WA WA - Sharon, 20, Michelle, 2, & Clara Giusti, 10 mos, Port Townsend, 5 March 1963

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45 Years ago...

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Sharon Louise Giusti
Missing since March 5, 1963 from Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Washington
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: Feburary 15, 1943
Age at Time of Disappearance: 20 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'5"; 120-130 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Dark brown hair; blue eyes.
AKA: Sharon Louise Johnson
Dentals: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance

Sharon Giusti and her two infant children -- Michelle and Clara Arlene -- disappeared from their Port Townsend farm on March 5, 1963.

On March 9, 1963, a local farmer reported that his wife, Sharon, and two daughters disappeared from the family farm four days earlier. The Giusti farm was located about five miles south of Port Townsend, Washington.

The husband told deputies that he had been working in the fields all afternoon and when he returned at the end of the day, his family, a car, some clothing and cash were missing. Relatives told deputies that they had neither seen nor heard from Sharon or her two children since March 5 of that year.

The day after Sharon's husband filed the missing persons report, the car that Sharon was driving was found underneath a highway overpass more than two miles from the farm. The car was unlocked and there was no trace of Sharon or the kids.

Michelle R. Giusti was born on March 26, 1961 and was 2 years old when she disappeared. She had red hair and blue eyes. Clara Arlene Giusti was born on May 4, 1962 and was only 10 months old when she disappeared. She also had red hair and blue eyes.

Sharon Giusti, in a 1962 photo with daughter Michelle can be seen at link below


Investigators

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Jefferson County Sheriff's Department
Cold Case Squad
360-385-3831

Agency Case Number:92-0482
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:

America's Most Wanted
WA SPC
The Doe Network: Case File 2435DFWA

link:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2435dfwa.html
 
Well, the 4-day gap between the last date the "relatives" heard from Sharon and the family was reported missing is suggestive. The fact that the husband/father reported missing clothes and the car is found 2 miles away also doesn't fit well together. If the woman was running away (hence, taking clothes, car and money) and knew her husband would be out in the fields all day, she could have stuffed the car with clothes and the other things a woman and two small children would need to start over.

A sexually motived kidnapping would make more sense if the adult was killed and the children were taken, or the adult was taken and the kids left.

My first thought? The husband knows more than he is saying.
 
Nocgirl said:
Those poor babies. Where is the husband now, is he still alive? I have a feeling he had something to do with the disappearance. Have police questioned him?
Click to expand...

The husband is still alive and living in the area. The whole thing seems pretty suspicious to me. The area was very rural during that time period. I found an article in the local paper that mentions the disappearance briefly. http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/a...ysteries-protection-island-no-longer-focus-of
 
The first thing I thought when I read this story was abusive marriage. The scenario that runs through my mind is this- Sharon Giusti is hit one too many times (perhaps even the night before she left), and knows her husband will be planting in the field all day. She packs up what she can, takes her girls and leaves, starts a new life somewhere and never looks back. The only problem with this is the car showing up abandoned- was it broken down or disabled in some way?

Other thoughts/theories:

Husband waits four days to report it because she's left him before, went to stay with a friend or relative, and always come back... Because he finds out who she is staying with and goes over and begs her to come home, saying it will never happen again and she always believes him and goes home. Only this time, she doesn't run to her friends or family, no one knows where she is, and she doesn't come home, so he reports her missing. Alternatively, the news report that mentioned the story briefly, said that the husband saw her get in the car and leave- let's go with the abusive relationship scenario- he sees her get in the car and leave, and gets in his truck and chases her down....catches her a mile away, and in a rage, kills both her and the children.....takes his time finding an out of the way place to dispose of them, and then reports them missing.

Another thought that would explain the abandoned car...IF she were in abusive marriage, I do believe I read somewhere several years ago, that there was a sort of underground railroad type organization that would help women in these situations disappear and start over somewhere else, if that were the case, she could have taken the kids, a little money, and some clothes and met a "helper" that picked them up down the road and took them off to wherever they were going.

I know that a lot of the times, in domestic abuse situations in the 50s and 60s (maybe later), when the wife went to family or friends, it was typically "her fault" for something she did wrong, and the wife should go home like a good girl and make up with her husband. You hear that enough times, and eventually you're not going to keep going back to those people for help- explaining why she never contacted anyone in the family again. My mother was in an abusive marriage for years, and I lost count of the number of times we packed a few changes of clothes, drove to a relatives house two hours away, my mom swearing it was the last time. We stayed the weekend, he called or drove to where we were, begging her to come home, and right back we went, time after time. We never tried to pack the car with all our belongings, we just grabbed what we could and went.

Alternatively, the husband could have been a wonderful man who did nothing wrong. Sharon could have been restless in her life, wanting something new and decided to leave. She could have met someone (a man), and decided to run off with him, prearranged for him to pick her and the girls up and walk off into the sunset.

Last theory....Sharon decided to leave, for whatever reason, be it restlessness, domestic violence.... and got a mile away from home and the car broke down (there's no specifics on the condition of the vehicle) or she had a flat, and was given a ride by a "helpful" passerby...and either made it into a new life that way, or met her demise at the hands of whoever stopped to help her.
 
Sharon and her two babies have been missing for 49 years now.
 
In reading this story and the forthcoming posts, I noted the first-name of the husband is not given. So the question continues - even all these years later - how involved is/was he in the disappearance of Sharon and the two children?

I do question why it took him four days to report them missing then, on the folloiwng day, finds the vehilce they allegedly left in just two miles away. It's also hard to believe that that vehilce sat for five days without it being noticed and checked by law enforcement or otherwise reported to them.

This has all of the signs of a domestic assault gone bad. However, why would the father go on to harm the young children? In mentioning this, I think it should be said that a woman leaving her husband is still frowned upon by some no matter what the valid reasons are. Society may move ahead, but old beliefs still exist in some minds. I'm aware there are those who assist an abused woman and her children escape from their circumstances, but I don't think they would have had Sharon leave the vehicle two miles from the residence. Being that close, the person assisting could have just driven to the house and gotten them; particularly with the husband supposedly in the fields for long periods of time.

Seems as though the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (if that was the agency who had jurisdiction then) let this case become cold long before it should have.
 
chemom said:
The first thing I thought when I read this story was abusive marriage. The scenario that runs through my mind is this- Sharon Giusti is hit one too many times (perhaps even the night before she left), and knows her husband will be planting in the field all day. She packs up what she can, takes her girls and leaves, starts a new life somewhere and never looks back. The only problem with this is the car showing up abandoned- was it broken down or disabled in some way?

Other thoughts/theories:

Husband waits four days to report it because she's left him before, went to stay with a friend or relative, and always come back... Because he finds out who she is staying with and goes over and begs her to come home, saying it will never happen again and she always believes him and goes home. Only this time, she doesn't run to her friends or family, no one knows where she is, and she doesn't come home, so he reports her missing. Alternatively, the news report that mentioned the story briefly, said that the husband saw her get in the car and leave- let's go with the abusive relationship scenario- he sees her get in the car and leave, and gets in his truck and chases her down....catches her a mile away, and in a rage, kills both her and the children.....takes his time finding an out of the way place to dispose of them, and then reports them missing.

Another thought that would explain the abandoned car...IF she were in abusive marriage, I do believe I read somewhere several years ago, that there was a sort of underground railroad type organization that would help women in these situations disappear and start over somewhere else, if that were the case, she could have taken the kids, a little money, and some clothes and met a "helper" that picked them up down the road and took them off to wherever they were going.

I know that a lot of the times, in domestic abuse situations in the 50s and 60s (maybe later), when the wife went to family or friends, it was typically "her fault" for something she did wrong, and the wife should go home like a good girl and make up with her husband. You hear that enough times, and eventually you're not going to keep going back to those people for help- explaining why she never contacted anyone in the family again. My mother was in an abusive marriage for years, and I lost count of the number of times we packed a few changes of clothes, drove to a relatives house two hours away, my mom swearing it was the last time. We stayed the weekend, he called or drove to where we were, begging her to come home, and right back we went, time after time. We never tried to pack the car with all our belongings, we just grabbed what we could and went.

Alternatively, the husband could have been a wonderful man who did nothing wrong. Sharon could have been restless in her life, wanting something new and decided to leave. She could have met someone (a man), and decided to run off with him, prearranged for him to pick her and the girls up and walk off into the sunset.

Last theory....Sharon decided to leave, for whatever reason, be it restlessness, domestic violence.... and got a mile away from home and the car broke down (there's no specifics on the condition of the vehicle) or she had a flat, and was given a ride by a "helpful" passerby...and either made it into a new life that way, or met her demise at the hands of whoever stopped to help her.
Click to expand...

Have any of you considered the possibility the mother and the girls never left and he drove the car there and then walked home? A couple miles isn't far.

I have lots of questions. :worms:
This 'woman' you refer to is barely 20 years old. She's still a kid, at least in my mind. When did they get married? How long did they date? How old is he?? Did he work the farm alone? Where were her parents? Any siblings? Where were his parents? Does he have any siblings? Is there anyone out there with any information on this? This looks really bad for him.
 
EXIA15145 said:
I have lots of questions. :worms:
This 'woman' you refer to is barely 20 years old. She's still a kid, at least in my mind. When did they get married? How long did they date? How old is he?? Did he work the farm alone? Where were her parents? Any siblings? Where were his parents? Does he have any siblings? Is there anyone out there with any information on this? This looks really bad for him.
Click to expand...

Here is what I found....
It appears they got married in Feb. 1960 when she was 17 and he was 29.
I hope this is okay to post. Here is the Washington State Digital Archives (searchable public records) where I found what I believe to be Sharon's marriage certificate:

http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/
 
I would like to know if dogs were used in the search or if the farm was searched at all?
 
It's a shame that no one from either side of the family seems to have searched for her. From what I gather, he (the husband) was quite a bit older than her. The case is mentioned in the sidebar of this article below. LE seems to have re-interviewed the husband who now lives in Shelton:

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/a...ysteries-protection-island-no-longer-focus-of

ETA - I've tried to search out siblings or relatives on her side of the family but have not had much luck.
 
I haven't been able to find her birth record but the Doe Network for her lists her birthdate as February 15, 1943. She got married on her seventeenth birthday - February 15, 1960. I wonder if she was a run-away and that's why maybe her side of the family didn't look for her?

I believe that he may have remarried (to a Barbara) but I have not been able to find the record for this.

ETA - The husband was born in 1929.
 
I just re-read the summary in the link I posted above (post #15) and it says:

"The three were reported missing by Giusti's husband, who told deputies he saw his wife drive off in their car"

That's very strange because that is NOT what he allegedly reported elsewhere. It makes you wonder if the reporter got it wrong or if he changed his story???

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/a...ysteries-protection-island-no-longer-focus-of


 
The whole story is fishy. I'm not going to overtly point fingers, but I'm sure law enforcement has the same suspicion I'll bet we all have. We know the general statistics about perps. It was a man's world back then. Their remains are probably in Puget Sound somewhere....
 
"PORT ANGELES — A cold case involving a missing woman has been reopened after a human tibia — a leg bone — was discovered sticking up from Lake Aldwell’s drained reservoir, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday. Karen C. Tucker, 41, had been reported missing Jan. 5, 1991, Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Lyman Moores said."

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20120620/news/306209992/csi-peninsula-cold-case-reopened-after-human-bone-found-in-drainedhttp://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20120620/news/306209992/csi-peninsula-cold-case-reopened-after-human-bone-found-in-drained

Does anyone know if Sharon is on CODIS???

ETA - The article is dated June 19, 2012.

I found a later article that clarifies that the bone did not belong to Karen Tucker:

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20121005/news/310059987/0/SEARCH
 
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