Deceased/Not Found AL - Carla Corley, 14, Birmingham, 12 Aug 1980

[EmilyHTX]

I'm leaning more toward the possibility that one of the (now) registered sexual offenders that lived within a 5-10 minute drive from Carla's residence may have been involved. One was charged and convicted of an offense in 1983, and the victim was a 12 year old girl, I believe. Others had 7-11 year old female victims between the 90's and early 2000's, but they're all old enough to have been early-mid 20's at the time of Carla's disappearance. It's entirely within reason to think that one (or more) of them could have committed offenses prior to the one offense that they were convicted of, they just weren't reported/caught. Knowing who had committed the previous assault on her would be most helpful but...here we are almost 40 years later :sigh:

 

[JerseyGirl]

Carla Rebecca Corley is one of the Birmingham Police Department’s oldest unsolved missing persons cases where foul play is expected. Carla, 14, vanished in August 1980 from her home in the Eastwood public housing community on Airport Highway in Birmingham. She and her mother, Nelda Corley Leopard, were watching television together that night, and then her mother went to bed. She woke up about 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 12 to find the apartment doors open and Carla gone. Chairs had been pushed back from the table and a soda bottle was overturned. Her new shoes were near the couch where she had put them the night before, and her belt was lying on the ground outside the front door. Carla was 5-feet, 1, and weighed 120 pounds. She was epileptic and was last seen by her mother wearing blue corduroy pants and a blouse with a Peter Pan collar. A month before her disappearance, a group of men had abducted Carla for about three hours, taking her to Lake Purdy where she was raped. Her mother didn’t find out about the rape until later. About a week before Carla’s disappearance, the men came banging on her door but couldn’t get in. In 1998, a psychic claimed there was evidence connected to Carla’s case buried in the vicinity of a small lake near Palmerdale but a search did not produce any results. Carla has since been declared legally dead.

Gone without a trace? Misery, mystery linger in these Alabama missing child cases

 

[Bit of hope]

Hi there....It's probably nothing but I came across this UID-case. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) created in 2016. Although Jane Doe was estimated between 18 - 99, the apartment where they found a skull and mandible was only 11 minutes from the place Carla lived at the time.

An apartment landlord discovered a skull and mandible in a cardboard box inside a filing cabinet in an apartment which a tenant had been recently evicted.

The address where the remains where found. 2325 10th Court South, apartment #10 in Birmingham.
I'm going to send an Email to the Namus contacts, just to draw there attention. (DNA UID is not yet processed) Done.

I did submit this a long time ago...but still nothing new I guess.

 

[Bit of hope]

Carla Rebecca Corley is one of the Birmingham Police Department’s oldest unsolved missing persons cases where foul play is expected. Carla, 14, vanished in August 1980 from her home in the Eastwood public housing community on Airport Highway in Birmingham. She and her mother, Nelda Corley Leopard, were watching television together that night, and then her mother went to bed. She woke up about 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 12 to find the apartment doors open and Carla gone. Chairs had been pushed back from the table and a soda bottle was overturned. Her new shoes were near the couch where she had put them the night before, and her belt was lying on the ground outside the front door. Carla was 5-feet, 1, and weighed 120 pounds. She was epileptic and was last seen by her mother wearing blue corduroy pants and a blouse with a Peter Pan collar. A month before her disappearance, a group of men had abducted Carla for about three hours, taking her to Lake Purdy where she was raped. Her mother didn’t find out about the rape until later. About a week before Carla’s disappearance, the men came banging on her door but couldn’t get in. In 1998, a psychic claimed there was evidence connected to Carla’s case buried in the vicinity of a small lake near Palmerdale but a search did not produce any results. Carla has since been declared legally dead.

Gone without a trace? Misery, mystery linger in these Alabama missing child cases

This is such a horrible story...thank you for the additional info.

 

[Bit of hope]

Need to refresh this case for myself. I was wondering about the blouse with the Peter Pan color..I never heard of it....

Is it something like this? Redirect Notice

 

[Bit of hope]

bumping up for our newest member shewasonlyforteen

welcome!!!

please email Tricia wsverify@xmission.com to be verified as family member

Whatever happened to @shewasonlyforteen? I hope you are ok!

 

[Bit of hope]

I just wanted to pop in to this thread and let you know that I was here. for moral support. I'm so sorry to hear of this little girl's story, and I hope that some day justice will be served to whoever hurt her, and that her body is laid to rest appropriately. Your love for her shines through. My sister has been missing since 11/30/1980 - and while I'm certainly not the only relative, i'm the only relative in the thread - and as far as I know, the only relative still looking. xox I feel your pain, and I so hope you get the answers you seek.

Going from page 1 to the end again....and saw your post. Such a wonderful thing to do @JudysSisterMaureen, knowing your pain. I hope this was some kind of comforting for @she was only forteen. I hope your are doing ok, Maureen.

 

[Bit of hope]

VERY MUCH LOVED AND AM SHOUTING JUSTICE FOR HER AND THE OTHERS, AND THANK YOU FOR ALL WHO POST, AND TGIF/WEBSLEUTH, LADY I CAN NOT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR GIVING A CARE, FOR A VOICE FOR THOSE WHO CAN NOT SPEAK TO US NOW, THANKSSSSS SO MUCH, GRATEFUL :great:

Must be horrendous. So sorry for Carla and you. You are talking about "the others"...please share your thoughts.

 

[Bit of hope]

Trying to get some more insights in this case, especially the rape.

A month earlier, a group of men had abducted the girl for about three hours, taken her to Lake Purdy and raped her.
105DFAL - Carla Rebecca Corley

From where took the abduction place, from her house? Her mother didn't know at the time. Was her mother not there, working? Or did Carla go with someone she trusted and this happened when she was at Lake Purdy? I'm just trying to get a better view how this went.

A month before her disappearance, a group of men had abducted Carla for about three hours, taking her to Lake Purdy where she was raped. Her mother didn’t find out about the rape until later. Gone without a trace? Misery, mystery linger in these Alabama missing child cases

Destination Unknown
Carla had been allegedly abducted and raped by a group of men in July 1980, one month prior to the time she was last seen. The three-hour attack had taken place near Lake Purdy in Alabama.

It is not known if the previous attack is related to Carla's disappearance. No official report about the incident was filed at the time and the police didn't learn about it until eighteen years after Carla went missing.

Where is this info coming from: 18 years after? Can anybody confirm this, say it somewhere else mentioned?

Birmingham's coldest case: what happened to Carla Corley?

Interview with Cat Poe, her sister:

It wasn't long before she began hearing stories that a few days before Carla went missing, a group of men had kidnapped her, taken her to Lake Purdy and raped her before bringing her back home.

Investigators thought that when Carla went missing a second time, that she had been kidnapped and raped again, but this time, killed.

They were investigating several other cases throughout the city that had a similar scenario

"Why would someone have done that to her? What I was told is it's because of what she seen. I was told Carla seen something that could get these people convicted," Poe said.



Edit to add.

 

[Ajaxkid]

Need to refresh this case for myself. I was wondering about the blouse with the Peter Pan color..I never heard of it....

Is it something like this? Redirect Notice

Not sure if you meant to say “collar” and it was auto-corrected to “color”. A Peter Pan collar is a round collar... much rounder than what you see in your example.

 

[Bit of hope]

Not sure if you meant to say “collar” and it was auto-corrected to “color”. A Peter Pan collar is a round collar... much rounder than what you see in your example.

Ok....I meant collar....you could have guessed it...I'm not familiair with the name....

Something like this one? light blue blouse, with Peter Pan collar and three buttons? That was what she reportedly was wearing when she went missing.

 

[Ajaxkid]

Ok....I meant collar....you could have guessed it...I'm not familiair with the name....

Something like this one? light blue blouse, with Peter Pan collar and three buttons? That was what she reportedly was wearing when she went missing.

That’s it.

 

[Bit of hope]

I'm almost sure (but I could be wrong) that Carla's mom was remarried by the time Carla went missing. But the sister would know.

 

[Suglo]

Bump!

 

[Blue Girl1991]

I got a message from carla's relative who wanted to make corrections in lots of errors in reports on articles in 2012 regarding Carla's disappearance
This is the correct information ,brought by Carla's relative.

1. Start search 1st day learned of her disappearance, which would be 8/12/80 for me. 2. LE, nor I, had not heard of any other time of abduction or rape, (group, lake Purdy), till 1998, and we learned that from front page news article. 18 yrs later! That is how, and when, I first heard or learned of that info. 3. Nelda (our mother), had her declared dead, 1987. The 7 yrs legally 1 has to wait to do so. 4. At the time of that interview in 2012, last homicide search was actually, 2010/11.

-------------------------------------------------------
We will be very glad to have you here with us in the forum if you would like to share more information in the thread,My prayers for Carla and for you.

I wish 2020 will be the year when Carla will be brought to rest and the evil killers will be punished.

 

[Bit of hope]

I got a message from carla's relative who wanted to make corrections in lots of errors in reports on articles in 2012 regarding Carla's disappearance
This is the correct information ,brought by Carla's relative.

1. Start search 1st day learned of her disappearance, which would be 8/12/80 for me. 2. LE, nor I, had not heard of any other time of abduction or rape, (group, lake Purdy), till 1998, and we learned that from front page news article. 18 yrs later! That is how, and when, I first heard or learned of that info. 3. Nelda (our mother), had her declared dead, 1987. The 7 yrs legally 1 has to wait to do so. 4. At the time of that interview in 2012, last homicide search was actually, 2010/11.

-------------------------------------------------------
We will be very glad to have you here with us in the forum if you would like to share more information in the thread,My prayers for Carla and for you.

I wish 2020 will be the year when Carla will be brought to rest and the evil killers will be punished.

Good to know. From my experience with other missing person cases, media can sure mess information up and misinformation will keep on popping up and repeated, even in a thread like this. We should stay "sharp".

 

[PezCandy]

Wow! This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this case, it’s sad, tragic, and those men who raped her are disgusting pigs! I hope that she will get justice and her family finds out what happened. My heart sincerely breaks for this girl and her family.

 

[Savemecastiel]

Bumping

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

Anniversary of disappearance today.

 

[spartanx]

What strikes me about this case is that those guys kidnapped her and the police? didn't do anything? unscrupulous people asking for money to tell that mother where her daughter is? Had the same beasts that raped her taken her? The police here left a lot to be desired.... poor girl, I hope that one day we find out what happened to her, her mother deserves closure...
rest in peace