Deceased/Not Found MO - Micki West, 19, St Joseph, 11 Sept 1979 *M. Irwin guilty*

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Micki Jo West
Missing since September 11, 1979 from St. Joseph, Missouri
Classification: Involuntary

Vital Statistics

Age at Time of Disappearance: 19 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance:
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair. Glasses.
AKA: Mikki Jo West
Dentals: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance

Micki Jo West was last seen as she left for work in St. Joseph, MO on September 11, 1979. She disappeared on the way to the bus stop. At the time of her disappeance she worked as a nurse's aid at the St. Joseph State Hospital.

Before her disappearance she had received threats.

In 1999 Marvin Lee Irvin confessed to Micki's homicide. She was a friend of his first wife.

He also pled guilty to two other homicides, and is serving a life sentence.


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

St. Joseph Police Department
816-271-4701


Source Information:

Unsolved Mysteries
The Doe Network: Case File 2212DFMO

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2212dfmo.html
 
If Irvin admitted to murdering West then why is she still considered missing? Does LE think Irvin may have given a false confession?
 
I guess no body was recovered - either the suspect couldn't or wouldn't say where she was disposed of. If there is a Doe out there who has been recovered (or is subsequently recovered) she could be a match. Look at the case of Candace Starr, whose case was well known (shot dead at a gas station in NM) but who was only recently identified despite publicity being given to her case.
 
KarlK said:
If Irvin admitted to murdering West then why is she still considered missing? Does LE think Irvin may have given a false confession?
Click to expand...

Whether or not Irvin was telling the truth about having murdered Micki Jo West, she was never found. There are a number of cases like this listed in the Doenetwork and other missing person files. In some cases, persons were convicted of murder based on evidence, but the body was never found.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the day Micki Jo went missing.
 
At the time of Micki Jo West’s disappearance Thurman Mitchell was a news reporter and anchor for KCTV5 in Kansas City. Seven years or so after her disappearance a letter was found in 1986 at a public place in Kansas City addressed to Mitchell at KCTV5. It was the first of several letters found over time; I don’t remember just how many letters there were in all. The letters were always written anonymously to Thurman Mitchell but the writer claimed to know who had killed West and named Erwin as the killer. Erwin eventually confessed to killing West. There were two other murders that Erwin either confessed to also or was suspected of, I don’t recall which it was. Erwin told authorities that he had buried West’s body on a farm. He took them there but her body was never recovered; it could not be located. The actual author of the anonymous letters was thought by LE to have been Erwin, himself.

Just to point out a discrepancy I recall that the killer's name was Marvin Lee Erwin, but I could be wrong.
 
This case was featured on Unsolved Mysteries and is talked about at the UM board at sitcomsonline.com....if you do a search online you may also find the episode that talks about this.
 
http://www.newspressnow.com/news/2010/mar/24/inside-look-standoff/?local

Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at midnight

When police raided the house at 2606 Olive St. on Monday night, it was familiar to several officers because it has a gruesome history.

Back in 1990, that was where police arrested a 41-year-old truck driver and former police officer named Marvin Irvin, said Capt. Kevin Castle.

In November 1990, St. Joseph police unearthed two shallow graves and found the skeletal remains of two local women, Crystal Simmons and Patricia Rose. The field near Highland, Kan., where the remains were found, had been Mr. Irvin’s boyhood home.

Mr. Irvin was sentenced Oct. 3, 1991, after pleading guilty to killing Ms. Simmons, 33, by striking her with a hammer on Oct. 30, 1990; Ms. Rose, 31, by striking her on Sept. 1, 1990, and Micki Jo West, by beating and stabbing her on Sept. 11, 1979. Ms. West’s body has never been found.

Circuit Judge Edwin Smith ordered that Mr. Irvin serve two life sentences without parole on two first-degree murder charges and a consecutive life sentence on a second-degree murder charge.

As part of a deal to avoid the death penalty, Mr. Irvin confessed to killing Miss West, 19, who had been missing since 1979. Her case became the subject of an “Unsolved Mysteries” television episode.
Click to expand...
 
Bump.

This month marks 31 years that Micki has been missing. Come home soon.

Micki is *not* listed in NamUs at this time.
 
This case has shockingly few details. Outside of Doe Network and Unsolved Mysteries, I have a very hard time finding any records about Micki and the case.

I'm under the impression that Irvin led the authorities to where her body was supposed to be but it wasn't there? Did he have any kind of explanation for why it wasn't there? Is Irvin alive today? Are there any records of any interviews with him or Micki's parents? Was Irvin offered any sort of deal for admitting to the murders he supposedly committed, including Micki's? If he confessed to the crime, and since it seems likely that he was involved, why was he never charged with her murder? Just seems strange that there are quite a few details missing, either un/intentionally or just from the amount of time passed.

What I find very interesting about this case is how there is no unanimous decision on if the case is solved or not. Some sites say it's solved because we found the killer, but [with the information we have] I don't really see it as solved; while it seems very likely, we don't know for sure if Irvin killed Micki and we still don't know where her remains are.

As I recall from the Unsolved Mysteries episode, there was some sort of reason that she was afraid of Irvin? Enough for her to carry a hammer to her work, apparently.
 
This case still needs to be entered on Namus.
 
The women killed by Irvin were believed to have been killed inside a barn on the property.
The new owners of the property had poured a thick concrete pad inside the barn where the remains of West are believed to be. Scanners at the time of the search could not penetrate the concrete. Irvin is still alive in a prison in Missouri.
Another missing person from 1989 in saint joseph, MO. around the same time Irvin was active is Gloria June Palmer. Ms. Palmer was last seen leaving a bar heading home, her vehicle was located inside her garage. Palmer has never been heard from again.
 
Micki is now in NamUs.

Charley Project

I wish they would release more information on how they accepted Irvin's claim that he murdered Micki yet her body wasn't where he said it was. If her remains really are under a concrete pad on that specific section of the property, I hope they will make some attempt to recover her. Irvin also passed a polygraph test even though it turned out he was guilty, another example of how ineffective they are. Maybe since he was a police officer, he had better knowledge on how to "beat it".
 
JusticeWillBeServed said:
Micki is now in NamUs.

Charley Project

I wish they would release more information on how they accepted Irvin's claim that he murdered Micki yet her body wasn't where he said it was. If her remains really are under a concrete pad on that specific section of the property, I hope they will make some attempt to recover her. Irvin also passed a polygraph test even though it turned out he was guilty, another example of how ineffective they are. Maybe since he was a police officer, he had better knowledge on how to "beat it".
Click to expand...

Bumpin
 
I am really sorry about my above post. I pushed something on my phone that said "bumping" then tried to erase it but only the "g" erased and it posted. I tried to edit my post but couldn't figure out how. :( Anyway, I'm going to post later when my migraine subsides .
 
I was shocked when I stumbled upon Micki's case on the Charley Project. I knew Micki when she was living in Calif. and we worked together as nursing assistants.

We had a kitchenette where we worked. One day, we kept a Dixie cup full of pink soap by the sink to was our hands as the soap dispenser was broken. Micki, apparently mistaking that pink soap for some luscious beverage, gulped it all down before I could say anything. She realized immediately what she'd done and in a broken, panicked voice asked me to call the charge nurse. She thought she had poisoned herself. She was all right of course. It was mild soap, probably mostly rosewater. This memory helps me understand her horror at facing true danger, being trapped by a monster with no hope of rescue.

I'd like to know why her husband or other household members didn't walk Micki to the bus stop and wait with her until she boarded.

You sing and dance with the Angels now, Micki. They will love and protect you better than anyone in this world ever did.

I
 
31717
31718
31719

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18179/
 
Bumping for Micki Jo. She was so young. I'm so sorry that nobody protected her.
 
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