MI MI - Ida Richardson-Anderson, 21, Detroit, 18 Sept 1958

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Danny,

I'm not sure if you still check here or if you ever saw my pm. Or maybe Mtrooper told you, we are fairly certain we had found the right Carol Moser but she had died in the 1990s. Mtrooper spoke to one of her sisters but she did not know of Ida. This Carol had children who are still living, let me know if you want more info. She might have mentioned Ida to them at some point.

Also, I am wondering if you can clarify something. I know it's been said that plane tickets were purchased for Ida and the children to return to Florida and they were never used. It's also been said that Ida wasn't declared competent by a judge until after the adoption.

Would this mean the plane tickets were purchased before it was known that she was going to get custody, or does it mean that they were purchased after the adoption and they didn't realize Ida was missing yet? I'm a little confused on that part.
 
I am wondering if any of Ida's kids have done DNA testing through Ancestry (or any of the major companies) in case Ida went on to have more children and they or their children might test. This is so sad, my heart goes out to this family <3
 
I checked NAMUS and there is a sample submitted and completed, so that is huge that they got it in. I always thought she looked like our Hernando Jane Doe for 72, but we put in DNA about a year ago, but no hits yet.
 
IRichardson-Anderson.jpg
IRichardson-Anderson1.jpg

Ida Dean Anderson
Missing since September 18, 1958 from Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan.
Classification: Missing

Statistics
    • Date Of Birth: March 22, 1937
    • Age at Time of Disappearance: 21 years old
    • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2; 110 pounds
    • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; blue eyes.
    • Other: Ida's maiden name is Richardson.
    • DNA: Available
Circumstances of Disappearance

Ida resided with her family in Florida in the mid-1950s. She became pregnant in 1955 at age 18 and married her baby's father, Kenneth, thereafter. Kenneth was employed part-time as a musician. They settled in the Detroit, Michigan area and had two additional children by 1958.

The marriage was troubled and Ida often wrote about financial difficulties in letters to her relatives in Florida. Ida took her three children and left Kenneth in February 1958. She was hospitalized due to rheumatic fever and ulcers shortly afterward. Kenneth placed the children in a boarding home while Ida was ill. The state of Michigan took custody of their children as a result of his actions and Ida and Kenneth spent the next six months attempting to regain their parental rights.

Ida was scheduled to receive custody of her children in mid-September 1958, but no one is certain if she was aware of that fact. She vanished on September 18 and has never been heard from again.
Ida's children were adopted by other families due to her disappearance. Her oldest son and daughter were adopted by the same family and their names were changed.

Arrangements had been made for Ida and the children to fly to Jacksonville, Florida after she was awarded custody in 1958. Airplane tickets had been purchased, but they were never used.

Ida's three children were reunited in 1995 and began searching for her with the assistance of other relatives. Ida has not been located as an unidentified deceased victim and a search of hospital records has proven that she was not admitted to any facilities in Michigan and surrounding states after her 1958 disappearance under her name. Her family is concerned that she may have been institutionalized or that she is homeless and does not know her identity.

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

Dan Borgers--Ida Richardson-Anderson's son
615-500-6420

Michigan State Police
734-994-8881

Agency Case Number: 09-3520

Source Information:
The Detroit News
NamUs MP #2485
The Doe Network: Case File 753DFMI
 
Skully said:
I checked NAMUS and there is a sample submitted and completed, so that is huge that they got it in. I always thought she looked like our Hernando Jane Doe for 72, but we put in DNA about a year ago, but no hits yet.
Click to expand...

This is why I thought of Ida. Crazy they look so much alike and our Jane Doe is 30 - 35 in 1972...
Ida would have been 35 in 1972, but we have DNA for both but no match.
 

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Current list of exclusions for Ida per NamUs:
UP8419 01/16/2001 Isle of Wight VA
UP16689 11/14/1969 Cuyahoga OH
UP15394 02/05/1975 Cuyahoga OH
UP5556 05/30/1976 Virginia Beach VA
UP6629 02/03/1991 Frederick VA
UP12683 06/06/2014 Newport News VA
UP6661 02/03/1991 Stafford VA
UP6796 11/18/1985 Alleghany VA
UP6642 08/07/1986 Chesterfield VA
UP8493 12/06/1993 Fairfax VA
UP6259 04/22/1981 Lawrence OH
UP5211 09/30/1968 Will IL
UP2170 06/27/1977 New Castle DE
UP2170 06/27/1977New Castle DE
UP8959 08/24/1990 Spartanburg SC
UP8675 01/24/1985 DeSoto MS
UP8821 10/11/1991 Hartford CT
UP7097 03/18/1967 New Castle DE
UP2159 05/09/2001 Greenbrier WV
UP4768 04/19/1990 Licking OH
UP8427 07/17/1982 Washoe NV
UP8191 03/29/1999 Hamilton TN
UP7691 01/31/2006 Orange CA
UP6249 11/14/1980 Rockingham VA
UP3153 04/19/1981 Will IL
UP6485 02/11/1982 Prince William VA
 
I just read about Ida and her children; historical context and comments below.

Debbie Miller said:
After Ida was released from the hospital, she and Kenneth Anderson attempted to regain custody of their children for the next six months. Ida was scheduled to receive custody in September 1958. A plane ticket to Florida had been purchased for her and the children; however, on the 18th of September, she vanished and has never been heard from again, the plane tickets never used.
Click to expand...

All bold quotes by me

The poster above who mentioned that family lore might hide unpleasant facts, read this situation accurately. Without custody, how could the family purchase the tickets for all three? Even Ida's letter mentions how unsure she was about gain custody.

dborgers said:
The judge told her, "you can hire all the private detectives you want, but you'll never find her." Why I think this is pertinent is because Ida wasn't legally declared competent by the Probate Judge until one month AFTER our adoptions were finalized - two years after her 'disappearance.' The psychiatrists who examined her in 1958 at the judge's orders determined her to be competent but obviously distressed by the situation. I feel the judge may have kept her in the mental institution to keep her from taking us kids back to Florida to live with her mother.
Click to expand...

In the mid-century US, older couples could not adopt children easily. A burgeoning private adoption industry provided these couples with children. Money changed hands often, but kindly persons who saw a child with questionable parents offered the babies to good people freely. Often occurred with female inmates who lost their child, who the warden then placed through her network. Interesting that an older couple adopted two of the children.

dborgers said:
They never heard from her again. All of which leads me to believe the Probate Judge in Washtenaw County, MI kept her in the mental institution to cover up the fact he'd adopted her kids out and to keep her quiet. That or something happened in the Ypsilanti State Hospital they didn't want anyone to know about.
Click to expand...

It happened all the time, and State Hospitals had many unmarked graves. Given she disappeared on her probate date, this was probably unlikely but could have happened.

dborgers said:
It's a bizarre thing, the judge said. That, coupled with the fact he didn't declare her competent until 2 years later (despite the psychiatrists finding her competent in 1958), does indeed raise a lot of questions.
Click to expand...

Again, the private adoption industry makes sense here.

dborgers said:
It seems we've tracked down Carol Moser, although at present, she is unwilling to get involved. All we'd like to know is what she knows of Ida's last days before her disappearance.
Click to expand...

Carol Moser - whoever she is - knows exactly what happened.

----------------------------------------------------------------

As others have mentioned, Ida's personal circumstances: poor physical health, questioned mental health, inability to provide a stable income led the judge to withhold declaring competent until someone adopted the children. During this time, Ida likely stayed in the state hospital, unable to communicate. The hospitals were snake pits back then; Ida's subsequent history was probably not happy.

Sorry to be a downer.
 
Early posts on this thread mentioned that Ida's children had been reunited and that they were continuing a search for their mother.

They searched, without success, to see if Ida had been admitted to any hospitals in Michigan or nearby states - possibly under another name or as a homeless person.

Searching records in Michigan alone turned up this information:

... Many hospitals/prisons have been referred to as "Michigan State Asylum". There were once 16 State-operated psychiatric facilities in Michigan. Between 1987 and 2003 Michigan closed three quarters of its 16 state psychiatric facilities. Here is a partial list.
The large hospital complex in Nankin Township called Eloise was not a Michigan State Asylum. It was founded as a poor house and farm in 1839 and grew into a large hospital complex....

Wayne County was the only one of Michigan's 83 counties that operated a psychiatric hospital, a general hospital, and an infirmary division all at the same place.

Michigan's three remaining State-operated in-patient psychiatric facilities are:
The first link below is to a 1962 documentary film about the Lapeer Home. It often refers to "the retarded" residents, but it should be pointed out that the term seems to have been applied to anyone with mental or emotional disabilities who was treated there, often in large groups which included all categories of patients.

LINKS:

Lapeer State Home - Asylum Projects

Michigan State Asylum - Wikipedia
 
Richard said:
... Many hospitals/prisons have been referred to as "Michigan State Asylum". There were once 16 State-operated psychiatric facilities in Michigan. Between 1987 and 2003 Michigan closed three quarters of its 16 state psychiatric facilities. Here is a partial list.
Wayne County was the only one of Michigan's 83 counties that operated a psychiatric hospital, a general hospital, and an infirmary division all at the same place.

Michigan's three remaining State-operated in-patient psychiatric facilities are:
Click to expand...

Michigan can easily lose an indigent patient in its archipelago of "psychiatric" hospitals.
 
They have been missing in Michigan the longest: 12 people last seen before 1970

1652975270050.png

Ida Dean Anderson was last seen on Sept. 18, 1958, in Ann Arbor.

According to TrackMissing, she had left her husband in February and was hospitalized due to rheumatic fever and ulcers. Her children were placed into state custody. She was scheduled to get her children in mid-September, but went missing instead.

She was supposed to fly to Jacksonville, Florida with her children, but the airplane tickets they had purchased were never used.

Ida Dean AndersonDetails
Missing Age21
Current Age85
Height5′2′'
Weight110
HairBrown
EyesBlue
Anyone with information should contact Ann Arbor police at 734-794-6920.
 
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