WA WA - Donna Van Zandt, 33, Quinault, April 2014

[frenchiemomma]

I made an attemp to photoshop the UID's teeth on to Donna.
This is the result: <modsnip: broken image link>

What do you guys think?
I also posted this on the thread of the UID.

 

[frenchiemomma]

Ok guys i found something.
I was searching on Facebook for Donna's profile and saw that a lady had posted this to a page:
"Has anyone heard from or anything about Donna Vanzandt? This is the first time in over 20 years I haven't heard from her at Christmas time. "
So i googled the page and it's McNeil Islandsy. Guess what came up:
"McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of 6.6319 square ..."
This is what was found on the UID: "Two metal water bottles, one with writing/logo for the 2010 class alumni of the University of Puget Sound."

Ps. i have messaged the lady from the post to ask if it was "Our" Donna van Zandt she is talking about

 

[Bit of hope]

Ok guys i found something.
I was searching on Facebook for Donna's profile and saw that a lady had posted this to a page:
"Has anyone heard from or anything about Donna Vanzandt? This is the first time in over 20 years I haven't heard from her at Christmas time. "
So i googled the page and it's McNeil Islandsy. Guess what came up:
"McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of 6.6319 square ..."
This is what was found on the UID: "Two metal water bottles, one with writing/logo for the 2010 class alumni of the University of Puget Sound."

Ps. i have messaged the lady from the post to ask if it was "Our" Donna van Zandt she is talking about

Very interesting. I hope the lady replies. Do you know a date of this post?

 

[frenchiemomma]

Very interesting. I hope the lady replies. Do you know a date of this post?

Yes the date of her post is January 4 of this year

 

[Bit of hope]

Yes the date of her post is January 4 of this year

That could mean she heard from "our" Donna for the last time in 2017 ("This is the first time in over 20 years I haven't heard from her at Christmas time", so last Chrisman) and "our" Dona was missing since 2014 but was still alive or this is another Donna.

 

[frenchiemomma]

That could mean she heard from "our" Donna for the last time in 2017 ("This is the first time in over 20 years I haven't heard from her at Christmas time", so last Chrisman) and "our" Dona was missing since 2014 but was still alive or this is another Donna.

Yeah that’s why I sent her a message. It could also be she is mistaken. But I’m very curious what her answer is going to be

 

[frenchiemomma]

She hasn’t replied yet. So I applied to join the McNeil Islandsy group to see if I can reply to her post there. And I’ll message the page itself to ask if they knew Donna.
If I don’t get any reply what should I do next?
I mean McNeil Islandsy is in Puget Sound. And that is what is on the water bottle that was found. Do I contact a contact person from the Namus site?

@AgentWest have you had any luck yet?
Or could you ask the (ex)husband before I contact Law Enforcement etc.

 

[frenchiemomma]

I can finally post a reply on the Facebook page of McNeil Islandsy and have asked her (and indirectly everyone on that page) if she meant “our” Donna van Zandt. I included Donna’s Facebook page to be sure.

So fingers crossed we get a reply soon

 

[frenchiemomma]

Ok I messaged an old friend of Donna and I explained who I am, and I told her what we (the awesome people here on websleuths) are doing.
And she messaged me and she really wants to help.

So I have sent her the pictures of the items found with the Jane Doe and I've also asked her if McNeil Island(sy) and Puget Sound mean anything to her.
I explained about the FB post on the McNeil Islandsy page.

Again keep crossing your fingers guys!!

 

[frenchiemomma]

I just wanted to let you guys know that I emailed LE with my findings.
I'll keep you posted if i hear anything.

 

[Charlot123]

Ok guys i found something.
I was searching on Facebook for Donna's profile and saw that a lady had posted this to a page:
"Has anyone heard from or anything about Donna Vanzandt? This is the first time in over 20 years I haven't heard from her at Christmas time. "
So i googled the page and it's McNeil Islandsy. Guess what came up:
"McNeil Island is an island in the northwest United States in south Puget Sound, located southwest of Tacoma, Washington. With a land area of 6.6319 square ..."
This is what was found on the UID: "Two metal water bottles, one with writing/logo for the 2010 class alumni of the University of Puget Sound."

Ps. i have messaged the lady from the post to ask if it was "Our" Donna van Zandt she is talking about

Puget Sound is huge. University of Puget Sound is in Tacoma, a large city. The water bottle with the logo is not even remarkable.
However, if they suspect it is Donna, verification is possible.

 

[frenchiemomma]

Hi Charlot,
I agree that it is/might be a stretch with the waterbottle.
But they would be "more logical" to be found with Donna than with other missing women.
I just hope we can get them to do a DNA test to at least exclude her.

 

[Charlot123]

Trying to revive this thread, but also find some connections.

I wonder if Lindsey Baum, who disappeared in Grays Harbor in 2009 and whose remainders were found very far in 2017, the victim of the same person who is related to Donna’s disappearance? Both cases are related to Grays Harbor. The two points are at a distance of 1 hr 16 min per map, but there are several towns on that semi-circle. And a ghost town in Olympic forest that is on the direct line between both. Abandoned logger’s town could be a lair.
Grisdale
But I am not a local.

FOUND DECEASED - WA - Lindsey Baum, 10, McCleary, 26 June 2009

Lindsey’s remains were found close to Ellensberg in 2017. Does it make sense to look for more remains around?

Only 5 years between 2009 and 2014.

 

[erik28]

"The location was a very remote logging road approximately 5 miles in on Quinault Ridge Road. A deputy was eventually able to make his way to the vehicle and determined the car most likely had been at the location for several months due to the vegetation that had grown up around the car. The keys to the vehicle were still inside in addition to camping and hiking gear. There was no other obvious information to indicate what may have happened to the driver/occupants." Vehicle of missing Seattle woman found abandoned near Neilton • Newstalk KBKW

Quinault Ridge Road and Donkey Creek Road (where remains were found May 27, 2020) are part of the same network of intersecting National Forest roads to the east of Highway 101 on the lower Olympic Peninsula, Washington State. Contractor finds human remains in remote area in Grays Harbor

"Detectives from the Sheriff’s Office and the Grays Harbor County Coroner’s Office were called Tuesday evening to a remote area off Donkey Creek Road for the death investigation."

 

[erik28]

I am local to this area and am familiar with these roads and back country logging/multi-use areas. Do previous posters know if the car was found with the door open? Vehicle of missing Seattle woman found abandoned near Neilton • Newstalk KBKW

Was there any sign that the car had been ransacked?

From viewing the Flickr link, it is shown that Donna's interests included travel, home renovation, nature, backyard chickens and gardening, sailing, chess, and possibly mushroom hunting. It is somewhat common for at least one mushroom hunter to be lost and found via search annually in this area, but it would be highly uncommon for one to be on a search while leaving the keys in their vehicle and their door ajar.

This is an area where cougars roam freely, although sightings are rare and attacks on adult humans virtually unknown, however reports of cougar stalkings or encounters on hikes do exist. It is possibly more common to encounter people or traces of people up to nefarious activity including methamphetamine production, illegal dumping, wildlife poaching, squatting, and unlicensed timber harvest. It is highly common for people to use this area for hunting, target practice, horseback riding, off-road vehicles, hiking/camping, and legal forest-products harvesting. There is also a long history of "partying" on river gravel bars nearby.

Local law enforcement and search and rescue are well-versed in recovering people lost in this incredibly dense forest that has no cell-signal coverage (especially in 2014) and limited satellite gps coverage. But since there were likely months between the car being abandoned (last contact April 2014, vehicle found August 2014) and it being found by hunters, it is so difficult to imagine the search conducted at the time would turn up results- although reports show they did search for a day.

It is actually surprising that the vehicle was not trashed, as that commonly happens quickly to abandoned vehicles in this area, but is less likely on National Forest land than on adjacent state logging-lease land.

 

[erik28]

Simple reading of Wikipedia article about Elena Donaldson, Donna’s deceased mothers, indicates that DNA identification is possible in Donna’s case. But whoever the new remains belong to...I wish that they end up having a name.

I linked the original news-outlet report for Donna Van Zandt missing person to the current local sheriff's Facebook article on the remains found in hopes they can reconnect if the remains turn out to be female. It is always awful to have potential remains in a missing persons case and I have so much compassion for those involved. It turns out there are local reports of at least one other potential missing person specific to this road, but they are "word of mouth." I haven't been using this site in a while and don't recall if linking the LE Facebook post is allowed.

 

[Charlot123]

I am local to this area and am familiar with these roads and back country logging/multi-use areas. Do previous posters know if the car was found with the door open? Vehicle of missing Seattle woman found abandoned near Neilton • Newstalk

(Cut for brevity).

There was one huge mistake in the article.

“Family members did explain that in January of this year, Van Zandt’s father was apparently murdered in New York, and April was the 2nd anniversary of her mother’s passing.”

I doubt it was said by the family members, as they ought to have known it very well, but Donna’s father Vladimir Petukhov was murdered in NY by his companion not in “January of this year” (i.e., when Donna disappeared), but approximately in 1998-1999, so, over 15 years before the described events.

I believe it is the mistake of the author of the article, and it had been repeated in several other sources. But father being killed three months before daughter disappears, vs 16 years earlier, makes a huge difference.

As to the condition of the car, I was told by the friend of the family that the door was opened, the keys were in the car and Donna’s backpack was in the car, too.

I had seen Donna only once or twice, briefly, but I noticed her stuttering, that got very strong in the presence of some people, and at other times, disappeared. Those who try to reconstruct her last days might find it useful. It is my feeling that she stuttered in the presence of people whom she viewed as critical of her. JMO.

 

[Bit of hope]

I was "browsing" Namus and came across this unidentified person: Unidentified Person Case
Which i thought kind of resembles Donna.
What do you guys think?
The place were the body was found is only a bit over 2 hours away from where her car was found.
The body was found in a forrest. Hiking was one of Donna's hobbies.

For the record: The above suggested Jane Doe, being possibly Donna is identified as Genelle McDaniel (Namus file is down now)
'The efforts of many people finally gave this mystery woman a name'

 

[Charlot123]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed>
Donna’s car was found so far away from Seattle, in Quinault. Of interest, 1 hour away, along the same road in McCleasy, a 14-year old girl had disappeared in 2009...her remains were recently found in Eastern WA.


(As a known poster in another thread has mentioned, putting distance between the kidnapping place and the remains means the person might wish to conceal the connection between himself and the victim.)

Remains of Grays Harbor County girl missing since 2009 found in Eastern Washington

Now, looking an the map of Olympic forest, there is 1 hour between MCCleary where the girl was abducted and Quinault where Donna’s car was found, but it there is virtually one road there.

In short, I wonder if there is a SK with a lair in Olympic forest area. Montesano? Aberdeen?

 

[JrzyGirl70]

From reading some of the articles about Donna's mother, it appears that she has a half brother Nicholas.