KY KY - Ann Gotlib, 12, Louisville, 1 June 1983

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Ann Gotlib Missing since 1 June 1983 from Louisville, KY

Ann Gotlib
Missing since June 1, 1983 from Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

FBI Agency Case Number: 3-008036R
NCIC Number: M-102283792
The Doe Network: Case File 68DFKY

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: May 5, 1971
Age at Time of Disappearance: 12 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'1; 85 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female.
Red/auburn curly hair; gray eyes.
Gotlib has a fair complexion and light-colored eyebrows.
Marks, Scars: She has freckles on her face and moles on her lower back. She also has pierced ears.
Clothing: Navy blue shorts with white stripes on the sides, a red and white t-shirt, beige tennis shoes and gold earrings with purple stones.
Circumstances of Disappearance
Police and the FBI think that Ann was kidnapped from Louisville's Bashford Manor Mall on June 1, 1983. She was last seen riding her bicycle back to her home around 5:30 - 6:00 PM. Her red- and-white bicycle was found later propped up outside a department store. Gotlib has never been seen again.
Ann is a Russian Jewish immigrant and came to USA in 1980. She speaks fluent Russian and English.

If you have any information concerning Gotlib's case, please contact:
Federal Bureau Of Investigation Louisville 502-583-3941

Source Information: The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children

link:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/68dfky.html
 
It's hard to believe nobody saw anything. I wonder how publicized the request for information was at the time? I wonder if it included surrounding areas (if it was a weekend there would be a good chance that someone from another area came to Louisville to shop and might have seen something strange). Or I guess people travel to shop on weekdays too, but at any rate it just seems like there should be someone out there who saw something!! It almost sounds as if the perpetrator spotted her at the mall or thereabouts and then waited until she started her ride home before abducting her/taking her bike back to the mall.....am I reading that correctly?
 
Mullins said:
.....It almost sounds as if the perpetrator spotted her at the mall or thereabouts and then waited until she started her ride home before abducting her/taking her bike back to the mall.....am I reading that correctly?
Click to expand...
My first post concerning Ann Riding her bike home and it later being found at a department store is how the story appears on the Doenetwork and on NCMEC websites. I think that you might be reading more into the story, however. I do not know exactly where Ann was seen last, and do not know what the relationship was to the place where the bike was found. It could be that she was seen leaving one store and that the bike was found at another. Logic would indicate that the bike was left at the site of her abduction, but it may have been moved - either by her abductor, or perhaps by another child who happend upon it. My feeling is that once she was abducted, the perpetrator(s) would not have bothered taking or moving her bike.
 
I agree with you on that. I can't really imagine any abductor moving a bike (unless they couldn't pry her off it and happened to have a van). I have seen Bashford Manor Mall before (I don't know if it's still in operation now) and I do remember it being sort of out of the way---depending upon where she lived though she would have probably crossed roads that were heavy with traffic. I don't know what to make of the report someone made of seeing her riding her bike home at rush hour...unless they mistook someone else on a bike for her, or she later returned to the mall for some reason. Makes me wonder which direction "home" was for her....
 
Mullins said:
... I don't know what to make of the report someone made of seeing her riding her bike home at rush hour...unless they mistook someone else on a bike for her, or she later returned to the mall for some reason. Makes me wonder which direction "home" was for her....
Click to expand...
It is frustrating when such sightings are included as "fact" when they could indeed have been mistakes or even fabrications. It can throw an investigation off trying to make things fit. As to her home address, I do not know that, but you could probably go into newspaper archives (microfilm section of any large library) to look up press coverage at the time. Sometimes they mention the names of parents and might even state the address. You can also look up the parents names in old phone or city directories of that time frame (also to be found in larger libraries).
 
Ann Gotlib used to be posted on Child Protection Education of America as "Anna Gotlib." The name Anna actually makes more sense, since she was Russian-born, but it's been changed to "Ann" since so it matches all the other sites.
There were a few articles about the case on the 20th anniversary. I posted the information at http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gotlib_ann.html but it's really just a lot of dead ends.
I think it's particularly sad that the Gotlibs moved here from Russia for a better life, only to have Ann get kidnapped. Not that that could not have happened in Russia as well, but still.
 
Perhaps another child saw her bike abandoned somewhere and "borrowed" it the ride to the mall. Wouldn't that child be an adult now? I wonder if they publicized this more if an adult would come forward with a childhood memory.
 
Bumping case up. There seem to be many similar cases of children being taken while out riding bicycles or going to shopping centers.
 
Ann's case has always intrigued me. She bore a strong resemblance to 18 year old Terri Roach in Washington County Ohio. Both shared the birthday of May 5th. Terri disappeared and was found murdered in 1990. Her case remains unsolved ...... as do at least a dozen others. No one talks about them anymore. No one seems to care that a serial killer has been playing havoc with our people for many years now. I guess he'll die of old age before anyone considers him a suspect in anything.
 
Bumping case up. June 1 will mark the 25 year anniversary of Ann's disappearance. She was a 12 year-old girl aparently abducted while riding her bicycle between a shopping mall and her home. There may be similar cases which could be linked in order to develop possible suspects. Although it may have been a random grab by a pedophile, there could be something which would tie such a person to the area and the crime.
 
I can remember Ann's disappearance like it was yesterday, it's hard to believe it was 20 plus years ago. I've never heard this theory, but I was wondering if there is a connection in this case to the Beoria Simmons. Simmons was a serial killer who apparently raped and murdered White women around the 1982-83 timeframe. If i remember correctly, the victims were dumped around the Iroquois Park area. According to information that is posted on the Kentucky Department of Corrections' webpage, Simmons attempted to abduct a young woman on June 11, 1983...she managed to escape and later identify Simmons. Ann was believed to be abducted around June 1 that same year..I find that to be pretty coincidental. One has to believe that the FBI, Louisville PD had considered this, and as such interviewed Simmons about his whereabouts that day.
 
meggilyweggily said:
At 12, though, would Ann qualify as a "woman"? She looks very much a child in the photos.
Click to expand...

Just because Simmons' MO was to murder women, that does not mean he would or would not commit a crime against a child. I think given the timeframe of his murders, it would be plausible to investigate any links.
 
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/gotlib_ann.html

According to the Charley Project, there are some things that might make more sense.

1. Ann apparently lived ONLY across ONE street from the mall. This would make for a much shorter ride that I think we are picturing. But this must have been a very busy street with a mall right there and someone would have noticed something if it happened there (I guess).

2. The bike was found outside a store WITHIN the mall. I am wondering just WHERE she was seen riding back home. Is it possible that she'd ride across a farther end of the parking lot to get home (you know -- the spots where no one parks unless there's a major sale or Christmas)? Or would she have had to drive across the mall itself on her bike to get from the store to home? It could be possible that she never made it off mall property.
 
I wonder about the eyewitness who claimed to have seen her riding her bike home. Did he/she know Ann? Was this testimony given the same day as her dissappearance? Could it have been a recollection of a different day?


Updated link:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/68dfky.html
 
What do you think about this?

https://identifyus.org/?p=case&i=102&=9&s=DateFound_ASC&from=search&t=circumstances

Could this be a match for Ann?
1. Found in Bowling Green, but the time difference between there Louisville on I-65 is just over an hour. Perhaps she was taken there and dumped on the way back?
2. Age and height is close as well. NOT exactly right, but close enough to make one think it's a possibility. (ETA: Doe has her JD listed at 4'8" to 5'0" -- Ann was listed at 5'1")
3. The pic on site of JD is not great, but it does resemble Ann in some ways.

Here is a better pic of the JD. https://identifyus.org/photo.php?i=151&m

Also Doe Network's Info: http://doenetwork.org/cases/526ufky.html
 
For reference, here is the Doenet case file on the Bowling County Jane Doe referred to above. The time frame seems right and the description is in the ball park when comparing her to Ann.


--------------------------
Unidentified White Female
The victim was discovered on July 4, 1984 in Warren County, Kentucky
Estimated Date of Death: November 1982 and July 1983
Partial Skeleton

Vital Statistics

Estimated age: 12 - 20 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 4’8" - 5'0"; 90 - 115 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair. The victim has a healed lesion on the rear of the skull and a scar on the right elbow.
Dentals: Available. Fillings. She had dental work completed within 4 to 5 years prior to death.
Clothing: Long sleeved multi-color pullover blouse, red corduroy Levi pants
DNA: Available

Case History

The victim was located alongside North-bound Interstate 65 at Bowling Green

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:

Kentucky Medical Examiner
Emily Craig
502-564-4545 EX 223

Or

Kentucly State Police
Lt. Keith Payne or Detective Sergeant Tommy Smith
270-782-2010 or 1-800-222-5555

You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number: 84-F-38

NCIC Number: U-756767830

Please refer to these numbers when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Unidentified Deceased Reporting System
Kentucky State Police
The Doe Network: Case File 526UFKY

LINK:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/526ufky.html
 
I remember this so well. I am close to her age, and it really scared me when I was little.

The mall is now closed. There is a very busy street in front of the mall, but if I remember correctly (haven't been over in that area in a while), there is a subdivision next to the mall, with a side road seperating them. I always thought she lived in that subdivision, but my thoughts only, not sure.

I remember the rumor going around that the KGB kidnapped her because of her parents and she was taken back to Russia. I'm sure there is no truth to that and I think people just thought that because they were Russian.

It does make you wonder what happened to her though. You would think after all this time someone would have found her remains somewhere. Especially with all the new building that has went on in the past 25 years, you would think remains would have been uncovered at some point. Unless she ended up in a land fill? I just don't know, but hope at some point her parents can have closure. And most important the person who took Ann be found. It's scary thinking they are still out there somewhere.
 
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