CA CA - Dixie Arensen, 20, Los Angeles, 25 Aug 1968

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The Doe Network:
Case File 1734DFCA

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1734dfca.html

Dixie Lee Arensen
Missing since August 25, 1968 from Los Angeles; Los Angeles County, California
Classification: Missing


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vital Statistics

•Date Of Birth: January 1, 1948
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 20 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 135 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
•Clothing: She was wearing a medium royal blue empire-style dress with three-quarter length sleeves. She wore olive-brown, medium heel shoes and carried an olive-brown, 14 inch envelope purse. Her only jewelry comprised of a yellow gold engagement ring with a one-third carat diamond and a matching wedding band with a small diamond.
•Fingerprints: Not available
•Dentals: Not available
•DNA: Not available


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circumstances of Disappearance
Arensen was last seen on August 25, 1968 at Hillcrest Christian Church in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, CA.
She was last seen by her husband when she left home at 07:30 to prepare a church bulletin at the church office, 17531 Rinaldi Street.
He keys and her glasses, without which she could not see well, were found in the office by her husband who arrived at the church around 09:15, the morning of her disappearance. Her blue automobile was parked outside.
Two unusual things were immediately noticed by police. Her glasses were on the floor of the small office, and an electric typewriter with which she prepared the bulletin was still running.
Her purse was missing but a check showed no withdrawals from her personal checking account.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Los Angeles Police Department
818-756-8861

Agency Case Number: 021731205

NCIC Number: M-232673739
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
California Department of Justice
The Valley News

http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/detail.asp?FCN=2740226200271

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/arensen_dixie.html
More details about Dixie at Charley Project.

Dixie is not in NamUs at this time.

Five archived articles at The Los Angeles Times, I can't acess.

Dixie has been missing 42 years. Come home soon.
 

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Dixie Lee Arensen, 20, Missing since August 25, 1968 from Los Angeles, CA

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Dixie Lee Arensen
Missing since August 25, 1968 from Los Angeles; Los Angeles County, California
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: January 1, 1948
Age at Time of Disappearance: 20 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 135 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
Clothing: She was wearing a medium royal blue empire-style dress with three-quarter length sleeves. She wore olive-brown, medium heel shoes and carried an olive-brown, 14 inch envelope purse. Her only jewelry comprised of a yellow gold engagement ring with a one-third carat diamond and a matching wedding band with a small diamond.
Fingerprints: Not available
Dentals: Not available
DNA: Not available

Circumstances of Disappearance

Arensen was last seen on August 25, 1968 at Hillcrest Christian Church in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, CA.

She was last seen by her husband when she left home at 07:30 AM to prepare a church bulletin at the church office, 17531 Rinaldi Street.

Her keys and her glasses, without which she could not see well, were found in the office by her husband who arrived at the church around 09:15 AM, the morning of her disappearance. Her blue automobile was parked outside.

Two unusual things were immediately noticed by police. Her glasses were on the floor of the small office, and an electric typewriter with which she prepared the bulletin was still running.

Her purse was missing but a check showed no withdrawals from her personal checking account.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Los Angeles Police Department
818-756-8861

Agency Case Number: 021731205

NCIC Number: M-232673739

Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:

California Department of Justice
The Valley News
The Doe Network: Case File 1734DFCA

LINK

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1734dfca.html
 
The information shown indicates that Dixie Lee Arensen was last seen at the church. As her husband had last seen her at home, by whom was she seen at the church? As August 25th was a Sunday, you would tend to think at that hour there would probably have been others there at that time. Who? And did they hear anything (sounds of a struggle, etc.) or see anything (another car besides hers, etc.)?
 
As my post attempts to point out, there is some unreported information here. It's possible she went to the church to complete the bulletin or perhaps correct an error in it. From the description of her clothing, it appears she was planning on attending a service there later that morning.
 
Public Records for 1993:

Dixie L Shaefer
27 Oct 1949
911 Indiana Ave, Anderson, IN, 46012-2319 (1993)

I don't have a lot of time this evening but if anyone has an ancestry account…It seems as though she may not have disappeared. There is a divorce record for her (posted above) as well as one previous marriage and couple of marriages afterward.

Father is Reverand Harry David Shaefer (b.1921 in India; d. 1998 Ventura, California). Mother Lillie Belle Shaefer (1927 Mississippi; d. 2007 Ventura, California). Brother David Leroy. (All on ancestry but the new Websleuths format does not seem to allow cut and paste like it did before. : ( )
 
FYI Granada Hills at the time (and mostly still is) a solidly middle class sleepy suburb. The church was surrounded by houses but less than a mile or so down the road it was undeveloped fields and canyons, which have since been turned into more houses.
 
There is a bit of a distraction in the records caused by a Dixie Lee Barnes who was born about 1950 and married Gregory Schaefer in 1968 and divorced in 1976. However, she remarried to Gerald O'Brien in about 1985 and ancestry has no divorce record for this marriage. This suggests to me that she cannot be the Dixie Lee Schaefer noted as living in Indiana in previous posts since this one was still using Schaefer in 1993 (based on an Ancestry directory record) and still (today) has a valid nurses license in the name of Dixie Lee Schaefer.

So that leaves the question as to whether the Indiana DL Schaefer is our girl. The Dixie Lee who went missing was born in India to a missionary (I assume the occupation; the birthplace is in Ancestry ship passenger list records). I can find no record of a Dixie Lee Schaefer born in the USA except one in 1982. Similarly, apart from the case noted above I can find no record of a Dixie Lee marrying a Schaefer. However, if the birth was in India Ancestry would not show a birth record.

All this says to me that I cannot explain the Indiana Dixie Lee Schaefer from Ancestry records of birth or marriage, which leaves the possibility that she was born overseas and could be our girl. One last coincidence. The nurses licence for Dixie Lee Schaefer in Indiana was first issued in 1969 - http://licensedirect.com/dixie-lee-schaefer/6444105.

Worth a closer look? Can anyone think of a next step?
 
Phyllis said the first thing she was going to do when she got to heaven was to find out what
happened to Dixie. I regret that I did not ask Phyllis to let us all know when she found out.
We all knew Dixie from International School Bangkok.

The entire Turbyfill Family, Tom and Mildred (Parents living with me in Burlington, NC), Margaret,
Phyllis - also in Burlington and Allen Turbyfill in Twentynine Palms, Ca send our thoughts and prayers
to Dixie's family.

I am grateful to have found this website and to know that Dixie is not forgotten.

Regards,
Dr. Carolyn Turbyfill

The Doe Network:
Case File 1734DFCA

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1734dfca.html

Dixie Lee Arensen
Missing since August 25, 1968 from Los Angeles; Los Angeles County, California
Classification: Missing


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vital Statistics

•Date Of Birth: January 1, 1948
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 20 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'6"; 135 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
•Clothing: She was wearing a medium royal blue empire-style dress with three-quarter length sleeves. She wore olive-brown, medium heel shoes and carried an olive-brown, 14 inch envelope purse. Her only jewelry comprised of a yellow gold engagement ring with a one-third carat diamond and a matching wedding band with a small diamond.
•Fingerprints: Not available
•Dentals: Not available
•DNA: Not available


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circumstances of Disappearance
Arensen was last seen on August 25, 1968 at Hillcrest Christian Church in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, CA.
She was last seen by her husband when she left home at 07:30 to prepare a church bulletin at the church office, 17531 Rinaldi Street.
He keys and her glasses, without which she could not see well, were found in the office by her husband who arrived at the church around 09:15, the morning of her disappearance. Her blue automobile was parked outside.
Two unusual things were immediately noticed by police. Her glasses were on the floor of the small office, and an electric typewriter with which she prepared the bulletin was still running.
Her purse was missing but a check showed no withdrawals from her personal checking account.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Los Angeles Police Department
818-756-8861

Agency Case Number: 021731205

NCIC Number: M-232673739
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
California Department of Justice
The Valley News

http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/detail.asp?FCN=2740226200271

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/arensen_dixie.html
More details about Dixie at Charley Project.

Dixie is not in NamUs at this time.

Five archived articles at The Los Angeles Times, I can't acess.

Dixie has been missing 42 years. Come home soon.
 
As Cincinnati Kid questioned above, I too wonder if anyone else saw Dixie at the church. Otherwise, it's just hubby's word - both that she left the house that morning, and then the scene he claims to have found.

On that note, I think it's a bit incongruous...glasses on the floor and typewriter still going would imply a struggle, where Dixie was suddenly removed from the office. But having her purse gone? Either she had time and ability to take it, or else the person who took her also grabbed the purse. (Does that even typically happen? I mean, if someone is just interested in snatching a purse, they wouldn't generally also kidnap its owner. Likewise, if someone's goal is to kidnap, they wouldn't much care about a purse...)

Any friends or family ever come forward to say what Dixie's life was like at the time she went missing? What kind of person was her husband? What was their marriage like? Any financial or other struggles? etc.
 
The only reason I can think of that she would leave her glasses but take her purse is if someone she knew and/or trusted compelled her to go someplace with them quickly, such as making up an emergency that required her to accompany them. This could lead to her leaving the typewriter running and maybe dropping the glasses on the floor and not realizing it. If something like this happened then we would have to look at someone close to her: family member, friend, or church member, someone who she would not hesitate to leave with.
An example would be if a person came running in and lied about there being an emergency at her house or with one of her family members etc, and she grabbed her purse and ran to the car with this person, only to be assaulted by them and killed someplace else.
The other option I can think of seems unlikely, that she would run away and stage it as a kidnapping.
 
I was raised hearing a story about Dixie from my mother. My grandparents knew Dixie’s husband or at least his family somehow. I would have to verify the details again. Jon’s family always believed Charles Manson took Dixie. They spent years trying to figure it out according to my mother’s memory. The closest they ever got was one of his followers admitting they took a woman from a church. They tried to befriend the woman and send her letters in jail, but she never admitted to killing or kidnapping Dixie, nor gave over any information about the location of Dixie’s body. RIP Dixie.
 
As Cincinnati Kid questioned above, I too wonder if anyone else saw Dixie at the church. Otherwise, it's just hubby's word - both that she left the house that morning, and then the scene he claims to have found.

On that note, I think it's a bit incongruous...glasses on the floor and typewriter still going would imply a struggle, where Dixie was suddenly removed from the office. But having her purse gone? Either she had time and ability to take it, or else the person who took her also grabbed the purse. (Does that even typically happen? I mean, if someone is just interested in snatching a purse, they wouldn't generally also kidnap its owner. Likewise, if someone's goal is to kidnap, they wouldn't much care about a purse...)

Any friends or family ever come forward to say what Dixie's life was like at the time she went missing? What kind of person was her husband? What was their marriage like? Any financial or other struggles? etc.
He was a minister, so together they would have put up a good front regardless of what things were like in public. Many ministers are narcissists; narcissists are attracted to the prestige and adulation that come with the position.

I was raised hearing a story about Dixie from my mother. My grandparents knew Dixie’s husband or at least his family somehow. I would have to verify the details again. Jon’s family always believed Charles Manson took Dixie. They spent years trying to figure it out according to my mother’s memory. The closest they ever got was one of his followers admitting they took a woman from a church. They tried to befriend the woman and send her letters in jail, but she never admitted to killing or kidnapping Dixie, nor gave over any information about the location of Dixie’s body. RIP Dixie.
There could be something to this, but if her husband was responsible, then it might simply have been a cover story.
 
I spoke with my mother more in regards to what happened with Dixie. My mother was most likely at their wedding. She would have been about 12 years old and doesn’t clearly remember it. She said she knew Jon and spent time with him and his family who were missionaries. My mother honestly said that while you can never really know a person completely, she never saw any behavior from him to indicate he was capable of such a thing throughout the years. She said the police questioned him for many years and his story never changed. My mother said he eventually left the country and moved to South Africa and traveled, but he told the police when and where he was going. It wasn’t like he necessarily fled the country. Jon is still friends with some of Dixie’s relatives on Facebook even after all these years. He’s now in his 70’s and has written books about Africa. He currently appears to live in New York according to Facebook.

https://authorsinterviews.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/here-is-my-interview-with-jon-arensen/amp/
 

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