OH OH - "The Red Shoe Mystery" - Lola Celli, 24, Grandview Heights, Feb 1946

Lola Celli
Missing since February 23, 1946 from Grandview Heights, Franklin County, Ohio
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: about 1922
Age at Time of Disappearance: 24 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4"; 115 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Black hair; brown eyes.
Clothing: A gray fur coat, gray hat, aqua dress trimmed in red and red suede Cuban heels.
Other: She was a Logan County teacher at the time of her disappearance. She was conversant in five languages at the time.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Celli was last seen leaving the home of her parents in Grandview Heights, Ohio in February 1946 to go shopping.

A motorist claimed to have seen Celli arguing with a man in a car along Olentangy River Road shortly after she disappeared from Grandview Heights. During the spat, a red shoe was tossed or fell out of the vehicle, the motorist said. Celli had been wearing a pair of red suede Cuban heels. But no shoe was ever found.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Grandview Heights Police Department
Detective Carol Harper
614-488-7901

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1900dfoh.html
 
Thanks, Richard, for the update on this case. I have put this one on the back burner due to other research priorities, but still find it a fascinating case.
 
Why would the Marshall say he knew that Lola was indeed alive and living within 300 miles of the Columbus area, but wouldn't "divulge any confidences", especially considering the anguish her family was experiencing? I know this sounds crazy, but what if the Marshall had something to do with her disappearance? Unlikely, I'm sure - it was just a very odd statement for him to make, then recant on when confronted with it.

Anyway, I love the "red shoe" aspect - very intriguing. I do believe the statement of the witness that he saw Lola arguing with a man inside a car, and later saw a red heel fall out the window. Why was the shoe never found? If she was indeed kidnapped, perhaps the kidnapper (maybe even with Lola in the car) turned around and retrieved the shoe soon after, knowing it was a conspicuous piece of clothing that would be easily connected to Lola and arouse suspicions. Or, if Lola staged her own disappearance, perhaps she threw the red shoe out the window on purpose in order to make it look as though she had been kidnappped. The only problem with this theory is why the shoe was never found. Maybe some kids or a vagrant picked it up, another car ran over it, or something along those lines.

Overall, an interesting case. I'd like to think Lola staged her own disappearance. It seems I've read many of these missing person cases involving young women from small towns in the Midwest in the 30s and 40s, where they leave the house to "go shopping" or "meet a girl friend" and are never seen again. Like another poster mentioned above, young women during that time were expected to be married by a certain age, out of wedlock pregnancies were scandalous, and ultimately any young woman who wanted to live an "unconventional" life was often at risk of being disowned by her family and looked down upon by the locals. Maybe staging one's own disappearance seemed like the only way out for many of these girls.

I want to believe this is true for many of these cases, and that most of these young women didn't meet more sinister ends. Although over 50 years later, we'll probably never know the truth.
 
Why would the Marshall say he knew that Lola was indeed alive and living within 300 miles of the Columbus area, but wouldn't "divulge any confidences", especially considering the anguish her family was experiencing? I know this sounds crazy, but what if the Marshall had something to do with her disappearance? Unlikely, I'm sure - it was just a very odd statement for him to make, then recant on when confronted with it.
I have always found this curious, as well. From my research, this LE officer had a reputation as being a bit of a braggart, and his statement about Lola was most likely an effort to make himself look more important to the investigation than he really was. When he was asked by his superiors to offer proof of this statement or to recant it, he chose to recant it.

Regarding Lola and the red shoe. . . while this is an intriguing aspect of the case, there is no evidence to show that (1) this confrontation ever occurred and (2) that if it did, Lola was involved. No shoe was found at the location of this supposed confrontation, and no car matching the description given to LE was ever located.

Although it is possible that Lola left on her own accord, i.e., due to pregnancy, I'm not sure that is true in this case. In fact, her family thought it more likely she had run away to join a convent! A search quitely went on at the convents in Ohio and nearby states in an effort to locate Lola, but nothing came of the search.

When I spoke to Lola's youngest sister, now residing in a senior citizens center near Columbus, she stated that although her parents would have been shocked if Lola had become pregnant or had any other serious problem, their family was close enough that they would have dealt with it in some way. Lola would not have had to run away from the problem. So I don't feel a voluntary disappearance happened.

My feeling is that a friend or acquaintance of Lola's happened by while she was walking to the bus stop and offered her a ride. I don't think she was initially forced into the car, because a scuffle or screams in that neighborhood would have brought immediate attention. Rather, I believe Lola willingly rode off with someone she knew. Whether this was a planned abduction of Lola, or just a random occurrence is uncertain. However, I think it was planned by someone who was keeping an eye out for a young woman and Lola offered a perfect opportunity. The fact that Lola was never found in spite of a massive manhunt in the general area of her home makes me believe her abductor took her to his home, killing and disposing of her in some way, or drove her out of town to a secluded area where he killed her and left her body where no one would find it.

I can't help but think this is still solvable, even though so much time has passed. Her family would be so glad for a resolution.
 
This is my first time reading about this case, but I had a thought. Was the witness that mentioned the red shoe falling out of the car ever looked at? Considering the shoe was never found, it's possible the witness was trying to turn the direction of the investigation a certain way. What if the witness is the one that took Lola, and knowing that the red shoe would be a huge clue, told the police that he saw a red shoe thrown from a window?
 
This is my first time reading about this case, but I had a thought. Was the witness that mentioned the red shoe falling out of the car ever looked at? Considering the shoe was never found, it's possible the witness was trying to turn the direction of the investigation a certain way. What if the witness is the one that took Lola, and knowing that the red shoe would be a huge clue, told the police that he saw a red shoe thrown from a window?

That's a good thought. LE questioned him and felt he was not suspicious, but I think we know a lot more about serial killers now that was known at that time, especially how they like to interject themselves into the investigation.

I'll contact someone I know at the Columbus, Ohio PD and see what she has to say about this person.
 
That's a good thought. LE questioned him and felt he was not suspicious, but I think we know a lot more about serial killers now that was at that time, especially how they like to interject themselves into the investigation.

I'll contact someone I know at the Columbus, Ohio PD and see what she has to say about this person.

Thank you! Hopefully it will lead to something....
 


I was wondering if there were any street maps of the streets of Columbus from the mid 1940's to the mid 1950's.

I am curious to know if Olentangy River Road went South of Third Avenue and connected with Goodale Blvd. and Twin Rivers Drive back then.

About a decade ago, there was an article in the Columbus Dispatch about Olentangy River Road that was extended from Third Avenue to Goodale Blvd and connecting with Twin Rivers Drive.

The newspaper article stated that in the area where Olentangy River Road was extended, that area was a garbage landfill.

I was wondering if there was a landfill operating in that area at the time Lola Celli disappeared.
 
Sixty four years ago on this date today, Lola Celli was left her parent's Grandview Heights home to go shopping in Downtown Columbus. Lola was never seen again by her family.

Thinking of Lola today and wondering what had happened to her.
 
Obviously a very intelligent young woman. What a useful skill, to be conversant in 5 languages. Quite a mystery...
 
I had never heard of this case. It was a very interesting read.
 
Lola was a very intelligent woman who was close to her parents, brother and younger sister. They immigrated from Italy to the U.S. and due to differences in educational standards between Italy and America, both she and her brother were in the same grade at school even though he was a year older than her. He went on to become a college professor.

I believe Lola was given a ride by someone she knew and trusted, either a neighbor, former classmate, or parishioner from her church. There were rumors regarding a neighbor, but they turned out to be the statements of an angry ex-wife!

There was a massive search for her in dumps, quarries, bodies of water - everywhere one would look for a body. Because she was deeply religious, it was thought she might have joined a convent, but that theory came to a dead end.

This is another case of a young woman simply vanishing without a trace.
 
What did the investigator have to say about the person who saw the shoe being tossed from a window possibly being a suspect?
 
What did the investigator have to say about the person who saw the shoe being tossed from a window possibly being a suspect?

I agree that would be worth investigating. For a living I do background checks and retrieve police reports. In some police reports I've seen the witness with a little more investigation becomes the suspect in the additional report or never at all. I had a man today that had documentation that the witness was the offender/suspect but the police report did not reflect that. This extra documentation was legal so it was a valid claim.
 


I was wondering if there were any street maps of the streets of Columbus from the mid 1940's to the mid 1950's.

I am curious to know if Olentangy River Road went South of Third Avenue and connected with Goodale Blvd. and Twin Rivers Drive back then.

About a decade ago, there was an article in the Columbus Dispatch about Olentangy River Road that was extended from Third Avenue to Goodale Blvd and connecting with Twin Rivers Drive.

The newspaper article stated that in the area where Olentangy River Road was extended, that area was a garbage landfill.

I was wondering if there was a landfill operating in that area at the time Lola Celli disappeared.

I'm a local - I'll see what I can dig up at some of the libraries. It's interesting that I stumbled onto this case - my boyfriend lived in Grandview Heights for two years, only a few blocks from where Lola disappeared.

As far as information online, I did find a few maps. I'm unable to open many of them, because the file type is incompatible with my computer. Still, it may give a better idea of the area.

http://www.railsandtrails.com/Columbus/index.htm

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Division...ion/Prod_Services/TransMap/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.puc.state.oh.us/website/rriscrossing/Run.htm

http://historical.mytopo.com/quadlist.cfm?stateabr=OH#C

http://www.historicmapworks.com/Atlas/US/9814/Franklin+County+and+Columbus+1872/

What an interesting case! I really want to find out what happened to her. Does anyone know if her parents' house is still standing?
 
Hello everyone,
My grandmother's first cousin was Lola. My grandma grew up playing with Lola and recalls the disappearance as a huge blow to our family. I saw there were a few questions about Lola's Italian Catholic family, so if you have questions please ask away! We brought up Lola at our Thanksgiving dinner tonight and thought we'd look into who else was still interested in this case. My grandmother is still living and willing to talk about Lola. Lola's brother Felice died recently, which was another tragedy for the family. Lola's sister is still alive.
Thank you,
Mia
 
Hello everyone,
My grandmother's first cousin was Lola. My grandma grew up playing with Lola and recalls the disappearance as a huge blow to our family. I saw there were a few questions about Lola's Italian Catholic family, so if you have questions please ask away! We brought up Lola at our Thanksgiving dinner tonight and thought we'd look into who else was still interested in this case. My grandmother is still living and willing to talk about Lola. Lola's brother Felice died recently, which was another tragedy for the family. Lola's sister is still alive.
Thank you,
Mia

Welcome Mca923,
Thank you so much for joining. This case has always interested me, as I am of Italian decent and from Cincinnati, Ohio. Not so sure how far your area is from Cincinnati as I moved out to California when I was a child. I have family still there and visit often. The pictures of Lola always reminded me of my grandmother and her sister back during that era.
Do your grandmother and aunt have any of their own ideas about what happened? What about her demeanor before her disappearance? Did she have any questionable friends, boyfriends or acquaintances that now looking back seem worth looking into?
 
Hitler baby photo here.

As to the missing woman, what an odd story. I'd like to read more about it.

Thanks for that..interesting story. It's sad what happened to the child (from the link you posted): "Tragically, John Warren died a few months after Acme issued its correction, when he fell from his bicycle and pierced his heart on a milk bottle."
 

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