CA CA - Johnnie Joe Herrera, 20, Oxnard, 27 Aug 1971

[Bobby88]

Johnnie Joe Herrera
Missing since August 27, 1971 from Oxnard, Ventura County, California
Classification: Missing


Vital Statistics

• Date Of Birth: February 17, 1951
• Age at Time of Disappearance: 20 years old
• Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 137 lbs.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Hispanic male. Black hair; brown eyes. A window's peak.
• Marks, Scars: Scar on the bridge of his nose. Burn mark on the elbow area (unknown which elbow) caused by the grill of a floor heater.
• Clothing: Purple shirt, white pants.
• Dentals: Chipped right front tooth.
• AKA: John

Circumstances of Disappearance
Herrera was last seen at a bachelor party in Oxnard, California, on August 27, 1971. He never returned home.
His light. blue VW Volkswagon, license ZWM775, was never recovered. There is no DMV history on the license plate.

There's so little info on this case. It brings many questions to mind. Did Johnnie have issues at home? Did he ever have tendency to just pick up and leave on a whim? Did things at the bachelor party take an ugly turn and his "friends" had to cover it up? My Google news archives searches turned up nothing whatsoever. Based on other research I did, I'm wondering if he could have fallen victim to serial killer Randy Kraft, who was active in southern California in the early 1970's.

[Bobby88]

Whenever I get more time, I'll check UID males to see if any of them match Johnnie's description. If anyone wants to make any suggestions as to possible UID matches or any suggestions about what may have happened to him, where I might find more info on this case, etc., feel free to post it here or PM me.

[Bobby88]

I can't believe it took me this long to consider this, but isn't it possible that Johnnie's family never reported him missing at the time and only did so recently? Or if they did do it back then, perhaps the police didn't look into it since he was over 18. That might explain why there's so little info about the circumstances of his disappearance since they'd have to search their memories about something that happened almost 40 years ago.

Sorry if that was a bit of a ramble.

[Kat]

Second picture is high school grad picture. I can't find any articles in the archives either. ETA: My first thought when the car is never found in missing persons cases is that the car is in a body of water. JMHO.

[Bobby88]

I never thought of the car being dumped in a body of water; it's very possible. I think whatever might have happened probably started at the bachelor party. I wonder whose party it was. Was it Johnnie's or for one of his friends/relatives?

[Bobby88]

A small detail I got from the Charley Project that I didn't see on Doe. Johnnie had a black mark between his big toe and second toe on one of his feet; it didn't say which foot.

[Kat]

Bump

Johnnie has been missing close to 39 years now.

Such a handsome young man, he makes me think of my own son when I look at his senior picture.

Come home soon sweetie.

[Bobby88]

Originally Posted by Kat

Bump

Johnnie has been missing close to 39 years now.

Such a handsome young man, he makes me think of my own son when I look at his senior picture.

Come home soon sweetie.

Make that 39 years today.

[Bobby88]

https://www.findthemissing.org/photos/full/10299

If you look closely at the maximized version of Johnnie's graduation photo, you can see that he'd written something to someone. You can only make out a few words though. I wonder who it was written to and if that person knows anything about his disappearance.

[Bobby88]

Based on the context of what little writing can be seen, it looks like Johnnie may have written this to a girlfriend. If it was, a good question would be whether or not he was still having a relationship with her at the time of his disappearance.

For a case that has so little info on the circumstances, they certainly have an excellent, detailed description of Johnnie's car, including the plate number and year of the car.

[Bobby88]

I went to a few sites where you can search for birth records, marriage records, etc. see if I could find anything about Johnnie's family. But they all have a fee. If anyone here is a member of any such site and would like to look up Johnnie Joe Herrera from Oxnard, CA, it'd be greatly appreciated. I'm also interested in finding out about where Johnnie graduated his high school and if there are any classmates out there.

[Kat]

Give me a few days Bobby and I'll see if I can pull something up with a deep search on the internet okay?

Prayers for Johnnie.

[Bobby88]

Originally Posted by Kat

Give me a few days Bobby and I'll see if I can pull something up with a deep search on the internet okay?

Prayers for Johnnie.

Thanks. Are you a paying member of those people finder sites? I can't believe I just noticed this, but Johnnie was born the same date (2/17/51) as my aunt, which is a year and day before my mother!

[carbuff]

Originally Posted by Bobby88

I never thought of the car being dumped in a body of water; it's very possible. I think whatever might have happened probably started at the bachelor party. I wonder whose party it was. Was it Johnnie's or for one of his friends/relatives?

Not necessarily dumped. Maybe he was under the influence and got in an accident where his car wound up in the water, like that woman they found recently in British Columbia. Oxnard seems to have miles of shoreline, channels between islands, and agricultural canals.

[Kat]

Originally Posted by Bobby88

Thanks. Are you a paying member of those people finder sites? I can't believe I just noticed this, but Johnnie was born the same date (2/17/51) as my aunt, which is a year and day before my mother!

No I am not a member to any paid sites but I learned from a few on here at WS how to do a deep search on the internet without paying. Also, I may ask for the help of one of our members who's a miracle worker at finding info needed. If she can't find it no one can. JMHO.

Originally Posted by carbuff

Not necessarily dumped. Maybe he was under the influence and got in an accident where his car wound up in the water, like that woman they found recently in British Columbia. Oxnard seems to have miles of shoreline, channels between islands, and agricultural canals.

That's my first assumption too Carbuff. I would assume first, that he had an accident. JMHO.


ETA: I sent a message on her WS public page. Hopefully, she will have time to help if not, I'll see what I can find too.

[Bobby88]

Originally Posted by carbuff

Not necessarily dumped. Maybe he was under the influence and got in an accident where his car wound up in the water, like that woman they found recently in British Columbia. Oxnard seems to have miles of shoreline, channels between islands, and agricultural canals.

Good point. If he was at a bachelor party, there was more than likely alcohol, and he could have simply had too much before getting behind the wheel.

[momtective]

Originally Posted by Kat

No I am not a member to any paid sites but I learned from a few on here at WS how to do a deep search on the internet without paying. Also, I may ask for the help of one of our members who's a miracle worker at finding info needed. If she can't find it no one can. JMHO.



That's my first assumption too Carbuff. I would assume first, that he had an accident. JMHO.


ETA: I sent a message on her WS public page. Hopefully, she will have time to help if not, I'll see what I can find too.

Happy to help Kat...I found one individual in Oxnard, CA with the exact DOB but not the exact name. He appears to be a living person and has family...http://www.veromi.com

I wonder of Johnnie was maybe a familial name with Joseph or Jose being his legal name...
Wouldn't it be wonderful if he's alive!

[Bobby88]

Originally Posted by momtective

Happy to help Kat...I found one individual in Oxnard, CA with the exact DOB but not the exact name. He appears to be a living person and has family...http://www.veromi.com

I wonder of Johnnie was maybe a familial name with Joseph or Jose being his legal name...
Wouldn't it be wonderful if he's alive!

Thank you. I think Johnnie was his legal name. I went onto a website called Family Tree Legend and typed in his info. His birth record (and death record, which means he was probably declared legally dead) list his name as Johnnie Joe Herrera. His SS# is also listed on the site.

[Kat]

Originally Posted by momtective

Happy to help Kat...I found one individual in Oxnard, CA with the exact DOB but not the exact name. He appears to be a living person and has family...http://www.veromi.com

I wonder of Johnnie was maybe a familial name with Joseph or Jose being his legal name...
Wouldn't it be wonderful if he's alive!

Thank you so much Momtective for helping Johnnie. We apreciate it very much!

[Kat]

Bobby I did read about Randy Kraft and I agree it's possible that Johnnie may have been one of his victims.

I checked NamUs for Johnnie.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/7056/2/
Dental: NA
DNA: Sample available-not yet submitted
Fingerprints: NA

I wish they would submit his sample already, that's a long time for his family to wait.

I still wonder, if Johnnie was a victim of Kraft or another killer, where is his car? JMHO.

[Bobby88]

Originally Posted by Kat

Bobby I did read about Randy Kraft and I agree it's possible that Johnnie may have been one of his victims.

I checked NamUs for Johnnie.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/7056/2/
Dental: NA
DNA: Sample available-not yet submitted
Fingerprints: NA

I wish they would submit his sample already, that's a long time for his family to wait.

I still wonder, if Johnnie was a victim of Kraft or another killer, where is his car? JMHO.

I also just checked the Namus page again and in the section marked Police information, it says that he was apparently repoted missing on Septempber 1, 1971. It also gives the name of who I assume to be the detective assigned to the case from the Oxnard Police Dept.

[Bobby88]

Also, I read that Kraft's first victim, Wayne Dukette, wasn't found until October of 1971 and it made me wonder if the timing Kraft killings and Herrera's disappearance was just a coincidence. However, I've also read that Dukette is believed to be the first known Kraft victim. So, there could still be a link with Kraft in the Herrera case since Kraft was known to have raped and drugged a 13-yr-old runaway as early as March 1970.

[Bobby88]

The more I think about this case, the less I'm inclined to believe that Johnnie simply chose to vanish or had simply gotten into a car accident. Kat and I were discussing this the other day and think Johnnie was more than likely abducted and murdered. The questions are who could have done, why, and where Johnnie's body and car are located.

The fact that they can't locate his car bothers me. It almost makes me wonder if someone killed him for his car and dumped his corpse somewhere. It seems absurd, but people have been known to be killed for hell of a lot less.

[Bobby88]

Bumping for Johnnie.

I found his profile here, but it's nothing we don't already know.

http://missingincalifornia.com/johnnieherrera1971.html

I wish I could find out which high school he graduated from. There may be some classmates who could have valuable information without even knowing it.

[Bobby88]

It doesn't have a year, and it may not even be the same Johnnie, but I happened to find this while searching possible high schools he could've graduated from:

http://www.classfinders.com/people/c...hnnie/herrera/

I have a feeling that this could be him. If it is, it still doesn't tell us where he (or more than likely, his remains) could be today.