NH NH - Joanne Dunham, 15, Charlestown, 11 Jun 1968

Couldn't find an existing thread on Joanne.

From the NH Dept. of Justice website:

"On June 11, 1968 at approximately 7:10 a.m., Joanne Dunham, age 15, was last seen while walking from her home at Raiche Mobile Homes in Charlestown, NH enroute to her bus stop on her way to school. She never got on the bus. Her body was found at approximately 4:15 p.m. the following day on a roped off dirt road on Quaker City Road in Unity NH approximately 5½ miles from where she was abducted. An autopsy determined that Joanne died of asphyxiation."

Does anyone know if this case has been investigated as an early Rodney Alcala murder? According to most of the available timelines, Alcala was on the east coast in 1968 and worked as a counselor at a theatre camp near Lake Sunapee, right in between where Joanne disappeared from and the place her body was later found. The details of her murder line up seamlessly with Alcala's known preferences.

http://doj.nh.gov/criminal/cold-case/victim-list/joanne-dunham.htm

Thanks for the thread! I am not an Alcala researcher, so can't help with that...but I did find an old 1969 article about her death which states they had three suspects. One of those was a "prime suspect" and all three were said to be New Hampshire men. It also noted her hands were bound behind her back and her mouth and head were bound in 2" masking tape. (Paraphrased) Hope that helps some.

I can't link the ancestry newspaper, but took a screenshot if needed.

ETA: they also say they had "one good clue"

I'd love to know what that "one good clue" was. My guess would be hair or prints trapped in the bindings...

Please do post that screenshot! There's so little about this case online.

It looks like Alcala was still in L.A. for Joanne's murder.

Joanne Dunham
The 1968 unsolved homicide of Joanne Dunham.

Year of Death or Disappearance: 1968

City/Town: Charlestown

Status: Unsolved Homicide

On June 11, 1968 at approximately 7:10 a.m., Joanne Dunham, age 15, was last seen while walking from her home at Raiche Mobile Homes in Charlestown, NH enroute to her bus stop on her way to school. She never got on the bus. Her body was found at approximately 4:15 p.m. the following day on a roped off dirt road on Quaker City Road in Unity NH approximately 5½ miles from where she was abducted. An autopsy determined that Joanne died of asphyxiation.

I was looking at this in regards to the Connecticut River Valley Killer in Claremont NH area . One thing I noticed is that there seemed to be some similarities with the Sandra Valade murder in 1960. She was walking from a bus stop though to her home. Edward Coolidge was charged with the murders of Sandra Valade , and a Pamela Mason 1964 . it's an involved case . Unsolved Mysteries Wiki.

What I'm wondering is Did Coolidge act alone and did he know anyone that was from the Claremont Area possibly ?

There was a blog also that I was reading where the author posted that a 1989, Carrie Moss's murder may also be connected to the Connecticut River Valley Killer? Carrie Moss is a cold case from New Boston NH , not far from Manchester NH where Coolidge back in 1960's was tried on murder charges.

Here is a newspaper clip from 1968: Joanne Dunham Murder - Newspapers.com

JoAnne Dunham
Birth 15 Aug 1952
Buffalo, Erie County, New York, USA
Death 11 Jun 1968 (aged 15)
Unity, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, USA
Burial Saint Marys Cemetery
Claremont, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, USA
Plot Section J, Lot 3

LINK:

JoAnne Dunham (1952-1968) - Find A Grave Memorial

50 years later, murder is still unsolved

From the New Hampshire Department of Justice website:

"On June 11, 1968 at approximately 7:10 a.m., Joanne Dunham, age 15, was last seen while walking from her home at Raiche Mobile Homes in Charlestown, NH enroute to her bus stop on her way to school. She never got on the bus. Her body was found at approximately 4:15 p.m. the following day on a roped-off dirt road on Quaker City Road in Unity NH approximately 5½ miles from where she was abducted. An autopsy determined that Joanne died of asphyxiation."

Although Joanne was sexually assaulted, it is unknown if DNA is available for testing.

If you have information on this case, contact:

Cold Case Unit
NH State Police Major Crime Unit
33 Hazen Drive
Concord NH 03305
Telephone: 603-271-2663
Fax: 603-223-6270
E-mail: coldcaseunit@dos.nh.gov

LINK:
Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem: Who Strangled 15-year-old Joanne Dunham?

Joanne is my cousin. I've been looking for information on her case but there is so little there.

Chark said:

Joanne is my cousin. I've been looking for information on her case but there is so little there.

Click to expand...

I am sorry for your loss. This still disturbs people in her town(my town). Still remember. Can't go by without thinking of Joanne. Have spoken with some people known involved at the time, but didn't know if there were siblings or other relatives living. Would like to see her murder solved.

JoAnne's murder shows some similarity with a series of Michigan murders of young women that took place from 1967 to 1969.

Like in JoAnne's case, the Michigan women were all abducted by a person in a vehicle while outside, alone, and away from their residence. All were sexually violated and murdered in various ways - all involving close contact (shooting, bludgeoning, strangulation, and stabbing).

All victims were females of school age (13 - 23). All were white and all were dressed nicely. All or most were wearing jewelry, including earrings.

All victims were transported by vehicle to a different isolated location, just off a road and their bodies dumped in the open with no effort to conceal them.

I wonder if there might be a connection between JoAnne's murder and those in Michigan?

LINK:

MI - MI - JOHN NORMAN COLLINS Co-Ed Murders 1967-69, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti

JoAnne Dunham, age 15
Missing since 11 June 1968

Joanne Dunham, 15, was last seen walking from her home at Raiche Mobile Homes in Charlestown.

Dunham left her home to go to school at 7:10 a.m. on June 11, 1968, but she never made it on the bus.

Her parents became worried when she didn’t return home later that evening. They then learned she had failed to arrive at Fall Mountain High School in Langdon, according to an Associated Press report at the time. Her parents reported her missing that same day.
Authorities said her body was discovered later in the afternoon the next day.

She was found dead on a roped-off dirt road on Quaker City Road in Unity, more than 5 miles from where she was taken, officials said.
An autopsy determined that the 15-year-old Fall Mountain student died of asphyxiation, authorities said.

Can you help police solve this case? Submit a tip to the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit.

Charlestown teenager found dead day after abduction still unsolved after more than 50 years

The abduction and death of a teenage girl 54 years ago remains unsolved.

www.wmur.com

Bumping case up...

What is posted in this thread is about all the information I have ever seen on the murder of JoAnne Dunham. She was reported to have gone missing while enroute to her school bus stop.

Her abductor(s) have to have used a motor vehicle to transport her to the place where her body was found - some 5.5 miles away.

In trying to find any possible connections with other abductions and murders, I noted some similarities with the abduction/murders of young women and girls in Michigan in the same general time frame (see my post #12 this thread).

While those murders (1967-1969), and at least one in California (30 June 1969) are generally attributed to John Norman Collins, he was only convicted of one of them, and the others remain officially "unsolved". There is some question as to whether Collins killed solely on his own, or whether he may have had partners in in killing - as he did in other crimes he committed.

The Michigan victims were killed in a variety of ways: stabbing, shooting, blunt force trauma, strangulation. But there were some factors which tended to tie them together. All of the victims had been stripped of clothing to some extent, and often it was cut from their bodies with it knife. All were abducted in one place, transported to another where they were killed, and then transported again to another place where their bodies were dumped. Each body was dumped in a rural area, close to a road, and left in the open (that is not hidden or covered). In most instances, an earring or some other item or article of clothing/personal property was taken away from the scene as a trophy. There was evidence which showed that at least some of the victims had been bound or tied up.

It may be possible that New Hampshire investigators considered possible connections between JoAnne's murder and the cases in Michigan, but I do not know that for certain. The Michigan "Coed Murders" (as they were called in the press at the time) were widely reported on in newspapers across the US.

Probably the best source of information on JoAnne's case would be the New Hampshire Department of Justice Cold Case Unit:

Ken Mains on unsolved no more has just done an anaysis of this case. He also revealed what the one good clue was. I think it was she had been missing lots of Tuesdays at school and it was thought her killer had been an older person she was seeing. Don;t quote me on that but its on unsolved no more on Youtube.

Pettibon Junction said:

Couldn't find an existing thread on Joanne.

From the NH Dept. of Justice website:

"On June 11, 1968 at approximately 7:10 a.m., Joanne Dunham, age 15, was last seen while walking from her home at Raiche Mobile Homes in Charlestown, NH enroute to her bus stop on her way to school. She never got on the bus. Her body was found at approximately 4:15 p.m. the following day on a roped off dirt road on Quaker City Road in Unity NH approximately 5½ miles from where she was abducted. An autopsy determined that Joanne died of asphyxiation."

Does anyone know if this case has been investigated as an early Rodney Alcala murder? According to most of the available timelines, Alcala was on the east coast in 1968 and worked as a counselor at a theatre camp near Lake Sunapee, right in between where Joanne disappeared from and the place her body was later found. The details of her murder line up seamlessly with Alcala's known preferences.

Joanne Dunham | Cold Case Unit | NH Department of Justice

Click to expand...

ysi

I tipped Alcala to NH state police. Just in case. I can't find any date ruling him out. Was he in California in the summer of 1968?

JoAnne Dunham, age 15, Missing since 11 June 1968 <modsnip>