OH OH - Linda Britton, 18, Cambridge, 11 June 1963

[IvoryElla]

Found Carol in her fathers obituary, Carol Celia Howell being her married name. Everything matches up with other information I found, seems “Carole” is incorrect spelling. Also found she has lived in PA and Florida, born in 1946.

1997 The Times Zanesville, Ohio

View attachment 213064

I'm a bit confused by this. Carol was reported missing in the '60's, yet in her father's obituary she is listed as "surviving" in 1997. Just to clear it up for me, is that wishful thinking on the families part or had there been an update on her whereabouts and well-being?

 

[StarrChance]

I can’t find a official update. I have a public cart subscription that ties in information that she is alive in Florida.
There are some other findings on newspapers online, just need to be sure I’m on the write track there so will hopefully post tomorrow.

 

[Richard]

Linda Kay Britton

• 
• 

Britton, circa 1963

• Missing Since 06/11/1963
• Missing From Cambridge, Ohio
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 11/21/1944 (75)
• Age 18 years old
• Height and Weight 5'1, 98 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A white hooded jacket and bright orange pants.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Britton wears pink-framed eyeglasses.

Details of Disappearance
Britton was last seen in Cambridge, Ohio on June 11, 1963. She left home to mail a letter has never been heard from again. Authorities believe she may have been taken against her will. Few details are available in her case.
Investigating Agency

• Cambridge Police Department 740-439-4431

Source Information

• NamUs
• Ohio Attorney General's Office
• charleyproject.org/case/linda-kay-britton
  
  

 

[Elainera]

Linda Britton, daughter of Mrs. Clarence Britton and granddaughter of W.S. Britton, 56 1/2 S. 2nd St., Newark, left home at 419 Taylor Ave., Cambridge, at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to mail a letter.

Miss Britton, who was wearing glasses, orange slacks and a white jacket, was last seen in Cambridge about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday

bbm

So she was last seen 2 hours after she left her home to mail the letter. I wonder where, and by whom? Was it at the friend's house she had planned to visit, or elsewhere? Her mother stated that she didn't like to be out on the streets at night, so where was she seen at 10.30 pm? Odd that this was apparently never elaborated on.

 

[MadMcGoo]

bbm

So she was last seen 2 hours after she left her home to mail the letter. I wonder where, and by whom? Was it at the friend's house she had planned to visit, or elsewhere? Her mother stated that she didn't like to be out on the streets at night, so where was she seen at 10.30 pm? Odd that this was apparently never elaborated on.

Yes! This. And who mails a letter at 8:30 p.m.?? One so important that she’d uncharacteristically take a walk in the dark to put in the mail none the less. That raises several good questions now that you mention it...

 

[JSolt1210]

bbm

So she was last seen 2 hours after she left her home to mail the letter. I wonder where, and by whom? Was it at the friend's house she had planned to visit, or elsewhere? Her mother stated that she didn't like to be out on the streets at night, so where was she seen at 10.30 pm? Odd that this was apparently never elaborated on.

Yes! This. And who mails a letter at 8:30 p.m.?? One so important that she’d uncharacteristically take a walk in the dark to put in the mail none the less. That raises several good questions now that you mention it...

BBM.

Wow, good catch! I was so fixed on which date was correct, that I totally missed the time.

You're so right, though. It makes no sense to mail a letter at that late hour. The post office wouldn't process it until the next day anyway, so couldn't it wait just 12 more hours? Even though her boyfriend actually did receive the letter, I get the feeling it was an excuse to be outside for something else. But then again, would Linda really expect her parents to buy that excuse?

Also, according to the article quoted above: "Mrs. Britton told police that Linda had planned to mail the letter, then return home to pick up some clothes before going to spend the night with a friend in Cambridge."

This doesn't make sense to me either. Why not simply mail the letter on the way to her friend's house?

Do we know if she actually went to a post office branch, or if she just used one of those street corner mailboxes? The closest branch I found is about a 20-minute walk from her house. And I was able to verify that this branch had been there since 1914.

Regarding how dark it was, sunset on June 11, 1963 in Cambridge was almost at 9pm, with darkness setting in by around 10pm, so she still might've been comfortable being out of the house then since there was still light.

 

[Elainera]

Also, according to the article quoted above: "Mrs. Britton told police that Linda had planned to mail the letter, then return home to pick up some clothes before going to spend the night with a friend in Cambridge."

So according to her mom the last time they saw her was when she left at 8.30 pm to allegedly mail a letter which means she never came back to get the clothes. Did she change her mind and went to the friend without the extra clothes? Is that where she was last seen at 10.30 pm? Surely the friend was questioned by LE?

 

[MadMcGoo]

Hmm. I sure wish we knew for sure what happened to Carol/Carole. Now I’m thinking back to my initial question - did they know one another?

 

[MadMcGoo]

Missing - Please Find Us

There are some comments on “Missing - Please Find Us” page... seems like there are people who still remember Linda’s “probable kidnapping”.

I’m still searching for more about either of the girls

 

[StarrChance]

Hmm. I sure wish we knew for sure what happened to Carol/Carole. Now I’m thinking back to my initial question - did they know one another?

From Carole fathers obituary it seems pretty clear she was found to me, otherwise they wouldn’t have called her Carole Barlow Howell, just Carole Barlow?
I have also found a son of hers obituary among other references to her. After many rabbit holes I’m quite confident it’s her. Seems she married a Robert Calvey (the children’s mother maiden name Barlow) then marriage to a John Howell.

 

[MadMcGoo]

From Carole fathers obituary it seems pretty clear she was found to me, otherwise they wouldn’t have called her Carole Barlow Howell, just Carole Barlow?
I have also found a son of hers obituary among other references to her. After many rabbit holes I’m quite confident it’s her. Seems she married a Robert Calvey (the children’s mother maiden name Barlow) then marriage to a John Howell.
View attachment 218198

Thank you!

So it’s probably safe to assume the two disappearances were not related. The comments on the FB post regarding Linda (the last one I posted up thread) alluded to her disappearance causing a lot of fear among members of the community. One of the girls mentions that she had spent the night at “Karen’s” house and remembers the police coming by the morning after Linda was last seen to tell them...

“I remember the night she disappeared. The police came to Karen's house the next morning and told us. I had spent the night at Karen's. It broke my heart.”

Maybe “Karen” was the friend that Linda was supposed to be staying that night with??

 

[Elainera]

“I remember the night she disappeared. The police came to Karen's house the next morning and told us. I had spent the night at Karen's. It broke my heart."

I find it a bit odd to be "heartbroken" over a friend's disappearance just mere hours ago? Not that I want to criticise this person's feelings, I just find it an odd choice of words. "Concerned" or "worried" I would totally get but "It broke my heart" seems too soon somehow? These were young women, it was the 1960s, Linda could've spent the night with a boyfriend. I think that's what I would assume if a friend of mine didn't turn up to a girls slumber party. I can't help but wonder whether this girl had a good idea what happened to Linda, and it wasn't good.

Moo. Jmo.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I find it a bit odd to be "heartbroken" over a friend's disappearance just mere hours ago? Not that I want to criticise this person's feelings, I just find it an odd choice of words. "Concerned" or "worried" I would totally get but "It broke my heart" seems too soon somehow? These were young women, it was the 1960s, Linda could've spent the night with a boyfriend. I think that's what I would assume if a friend of mine didn't turn up to a girls slumber party. I can't help but wonder whether this girl had a good idea what happened to Linda, and it wasn't good.

Moo. Jmo.

It is a bit odd. The other comments make it seem like they (the residents) either knew more than what we do now or suspected something nefarious. IMO.

-“Always wondered what happened to her. So hard for her family. I think about her whenever I pass her house. A mystery for sure”
-“I will never forget that scary time either. I often wonder if they reopened the case......”
-“I remember her disappearance very well! It still frightens me!”
-“I remember. It was a very scary time”
-“I remember - - just couldn’t believe this happened in our small community.”
-“I remember it well. Still haunts me.”
-“Wow. Cambridge was such a small community then. Have they reopened the case?”
-“Will never forgot!”

And this post was made in 2016 (comments as recent as 38 weeks ago) - it must have been really frightening for them to still feel that way today. And you’re right about being “heartbroken”. Unless she was told something other than “your friend is missing” it does seem a little premature to be heartbroken (JMO) which makes me wonder why the police would even be going to a friends house to tell them that. Maybe just asking if they had seen her? But I think something more along the lines of what you said is probable. They had a good idea of what may have happened.

If I had to guess, there’s more to this story. (Even if only small town rumor and speculation ... there’s usually some truth there, IMO)

 

[SisterGrimm]

I just wanted to point out that Linda resembles the new reconstruction for
Pecos Texas Jane Doe found at a motel pool in July 5, 1966. This Jane Doe was accompanied by a man who ran away while people tried to revive Jane Doe.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[JSolt1210]

I just wanted to point out that Linda resembles the new reconstruction for
Pecos Texas Jane Doe found at a motel pool in July 5, 1966. This Jane Doe was accompanied by a man who ran away while people tried to revive Jane Doe.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

I shared this on the thread for Pecos Jane Doe.

The two cases are 3 years and 1,500 miles apart, but I can see a resemblance. If Linda ran away either alone or with someone else, then maybe she or that other person had connections to Texas. Or maybe they just stopped there on their way to the West Coast, possibly Los Angeles?

 

[FOXINBOX]

“The Times Recorder” 18 June 1963
Investigators said the letter was to a boy friend, John Gibbons, who recently moved from Cambridge to Twinsburg. He received the letter.
Now, without wanting to pry too much into their private matters, I wonder what was in the letter. It could be as simple as "Are you free to go to the game next week", but was it a "Dear John"? (No pun intended)

 

[SisterGrimm]

I shared this on the thread for Pecos Jane Doe.

The two cases are 3 years and 1,500 miles apart, but I can see a resemblance. If Linda ran away either alone or with someone else, then maybe she or that other person had connections to Texas. Or maybe they just stopped there on their way to the West Coast, possibly Los Angeles?

I was considering the distance a lot before posting. Back then a lot of people traveled by car across state lines. Everybody hitchhiked and drove across the country. Eloping was more common too.

 

[Cimatico]

Enhanced image from source https://www.namus.gov/api/CaseSets/NamUs/MissingPersons/Cases/10968/Images/68788/Original

 

[Ctrotter]

If I'm remembering right, it was a younger sibling of hers who told me that the memory of her older sister was too painful on her elderly parents, who were still alive at the time I posted about Linda (not too sure right now, I don't really know many people in Cambridge even though I grew up here because I never felt much of a connection to the place), and that was why they'd prefer if people never brought her up at all instead since "we had no permission to do so". I wasn't too sure what to think of that, I was 19 at the time I brought her up, and while I can understand grief...the way I was talked to rubbed off on me the wrong way. If they wanted to forget about her being gone, then why is she listed on the Ohio Attorney General's website and on NAMus?

But, I'm trying not to judge too harshly, they're from a different generation compared to me and like I said, people grieve differently.

I hope one day that they figure out what happened, or at the very least, they get to see her again when their time comes, and that they at least know that while we don't know much about her or what happened to her, she is far from forgotten.

 

[Ctrotter]

This is my hometown she went missing from. There are tons of stories and rumors about her disappearance that have gone around since she disappeared, but nothing that can be found on paper. I know what the locals have said they heard, but it's only hearsay.
Her family does not want her disappearance discussed and once yelled at me in a local facebook group for bringing her up, even though I only brought her up to let it be known she wasn't forgotten and indeed, she wasn't. Many people she had gone to school with, or who grew up near her missed her and told stories in that facebook posts' comments before it eventually went quiet.
I could say what rumors and such I've heard, but I want to stress they are only that.

authorites wont figure anything out if peopke dont talk,share memories ,etc...my town as well. Been hearing about her my whole life.Family shutting down people talking about it ???

This is my hometown she went missing from. There are tons of stories and rumors about her disappearance that have gone around since she disappeared, but nothing that can be found on paper. I know what the locals have said they heard, but it's only hearsay.
Her family does not want her disappearance discussed and once yelled at me in a local facebook group for bringing her up, even though I only brought her up to let it be known she wasn't forgotten and indeed, she wasn't. Many people she had gone to school with, or who grew up near her missed her and told stories in that facebook posts' comments before it eventually went quiet.
I could say what rumors and such I've heard, but I want to stress they are only that.