CA CA - Rose Cole, 16, Oakland, 1972 - #1

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HeartofTexas

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Rose Cole was born December 23, 1956 in Flint, Michigan. Rose's full name is Rose Leanna Cole, but her family says she rarely used her middle name.

In 1972, at the age of 15, she was sent to Synanon Foundation in Oakland, CA for some kind of addiction (I'm assuming drugs).

For those who aren't familiar with Synanon, it was an unscrupulous drug treatment center whose clients rarely had a chance to leave once they arrived. Rose ran away from Synanon some time in late 1972 and wrote two letters to her family after leaving Synanon. To quote her sister-in-law:

Was sent to the Synanon Foundation in Oakland, California in 1972
She wrote 2 letters from there Oct/Nov 1972
A third letter in Dec 72 were she explains that she ran away from the synanon
The 4th and last letter was dated on her sixteen birthday

I only have the envelope for the letter from the Synanon.

I can type the letters again (lost my computer files on this) if that helps.
I have written the SIL requesting data on Rose's description. I have also asked her to re-type the letters, since I assume they might offer more details about her circumstances at Synanon.

I've checked death and marriage records in California, and death records in all states, and no Rose Cole shows up. Nor does she show up on any public records or phone book directory.

As her SIL stated, they have not heard from her since December of 1972. Rose would be 49 now, and would turn 50 this December.

Once additional information is received on Rose, I'll post it.
 
Here are some posts done on Rose Cole from another thread:


#33
Today, 08:39 AM
HeartofTexas

Quote:


Heart of Texas found this....

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.co.../0024photo.html

As a follow-up to the above girl (Rose Cole), I've been in touch with her family, and she was 15-16 at the time of her disappearance. Her family sent her to Synanon Foundation in Oakland, CA in 1972 (I'm assuming for drug problems) and after a few letters from her, and after she ran away from there a few months later, she's never been heard from since. Her DOB was 12-23-56. Since no crime was committed that we know of, and since she's an assumed run-away, it won't be appropriate for me to do a thread on WS on her.

#34 http://websleuths.com/forums/report.php?p=1008613Today, 08:50 AM
Shadow205

Quote:
Originally Posted by HeartofTexas
As a follow-up to the above girl (Rose Cole), I've been in touch with her family, and she was 15-16 at the time of her disappearance. Her family sent her to Synanon Foundation in Oakland, CA in 1972 (I'm assuming for drug problems) and after a few letters from her, and after she ran away from there a few months later, she's never been heard from since. Her DOB was 12-23-56. Since no crime was committed that we know of, and since she's an assumed run-away, it won't be appropriate for me to do a thread on WS on her.

Heartoftexas,

Based on the research that we did last night on the Synanon Foundation, I think that a thread on Rose would be a good idea. If nothing else, start it in "Missing" or "Missing But Not Forgotten". I feel that Rose is more than just a runaway. Unless she was one of the really lucky ones, Synanon did not allow people to just leave. I would be interested in trying to help locate her.
__________________









#35

Today, 09:22 AM
HeartofTexas

Thanks so much, Shadow. I do want to point out, though, that her sister-in-law said she did run away from Synanon. Not that she may have gotten too far! I've written the SIL this morning asking for a description of Rose (height, color of hair, eyes, etc.) and will post that info when I get it.







Today, 10:10 AM​
Quote:​
Originally Posted by HeartofTexas
Thanks so much, Shadow. I do want to point out, though, that her sister-in-law said she did run away from Synanon. Not that she may have gotten too far! I've written the SIL this morning asking for a description of Rose (height, color of hair, eyes, etc.) and will post that info when I get it.
Many tried to run away from Synanon but were brought back. I hope that she was successfull in getting away from there. Could you also find out exactly why they sent her there. I assume from what I have read it was for some type of addiction. I really hate to but we can start looking at Jane Does for a possible match too. Find out for sure which site she was at. It looks like they had more than one. Where is the postmark on the letter from and the date?​
__________________​
#37


Today, 10:13 AM
HeartofTexas

She didn't say what she was being treated for, but I assume it was drugs. She was at the Oakland, CA location. I've already checked the Jane Doe's this morning in both California and Nevada. Nevada's didn't start until 1979. California had one possibility that I found:

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/62ufca.html Date of death was September 26, 1979

Other than that, I didn't find any that might match. I'm awaiting a description on Rose, which might help with identifying her from the Jane Does.

#38


Today, 10:15 AM
HeartofTexas

Shadow, here's what the SIL wrote re the letters:
Quote:
Was sent to the Synanon Foundation in Oakland, California in 1972
She wrote 2 letters from there Oct/Nov 1972
A third letter in Dec 72 were she explains that she ran away from the synanon
The 4th and last letter was dated on her sixteen birthday

I only have the envelope for the letter from the Synanon.

I can type the letters again (lost my computer files on this) if that helps.


#39


Today, 10:19 AM
HeartofTexas

Shadow, I just emailed the SIL and asked her to re-type the letters for us. I told her to start with the last letter first, and then the next to the last, as I think the last 2 letters probably will hold the most clues. The SIL has small children and a job, so it may take her a few days to do the letters. I'll let you know when I get them.




 
Was sent to the Synanon Foundation in Oakland, California in 1972
She wrote 2 letters from there Oct/Nov 1972
A third letter in Dec 72 were she explains that she ran away from the synanon
The 4th and last letter was dated on her sixteen birthda
I just received an email from Rose's sister-in-law (married to Rose's brother), and she said she would start re-typing the letters referenced above today.

The SIL also said she would call some of the family members to get a description of Rose (color hair, color eyes, etc.). I'll post any info I get from the SIL.
 
A quick check of some of my resources shows a Rose Leanna Cole who graduated from a high school in NE in June of '73, at which time the Rose in question would have been almost 17.

Most likely a coincidence, but the name does not appear to be all that common and the similiarity in age makes the match intriguing.
 
I have never heard of them before. That is some scary stuff. I am glad Rose got away, and I hope she is OK. Seems weird that since she had been letting her family know that she was OK, that the letters stopped.
 
Do we know that Rose actually ran away? How credible are the letters the family recieved? Could it be that Synanon made up the "runaway" story to hide some foul play or a tragic accident and then had someone write and mail the letters?

Kelly
 
Shadowangel, that's an incredible find! I wonder what the possibilities are that it could be the same girl... probably tiny, but I wouldn't think Rose Leanna Cole is a popular name.

Azure, some others have had the same thought as you. I wouldn't put anything past Synanon. I have emailed the SIL to see if we can get copies of the letters so that the handwriting can be compared. Foul play seems like a good possibility, but I pray that somehow she ended up graduating from school in 1973 instead!
 
HoT, I agree that Rose Leanna Cole is not a common name. I googled it, as I'm sure many of you have, and found no results.

My other question is, if the letters were authentic, did they indicate that rose was trying to come home? Or simply that she had run away, was safe, and was going to try to continue life on her own?

If she was trying to come home, foul play is a more obvious scenario than her starting a new life somewhere.
 
Azure, right now I don't know the content of any of the letters. The SIL is going to type them up so she can send them to me. So far my information on this case is pretty sketchy but, as questions come up, I email the SIL and she's been really good about supplying me answers.

This all started with me finding Rose's picture when she was about 2-3 years old (on my quest to find the identity of Sharon Marshall or Delia Cly) and turned out to be a missing teenager case instead. The fact that Synanon is involved does not bode well for this case, but I really appreciate everyone's interest and research.
 
The last letter that Rose wrote to her family....is it known where it was sent from?
 
The last letter that Rose wrote to her family....is it known where it was sent from?
The SIL that has been emailing me said she only had the envelope from one of the letters mailed from Synanon. From what I'm gathering, Rose's father was the one who had all of this information. When he died, the rest of the family finally had a chance to look through it. But, to answer your question, there were no envelopes with the letters after she left Synanon.

Also, I just got another email from the SIL, and she said that Rose was not a bad kid at all. She experimented with drugs and got caught and had to appear before a Judge. The Judge is the one who ordered her into drug treatment at Synanon. Amazing that a Judge would send her all the way from Flint, Michigan to California for drug treatment.
 
Heartoftexas,

Does the SIL know where Rose was writting from in the last letter? Was she still in California? IS there a postmark on the envelope if she still has it?

That last letter was in December 1972 and SIL said it was written on her 16th birthday. The Rose that Shadowangel found graduated from a high school in NE in June 1973. Just trying to fiqure out where she was in December. That is a rather odd name. I think that it needs to be checked closer for a possible match.
 
I don't have an exact answer for your question re the envelope, Shadow, but I can pretty easily guess the envelope is from Oakland, CA, since that's the Synanon treatment center she was in, and the only envelope the SIL has is for one mailed while Rose was in Synanon.

I would love for the person who graduated from H.S. in 1973 in NE to be this Rose. However, she would have only been 16 years old (having turned 16 just 6 mos. prior, in December of 1972), would have just run away from Synanon in California, would have moved from California to Nebraska, and would apparently have condensed at least 2 years of high school into a short 6 months. It's possible it was her.. and the identical name certainly alludes to it being her... but the facts just don't seem to add up.
 
I would love to figure out a way to get into this website.

Welcome to the Synanon websiteThis is a site for former Synanon residents only. Please respect our privacy.

If you are a former Synanon resident we'd love to have you on the site. We have 1418 former residents already listed on the site, most with email addresses and parts of their personal stories. We have 2358 pictures of people, places, and things from Synanon's earliest days up through pictures as we are today. In addition we have links to personal and business websites, poetry, extended stories, Synanon history, email lists, etc. Registering will allow you to see all this and upload pictures, update your personal listing and see all our email addresses.

http://www.synanon.org/Synanon/MemberApply2.cfm
 
There are at least 3 of us now that have found that site and wanted to get in! They make you describe some things only a Synanon member would know about before they'll let you in, too. Weird cult.
 
Ooh, if someone figures out a way to get in, PM me and tell me how you did it. I really want to see what's inside!

Kelly
 
Okay, I know I've been posting on this too much, but I did find this in the Wikipedia article about Synanon:

Children assigned to Synanon began to run away, helped by an "underground railroad" that sought to return them to their parents.

Maybe the underground railroad placed her in Nebraska instead?

Kelly
 
Azure, never say you're posting too much! Every idea is worth considering and looking at. This girl has been missing for almost 36 years, so no idea should be dismissed. Did the article you found the info re the underground railroad mention what years it was active?
 
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