PA PA - Julia Shimkus, 54, Pittsburgh, 20 Dec 1972

35 years ago...
-----------------------------------------

Julia Shimkus
Missing since December 20, 1972 from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics

Age at Time of Disappearance: 54 years old

Circumstances of Disappearance

At 5 p.m, Dec. 20, 1972, Julia Shimkus walked out of the family's home in the Pittsburgh section of Esplen on her way to her job as a cook at the Rockwood Lounge in the McKees Rocks Shopping Plaza. She has not been positively spotted by anyone since.

Investigators

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Pittsburgh Police Department
665-4020

Source Information:
News Record
The Post Gazette
The Doe Network: Case File 615DFPA

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/615dfpa.html

bumping case up...

"There are some indications that Shimkus is remained alive for an extended period of time after she went missing" (Quote from Charley Project.)

What indications? Was she seen? Did she leave a paper trail? Or contact someone by phone or letter? :waitasec:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=1929,6805952&dq=julia-shimkus&hl=en

1995 article (linked above, two parts) gives some details about Julia's disappearance. She left with only the clothes on her back. That she had recently made the decision to start dating an old family friend (more at link).

This case is now 40 years old. Julia is still missing...


LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/615dfpa.html

Kat said:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AAIBAJ&pg=1929,6805952&dq=julia-shimkus&hl=en

1995 article (linked above, two parts) gives some details about Julia's disappearance. She left with only the clothes on her back. That she had recently made the decision to start dating an old family friend (more at link).

Click to expand...

From what I understand at the link,

Several years after Julia vanished with no explanation, a friend of hers claimed that she had seen Julia, and talked to her and a male companion who was with her at a Woolworth's Store. Julia's son was able to get his name, but when he tracked down this person, it turned out that he died in a homeless shelter and he could not find anything else about the "companion's" past. This may have been the possibility that Julia was or remained alive after her disappearance. Julia's husband died several years before she vanished from cancer. She suffered from depression, but it is not believed that she was depressed when she disappeared.

The old Google News story is hard to read in one particular area because the text is dark and blurred. I wonder if Julia had been taking medication for depression and how this may have affected her decision to leave on that December day in 1972?

Satch

Satch said:

From what I understand at the link,

Several years after Julia vanished with no explanation, a friend of hers claimed that she had seen Julia, and talked to her and a male companion who was with her at a Woolworth's Store. Julia's son was able to get his name, but when he tracked down this person, it turned out that he died in a homeless shelter and he could not find anything else about the "companion's" past. This may have been the possibility that Julia was or remained alive after her disappearance. Julia's husband died several years before she vanished from cancer. She suffered from depression, but it is not believed that she was depressed when she disappeared.

The old Google News story is hard to read in one particular area because the text is dark and blurred. I wonder if Julia had been taking medication for depression and how this may have affected her decision to leave on that December day in 1972?

Satch

Click to expand...

The oddity regarding the above is if Julia's friend claimed to have seen her at the Department Store, it would seem that the friend would contact her poor family ASAP who would certainly be worried sick about her. The friend would have certainly said something to the effect of, "Your family is devastated, they have been looking all over for you for years." Julia's response could have indicated a reason for her leaving. Why wouldn't the friend convey as much as she knew in her conversation with Julia to help her family in finding her?

Julia's son tracks down the identity of the unknown man allegedly with Julia at the time she was talking to her friend. (Only to find out that he passed away at a homeless shelter.) Did he try to track down Julia's friend? It seems that she would be the first line of communication? What about the other man that she had been seeing since her husband died and they had a good relationship? What communications or evidence did Julia's family get from him that could explain her whereabouts?

There was no indication that she wanted to leave past family relationships behind. It just seems there should have been more of a follow up with those leads of people who knew Julia. I have a feeling that she left voluntarily, or for medical reasons.

Satch

Julia on NamUs: Missing Person Case

Bumping for Julia as we approach the 48th anniversary of her disappearance

an old article from 2005 Most missing persons cases stay low-profile
Joseph S. Shimkus contacted the organization in November, desperate for a revival of his mother's case.

It has been 32 years since Julia Shimkus left her Esplen home on a December evening on her way to her job as a cook at the Rockwood Lounge in the McKees Rocks Shopping Plaza.

But Joseph is still searching.

Through the years, he's written letters to the television show, "Unsolved Mysteries," lobbying to have her story featured on the show, and he's traveled to Atlanta, where he surmised his mother may have traveled with a male companion, knocking on doors and talking to local police.

In 1995, the owners of the home where Julia Shimkus lived when she disappeared, found bone fragments in a crawl space beneath the kitchen. The family was hopeful they would finally have some closure.

But the coroner ruled they were animal bones.

"It's been terrible," Shimkus, 63, of Valencia, said. "I want closure on the darn thing. I take that pic with me a lot of places when I'm down Florida or vacationing in Canada, I'm always looking. When I'm on a cruise. I'm always looking."

• 

Shimkus, circa 1972

• Missing Since 12/20/1972
• Missing From Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 54 years old
• Height and Weight 5'7, 180 pounds
• 
  
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A black trench coat, black shoes and a green and white scarf.
• 
  
• Medical Conditions Shimkus suffered from depression after her husband's 1965 death, but her family does not believe she was depressed at the time of her disappearance.
• 
  
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Shimuks wears eyeglasses with dark-colored frames.

Details of Disappearance​

Shimkus was last seen in the Esplen section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 20, 1972. She left her house in the 200 block of Oregon Street at 5:00 p.m. to walk to work.

Shimkus was employed as a cook at the Rockwood Lounge in the McKees Rocks Shopping Plaza at the time. She has never been heard from again. She did not take any personal belongings with her.

The new owner found bone fragments in the crawl space of Shimkus's former home in 1995, but they turned out to be from an animal.

Shimkus's husband died of cancer in 1965. In 1972, Shimkus lived with her daughter. Her adult son was married and lived elsewhere in Pittsburgh. Shimkus was on good terms with both of her children at the time of her disappearance and was considering marrying her boyfriend.

There are some indications that Shimkus remained alive for an extended period of time after she went missing, but there have been no confirmed sightings of her since 1972. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency​

• Pittsburgh Police Department 412-665-4020

Source Information​

• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• NewspaperArchive
• The Doe Network
• The Pittsburgh Press

Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated March 9, 2016; height, weight and clothing/jewelry description added, distinguishing characteristics updated.

Circumstances of Disappearance​

Julia was last seen around noon on December 20, 1972, when she left her home on Oregon Street in Esplen to go Christmas shopping. She was supposed to be at work later that same day, but she failed to show up for her 5:00 p.m. shift as a cook at the Rockwood Lounge in the McKees Rocks Plaza, about 1/2 mile from her home.

In 1974, a friend of Julia's, who worked as a clerk at a Woolworth's store in Pittsburgh, claimed to have seen her with a male companion. Julia introduced her companion to the clerk and told her to tell her brother hello.

Julia was declared legally dead in 1980.