CA CA - Johnnie Herrera, 20, Oxnard, 27 Aug 1971

[illyana]

This is a genuine mystery.

The fact that his car was never found either limits the possibilities. Any theory has to account for that. Still, there are enough scenarios involving accident, suicide and foul play that we may never know. A few scenarios:

* Both JH and his VW are in the Pacific due to accident, homicide, or maybe even suicide (unlikely as that choice may be).

* JH gives away his VW to a hitchhiker before a suicide where his body is never found (swimming into the ocean). The hitchhiker takes the car into LA and it ends up in chop shops.

* JH takes off for LA, Mexico, SF or elsewhere. He meets foul play there, his body is never found or identified. Car is stolen or simply abandoned, never claimed, and destroyed without proper record-keeping.

* JH meets foul play in Oxnard. The killer or killers are able to conceal the body and car somehow (in the ocean, in a mineshaft, buried on a ranch, etc.) This suggests a local killer or killers who knows the area. I don't buy the LA serial killer visiting Oxnard idea because what did the serial killer do with the car?

If JH was running out on his family obligations, joining a cult or a commune, dodging the Vietnam War draft, or taking off for Mexico or beyond, it's unlikely he would never, ever contact his father, son, or twin brother again. It's possible, especially if drug addiction and/or mental illness are involved, but unlikely.

But even in that unlikely case, he probably still has some post-disappearance contact with authorities in mental health or police which could be discovered by detectives looking at the case. That never came up and never stopped a death certificate getting issued, so it seems he vanished from all official records too.

For that reason, I don't believe he's alive and probably died that night in a scenario like one of the above.

 

[Bobby88]

This is a genuine mystery.

The fact that his car was never found either limits the possibilities. Any theory has to account for that. Still, there are enough scenarios involving accident, suicide and foul play that we may never know. A few scenarios:

* Both JH and his VW are in the Pacific due to accident, homicide, or maybe even suicide (unlikely as that choice may be).

* JH gives away his VW to a hitchhiker before a suicide where his body is never found (swimming into the ocean). The hitchhiker takes the car into LA and it ends up in chop shops.

* JH takes off for LA, Mexico, SF or elsewhere. He meets foul play there, his body is never found or identified. Car is stolen or simply abandoned, never claimed, and destroyed without proper record-keeping.

* JH meets foul play in Oxnard. The killer or killers are able to conceal the body and car somehow (in the ocean, in a mineshaft, buried on a ranch, etc.) This suggests a local killer or killers who knows the area. I don't buy the LA serial killer visiting Oxnard idea because what did the serial killer do with the car?

If JH was running out on his family obligations, joining a cult or a commune, dodging the Vietnam War draft, or taking off for Mexico or beyond, it's unlikely he would never, ever contact his father, son, or twin brother again. It's possible, especially if drug addiction and/or mental illness are involved, but unlikely.

But even in that unlikely case, he probably still has some post-disappearance contact with authorities in mental health or police which could be discovered by detectives looking at the case. That never came up and never stopped a death certificate getting issued, so it seems he vanished from all official records too.

For that reason, I don't believe he's alive and probably died that night in a scenario like one of the above.

I definitely believe Johnnie died the night he went missing. And I really don't think he ran out of his responsibilities.

The alleged sighting of Johnnie at the local McDonald's where he usually hung out always intrigued me. I always wanted to know if the witness actually knew Johnnie or if he/she was a random stranger who saw his picture on a flyer or something. If it was someone who knew him, it might be credible. If it was Johnnie, how did he act? Was he distressed? Was he just eating his meal? Was he with anyone? And most importantly, WHEN did the sighting take place? Since he was an identical twin, however, I've also considered the possibility that they actually saw his brother Joe there and mistook him for Johnnie.

People have pointed out that because Johnnie was very good-looking, he would have been remembered a little more easily by those he came in contact with. I suppose that makes sense.

 

[Bobby88]

Happy 66th birthday today, Johnnie. Come home soon.

 

[Odyssey]

Bobby, did you ever end up contacting his twin (or maybe it was his son you had found on fb, I forget which). If I recall correctly you had planned to and then that magazine thing came up and you gave that info to them? I may not be remembering exactly right but since that magazine never got off the ground, I wasn't sure if you had revisited the idea of contacting him yourself

 

[Bobby88]

Bobby, did you ever end up contacting his twin (or maybe it was his son you had found on fb, I forget which). If I recall correctly you had planned to and then that magazine thing came up and you gave that info to them? I may not be remembering exactly right but since that magazine never got off the ground, I wasn't sure if you had revisited the idea of contacting him yourself

I did find his son on FB, but I doubt he would have much to add since he was just under a year old at the time his father vanished. Johnnie's twin brother Joe is not on FB, but their next older brother Ralph (born 1949) is. To be honest, as much as I'd love to see Johnnie's case closed and his family be at peace, I'm VERY leery of contacting them. Imagine if a stranger, young enough to be your son, contacted you online and asked you questions about your missing brother who vanished 46 years ago and is almost certainly dead. It would be awkward at best and probably very painful and intrusive.

I think about it like this; I (and many other true crime fans) love the show Unsolved Mysteries. We find it entertaining, informative, scary, etc. But let's face it. Apart from Lost Love cases, I don't think it's a show on which any of us would want to have to appear. I think this is in a similar vein. Johnnie's case is interesting to me as a true crime buff, but for his family, this wasn't just a case someone found online one day and decided to research from the safety and privacy of their own home, it's their life.

 

[Odyssey]

Yeah, I totally get that. Was just wondering if you had because I thought I remembered you were considering it at one time.

 

[Bobby88]

Johnnie went missing 46 years ago yesterday. Come home soon.

 

[Zie]

Hey everybody, I’ve been lurking on this thread for a few months now, and finally decided to make a WS account to join the discussion and maybe get it going again. Gonna add my two cents about the case, and I’m probably just gonna do it in a series of posts since this is probably gonna get long. Mostly I wanna talk about the area that this occurred in--I grew up in Ventura County and still visit frequently so I know the area well, and since most of y’all aren’t personally familiar with Oxnard or VC in general I thought it might be helpful or at least some food for thought if I gave a sort of “insider’s perspective” on the area as it relates or potentially relates to Johnnie’s case.

I think a lot of us have “that one case” that we just feel super attached to, and Johnnie is that case for me. From the get-go this case did not get the attention it deserves, and pretty much nobody in town knows about Johnnie(even I only heard about him after I’d moved away from VC, and the 2011 Star article has been archived or something, so I can't even access that). Even though I don’t necessarily have any concrete evidence relating to the case, I have strong opinions as to what didn’t happen just based on my knowledge of the geography of the area. I guess I just wanna give you guys my thoughts on some of this as an ex-local and maybe give some level of a better understanding of the playing field this case is operating in. [FONT=&quot]¯\_(&#12484_/¯[/FONT]

 

[Bobby88]

Hey everybody, I’ve been lurking on this thread for a few months now, and finally decided to make a WS account to join the discussion and maybe get it going again. Gonna add my two cents about the case, and I’m probably just gonna do it in a series of posts since this is probably gonna get long. Mostly I wanna talk about the area that this occurred in--I grew up in Ventura County and still visit frequently so I know the area well, and since most of y’all aren’t personally familiar with Oxnard or VC in general I thought it might be helpful or at least some food for thought if I gave a sort of “insider’s perspective” on the area as it relates or potentially relates to Johnnie’s case.

I think a lot of us have “that one case” that we just feel super attached to, and Johnnie is that case for me. From the get-go this case did not get the attention it deserves, and pretty much nobody in town knows about Johnnie(even I only heard about him after I’d moved away from VC, and the 2011 Star article has been archived or something, so I can't even access that). Even though I don’t necessarily have any concrete evidence relating to the case, I have strong opinions as to what didn’t happen just based on my knowledge of the geography of the area. I guess I just wanna give you guys my thoughts on some of this as an ex-local and maybe give some level of a better understanding of the playing field this case is operating in. [FONT=&amp]¯\_(&#12484_/¯[/FONT]

Thank you so much for your reply! Johnnie's definitely my pet case. He and his brother were born the exact same day as my maternal aunt (my mother was born a year and a day later on 2/18/52). Just a few days before Johnnie's case was added to the Doe Network in mid-2010, said aunt was diagnosed with cancer. I was upset and looking for a distraction on the Doe Network. When I looked at the update section, I felt compelled to click on the link marked "Johnnie Joe Herrera" because I just had to see this person with this admittedly unique first/middle name combination. I opened the link and immediately noticed that this young man in the tux with slicked-back hair and big smile shared a birthday with my sick aunt. That and the fact that there was basically no info made me want to dig deeper. FWIW, my aunt is now nearly eight years cancer free; you're considered cured after six.

Anyway, feel free to post your theories or any knowledge you might have of the VC area. You can also PM me.

 

[Zie]

Hey everyone, sorry I kind of left this thread hanging for a while! (Also, congrats to your aunt on beating cancer, Bobby! ) I've been gathering my thoughts on some aspects of the case, and I think the first thing I wanna discuss is the theory that Johnnie and his car ended up in water, usually attributed to him being intoxicated and driving off the PCH and into the Pacific even though this theory has already kind of fallen out of favor as far as I can tell.

If I wasn't familiar with the area this theory would make total sense to me, given that the PCH has a reputation for being right on the edge of cliffs and the like. However, it's not like that in VC, especially not in Oxnard--the 101 is significantly more inland and doesn't have a seperate PCH branchoff(for example the whole neighborhood I lived in in Ventura was between the freeway and the water, and in Oxnard there's an even larger gap). If he were to have driven off the PCH into the Pacific, Johnnie would've had to have gone either up the coast past Ventura a ways(probably not even having a realistic opportunity to have gone into the water until he reached Emma Wood State Beach), or down the coast past Point Mugu.

(Sorry if all these names and locations are confusing, but I wanted to be able to at least add some specifics. I highly encourage anyone who's interested in following along to check out Google Earth and/or Street View so you can see the area for yourselves and get a better idea of what I'm talking about.)

If he were to have gone into the water, my bets would be on the Point Mugu area, mainly because it's a lot more like the "typical PCH." Emma Wood Beach would've been an opportunity for his car to go into the water as there's no guardrails in many places, but I have a big problem with this theory for a couple of reasons. First of all, there are always a ton of people parked right on the cliffside in RVs and stuff, and I find it likely that this would've been the case even back in the '70s. There would've been plenty of witnesses, and LE probably would've been contacted ASAP, even taking the lack of cell phones into account. Secondly, the water he would've gone into would not be deep enough to conceal a car, at least not for more than a few hours, even at high tide. I spent a lot of time at this beach as a kid, and I can tell you that his car would've essentially been on dry sand within 24 hours of going over the edge. Even if it had somehow been pulled out to sea further, I still strongly believe that it would've been found very quickly. This is a very popular surf spot, so there are tons of people in the water and just at this spot in general constantly. I still highly doubt that he did go into the water near Point Mugu, because a) it was quite a ways away from J's last known location and b) I feel there would've been visible signs.

There are a few more possibilities for places that Johnnie could've ended up in the water, these a lot closer to his last known location, but I still find them highly unlikely:

1. The Oxnard Harbor. The harbor is not that far from the neighborhood where Johnnie was last seen. There are multiple bridges that cross over water that would definitely be deep enough to conceal a car, at least for a while. However, there would've been very obvious signs--skid marks on the road, a broken guardrail, something. I also find it likely that there would've been a witness, even just someone who heard tires screeching and a loud splash. Even in the middle of the night, people like to hang out at the harbors, not to mention that there are a ton of people living on boats.
   
   
2. An irrigation canal in the agricultural areas. There are a ton of them, some right by roadways, but I don't think they're deep enough to conceal a car, at least not now with the droughts.
   
   
3. The Santa Clara River. This is sort of the dividing line between Ventura and Oxnard. There are several bridges that cross it connecting the two cities that Johnnie could've hypothetically driven off of. However, at least now, most of the river is dried up, and a car in the riverbed would be very obvious. The river delta still holds a good amount of water, but I'm still skeptical. Again, there would've been signs that a car had gone over, and as the specific bridge that crosses the delta is heavily trafficked, it would’ve been noticed very soon.
   

TL;DR: IMO, the chances of Johnnie being in the water are slim to none. Even though this theory has definitely lost popularity, at least in this thread, I thought I'd try my hand at "debunking" it. Of course, don't take all this as definitive, 100% confirmation that J's not in the water--I do think it's important to keep an open mind with this case, what with the lack of physical evidence.

 

[Bobby88]

Thank you so much, Zie! I've never been to the West Coast (born and raised in Pennsylvania, but have lived in Central Florida since 2005), so your inside info really helps in that regard. And I never totally believed the car in the water theory.

Having said that, do you have any theories about what did happen to Johnnie? You said you're very attached to this case like me, so you've probably had a least a few theories. Do you think at least some of the answers lie with the people at the party?

 

[BillieL]

Read the whole thread now. Wow, Bobby, you have put in so much work on this - it is amazing!

Regarding contacting relatives - I do understand that you hesitate in doing this but I still think it would be a good idea. Write a letter, not an email, and explain your commitment to finding out what happened to their relative.

Joe (was it?) gave an interview so I don’t think they would mind being contacted.

 

[namstache]

This unidentified person looks similar to Johnnie. Same height too. Age would line up. No widows peak but the composite has clearly been done post autopsy

NAMUS UP14229

https://www.theunidentified.org/product-page/14229-1

 

[namstache]

Nevermind ^ after further review, I no longer believe the UID looks like Johnnie.

 

[Bobby88]

Nevermind ^ after further review, I no longer believe the UID looks like Johnnie.

Yes, I can see a resemblance to Johnnie, but like you, the resemblance fades the more I look at the composite. Although I'm open to all UIDs, I'm skeptical of ones like these where the person is found clear across the country and died long after Johnnie was last seen (such as this man who was hit by a car and killed in 1980 rather than his remains simply being unearthed that year) because I don't think Johnnie lived much longer after he vanished.

 

[HelpingHeart]

I think there’s a good chance he had an accident. Many stories have came out recently where the person or people’s cars have been recovered after years. One in a creek, 2 in a lake. And more recent ones were rivers. Usually cars are found more than people - they’re pretty noticeable.

 

[Odyssey]

Something else just occurred to me, as I'd forgotten that he was declared dead until I reread this thread.

Declaration of Death is a court record, which means it's accessible to the public. There will be a petition in the wife's own words where she had to convince a judge that Johnnie was dead. There might be affidavits from police or other family members as well.

It could have information that we don't currently have. Someone would just have to request a copy from the county court.

 

[branwynbreeze]

Hey, Bobby88, I haven't forgotten about Johnnie. Came across this and thought longshot, but what the heck. WARNING, postmortem photo at the link. This UID man is 2 inches shorter, but he had some physical issues that I think may add to shrinkage with age and weighed 90 lbs at death. Could JH have crashed his VW in a heavy brush, had some sort of medical episode or picked up someone who caused injury leaving him for dead in another county? Might he have suffered a TBI that affected speech and thought process? Unidentified Person Case

 

[Bobby88]

Hey, Bobby88, I haven't forgotten about Johnnie. Came across this and thought longshot, but what the heck. WARNING, postmortem photo at the link. This UID man is 2 inches shorter, but he had some physical issues that I think may add to shrinkage with age and weighed 90 lbs at death. Could JH have crashed his VW in a heavy brush, had some sort of medical episode or picked up someone who caused injury leaving him for dead in another county? Might he have suffered a TBI that affected speech and thought process? Unidentified Person Case

Yeah, I was just looking at this John Doe the other day. I didn't even think of Johnnie when I saw it and I'm sure it's not him. But you raised something about a medical issue which made me think of theory I've had that perhaps he got really drunk or high at the party and crashed somewhere as a result. His home and the house where the party was held weren't really near any major bodies of water, but if he was really impaired (particularly if he had taken something like LSD), he may have been totally disoriented and had no idea where he was going.

Such an atmosphere may also help explain why all accounts of this story state that Johnnie was last seen at the party rather than leaving it, which does make a difference. If it was a loud, raucous bachelor party with lots of loud, horny, drunk guys in their 20s, I suppose it's possible that he could have slipped away without anyone noticing until they saw that his car was gone.

 

[ivonne]

[QUOTE = "Bobby88, post: 5583803, miembro: 14765"] Buen punto. Si estaba en una despedida de soltero, era más que probable que hubiera alcohol, y podría haber tenido demasiado antes de ponerse al volante. [/ QUOTE]

Johnnie Joe Herrera fue visto por última vez en una despedida de soltero en Oxnard, California, el 8/27/1971. Nunca volvió a casa. Su Light Blue VW Volkswagon, licencia ZWM775, nunca fue recuperado. 3363DMCA - Johnnie Joe Herrera Patrick Wayne Kearney A medida que pasaba el tiempo, Hill y Kearney comenzaron a discutir más a menudo, y Kearney salió a dar largos paseos solo en su Volkswagen Beetle o su camión para cazar su victimas Me pregunto si ese volkswagon sería el joven perdido Johnnie Joe Herrera, perdido en el área de caza de este asesino en serie.
Patrick Kearney - Wikipedia