FL FL - Gail Joiner, 13, Thonotosassa, 22 Sept 1972

sharon25

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Ok,
I was searching the internet on other missing persons
and came across this:

"The case involving eleven-year-old Gail Joiner who has been missing since 1972, is an open case today. "

However, I can't find any information on her on the internet at all, except for that quote.

http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/Sheriffs/25_M_Beard.htm
5th paragraph down.

is this a missing person who's case has been forgotten??

thanks!
 
I do not know about the specific case that you mention, but can say that there are a lot of missing person cases that for one reason or another have never made it on to the internet. Do some research on it, and if she is still missing, send your write-up to NCMEC and Doenetwork. Those sites have a set of criteria for what can be posted, but they do take case summaries that are offered to them.

I doubt that this little girl's case is "forgotten". Certainly not to family and loved ones. But it is possible that it never made it to the internet.
 
I e-mailed the Hillsborough County Sherriff's Office asking for more info on the case, when I get something back I will post-I also invited any detectives familiar with the case to post
 
shadowangel said:
I e-mailed the Hillsborough County Sherriff's Office asking for more info on the case, when I get something back I will post-I also invited any detectives familiar with the case to post
Thank you!
I was thinking of calling them and finding out as well.
Please let us know when you find anything out.
 
I heard back from the Hillsbourough County SO, I was told that a person had confessed to murdering the young lady but the body has never been located. I was also told that the department's policy is to not release information on open cases to the general public, which I can fully understand, and I passed along some info on the web resources available if the dep't should ever like the assistance.
 
shadowangel said:
I heard back from the Hillsbourough County SO, I was told that a person had confessed to murdering the young lady but the body has never been located. I was also told that the department's policy is to not release information on open cases to the general public, which I can fully understand, and I passed along some info on the web resources available if the dep't should ever like the assistance.
It would seem that the case against the confessed murderer might be a bit stronger if they had a body. I would also imagine that the family might want to know where her body is as well, so that she could be given a decent burial. It is odd that she is not included on the usual websites.
 
We discussed the "murderer" in another case here. Apparently the person had confessed to a number of murders, many of which he could not be connected to. I was quite surprised at the deputy's response myself.
 
I FINALLY found something on this girl.

On September 22nd, 1972, 13 year-old Gail Joiner returned to her Thonotosassa, FL home from school. After eating a sandwich, she took her pet raccoon for a walk, strolling barefoot down the road near her home.
At least 11 people reported seeing the freckle-faced blonde speaking to someone in a white car near a wooded area. No one saw her get in the car. She has never been seen again. It was said she was extremely proud of her pet, named "Bandit". Someone showing an interest in the raccoon could have easily grabbed her.
Hillsborough deputies went so far as to collect the carcasses of 17 raccoons in an attempt to find out where she may have disappeared. The family claimed they could easily identify the raccoon due to burn marks on its paws.
 
Gail was my best friend in Middle school. I had horrible nightmares when this hapened to her. In fact what happened to her decided how I was a a child as well as a parent. Anyone with information on Gail or her family please let me know. I know she had an older sister and would love to get in touch with her. This happened in 1972 and I have heard several different stories on how and why. So yes Gail is still thought of and loved! Thanks Tressa
 
Here's the whole article:

PetMayHoldKeyToFateOfMissingGirl.jpg


Sorry it's kind of hard to read towards the end. Does anyone know why she's not listed on NCMEC or Doe?
 
Gail is on the Nation Missing Children list but not the internet one. I got very frustrated and called them. At first they did not want to tell me anyting but I was then told she was on the list. But they did not have her on the internet. I agree with her dad she would not have run away she loved her family. She was very close to her sister. Anyone having information on how I can reach her family let me know. Also I talked with a detective there today and was told her case is still open and the gilrs whose picture I found on line as a Jane Doe was not her. I will keep looking for old pics of my friend. Thanks for the article. Tressa
 
This case is a perfect example of Law Enforcement holding on to vital information long after the reason for doing so has expired. It makes one wonder if the withholding of information or "classifying" it might be to cover up screw-ups in the investigation, rather than protecting sources or a hot investigation.

They haven't solved this one in almost 34 years. Does anyone believe that they are on the verge of solving it tomorrow - thus the necessity of with holding information like her photo, height, weight, eyecolor, birthdate, etc?

Since she is not in NCMEC or Doenetwork, here is what such a listing would look like. If anyone can fill in the blanks, add photos or links, please do.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Gail Joiner
Missing 22 September 1972 from Thonotosassa, Hilsborough Co. FL
Classification: Endangered Missing, possible Non-Family abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: 1968 or 1969
Age at Time of Disappearance: 13 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: ______________

Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Long Blonde hair. ________
Marks, Scars: Freckled face.
Clothing: ______________

Circumstances:

On September 22nd, 1972, 13 year-old Gail Joiner returned to her Thonotosassa, FL home from school. After eating a sandwich, she took her pet raccoon for a walk, strolling barefoot down the road near her home.
At least 11 people reported seeing the freckle-faced blonde speaking to someone in a white car near a wooded area. No one saw her get in the car. She has never been seen again.

One of seven children, Gail is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Joiner. The Joiner family had recently moved to Florida from Romulus, Michigan.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: Hilsborough County Sheriff Department. Phone: ___________________

Source Information:
Websleuths

Link:
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/Niffa2003/PetMayHoldKeyToFateOfMissingGirl.jpg
 
Richard, I had wondered if Gail was 11 or if she was 13. In the opening post of this thread it states that she is 11 years old.
 
Hollow said:
Richard, I had wondered if Gail was 11 or if she was 13. In the opening post of this thread it states that she is 11 years old.
The opening thread posting contains a link to a biography of the man who was in the Hilsborough County Sheriff in 1972. Gail is only mentioned in passing in that article.

The news article mentions her age as 13, but that could have been an "updated" age, as is so often the case when referring to someone who is still missing and their fate is not known.

I do not know what her birth date is. My point is that it doesn't make much sense for that kind of information to be with-held by police or family, especially after such a long time.
 
I'm with you on this one Richard. I was also surprised to hear that the NCMEC has her on the list - but not on the internet?????? Why are they withholding too?????

I realise that in some cases the family doesn't want publicity, but I was under the impression that in missing children's cases that was overrided. Are old cases not covered? If a child went missing before a law was passed does their disappearance not require disclosure?
 
Gail should have been 12 at the time she was abducted but could have been close to 13. I have seen that she was 11 in one article 13 in another. Also when you call into the Missing Children 800 number they do not want to talk to you about her. I knew this family and know they would have been destroyed at her dissappearance. Is there a way to get her case on the Adam Walsh show? Or one of the cold case shows? I have been making calls into the police departments in Florida. I did manage to get a dective to call me back they informed me they would find her case and call me back within a week. I cannot remember any other news articles on Gail growing up. This is why I wondered all these years what happened to her. Any ideas on anything else I can do to find family members let me know.
 
TressaClip said:
Gail should have been 12 at the time she was abducted but could have been close to 13. .... Any ideas on anything else I can do to find family members let me know.
I wonder if perhaps the family does not want publicity on Gail's case for some reason. Certainly, if they were to have contacted AMW, NCMEC, or Doenetwork, the case would have been featured. The fact that these kind of places either do not have anything, or refuse to talk about it is strange, but maybe that is what the family prefers.

Regarding the locating of people, you would first need as much information as you can find about them, such as full names, ages or birthdates, etc. A good place to start in cases like this is to first check the newspapers of the time for articles. If the person was murdered and a body recovered, there would be a funeral notice or maybe an obituary to look for, and sometimes relatives are listed there.
 
I found this about Gail on the net and I am thinking this might be why the family has not been able to do anything. Gerald Stano was arrested for killing a girl in Florida. H said at one point he killed Gail along with 40 others and then later he retracted his story. They thought it might be because he did not want to be known as a child killer as they were treated bad in prison. However he was a hero in his mind for killing the other women. Sick I know. I cannot believe he would have killed her as she did not look like a woman at all much younger than she actually was. I understood he hated bitchy women. However I feel that the family may believe he killed her but since there was no proof there is nothing they can do to close the case. I am glad this monster got the chair in Florida. I will continue looking for information on Gail and maybe her sister to let her know I have never forgotten my friend. Tressa
 
Richard said:
... Gail Joiner
Missing 22 September 1972 from Thonotosassa, Hilsborough Co. FL
Classification: Endangered Missing, possible Non-Family abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: 1968 or 1969
Age at Time of Disappearance: 13 years old ...
Well, I obviously cannot do math very well, since Gail's birthday would have been sometime between 1958 and 1960, rather than as I posted earlier.

As to her age at the time, I have found another source which refers to her as being 13 years old. The book is titled "Blind Fury" about serial killer Gerald Stano, who was on death row at the time the book was written (1993). He has since been sent on to a much warmer place.

Here is all the book says about Gail Joiner:

"On October 1, 1982, Jerry Stano confessed to the murder of twelve-year-old Susan Basile in June 1975, at Port Orange, Florida. This confession was difficult to obtain because Stano did not want people to know that he had killed a child. Jerry also confessed to murdering thirteen-year-old Gail Joiner, but later retracted that confession. He was still not showing remorse, just concern about others' opinions of him. He knew, too, that child killers and rapists are despised and ostracized in prison."...

"In January 1983, Jerry was taken to Hillsborough County on the Gail Joiner case. He took investigators to within a mile of where the girl was last seen."

"But Hillsborough County Sheriff's personnel had trouble dealing with Stano and his 'mental games'. They gave him a PSE examination in addition to Sodium Pentothal. They reported that he passed one and failed the other. Gail Joiner's body was not found, and Stano was returned to Florida State Prison. Stano still ejnoyed the cat and mouse game but only if the other players knew how to play."

Stano was convicted of several murders and because of a plea deal, was sentenced to life in prison. He felt that he deserved better prison perks and more recognition and so started confessing to more murders, including Gail's. Unfortunately for him, some of his subsequent confessions were not covered in any plea deals. Although he got more life sentences for some, he got a death sentence for murdering two girls. The trials were held separately and the earlier murder convictions were introduced as aggravating circumstances during sentencing phase.

In all, Stano received eleven murder convictions, but he confessed to others, and was suspected of more. Most of his victims were missing for long periods and when found, identification for some also took a long time. Two victims were never identified, but only referred to as Jane Does. Twelve-year-old Susan Basile was never found.
 

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