GA GA - Ima Jean Sanders, 13, Warner Robins, 1 Aug 1974

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed

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Ima Jean Sanders

Endangered Runaway from Warner Robins, Georgia since August 1, 1974

Age: 13 -- Height: 5'4"-5'5" -- Weight: 110 lbs -- Hair Color: Sandy Brown -- Eye Color: Blue

Ima has a mole on her right cheek and a scar on her lower right leg.


Ima disappeared from Warner Robins, Georgia on August 1, 1974. She was last seen getting into a van with a young white male. Authorities believe she initially left of her own accord. Few details are available. Texas police are assisting.


NCMEC

Charley Project
 
Seems like at some point she got into the car with Paul John Knowles, a serial killer :(
Soon after this, Knowles claimed to have picked up a teenage girl who was hitchhiking and killed her just for sport, but her identity remains unknown. As of 12-12-2011, she has been identified as Ima Jean Sanders.
Victim #5 Now known as Ima Jean Sanders, 13 years of age. She was a hitchhiker whom Knowles raped and strangled.
Paul John Knowles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
OMG! Another Knowles victim, just coming to light at this point...??!

He killed a woman in my home county, as well. Was unsolved until those tapes of his revealed that it was him ... but even that was many years ago.

ETA: OK, now I see, from the Wikipedia link, that he had spoken of picking up a teenage hitchhiker and killing her, but her identity was not known ...until now.


Rest in Peace, Ima Jean Sanders. I'm glad you have been found.
 
http://www.ajc.com/news/cold-case-solved-girl-1266898.html

Cold case solved: Girl, 13, was killed by serial killer in 1974
By Fran Jeffries

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Authorities said Wednesday they have solved the case of a 13-year-old girl who disappeared from Warner Robins in 1974.

They say Ima Jean Sanders was the victim of serial killer Paul John Knowles.

Skeletal remains found in a wooded area off Ga. 96 in April 1976 recently were matched to the girl, said Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Perry office.

Investigators are “reasonably confident” that Knowles criminally killed the young girl in August 1974, Rothwell said.
 
From Macon, Georgia's The Telegraph/macon.com:

QUOTE:

Remains of 13-year-old girl who disappeared from Warner Robins linked to serial killer


A 13-year-old girl who disappeared from Warner Robins in 1974 is believed to be a victim of serial killer Paul John Knowles, authorities say.

Skeletal remains of a young female found in a wooded area off Ga. 96 in April 1976 recently were matched to Ima Jean Sanders, said Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the GBI’s Perry office.




Investigators for the GBI, Peach County Sheriff’s Office and Warner Robins police are “reasonably confident” Sanders was murdered by Knowles in August 1974, Rothwell said. ...




read more at: http://www.macon.com/2011/12/21/1833018/remains-of-13-year-old-girl-who.html
 
Report and video from Macon, Georgia's 13WMAZ television web site:

QUOTE:




GBI Says DNA Solved 1974 Killing of Ima Jean Sanders ...


read more and see video at: http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local/ar...s-DNA-Solved-1974-Killing-of-Ima-Jean-Sanders

ETA: This link includes some fairly lengthy 1970s archive video clips concerning Knowles, including one of a woman who married Knowles; unfortunately, I did not get any sound on the clips ... maybe some of you will have more success.
 
Apparently she was matched to a UID found in Georgia 2 years after her disappearance. I'm unable to find any documentation about the UID online and it bothers me to think about how many unidentified & missing aren't entered into NAMUS or reported on Doe or Charley. So glad Ima's family can finally lay her to rest properly, but upset at the fact that we don't have the proper resources available to help other families.

http://news.yahoo.com/serial-killer-blamed-1974-killing-ga-girl-200810824.html
 
More from Macon's The Telegraph/macon.com:

QUOTE:

Sister of girl killed by serial killer recalls fateful day in Warner Robins


WARNER ROBINS -- Sharon Chessher was among family members gathered in a conference room of a Texas police department when a Warner Robins detective broke the news: Her sister who had disappeared 37 years ago was believed to be a victim of serial killer Paul John Knowles.

Chessher, 42, said Warner Robins police Capt. Chris Rooks started the Dec. 12 meeting by telling the family, “We found Ima, but ...”

Rooks, head of criminal investigations, then laid out what authorities believe happened to 13-year-old Ima Jean Sanders. ...


read more at: http://www.macon.com/2011/12/22/1834326/victims-sister-recalls-fateful.html
 
This account from Texas (where Ima Jean's mother and half-sister apparently live now) is much like the many out now all around the country, but it is the first I have seen that includes information about what remains are being returned to the family and thus, I assume, what remains were found in 1976:

QUOTE:

Local Woman Learns Sister's Fate At Hands of Serial Killer


...Next month, Sharon Chessher is hoping to have her sister’s remains – a leg bone, an arm bone and a skull – returned to Texas for a private memorial.


more at: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/new...learns-sisters-fate-at-hands-of-serial-killer

Some of the other accounts do mention that Knowles -- in describing the murder of a teenager who is believed now to have been Ima Jean -- said that he revisited the spot where he had left her body about two weeks later and buried her jawbone nearby. Apparently this is one of the identifiers that authorities are using to identify Ima Jean as a victim of Knowles -- the fact that the jawbone was indeed missing from the skull when the remains were found. (Sorry so graphic.)

I am just so glad that enough DNA was obtainable from the remains found to make the match and help get Ima Jean on the way back to her family, after all this time.
 
Rest in Peace, Ima Jean. I am glad your family has some closure now. :(





.
 
From a December 25 article from Macon, GA:

Modern forensics helped solve 1974 disappearance in Middle Georgia

The Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System launched its repository for missing persons and unidentified human remains in 2009.
It’s more commonly called NamUs. The public may register to search and report information in the missing persons database and may search -- but not add -- information about unidentified persons. Coroners, medical examiners and law enforcement officers can input and review data. ...
NCIC is a national database for law enforcement that includes information on criminal history, fugitives, stolen property and missing persons.
In 1974, when Sanders disappeared, NCIC had been in existence for more than seven years. But GCIC, the state’s version of the national database, was in its infancy, having been established in 1973. NCIC’s Missing Persons File was implemented in 1975.
It’s unclear whether the family reported Sanders missing. In interviews with family members, the mother and a sister said Sanders was reported missing, while another sister said she was not ...
more at: http://www.macon.com/2011/12/25/1837839/modern-forensics-helped-solve.html#storylink=misearch
 
Even though I have a join date of 2006, I have not participated at WS a whole lot until fairly recently. So I am wanting to ask some of you real "old timers" -- or very active WSers -- whether there is some way we here at WS could address sleuthing to try to find remains from others of Knowles victims and/or possibly reveal victims of his that are not known ...? (Since Knowles is dead and has been for a long time, I am not sure the serial killer forum would be appropriate...?)

Ima Jean's apparent killer, Paul John Knowles, at times claimed he had killed 18 people ... and I believe I saw on local coverage of Ima Jean's identification that she brought the total of his known murders to 18 or 19 ... but it seems that at other times he claimed to have murdered 35 people.

I know that, among the "18" victims he sometimes claimed, at least a couple of bodies were never recovered.

During his 1974 "spree", he visited several widespread states and is reported to have killed in several of them, but there apparently are also states he spent time in during that period where he is not known to have killed anyone -- but who really knows?

I also wonder about the possibility that he may have killed before the 1974 spree.

Anyone have thoughts on this, directions?

Thanks!
 
Her family earlier this week received her ashes and plan to have a funeral service in April when Ima Jean would have turned 51.
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/DNA-Solves-Texas-Girls-1974-Murder-011212


Thanks, Ladylub, for posting this news. I'm glad to know Ima Jean has made it back to her family.

Since you posted this, I see that we are also getting coverage of that fact here in middle Georgia. Her mother's words are very sad to me:

Ashes of missing Warner Robins girl sent home to Texas

...The Beaumont Enterprise reported Thursday that Wisecup received the ashes from Georgia on Tuesday. The family is planning a memorial service in April.

"When you get her back, this is all you get right here," Wisecup said Tuesday, patting a silver urn. "This is all we have of her." ...

... Until December, Wisecup said she had never heard of Knowles. She had always hoped her daughter might have run away and chosen to disassociate herself from the family. ...


"After 38 years of waiting to know, you feel like the walls closed in," Wisecup told the newspaper. "I carried her home from the hospital, and I get to carry her home today."

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2012/01/12/1860700/texas-mom-has-ashes-of-daughter.html#storylink=cpy
read more at: http://www.macon.com/2012/01/12/1860700/texas-mom-has-ashes-of-daughter.html
 
How sad! 13 is so young :(. Glad to know this disgusting serial killer will never harm another person. Rest in peace Ima. I know you are comforted and happy in heaven!
 
Even though I have a join date of 2006, I have not participated at WS a whole lot until fairly recently. So I am wanting to ask some of you real "old timers" -- or very active WSers -- whether there is some way we here at WS could address sleuthing to try to find remains from others of Knowles victims and/or possibly reveal victims of his that are not known ...? (Since Knowles is dead and has been for a long time, I am not sure the serial killer forum would be appropriate...?)

Ima Jean's apparent killer, Paul John Knowles, at times claimed he had killed 18 people ... and I believe I saw on local coverage of Ima Jean's identification that she brought the total of his known murders to 18 or 19 ... but it seems that at other times he claimed to have murdered 35 people.

I know that, among the "18" victims he sometimes claimed, at least a couple of bodies were never recovered.

During his 1974 "spree", he visited several widespread states and is reported to have killed in several of them, but there apparently are also states he spent time in during that period where he is not known to have killed anyone -- but who really knows?

I also wonder about the possibility that he may have killed before the 1974 spree.

Anyone have thoughts on this, directions?

Thanks!
He claimed 35 consistently. He just died before he could give details on more than the 18 confirmed. He was accidentally killed in a scuffle with police officers over a gun.
 

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