not hers. Still looking.
 
Betti, I am sorry your sister is still missing. This is a great community of people dedicated to help you and LE bring her home.

Mods: It's been a while, but I just realized that I copied/pasted a comment from a blog into a post above. Apologies for not referencing the time/date of the comment back then! :)
 
I found a unidentified female remains at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation the remains numberr 287 I also recently found out I have a genetic anomaly in my lower back so I called Bloomingdale Georgia and ask to talk to the agent working with it and he has not called me back yet its only been a day or two
 
She told me herself I saw her just before she left to go back to her kids in Iowa and was 10 days later that I found out she never made it one of her friends up there called to tell me that her baby was in the hospital and wanted to know where she was so that's the first time we knew that she was missing.
 
There is a UID with very little information being discussed in this thread that might be of interest: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...m-UP4847-18-26-On-Unplanted-Farm-Field-Feb-84.

Betti, I hope the GBI gets back to you soon! How did Viola get to Florida and did she mention how she was getting home? Hitchhiking? Bus? Driving? Also, did she mention a possible path that might narrow down the number of state combinations she was trying to go through back to Iowa?
 
She came down with a friend who was abused. They drove down. She stopped by here to borrow some bus fare back. Have no clue if she got onto a bus. She argued with the people she came down with and they parted company. It was 10 days after that I found out she never made it back.
 
Summary on Viola's case from Iowa Cold Cases: http://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/viola-findley/.

The comments on the ICC post are helpful. Sorry, Betti - could have saved you some questions if I had seen your responses on the ICC post first.

It's so strange that Viola tries to help a woman escape an abusive husband, there's apparently an argument, and then supposedly the people she traveled with strand her in Florida. Doesn't seem nice or grateful if that group included the woman she was trying to help. Also, you have to wonder if the woman's abusive husband got wind of what was going on and came after his wife.
 
Yes and the girl never came forward. All my sister wanted to do the last time I saw her was to get home to her kids.
 
When we went to where
My sister was living they had thrown all her stuff out what wasn't taken was left outside all we found that was an old address book of hers every thing else was trashed. Nothing that was of any help.
 
Never say sorry for asking questions the idea that someone is trying to help me is overwhelming and I sincerely appreciate it. I started a FB page to keep my niece and nephew up to date. If you want or anyone on this thread would like to look at it the name is Finding Viola Marie Findley.
 
Betti, am I correct in understanding that the identity of the friend she was with is unknown? Could it have been someone her children were familiar with?

It might be a longshot, but if divorce records are available for the time and area, that could be a key to discovering the woman's identity.
 
The kids were 8 ,3 and 1 1/2 So we did not get alot of help there the info that was in the destroyed MP report may have had it.
 
I just thought about it the kids were put in foster care by the state I wonder if they would have that info. Oh and it took 3 months for us to get the kids.
 

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