OH OH - "The Red Shoe Mystery" - Lola Celli, 24, Grandview Heights, Feb 1946

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Name: Lola Celli
Case Classification: Missing
Missing Since: February 23, 1946
Location Last Seen: Grandview Heights, Franklin County, Ohio

Physical Description
Date of Birth: circa 1922
Age: 24 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 115 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: A gray fur coat, gray hat, aqua dress trimmed in red, and red suede Cuban heels.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Lola Celli was last seen leaving the home of her parents in Grandview Heights, Ohio in February 1946 to go shopping.

A motorist claimed to have seen Lola arguing with a man in a car along Olentangy River Road shortly after she disappeared from Grandview Heights. During the spat, a red shoe was tossed or fell out of the vehicle, the motorist said, but no shoe was ever found.

Lola was a Logan County teacher and conversant in five languages at the time of her disappearance.

Investigating Agency
Agency Name: Grandview Heights Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Detective Carol Harper
Agency Phone Number: 614-488-7901

Information Source(s)
Columbus Dispatch News Archivehttp://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1900dfoh.html
 
LB19 said:
Hi - wondering if anyone is still folllwing. Tomorrow is the anniversary and I jusy Came upon this case today. I’ve been reading all evening. I live off 3rd ave in Columbus city limits just a mile or so from where Lola lived. I cant Imagine something like this happening here now let alone in 1946. As far as the geography of the area, two things struck me. 1) I don’t think she would have walked further than the nearby bus top, especially in the cold of February. To walk downtown nowadays with, I imagine, better pedestrian options would take hours. In her nice suede heels, no less. Add to that the chance that there was snow, ice or slush on the ground. I doubt Her plan would have ever been to walk more than a couple blocks. I assume She got on a bus or into a car. 2) as far as the nearby man who went missing along with his son days later, maybe this has been ruled out, but when it is debated that he was truly a “neighbor” due to the fact that he was a resident of upper Arlington, not Grandview - UA is jusyba few blocks north of Grandview in some areas. Where Lola lived near third and Cambridge is very close to, die wxample, where Cambridge becomes UA proper, as so streets like Andover and Westwood just north of fifth avenue. I would love to know how near to the Cellis this man lived. I can’t get over the strange coincidences of this case. The man that also vanished, the death of her friend one day later. I find it so unlikely that she would be taken in broad daylight at 10:30am in this area. Homes are close together and close to the road. You hear your neighbors’ every move it seems - doors closing, casual conversations outside. I don’t think it’s possible she was grabbed by a serial killer or attacked him without bejng being seen or heard. I don’t think anyone could be so stupid as to attempt it in this area, at this time of day. The 21 year old neighbor’s story is odd. Why did he go to Lazarus - that’s not where she was going. To walk around a store, not even knowing if it was her destination, for hours looking for her seems oddly desperate and/or like a poorly thought out alibi. It wasn’t Christmas time where you might walk around a store like that seeing the sights. Something feels off.

I wonder if anyone looked into her male colleagues. She attended every home basketball game. I wonder Was that for enjoyment of the sport or could she have been involved with a coach or co-worker associated with that? Living away from Columbus M-Th definitely presents the possibility that her family did not know her every move. That said, it sounds like she was a very wholesome and responsible person. Could she have had some dates that her family was unaware of for fear they wouldn’t approve? So many questions. . . I am Going to have to do a walk by the lane house as I cant Picture which it is. There are some nice, larger homes on that side of the street where I picture theirs being.
Click to expand...


Her younger brother, Felice, had been a varsity basketball player at GHHS. With quite a few college athletes being called into the service high school sports was the only game in town in a lot of areas.
FWIW even though he was younger than her he graduated the same year, 1941, as she did from GHHS. He must have been a real genius to have jumped grades to graduate early. It's not like Lola was a slow learner, she was an Honor Roll student in high school and on Deans List at Ohio State.
Felice went to Ohio State at the same time as Lola did and earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1953 with a dissertation on "Chemical engineering factors in the preparation of urea from carbonyl sulfide and anhydrous ammonia". Definitely a tough row to hoe.
 
LB19 said:
Hi - wondering if anyone is still folllwing. Tomorrow is the anniversary and I jusy Came upon this case today. I’ve been reading all evening. I live off 3rd ave in Columbus city limits just a mile or so from where Lola lived. I cant Imagine something like this happening here now let alone in 1946. As far as the geography of the area, two things struck me. 1) I don’t think she would have walked further than the nearby bus top, especially in the cold of February. To walk downtown nowadays with, I imagine, better pedestrian options would take hours. In her nice suede heels, no less. Add to that the chance that there was snow, ice or slush on the ground. I doubt Her plan would have ever been to walk more than a couple blocks. I assume She got on a bus or into a car. 2) as far as the nearby man who went missing along with his son days later, maybe this has been ruled out, but when it is debated that he was truly a “neighbor” due to the fact that he was a resident of upper Arlington, not Grandview - UA is jusyba few blocks north of Grandview in some areas. Where Lola lived near third and Cambridge is very close to, die wxample, where Cambridge becomes UA proper, as so streets like Andover and Westwood just north of fifth avenue. I would love to know how near to the Cellis this man lived. I can’t get over the strange coincidences of this case. The man that also vanished, the death of her friend one day later. I find it so unlikely that she would be taken in broad daylight at 10:30am in this area. Homes are close together and close to the road. You hear your neighbors’ every move it seems - doors closing, casual conversations outside. I don’t think it’s possible she was grabbed by a serial killer or attacked him without bejng being seen or heard. I don’t think anyone could be so stupid as to attempt it in this area, at this time of day. The 21 year old neighbor’s story is odd. Why did he go to Lazarus - that’s not where she was going. To walk around a store, not even knowing if it was her destination, for hours looking for her seems oddly desperate and/or like a poorly thought out alibi. It wasn’t Christmas time where you might walk around a store like that seeing the sights. Something feels off.

I wonder if anyone looked into her male colleagues. She attended every home basketball game. I wonder Was that for enjoyment of the sport or could she have been involved with a coach or co-worker associated with that? Living away from Columbus M-Th definitely presents the possibility that her family did not know her every move. That said, it sounds like she was a very wholesome and responsible person. Could she have had some dates that her family was unaware of for fear they wouldn’t approve? So many questions. . . I am Going to have to do a walk by the lane house as I cant Picture which it is. There are some nice, larger homes on that side of the street where I picture theirs being.
Click to expand...


Her younger brother, Felice, had been a varsity basketball player at GHHS. With quite a few college athletes being called into the service high school sports was the only game in town in a lot of areas.
FWIW even though he was younger than her he graduated the same year, 1941, as she did from GHHS. He must have been a real genius to have jumped grades to graduate early. It's not like Lola was a slow learner, she was an Honor Roll student in high school and on Deans List at Ohio State.
Felice went to Ohio State at the same time as Lola did and earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1953 with a dissertation on "Chemical engineering factors in the preparation of urea from carbonyl sulfide and anhydrous ammonia". Definitely a tough row to hoe.
Richard said:
THE MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF LOLA CELLI
FEBRUARY 5, 2019


Lola Celli was born in southern Italy in 1922, and went missing on the 23/02/1946.

Celli was last seen leaving her parents’ Grandview Heights, Ohio home on February 23, 1946. She was going to take a bus to downtown Columbus, Ohio to buy nylon stockings. Celli apparently never made it to the bus stop down the street from her home. She never been heard from again.

Celli was born in a village in southern Italy and moved to the United States with her family at the age of nine. She is a graduate of Ohio State University, where she was an honours student and a member of the Spanish Club, the French Club and the Education Council. She can speak five languages. She taught home economics at West Mansfield High School in 1946.

At the time she disappeared, she was visiting her parents’ home for the President’s Day holiday weekend. Her loved ones stated she was in good physical and mental health, didn’t drink alcohol or smoke, and wasn’t dating anyone at the time she disappeared. They did not believe she had left of her own accord.

Authorities initially believed Celli suffered an amnesiac episode which caused her disappearance, but no evidence has been located to support this. Her family always maintained she was abducted.

A witness reported seeing a woman arguing with a man in a car along Olentangy River Road on the day of her disappearance. The woman resembled Celli and was wearing similar clothes. During the argument, a red shoe was thrown or fell from the vehicle, described as a red Dodge coupe with a broken window. Authorities launched a massive search of the area, but were unable to find the shoe or any other other evidence.

That same day, a man driving a red coupe with a broken window stopped for gas at a station on north High Street, about a mile from Olentangy River Road. The man had a woman in the car with him and the station attendant heard him tell her to “be quiet.” He bought $2 worth of gas, paid with a $5 bill and drove away without waiting for his change.

In 1956, the Grandview Heights chief of police claimed the Celli case was “closed” because the marshal of Marble Cliff, Ohio had told him her whereabouts. The police chief said Celli was alive and her disappearance was not a criminal matter. Celli’s family stated they didn’t believe this information and added that the police chief had not been in touch with them since August 1946, six months after her disappearance.

Celli’s father died in 1958 and her mother in 1985. Her case has puzzled the Grandview Heights police department for years. It is still an open investigation.

LINK:

The Mysterious Disappearance Of Lola Celli | | Education
Click to expand...


Despite what this article says her mental health was actually in question according to her fellow teachers in West Mansfield. She was constantly in doubt about her abilities to teach effectively, even though both her colleagues and school administrators told her on severs occasions that she was doing wonderfully and all she was suffering was the first year jitters that all teachers encounter. She was stressing to the point of having headaches during classes that caused her to rub the back of her head to try and gain some relief.
 
dotr said:
If this uid female was in the upper range of her estimated age, 50-70, and Lola somehow ended up in Montreal, Quebec, probably too much time and distance but..?
Unidentified remains - Service de police de la Ville de Montréal - SPVM


Discovered on June 13, 2001
Gender Female
Skin tone Light/Fair
Corpulence Heavy
Hair color Black, White
Hair description Long
Height 152 cm / 5ft-0in - 183 cm / 6ft-0in
Estimated age 50 - 70
Click to expand...


Further down in the notice it describes her pants as having " length of the leg 39 inches", which is, usually, an inseam measurement. Lola was only 64-1/4 inches tall. Assuming that is the inseam measurement then this lady was closer to 6 feet (72 inches) tall as the notice gave a height range a 60 to 72 inches
 
Lola Ada Celli
celli_lola.jpg
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Celli, circa 1946
  • Missing Since 02/23/1946
  • Missing From Grandview Heights, Ohio
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Age 24 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'4, 115 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A gray Indian lamb fur coat, a gray hat, an aqua-colored dress with red trim and red suede slip-on shoes with Cuban heels.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Black hair, brown eyes. Celli was born in Italy.
Details of Disappearance

Celli was last seen leaving her parents' Grandview Heights, Ohio home on February 23, 1946. She was going to take a bus to downtown Columbus, Ohio to buy nylon stockings. Celli apparently never made it to the bus stop down the street from her home. She never been heard from again.

Celli was born in a village in southern Italy and moved to the United States with her family at the age of nine. She is a graduate of Ohio State University, where she was an honors student and a member of the Spanish Club, the French Club and the Education Council. She can speak five languages. She taught home economics at West Mansfield High School in 1946.

At the time she disappeared, she was visiting her parents' home for the President's Day holiday weekend. Her loved ones stated she was in good physical and mental health, didn't drink alcohol or smoke, and wasn't dating anyone at the time she disappeared. They did not believe she had left of her own accord.

Authorities initially believed Celli suffered an amnesiac episode which caused her disappearance, but no evidence has been located to support this. Her family always maintained she was abducted.

A witness reported seeing a woman arguing with a man in a car along Olentangy River Road on the day of her disappearance. The woman resembled Celli and was wearing similar clothes. During the argument, a red shoe was thrown or fell from the vehicle, described as a red Dodge coupe with a broken window. Authorities launched a massive search of the area, but were unable to find the shoe or any other other evidence.

That same day, a man driving a red coupe with a broken window stopped for gas at a station on north High Street, about a mile from Olentangy River Road. The man had a woman in the car with him and the station attendant heard him tell her to "be quiet." He bought $2 worth of gas, paid with a $5 bill and drove away without waiting for his change.

In 1956, the Grandview Heights chief of police claimed the Celli case was "closed" because the marshal of Marble Cliff, Ohio had told him her whereabouts. The police chief said Celli was alive and her disappearance was not a criminal matter. Celli's family stated they didn't believe this information and added that the police chief had not been in touch with them since August 1946, six months after her disappearance.

Celli's father died in 1958 and her mother in 1985. Her case has puzzled the Grandview Heights police department for years. It is still an open investigation.

Investigating Agency
  • Grandview Heights Police Department 614-488-7901
Source Information
 
I don’t know if this was discussed Ed earlier since I have not read the whole thread and iam reading backwards. I had a thought about the red Dodge coupe w the broken window. I wonder if the car was stolen too? I know back in the day it was easy to steal cars by popping the window. I wonder if anyone in another county or state reported that car missing? Just a thought.
 
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