MO MO - Clara Grunst, 21, Joplin, 9 Oct 1984

[Gardener1850]

[h=1]Clara Marie Grunst[/h]

Grunst, circa 1984

• Missing Since 10/09/1984
• Missing From Joplin, Missouri
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Date of Birth 07/20/1963 (54)
• Age 21 years old
• Height and Weight 5'3 - 5'6, 118 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description Reddish-brown pants, a white shirt with a floral waistband, blue sneakers, a Timex watch with a blue band, and a silver ring.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Grunst wears eyeglasses with large light beige plastic frames. She has pierced ears, a red birthmark on her navel, and a tattoo of the name "Jeff" below her left elbow. Grunst's CB radio handles are Blondie, Blue Eyes and Missouri Sunshine. Her spine is deformed from scoliosis.

[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] Grunst was last believed to be hitchhiking from Joplin, Missouri to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was last seen in the vicinity of Interstate 44 and Highway 43 in Joplin, when she got into a truck driven by a man from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Grunst was living in Milwaukee at the time and looking for work there. She made a call from a Pittsburg, Kansas pay phone at 11:40 a.m. on October 9, 1984, the day after she left Joplin. She has never been heard from again.

Grunst's mother stated her daughter loved traveling and hitchhiked frequently at the time of her 1984 disappearance. When she left Joplin she was carrying a large sum of money and a brand new, expensive suede coat, both of them gifts from her brother, so her mother theorizes Grunst was robbed.

Police identified and questioned the truck driver last known to be with her, and he reportedly gave inconsistent statements, but there was insufficient evidence to file charges against anyone.

Grunst has previously visited truck stops in Wisconsin, California and Canada. Her mother believes she is dead.

http://charleyproject.org/case/clara-marie-grunst

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/240/

 

[Mariekristi86]

My mother went to school with Clara. I’ve never forgotten her name and this has always bothered me how no one has a single clue what happened to her.

 

[Mariekristi86]

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/13186

This could be a bit of a reach but I wonder if there could be a connection.

 

[Gardener1850]

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/13186

This could be a bit of a reach but I wonder if there could be a connection.

Welcome Marekisti86 :welcome:

Here's the thread for that UID case: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...3186-17-22-near-the-Ideal-Cement-Plant-Sep-88

Not much more info there but the dental x-rays are in the 2nd post.

 

[Gardener1850]

The caption on her picture says it's from circa 1984 but I wonder if it's actually and older picture of Clara. I can't tell for sure, but It looks like she has braces on her teeth in that picture and she seems much younger than 21. Her missing file doesn't mention braces.

It DOES mention she had Scoliosis. You might start by looking for UID's that have Scoliosis mentioned. Here is a good website to help you browse NAMUS case files by year and description: https://lostandfound.revealnews.org/

You can narrow it down by age, race, etc and type key words like Scoliosis in to find UID's that might match Clara: https://lostandfound.revealnews.org...100&start_date=01/01/1900&end_date=12/31/2018

 

[Gardener1850]

Clara has a memorial on findagrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68983178/clara-marie-grunst

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Clara has a memorial on findagrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/68983178/clara-marie-grunst

Excellent find Gardener! Have been looking around for more photos of Clara

 

[Gardener1850]

Legacy says an obituary for Clara was published in the Joplin Globe in 2009 (but it's no longer visible on Legacy): http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/clara-grunst-obituary?pid=134161435&view=guestbook

In 2011 the family planned a memorial service: http://www.stltoday.com/news/state-...cle_dd0bdc93-ab9d-5b16-93da-d2a69d9414a8.html

In 2013 her family published another memorial for her: http://obituaries.joplinglobe.com/obituary/clara-grunst-750168062

 

[Mariekristi86]

The caption on her picture says it's from circa 1984 but I wonder if it's actually and older picture of Clara. I can't tell for sure, but It looks like she has braces on her teeth in that picture and she seems much younger than 21. Her missing file doesn't mention braces.

It DOES mention she had Scoliosis. You might start by looking for UID's that have Scoliosis mentioned. Here is a good website to help you browse NAMUS case files by year and description: https://lostandfound.revealnews.org/

You can narrow it down by age, race, etc and type key words like Scoliosis in to find UID's that might match Clara: https://lostandfound.revealnews.org...100&start_date=01/01/1900&end_date=12/31/2018

Can they find proof of scoliosis with only partial skeletal remains though?

 

[Mariekristi86]

I have seen another photo of Clara in one of my mom’s old yearbooks from school but she was a little girl. We don’t have the yearbook anymore, sadly.

 

[Gardener1850]

I have seen another photo of Clara in one of my mom’s old yearbooks from school but she was a little girl. We don’t have the yearbook anymore, sadly.

What school did she go to? If you still live in the area you might try the school library to see if they have any old yearbooks. If you don't live there, sometimes you can call and ask the the librarian (very nicely and explaining it's for a missing person's case) and sometimes they will find it and make a copy of the photo to send to you.

 

[Seeker404]

From a now deleted Belleville [IL] News Democrat article page about the time of the memorial service:

Family Plans Memorial For Woman Missing Since 1984, MO

http://www.bnd.com/2011/01/12/154842...for-woman.html

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- Virginia Grunst can remember her daughter's infections laugh, happy smile and long blond hair like it was only yesterday when she left.

The pain in her eyes shows the suffering of a mother who hasn't heard from her daughter in 26 years.

This spring, Grunst and her family plan to memorialize her daughter, Clara Grunst, who disappeared on Oct. 9, 1984, an acceptance of reality by a family that still hopes to learn the fate of their daughter and sister.

Clara Grunst was 21 when she disappeared.

"Now she would be 47," Virginia Grunst said. "We're going to have a memorial for Clara probably the first part of May. It's cold weather now and I haven't had time to contact her friends that I want to contact. Clara had a lot of friends and I'm constantly, even now, running into people who say, when I write a check or something, they'll say 'are you Clara's mother?' and 'did you ever hear from her?'"

Virginia Grunst last saw her daughter at a truck stop on south Range Line Road in Joplin, south of Interstate 44, where she was getting into a truck with a stranger to ride to Milwaukee, Wis., where she was living and looking for work.

Virginia Grunst said she and other relatives had tried to convince Clara of the dangers of hitchhiking, but to no avail.

"Clara hitchhiked around the country, she loved to hitchhike, it was just in her blood," Virginia Grunst said. "She liked to travel and shop and every time she would come home she would bring me something from some state she had been in. It's just what she liked to do, but she didn't have to hitchhike because at the time she disappeared, she was carrying a large sum of money that her brother had given her and he had bought her a new suede coat that was over $100. It was still in the store wrapper, so robbery could have been the motive."

The last her family heard from her was on the CB radio as she talked with her brother for several minutes before the truck moved out of range.

"We've gone to California on leads and Canada and all kinds of places trying to find some trace of her," Virginia Grunst said. "At one time, before she disappeared, she went with a truck driver and he lost his job .

"After she disappeared - he wasn't going with her at the time she disappeared, they had already broken up - he drove a truck that was based out of Fontana, Calif., so he did a lot of looking for her. He said if he found her he would put her in the truck and drive her home but he couldn't find any trace of her."

Virginia Grunst said the family reported Clara's disappearance to the Newton County Sheriff's Department.

She said deputies told her they questioned the driver of the truck Clara was last seen riding in, and he has told several different stories about what happened to Clara in the years since the disappearance, but investigators could never get enough evidence to seek charges for a crime.

Newton County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Chris Jennings said the case is still open, but there isn't much investigators can do at this time but wait.

Jennings said Clara was reported to have been seen making a phone call in Pittsburg, Kan., days after she was last seen in Joplin, but they have no information on her after that.

Virginia Grunst said she's come to grips with the reality that her daughter likely will not come home alive, but she would like to know what happened to her.

"After this long, I don't know if we'll find her or not," Virginia Grunst said.

"I hope that the person she left with, if he knows what happened, he would tell someone, not to have him prosecuted, but so we could bring her home. He could die or get killed and never tell us. That's one thing I'd like to see happen, but he's not going to do it."

​

 

[Gardener1850]

Does anyone have full newspapers.com access? I found a 22 Sep 1981, page 9 article in the Springfield News-Leader that references Clara going missing at age 18 (last seen Sept 5) but I can't access it to read it (and no luck finding it on OCR text with Google)

Did she go missing prior to the 1984 and return? Or is the 1984 date possibly wrong?

 

[chaddylex]

I just submitted a possible match for Clara https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4511 I sent a long detailed emailing comparing the two.

If she was hitchhiking she could have ended up anywhere, sadly. Look at the Buckskin girl and Tammy Alexander's cases.

 

[Gardener1850]

I just submitted a possible match for Clara https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4511 I sent a long detailed emailing comparing the two.

If she was hitchhiking she could have ended up anywhere, sadly. Look at the Buckskin girl and Tammy Alexander's cases.

Thanks Chaddylex! It's too bad that Jane Does has "Insufficient DNA for profiling" but both cases do have dental records.Hopefully they will take the time to compare dental records.

 

[Gardener1850]

Can they find proof of scoliosis with only partial skeletal remains though?

Not always and that is a good point. Also, if it was minor it might not have been noted by the ME in cases where they had an intact body. OR it might not have been written on NAMUS. We don't know how severe Clara's case was, but since she hitchhiked all over the country she was active/able to move around, and it may not have been noticeable in life or may not have bothered her much. Not having scoliosis in the file should not be a reason to discount a possible match, IMO. I was just giving it as an example of a keyword you might use to search.

 

[chaddylex]

yes that's what I thought too. I remember when NamUs would show dentals and we could compare ourselves. I actually turned in and made a match with a UID and Cynthia Day - it took years for a positive identification. They weren't able to extract DNA from the UID because the bones were boiled to see if their were strike marks... I guess that's what they did in the 80's -90's.. Cynthia was finally identified thru fingerprints that the police station handling Cynthia's case realized they had... so crazy.

I put a read receipt on my email and it was read already - I will let you all know if I get a response back.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

I just submitted a possible match for Clara https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4511 I sent a long detailed emailing comparing the two.

If she was hitchhiking she could have ended up anywhere, sadly. Look at the Buckskin girl and Tammy Alexander's cases.

Nice find!

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Does anyone have full newspapers.com access? I found a 22 Sep 1981, page 9 article in the Springfield News-Leader that references Clara going missing at age 18 (last seen Sept 5) but I can't access it to read it (and no luck finding it on OCR text with Google)

Did she go missing prior to the 1984 and return? Or is the 1984 date possibly wrong?

That is rather interesting... have limited access to newspapers only have through 1922 for that particular newspaper

 

[Gardener1850]

Here's a screen shot of what I can see of 1981 article circled in red:

This is interesting for so many reasons--

1. If she went missing before and came home, why would her family decide to accept the likelihood that she is deceased? In most long term "runaway" missing cases we see it is the opposite- the family holding out hope until the very end that their loved one is alive and will someday get back in touch. What was different about the second time Clara went missing that made them suspect she is now deceased? The length of time she was gone? Or some other evidence?

2. Depending on how long she was gone the first time, there is a chance she decided to run away/disappear again in 1984 (JMO). She could still be alive! Or she may not have died for several years after she went missing-- in which case we would be looking at the wrong years when searching UID cases.

3. If this was the actual date of her going missing and the only time she went missing I have to wonder how that large "missing date" error happened. I'm leaning towards this being a previous instance of her going missing, however. JMO.

I really hope someone can get a hold of the full article.