WA WA - Janice Hannigan, 15, Wapato, 24 Dec 1971

[Jake479]

charleyproject.org/cases/h/hannigan_janice.html
findthemissing.org/en/cases/30849

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping for Janice, the 47th anniversary of her disappearance passed recently.

 

[Gardener1850]

Updated Charley Project link:
[h=1]Janice Hannigan[/h]

• 

Janice, circa 1971

• Missing Since 03/01/1971
• Missing From Wapato, Washington
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Age 15 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0, 105 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Native American female. Black hair, brown eyes.

[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] Janice was last seen in Wapato, Washington on March 1, 1971. She has never been heard from again. She was upset over her parents' separation at the time of her disappearance and she may have run away from home, but it's extremely unusual for a runaway to stay missing for this long. Her case remains unsolved.


http://charleyproject.org/case/janice-hannigan

 

[JerseyGirl]

Janice was last seen in Wapato, Washington on March 1, 1971. She has never been heard from again. She was upset over her parents' separation at the time of her disappearance and she may have run away from home, but it's extremely unusual for a runaway to stay missing for this long. Her case remains unsolved.

Janice Marie Hannigan – The Charley Project

‘This is real’: First steps taken to count missing, murdered Yakama women and girls

 

[Breezie]

47 years, zero answers: 16-year-old Toppenish girl disappeared after Christmas Eve 1971. Her sister refuses to give up the search.

This is a recent article about Janice.

 

[Moonwalker9]

New info
Janice Marie Hannigan – The Charley Project

Details of Disappearance
Janice was last seen in Wapato, Washington in 1971. At the time of her disappearance, she was a sophomore at White Swan High School. Her hobbies included cooking, beadwork, and watching football. She is the oldest of seven children, and after her parents separated, she stayed with her father near Harrah, Washington while her six siblings joined their mother in Buena, Washington.

On December 21, 1971, Janice went to the hospital for treatment of numerous bruises on her head and chest. The surviving medical records don't identify which hospital she went to, or what the cause of her injuries was. Janice was discharged in satisfactory condition on December 24 and left. She never arrived home and has never been heard from again.

Many agencies incorrectly give the date of her disappearance as March 1, 1971, over nine months before it actually happened. One theory is that she ran away from home, but it's extremely unusual for a runaway to be gone for this long.

Both her parents are now deceased, but one of her younger sisters, who was eight years old at the time, has been active in the search for her. Her case remains unsolved.

Somebody beat her up,she ended up at a hospital and when she was going home she was killed. That's my intepretation. Who would want to hurt her, her imediate family? a boyfriend? Obviosuly she could have run away from a abusive home, but where to?

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Her sister is still looking for her. 47 years, zero answers: 16-year-old Janice Hannigan of Toppenish disappeared after Christmas Eve in 1971. Her sister refuses to give up the search She was just discharged from the hospital with bruises to her head and chest. Nobody knows what caused them.

 

[ohthatkatgirl]

Janice's sister passed away December 23, 2018.

Family, friends mourn Wapato woman who long sought answers in sister's 1971 disappearance

 

[JerseyGirl]

Opinion | Who are the missing Native women and how do we find them?

 

[JerseyGirl]

still missing: ‘We have so many missing people’: Coroner tests remains found on Yakima River island as families wait, hope

 

[SisterGrimm]

I found Janice on Classmates.com.
White Swan High School 1971.
She's wearing a native American style beaded necklace and a v neck t shirt.
The mole on her chin in the other picture (with the pink shirt) seems to be missing but that's definitely her.
I wonder if she's the 1976 Nashville, Tennessee Jane Doe. She resembles her quite a bit.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[SisterGrimm]

Post Mortem warning: This is Janice Hannigan 1971 (age 15-16)vs Nashville, Tennessee Jane Doe 1976

The hair, eyebrows and lips really make me question if this is Janice.

 

[carbuff]

I found Janice on Classmates.com.
White Swan High School 1971.
She's wearing a native American style beaded necklace and a v neck t shirt.
The mole on her chin in the other picture (with the pink shirt) seems to be missing but that's definitely her.
I wonder if she's the 1976 Nashville, Tennessee Jane Doe. She resembles her quite a bit.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

In 1971, most yearbook photos would have been heavily airbrushed--they probably just brushed the mole out.

 

[SisterGrimm]

I thought about what you said and I think that's very possible.
But what if the beauty mark is fake? That is a trend used even today.

 

[monstera]

But what if the beauty mark is fake? That is a trend used even today.

Chin seems like a weird and unlikely placement for a fake beauty mark IMO. I think they're usually placed on cheeks, upper lip or closer to the eye area, but somehow I can't see someone purposely making a beauty mark on chin (maybe more to the side but not that close to the middle), nose or forehead. I might be totally wrong of course.

I wonder where the bruises to her head and chest came from. Was she beaten up? That's the first and saddest thought that comes to mind, especially since they were on her chest and head. The investigators believed that her father had something to do with it, but the sister seemed to strongly disagree (source: 47 years, zero answers: 16-year-old Toppenish girl disappeared after Christmas Eve 1971. Her sister refuses to give up the search.). Maybe he didn't kill her but it's possible that an argument got violent and he was the one that caused those bruises that put her in the hospital. It would explain why she didn't want to go back home after being released from the hospital. A lot of bad things can happen to a lone, young runaway. This is all just speculation, I guess we'll never know the answers to any of these questions. Feels like time has forgotten her, especially now that the sister is dead too. Such a sad thought. I don't believe that Janice is alive, I hope she rests in peace whatever happened to her.

 

[carbuff]

Theoretically a fake beauty mark is possible, but they really weren't in style in the 1970s, so I'd think it less likely.

I notice in the PM photo the the decedent has a mark beside her eyebrow.

 

[Melt71]

Posting a link to a Fillmore, CA case UP75183 as I mentioned Janice as a possibility.
Remains found in January 1973.
www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/ca-fillmore-multiplefem-up75183-16-50-skeletal-on-the-southside-of-guiberson-road-jan73.549766/

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping for Janice.

 

[carbuff]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Janice has been compared to these UIDs:

UP10799 Clark WA
UP6661 Stafford VA
UP8419 Isle of Wight VA
UP12683 Newport News VA

I think the Virginia comparisons are most likely from the sweep Virginia did a couple of years back to clear their UIDs and compare them to every possibility in the country.

 

[Atombudd]

Let's Find Janice Hannigan and Bring Her Home
It seems her niece may have picked up the search after her sister died. What doesn't make sense to me is it states that she was in the hospital for 3 days Dec 21-24

Janice went to the hospital on Dec. 21, 1971, where she was treated for numerous bruises on her chest and head.
“The patient was admitted to the hospital with multiple contusions around the head. Has shown no evidence of any headache or loss in the level of consciousness,” Dr. H.D. Buckley wrote in his discharge summary, which doesn’t identify the hospital or say anything about the cause of Janice’s injuries. “The contused areas show the swelling to be receding.”
I don't understand, did nobody know she was in the hospital for three days? Where did this discharge summary come from that nobody knows what hospital it came from? How many hospitals are in the area that LE couldn't track the doctors name to a hospital? Before the sister passed away she said he did not believe her father had anything to do with it. I guess my question is what did the father have to say? If he didn't know she was in the hospital, when did he last see her because the dates are confusing from different sources. Namus says last contact March 1st 1971. Her sister says she participated in a Veterans Day event in Nov 1971 and of course was in an unknown hospital for 3 days. I feel like the hospital/doctor info could have easily been tracked and maybe the doctor would have had more details about her.