MI MI - Mary Jean McLaughlin, 27, Lake Odessa, 1965

Mary Jean McLaughlin
Missing since 1965 from Lake Odessa, Ionia County, Michigan
Classification: Endangered Missing

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Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: June 13, 1938
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 27 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'5-5'7"; 140-150 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: Native female. Brown hair; blue eyes. May wear glasses.

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Circumstances of Disappearance
Family members say they last heard from Mary Jean McLaughlin, a mother of five, in 1965. Mary Jean's oldest son, was eight years old when his mom disappeared. He recalls that she visited him at school in 1965, and told him she was going away for a while, and said she'd be back.
Her son filed a missing persons report for his mother in 2002.
Mary's former neighbor remembers conversations the two had, and that the marriage was troubled.
There has been no activity on her Social Security number since the time she disappeared.

http://doenetwork.org/cases/1641dfmi.html


Much more info at Charley Project: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/mclaughlin_mary.html

Her maiden name was Beatty, but she also used the surname Blair. She was apparently raised by a Blair family after her mother died.

I have seen her birthdate listed as 1937 and 1939 as well, but 1938 seems most probable/official.

Her husband Carlon McLaughlin died in January 2013.

According to Charley Project she was a 1957 graduate of Lakewood High School, but at the time the school was actually Lake Odessa High School. The 1955 yearbook is available on Classmates, and she is in it as a Sophmore, under the name Mary Jane Blair. Carlon McLauglin appears in the yearbook too, as a junior, so he would have been class of '56. Apparently he had been married once before, immediately before marrying Mary http://genforum.genealogy.com/mclaughlin/messages/3162.html

Have just found another post on the matter: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BEATTIE/2002-08/1029415207

Here she is in the 1940 census:

Head Willard Beaty M 48 Michigan
Wife Hazel May Beaty F 37 Michigan
Daughter Dorothy Beaty F 18 Michigan
Son George H Beaty M 18 Michigan
Daughter Kathleen Beaty F 16 Michigan
Son Lyle Beaty M 8 Michigan
Son Claud Beaty M 6 Michigan
Daughter Mary Jane Beaty F 2 Michigan

Just wondering why the oldest won waited until 2002 to file a missing persons report for her. Even if he had to wait until he was 18 or even 21, it could have been done many years earlier. Why didn't her husband file something after she went missing? You could consider she just wanted out of whatever she was dealing with, but it seems unusual for a woman to just up and leave her children whether it's 1965 or 2013.

Cincinnati Kid said:

Just wondering why the oldest won waited until 2002 to file a missing persons report for her. Even if he had to wait until he was 18 or even 21, it could have been done many years earlier. Why didn't her husband file something after she went missing? You could consider she just wanted out of whatever she was dealing with, but it seems unusual for a woman to just up and leave her children whether it's 1965 or 2013.

Click to expand...

Not unheard of. My mom walked out on five children in 1968 - completely disappeared for almost five years. My dad didn't file a missing person's report because he knew she was leaving him. And she was not looked for for the same reason.

I'm guessing the son had some sort of event in his life that prompted him to look for his mother after all theses years.

There are two articles pasted here: http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t7255.htm

And in one it says:

"Donald McLaughlin explained that he didn't file a missing persons report until 2002 because all his life he -- along with everyone else in his extended family -- had simply accepted that Mary McLaughlin walked out on the family."

I think after she left her husband told everyone she had left. I think the theory is that she left willingly, but something bad happened to her at some point after that, as otherwise she would have been expected to contact her children at some point.

Bumping case up...

NamUs 2882 could possibly be a match on the demographics end. Anyone else see a resemblance?

williamscottstephens said:

NamUs 2882 could possibly be a match on the demographics end. Anyone else see a resemblance?

Click to expand...

Actually, can definitely see what you mean... I wish there was a profile picture of Mary Jean, that would help. Mary Jean's face is fuller, but that can easily be explained by age. Height is a bit off - UID is 5'4", Mary Jean is said to be 5'5"-5'7" but that's vague anyway. Mary Jean's eyes listed as blue, UID's as hazel, but that's also explainable. Another possible connection is the "Kowloon Roseburg, Oregon" shirt UID was wearing - this 2002 post ( http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BEATTIE/2002-08/1029415207 ) floats the idea that she may have been living in Oregon under an assumed name. Maybe that WAS the case, but she had left by 1987? Who knows... But this is the only UID I've seen that bares any resemblance to her.

Mary is in NAMUS: https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/2486/

Mary was last seen by her 8-year-old son and 6 year old daughter when she visited them in school one day in 1965. She told her son she was going away for a while, but would be back. She then traveled to her sister, Kathleen Lindstrom's,(according to Kathleen) home in Muskegon where she left a photograph and disappeared.

Though she wasn't reported missing until August 2002, investigators discovered there is no record of Mary, public or private, since the mid-1960s; and there has been no activity on her social security number since that time.

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High school graduation 1957


13 years old

Bumping this case up.

Young mother with 5 children in short succession, sounds like a postnatal depression /suicide? )

Mary Jean McLaughlin
Missing since 1965 from Lake Odessa, Ionia County, Michigan
Classification: Endangered Missing
Vital Statistics

• • Date Of Birth: June 13, 1938
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 27 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'5-5'7"; 140-150 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: Native female. Brown hair; blue eyes. May wear glasses.
  • Nickname/Alias: Mary Jane Blair
  • DNA: Available
  • Circumstances of Disappearance

Family members say they last heard from Mary Jean McLaughlin, a mother of five, in 1965. Mary Jean's oldest son, was eight years old when his mom disappeared. He recalls that she visited him at school in 1965, and told him she was going away for a while, and said she'd be back.

Though she wasn't reported missing until August 2002, investigators discovered there is no record of Mary, public or private, since the mid-1960s; and there has been no activity on her social security number since that time.

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

Lake Odessa Police Department
Sgt. Bey Hudson
616-374-8844
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Michigan State Police - Ionia Post
Detective Sgt. Michael Morey
616-527-3600

Agency Case Number: 68-3897-02

Source Information:
Doe Network
Ionia Sentinel-Standard Online 2/24/05
Ionia Sentinel-Standard Online 2/26/05
WOODTV 3/10/05
NamUs MP #2486

LINK:

The Doe Network: Case File 1641DFMI

This is a rather strange case. She has been missing since 1965 - 54 years.

I think Mary Jean could be this Doe...
774UFFLThe National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
I can’t see the exclusions as of this moment, so I won’t go into the reasons why I think it’s her.
If someone would graciously check to see if this match has been ruled out... TIA

Hi, there isn’t any missing person exclusions. What are your thoughts on this uid?

StarrChance said:

Hi, there isn’t any missing person exclusions. What are your thoughts on this uid?

Click to expand...

Thank you Starr!

This match seems impossible at first glance, for several reasons. One of them being the majority of the reconstructions of Jane Doe being done in a manner that I think may be somewhat deceptive. Or could be deceiving, rather. Upon first glance - and this of course is just my opinion - it would seem as though we should be looking for a black/African American woman.

However, depending on the source (and the reconstruction), this decedent is described as either being Hispanic with black admixture, multiple, White/Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino, and initially believed to be of black and Native American descent. Which largely opens up the possibilities.

Then there’s Mary. She is listed as being a white/Caucasian female on most everything I’ve found pertaining to her. Except for The Doe Network - she is listed as a “Native female”. I take it that doesn’t mean she’s native to being female p) rather she, at some point or in some place, was recorded as being Caucasian with another unspecified admixture. Native American possibly. Or it was a massive typo and I’ll feel extra silly.

Looking at the photos of Mary that are attached to all of her missing person profiles, she does look to be of mixed race/ethnicity. I initially thought it could be Asian but after seeing more photos of her, I see something totally different. I’m not sure what, but I don’t see Asian. Anyway, that’s just my subjective, untrained observation.

Mysterious Mary... LOL ... I’m trying to understand the dynamics of her life and how and when the 3 surnames come in to play. From what I think I’ve gathered, she was born in 1938 “Mary Jean Beatty”. In 1947, at the age of 8 almost 9, her mother died. And this where I guess I’m confused - According to The Charley Project, “She lived with several foster families, including Carlon's [her husband] parents, from the age of eight until her marriage.”

So, this is where the name “Blair” comes from, one of her foster families. Going back a few generations I saw no Blairs on either Mary’s parent’s sides or Carlon’s. Now we have “Mary Jane Blair/Blaire”. That is what she is listed as in the 1955 Lake Odessa, MI yearbook. (This all seems irrelevant and I’m trying to get to the point as quickly as possible) But the photos I found of Mary - and I’m quite positive it is this Mary - were from 1953/1954 Solon, Iowa and 1956 Atkins, Iowa yearbooks. Then, reportedly she graduated from Lake Odessa HS in 1957.

So, we’ve got
- Mary Jean Beatty in Iowa 1953 (7th grade)
- Mary Jean Beatty in Iowa 1954 (8th grade)
- Mary Jane Blair/Blaire in Michigan 1955 (10th grade)
- Mary Jean Beatty in Iowa 1956 (10th grade)
- Mary Jane Blair in Michigan 1957 (12th grade)
(and there’s no book for 1957 that I could find)

****Ugh! Now I’m confusing myself...I’m going to create a quick (yah right) little tree for Mary and hopefully figure out where I’m messing things up )****

Oh, before I forget, I always thought that Mary knew she was saying goodbye to her son for the last time...whether it be she knew someone else was going to do something to her or she was going to do something to herself, I feel like she knew. This particular Doe’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. Some reports say homicide some say suicide - I don’t think it really could be determined. So, that’s another reason I believe it to be Mary.

Now I’m going to attempt to figure out...something. lol

Also...I think Mary’s bone structure is very similar to that of the UID’s. Even, to some degree, the overly caricature-like reconstructions. (I’m not judging, I can do no better )

Okay! Off to swing through the branches of Mary’s tree!

One obvious check for the match between the uid and Mary Jean is the clothing found with the uid. The key item is the bra. At 32M that is a very big (unusually so) cup size. If Mary Jean was not built like Dolly Parton it would seem to be a mark against the comparison. Of course, such sizes are sometimes the result of silicone implants - but none were found with the skeleton. I cannot find any information on Mary Jean which would help with this issue, but I imagine family and LE would know. The quoted height/weight for Mary Jean could support such a size, but equally could be correct for a much smaller bust size.

I also looked at the Iowa Mary Jean's. Whilst I see some similarities I am not convinced. Also, the Mary Jane Beatty in Atkins still appears in the 1958 Yearbook for Atkins High School which is too late for the missing Mary Jean.

alb1on said:

One obvious check for the match between the uid and Mary Jean is the clothing found with the uid. The key item is the bra. At 32M that is a very big (unusually so) cup size. If Mary Jean was not built like Dolly Parton it would seem to be a mark against the comparison. Of course, such sizes are sometimes the result of silicone implants - but none were found with the skeleton. I cannot find any information on Mary Jean which would help with this issue, but I imagine family and LE would know. The quoted height/weight for Mary Jean could support such a size, but equally could be correct for a much smaller bust size.

I also looked at the Iowa Mary Jean's. Whilst I see some similarities I am not convinced. Also, the Mary Jane Beatty in Atkins still appears in the 1958 Yearbook for Atkins High School which is too late for the missing Mary Jean.

Click to expand...

Thank you SO much for your feedback! I’ve been lost to be honest. I was able to find another photo of Mary Jean through another public ancestry tree. I’m glad you pointed out the bra size...I guess I’d never seen a “32M” before so it didn’t register to me quite how large that was. But based on this new photo, it appears as though she filled out some between high school and her disappearance.

I’m not convinced of much anymore at this point, lol, but I’m not completely dismissing the possibility. I’ll just continue to try my luck on her tree and see if there’s any other clues to be found. In the mean time I’ll take any advice or assistance I can get!

Thanks again!

(I’ll find the link to the photo for anyone interested...I don’t recall it having a date on it FWIW)

alllads said:

Another possible connection is the "Kowloon Roseburg, Oregon" shirt UID was wearing - this 2002 post ( http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BEATTIE/2002-08/1029415207 ) floats the idea that she may have been living in Oregon under an assumed name. Maybe that WAS the case, but she had left by 1987? Who knows... But this is the only UID I've seen that bares any resemblance to her.

Click to expand...

This may be a line to pursue if anything can be found (and I have found no trace on Ancestry). The message on rootsweb is very specific;
"May be living in Oregon and calling herself Hazel SHAW. Might be married to a Grant SHAW.She has nothing to fear anymore and we will come bring her home if she wishes. call Nancy and Donald McLaughlin at 616-374-1279 or e-mail dlmu757(a)cablespeed.com".
And it seems to be from family members (child?) who should be best placed to have such knowledge. There must be a reason for being so specific both about the name change (Hazel was one of her mothers forenames) and the name for the possible husband. Perhap's one of her siblings (who all seem to have died since the message) had some knowledge?