PA PA - Tamara 'Tammy' Porrin, 15, DuBois, 22 Nov 1986

jns207

Active Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2013
Messages
485
Reaction score
48
TammyPorrin1.jpg
TammyPorrin2.jpg
tammyporrinageprogression.jpg

(Photo on right: age progression to 40 years)

Missing Since: November 11, 1986 from DuBois, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: November 13, 1971
Age at Time of Disappearance: 15 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 60"; 130 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair. Brown eyes.
AKA: Tammy
DNA: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Tamara Porrin was last seen in DuBois, Pennsylvania on November 11, 1986.

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

Pennsylvania State Police
Trooper David Ray
814-938-0532
daray@pa.gov

Agency Case Number: C04-1087207

NCMEC Case Number: NCMC1150268

The Doe Network
NamUs
The Charley Project
Facebook Page for Tamara Porrin
 
There may be no greater possible match than Tamara “Tammy” Porrin.

Porrin went missing from central Pennsylvania in 1986, and the photos of her on a national missing-persons database bear a remarkable similarity to Jane Doe. Both have the same short, curly hair, circular tip of the nose, and round, soft jaws and chin.

Porrin’s brother, Ernest Porrin Jr., agreed the renderings of Jane Doe look very much like his long-lost sister.

“I can see a huge likeness of what Tammy would have looked like,” Ernest wrote in an email. “But I personally believe she was killed back in 1986.”

Still, Ernest and his sister told The Daily Beast they are more than willing to submit DNA to eliminate Tammy from the pool of possible matches for Jane Doe.

View attachment 89185

View attachment 89184


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/15/the-head-with-no-body-and-no-answers.html
 
This is a case I have always followed as this is my hometown and she was only a few years older than me. Just to give you an idea of the area at the time, this is a small town, surrounded by many other small towns. This is very rural amish country PA. There are no big cities near us in which to run and disappear to. I can come to no other conclusion than foul play. I wish there was more information available so I could dig a little deeper, but sadly most people around here now don't even know her name.
 
Tamara Dawn Porrin | Missing #19

This is a very strange case as she was missing for sometime, several months, before her parents reported her missing. In fact it was actually her older sister, who was away at college at the time, who actually reported her missing. The schools never inquired about why she was no longer coming to school so she pretty much dropped off the earth. I have started by looking at old maps and photos of the area and trying to contact students from her class. I am retired a police officer and am trying to reconstruct and renew this investigation. Any advice or suggestions would be helpful and appreciated
 
Tamara Dawn Porrin | Missing #19

This is a very strange case as she was missing for sometime, several months, before her parents reported her missing. In fact it was actually her older sister, who was away at college at the time, who actually reported her missing. The schools never inquired about why she was no longer coming to school so she pretty much dropped off the earth. I have started by looking at old maps and photos of the area and trying to contact students from her class. I am retired a police officer and am trying to reconstruct and renew this investigation. Any advice or suggestions would be helpful and appreciated
I spent a large amount of time today at the DuBois historical society looking into this and uncovered some information that could have bearing on this I will continue to research this case
 
I got sidetracked and am just now popping back to this. Interesting find. I was not aware of that discovery and will have to dig deeper on that. Thanks for sharing what you found and for keeping her name out there.
 
On Nov 22 1986 a young woman named Jackie Porrin came to the DuBois Pa city police station to report that her 15 year old sister Tammy was missing. The child was a student at DuBois Jr high school but it appears had not been in school for at least a month prior to her sister reporting her missing. The school listed her as often absent for unexplained reasons. However the school district contacted no other agencies regarding the child.
Jackie was away at college when her sister disappeared. Upon returning home for Thanksgiving she found Tammy gone and her parents told her that Tammy had run away. Not satisfied with this response she went to the police. At this time the local police did very little investigative work. Events which could not be cleared on scene were referred to the state police for further investigation.
The city police spoke to the parents who told them the child had run away and so no further action was taken.
The principal, vice principal and attendance officer of the school from that time have all since passed on so they were unavailable to provide information and the district has no records from that period available, So the extent of her absences is really not known.
Over a year later the case was passed to state police and Tamara was entered into the National Crime Information System computer data base. The case seemed to have been ignored by the city police at that time who seemed to have just taken the parents word for what had happened to the child.
In 1975 Pennsylvania law established mandatory reporting laws which required school officials and others to report suspected child abuse. While some of her classmates report she often came to school with bruises on her face and arms it seems child protective agencies were never contacted by school officials or others.
Clearfield County Children and Youth Services were contacted by this writer seeking comment but the agency never returned my calls or messages.
Mary Gilbert the open records officer for DuBois Area School district was very open and shocked about the story of this girl but due to the length of time since this incident occurred could not provide any explanation to why no action was taken. But we must remember it was a very different time and no one believed a child in a small town like this could just disappear. Children from the school district had disappeared by running away before. In 1975 a girl named Sue Gilbert had disappeared from the DuBois High School and was reported as a run away. She was many months later found in California.
Several students from that time reported one fellow student was regarded as "weird" and "creepy" a background check shows that today he is a registered sex offender who has a penchant for young girls in the range of 13-15.
A search of property records in Jefferson County and Clearfield County revealed one property belonging to any persons related to the members of Tammy's house hold. The house is on the north edge of Falls Creek, a few miles from where Tamara lived with her parents, it is separated by George St into two parcels. At the time the child disappeared the home of her paternal grand parents sat on the eastern side of this property. On the western portion of the lot was a small auto repair garage operated by the family. North of the property is wooded area several hundred feet across leading to a small river. Across the river is a cleared area and light woods until you reach interstate 80. The lot North of the old garage building has since had a mobile home placed over it.
The child has never been located and is missing to this day. State police continue to investigate few leads have been developed. While many people failed to act in a reasonable, and what we would now consider, responsible manner how these failures could occur or be allowed cannot now be explained. and due to the Clearfield County child protection agency not responding to requests for information or answer questions regarding their procedures at that time we cannot know if steps were taken to help this child however it causes one to wonder if they are hiding something all these years later.
The father had a criminal history going back to adolescence of drunkenness and violence. As the law forbidding felons from possessing firearms did not take effect until 1968 it is very possible he may have had guns.
The child's parents are both deceased now and never provided any further information on what happened to Tamara. So a young girl disappeared and it remains a mystery.
 
Keystone Cold Cases released an episode about Tamara's disappearance back in Nov 2022

Episode #87: Tamara Porrin - Missing (1986)​

Updated: Nov 17, 2022


Tamara Dawn Porrin was in the eighth grade at DuBois Jr. High in 1986. She was last seen in DuBois, PA (Clearfield County) on the evening of November 22, 1986. The Charley Project website said that she was habitually truant and was often fighting with her parents and running away. Though she had run away in the past, authorities suspect foul play in this case and is considered Endangered Missing.
1673806821309.png

1673806842764.png
 
Last edited:

  • tamara_dawn_porrin_3.jpg
  • tamara_dawn_porrin_1.jpg
  • tamara_dawn_porrin_2.jpg
  • tamara_dawn_porrin_4.jpg
  • porrin_tamara5.jpg

 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
152
Guests online
2,613
Total visitors
2,765

Forum statistics

Threads
590,025
Messages
17,929,167
Members
228,043
Latest member
Biff
Back
Top