LA LA - Audrey Moate, 31, Laplace, 24 Nov 1956

[Shamrocker99]

I looked around and didn't see any information indicating that Audrey's daughter had passed away

 

[Pink Panther]

There is an article in the The Odessa American (Odessa, Texas) November 22, 1957 - PAGE 6 that has a lot of additional information that I have not found anywhere else. I cannot link it but I originally found it through ancestry. In it, Audrey's mother (Minnie Smith) states that Audrey had a "nervous breakdown" in 1955 and went to St. Louis for 5 months. When she returned a few days before Christmas of that year, she had a 4-day old baby girl with her. She told her mother that the girl's parents didn't want her and that she was going to adopt her. The article goes on to give much more information but I had never heard mention of this baby girl before that one article.

Has anyone else ever heard this?

 

[Pink Panther]

When I first read this, I immediately thought that perhaps Thomas Hotard's wife could be involved. Does she have any brothers? If she knew the two were more than friends, she could have confided in a male friend, brother or even her father who took matters into his own hands. I'm not suggesting she was involved, although she may have been. I'd like to know more about the investigation - who was questioned, persons of interest, etc.

She came from a large family with several brothers. In the article I mention above, it states that they looked into the possibility that she had been involved and felt that she was not. I'm not sure if they looked into others in the family.

 

[Pink Panther]

The article above also states that the police found letters/postcards in her car and at her home showing that her bills were being sent to Mrs. Audrey M Hotard. On ancestry, the only listing I have found for her death is:

Social Security Death Index

Name: Audrey Hotard
SSN: *advertiser censored*
Born: Nov 1925
Died: Nov 1956
State (Year) SSN issued: California (Before 1951)

She is listed in City Public Directories for both 1956 and 1957 as Mrs. Audrey Hotard. (The 1957 listing information had probably already been processed before she disappeared):

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta)

Name: Audrey Hotard
Residence Year: 1956
Street Address: 758 Napoleon
Residence Place: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Publication Title: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, City Directory, 1956

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta) - 1957

Name: Mrs Audrey M Hotard
Gender: F (Female)
Residence Year: 1957
Street Address: 2621 McGrath av
Residence Place: Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Occupation: Asst To Purch Agt (the actual document shows Kaiser Construction Co.)
Publication Title: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, City Directory, 1957

So, she was referring to herself and to her employers as Mrs. Audrey M Hotard. I have found no marriage records that match.

 

[Pink Panther]

It seems that she had three children. She had two children (a boy and a girl) with George Moate (her ex-husband) and then either adopted a third or had a third of her own in December 1955. In the article her mother mentions that Thomas Hotard has agreed to help her to adopt the child born in 1955 using his name but I have not been able to locate this child anywhere. I have not seen mention of this information anywhere else. For others who might be researching, Audrey's mother does give the child's name in the article and she is a girl.

In the article, Audrey's mother states that he (Thomas) wanted to sponsor the adoption and thought it would be a good idea to use his name.

 

[Pink Panther]

It's a bit uncanny that she was born on November 24th and disappeared on the very same day and neither the media covering her disappearance nor the police mention this???

 

[Pink Panther]

Audrey was born in Boulder, Colorado. Her first name was Alta. She shows up on a 1940 census as follows:

1940 United States Federal Census

Name: Alta Audrey Smith
Age: 14
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1926
Gender: Female
Race: White
Birthplace: Colorado
Marital Status: Single
Relation to Head of House: Granddaughter
Home in 1940: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
View Map
Street: Woodbridge Street
House Number: 11639
Inferred Residence in 1935: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Residence in 1935: Same Place
Sheet Number: 4A
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Henry A Smith 78
Becky L Smith 74
Dan W Smith 55
Minnie P Smith 50
Alta Audrey Smith 14
Henry Robert Smith 13

I assume that Henry Robert Smith was her brother, but he is a bit more difficult to trace.

 

[Pink Panther]

I just noticed this confirmation on the Doe Network listing for Audrey:

"Investigators found out that the woman who had been in the car was divorced mother of three, Audrey Moate"

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2323dfla.html

Her Charlie Project listing says the same thing. She was a single mother of three children.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/moate_audrey.html

 

[Pink Panther]

They found her car keys and some of the contents of her purse but NOT her purse. This according to the article above.

 

[Pink Panther]

Audrey's mother's name is Minnie Pearl Smith born in Arkensaw.

 

[Pink Panther]

I've probably spent far more time on this than I should (given NO family connection) but I am now wondering if and who identified/claimed Thomas' body as there are no articles that mention or explain this. The only information is in the above article (they found his ID in his wallet) and yet there is no mention of an immediate family member viewing and claiming the body of Thomas.

 

[Pink Panther]

Bumping for Audrey. Her third child, cited in the aforementioned article was most likely named Jacqueline Hotard. Where is she?

 

[momtolil]

Bumping for Audrey. Her third child, cited in the aforementioned article was most likely named Jacqueline Hotard. Where is she?

Interesting, I never thought about the other two children. I wonder why they were not mentioned in any of the more recent articles?

 

[Pink Panther]

Found this transcript from "Unsolved Mysteries" that aired Feb. 11, 2010:

http://www.livedash.com/transcript/unsolved_mysteries/7038/SPIKEP/Thursday_February_11_2010/192471/

Makes mention of a deathbed confession by Ernest Acosta who also implicates his common-law wife Caroline Schloesser.

 

[Pink Panther]

Bump.

 

[Pink Panther]

It's so lonely in here. I would like to see anything that confirms Thomas's body as being identified. Who identified him???

 

[Robin Hood]

A picture of Audrey

http://unsolveditn.blogspot.co.uk/2011_02_24_archive.html

 

[STANDREID]

I don't know if anyone else has ever mentioned the possibility but I have a thread on another site about the Texarkana Phantom (aka Moonlight Murderer) serial killer and I listed this case as the last crime that could have been on his tally. It is very unlikely but it is a similar case, in the same era and in a neighboring state.

 

[Robin Hood]

Maybe Acosta could be looked at for that Stan.

 

[STANDREID]

Yes Robin, I wonder where he was 10 years earlier.