PA PA - Joanne Williams, 22, Scranton, 7 Dec 1978

[Pennysmom2]

Oct 30, 2023

CASE: COLD CASE - MISSING PERSON 22-YEAR-OLD JOANNE WILLIAMS - SCRANTON - LACKAWANNA

The Pennsylvania State Police Troop R – Dunmore Station continues their investigation on missing person 22-year-old Joanne Williams.Williams was last seen on December 7, 1978.

www.crimewatchpa.com

Nov 1, 2023

COLD CASE: $5,000 Reward Offered In Scranton Woman's Sudden Disappearance

Forty-five years after a Scranton woman vanished, Pennsylvania State Police are on the case. Authorities say Joanne Williams was 22 years old the last time she was seen on December 7, 1978. Williams left her East Gibson Stre…

dailyvoice.com

1982 missing article Joanne Williams

Clipping found in The Times Leader published in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on 7/17/1982. 1982 missing article Joanne Williams

www.newspapers.com

 

[nostonepa]

I was reading all the old newspaper articles on newspapers.com and other web sites found some things interesting. (1) They never mention her boyfriends name who showed up at 10 pm at her house to pick her up (2) They never menion the name of her friend and dance class carpool buddy who lived on Dorothy Street in Westside whom she supposedly called from an undisclosed location to say she couldn't bring her to dance class. Dorothy Street is about six blocks from where her car was founded and close to Cathedral Cemetary and all the surrounding wooded area they searched. Also what she said she was told by Joann doesn't seem to make total sense (3) Some reports say she made it to her dance class that night and others that she didn't and was last seen at her parents house (4) the name of the dance studio or the owners and exact location are never mentioned (I see the post above from son of owners --- maybe he'll post more here). My money is on the two un-named individuals - boyfriend and/or Dorothy St. However, here's another guess based on other things in the articles - there was a third man she was keeping secret from her friends and family the extent of their invovlement unknown but some kind of bad breakup or I just want to be friends type situation. Regarding Frank Osellanie the serial killer I need to look some things up and will post seperately.

 

[dotr]

Vivian Muniz March 28, 2024

Five unsolved missing person cases across NEPA

EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — Pennsylvania State Police’s new Facebook page, PSP Tips is asking for help with five unsolved missing person investigations across NEPA. Walter Lawton: According to state police, Troop N – Bloomsburg Station continues their investigation of a missing person...

news.yahoo.com

''Pennsylvania State Police Troop R – Dunmore Station continues its investigation of 22-year-old Joanne Williams who was reported missing on December 7, 1978.''

Joanne Williams
''On December 7, Williams left her residence in the 500 block of East Gibson Street in Scranton, driving her red 1977 Datsun, to go to an exercise class at her dance school. Williams left the dance school on Route 6 in Chinchilla at 10:00 p.m., she never arrived home and has never been heard from again.
On December 16, 1978, nine days after Williams went missing, her car was found parked at Lafayette Street and North Everett Avenue. It was unlocked and inside was her paycheck, her purse with its contents undisturbed. There was no sign of her at the scene.
Williams’s case remains unsolved. She was declared legally dead in 1991.''

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1526dfpa.html1526DFPA - Joanne Williams​

Name: Joanne Williams
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: December 7, 1978
Location Last Seen: Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania

Physical Description​

Date of Birth: Circa 1956
Age: 22 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'2"
Weight: 95 lbs
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue

 

[nostonepa]

The other thing I was thinking about in this case was the comment made by the Scranton PD Detective Walsh about someone or some people know something but have just remained silent [all these years.] He identified 40 people that were in her family/work/social circle and interviewed them all. They all are probably dead or in their 60s at least. Maybe some of them would talk today. The clock seems to be ticking on getting any potential new information from any possible witnesses or people with significant information on the case.

 

[nostonepa]

What happened to her car? Does someone own it today by some slim chance? Could it have any evidence value if it was still in existence? They said back then there were no signs of foul play when they found it.

 

[nostonepa]

Looking at Google maps got me thinking. Here's a possible scenario. Joanne never went to the dance class or if she did she carpooled as usual with her Dorothy Street friend ("Dorothy") and they return to Dorothy's house or they just stay at Dorothys and something happens and Joanne dies. Dorothy buries the body somewhere in the vast expanse of cemetery industrial quasi woodsy undeveloped abandoned coal mine land that is bordered by Cathedral Cemetery, Keyser Avenue and the North Scranton Expressway. This is all adjacent to Dorothy Street. Maybe instead of burying her body she dumped it in a mine or mine or sewer or industrial related hole. Dorothy knows the area because she grew up around there. Assuming Dorothy did this alone she still had to be strong or big enough to pick up 95 lbs which was Joanne's weight. Dorothy uses her own car to do all this. She goes back to her home, gets in Joanne's car and parks it on North Everett by Lafayette. Then she goes the very short distance to Cathedral Cemetery which offers her all the cover she needs to get back to her street. If she were walking this would be about 30 minutes. If she were running maybe 10 to 15. Between the alleyways in that part of the city and the pretty big cemetery she could easily get back to her home without anyone noticing. Depending on at what time Joanne was killed Dorothy didn't have much time relatively speaking to do all this much less think about where to put Joanne's body. She knew that once 10 pm came Joannes father or boyfriend or someone would be calling her looking for Joanne.

 

[nostonepa]

Found an article where it says the SPD impounded the car and were going to dust for prints nothing more on what happened to it. Also Detective Walsh said that her car had been driven about 3-5 miles. My speculative scenario above would put around that amount of mileage on her car. Also conflicting reports on how many days later Mr. Williams found the car. One article says two days after Joanne dissapeared and another says seven days and that police could tell that it had been there a while because of how much dirt was on the tires (????).