WI WI - Georgia Weckler, 8, Fort Atkinson, 1 May 1947

Thanks for the link to Georgia Jean Weckler's story.

The link to the Charley Project write-up shows a very interesting story about this little girl, whose disappearance is just now making it on to the internet. It also illustrates, however, the problem of trying to find links after so many, many years to the other FEW listed cases from that time. The write-up indicates that some people feel that this case in Fort Atkinson, Wis (1947) and that of Evelyn Hartley in LaCrosse, Wis (1953) are in some way related to the strange case of Ed Gein of Plainfield, Wis (1957). All are actually very widely separated in time and geographic location.

Ed Gein, a very weird guy who dug up dead people, who killed two middle aged women, and who kept his dead mother in his house - was far from an athletic, 20 year old guy capable of the Hartly or Weckler abductions. His MO was just not at all what it would have to be to connect the dots. But because there are a few unsolved Wisconsin cases listed, the tendency of some is to try to connect them. Gein might well have abducted and murdered others, but they would more likely have been other middle aged women, closer to his 1957 arrest, and closer to his home.
 
I agree, Richard. I don't think that Ed Gein was involved in the disappearances of Evelyn Hartley or Georgia Weckler. for the reasons you stated. I have read, though, that Gein was in LaCrosse(he was born and raised there) the night Evelyn was abducted. He was supposedly visiting an aunt who lived only 2 blocks away(not sure how accuarate that story is). And supposedly among the many body parts found at Geins's house were two vulvas that appeared to have come from young girls ,and newspapers about Evelyn's abuction were found in his home. At first, hearing this, makes one think, wow, maybe he did, but for some reason I still don't think he was invloved with Evelyn and Georgia. Maybe it just seems too simple? Any unsolved disappearance or murder around that time is often tied to Gein. He denied being invloved with their cases, for what that's worth.Of course, maybe he did do it, sometimes the answer to these cold cases is simple. But I still feel it wasn't him, I can't explain it. I doubt those female organs found in his home were saved, for maybe DNA could be used today. I wonder if Evelyn's siblings have ever submitted DNA. Not sure if Georgia has living relatives. Chances are she does somewhere. I don't think I ever read if she has siblings or not.
 
Richard said:
The link to the Charley Project write-up shows a very interesting story about this little girl, whose disappearance is just now making it on to the internet. It also illustrates, however, the problem of trying to find links after so many, many years to the other FEW listed cases from that time. The write-up indicates that some people feel that this case in Fort Atkinson, Wis (1947) and that of Evelyn Hartley in LaCrosse, Wis (1953) are in some way related to the strange case of Ed Gein of Plainfield, Wis (1957). All are actually very widely separated in time and geographic location.
Speaking as the person who wrote up Georgia Weckler's case, I agree with you -- I seriously doubt Gein was involved. However, given as so many people suspect him, I felt I had to include a mention of him. Also, the mention of Gein might draw more attention to Georgia's disappearance -- she's not just another missing girl, she's a missing girl possibly connected to that creepy psycho. But I personally think Buford Sennett is a much more likely suspect.
 
All

Georgia is my 1st cousin, but was taken long before I was born. I have a website with all the newspaper articles that were save at the time and one as recent as 1996. I believe she was killed by Sennett, McCelland and the unidentfied woman. She took them to the hideout just outside of Richland Center which is near the Wisconsin River and the City of Blue River. These articles mention she was dumped into the Wisconsin River, off the Blue River bridge, I believe she as put in the Blue River leaving the city on US133 (now). Thanks for the extra information and concern for her.

This is my website on Georgia Jean Weckler: http://home.comcast.net/~j.weckler/

John
 
Welcome to Websleuths, John and thank you very very much for posting and sharing with us your website. I am still reading through it and I find it very interesting. For years Georgia's name was just a footnote in Ed Gein books and it is so nice to finally be able to read more about her and see pictures of her and her family. My sympathies to you and your family for having such a terrible thing happen and to go so long with no answers. Georgia's case is one of several that have haunted me ever since I first read about her. I grew up a few blocks off of Route 12 but not near where Georgia vanished, and many years later. I lived about an hour or so south on RT 12 in Illinois.

Please feel free to continue to post, and thanks again for sharing your website.
 
Daily Jefferson County Union
Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
Friday, May 2, 1947

Photo: Have you seen her? This picture of missing Georgia Jean Weckler was taken Mar. 27 (1947) when she appeared in a style show in Fort Atkinson, Wis. Since then her permanent wave has straightened.

Here is the description of her when she disappeared: Age, 8; height, 4 feet 3 inches; weight, 70 pounds; hair, blond, eyes, brown; clothing, pink button sweater over a blue "T" shirt, blue jeans, blue flowered skirt, rubbers and a brown flowered scarf.

Headline: LeRoy Gore Posse Seeks Missing Girl HereEight-Year-Old Weckler Girl Missing From Route 1 Home

Fort Atkinson and surrounding area residents were alerted this afternoon to aid in the search of blond, brown-eyed, 8-year-old Georgia Jean Weckler, who has been missing since 3:20 pm Thursday. Little Georgia Jean, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George C. Weckler, Route 1, was last seen at the intersection of Highway 12 and the half-a-mile-long Weckler farm drive by Mrs. Carl Floerke, a neighbor, and her young daughter, Mary. Mrs. Floerke dropped off Georgia Jean, a third-grade pupil at the Oakland Center school, there after school yesterday. No clues to her activity or whereabouts after that have as yet been found.

A five hour long search by a 200 member volunteer posse last night, and another search this morning failed to uncover any trace of the girl. An intensified search, aided by Erling Mickalson and Warren Shaw in an airplane, got underway early this afternoon. Jefferson County Sheriff George Perry and his deputies, who are directing the search, are investigating the possibility of foul play.

An 18-year-old Whitewater youth whose car was seen in the vicinity of the Weckler farm home yesterday, was questioned extensively last night and then released.

Other clues were being tracked down this afternoon. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had not been called into the case by this noon. Center of the search last night and this morning was a 20-acre wooded tract which adjoins the Weckler driveway. A third-grade classmate, Beverly Ebersohl, reported that Georgia had mentioned that she intended to pick flowers in the woods for use in May baskets. Young Georgia, a first-year 4­H club member, reportedly "knew" the wood area and the possibility of her getting lost is, believed to be slim. However, the posse composed of Fort Atkinson and Cambridge Legionnaires, volunteer firemen from Cambridge, neighbors and friends of the well known Weckler family, and deputies was instructed to search the area thoroughly in the possibility that she had suffered some injury.

The girl is described as being about 51 inches tall, about 70 pounds in weight, brown eyed, and having shoulder length straight blond hair. When last seen she was wearing a pink, button sweater over a blue "T" shirt, a blue and red flowered skirt over blue jeans, rubbers, and a brown flowered head scarf.

Usually Georgia Jean, her sis­ter, Joan, 10, and her brother, LaVerne, 12 ride bicycles from their farm home situated about six miles west of Fort Atkinson to the Oakland Center school, about 1 ½ miles away. Because of yesterday morning's rain, however, the three were driven to the school by Mrs. Weckler. Georgia Jean was re­leased from school at 3 pm a half hour earlier than Joan and LaVerne completed their work and was driven as far as the Weckler drive by Mrs. Floerke, who had called for her daughter. According to Mrs. Floerke, Georgia Jean left the car and went directly to pick up the mail in the rural box at the entrance to the drive. She was last seen, with the bundle of mail tucked under her arm, walking down the curved gravel drive toward her home.

Mrs. Floerke told sheriff's officials that she saw no car or person in the immediate area when she left Georgia Jean off. Mrs. Weckler says she did not become alarmed when Georgia did not return home immediately after school. She reported that Mr. Weckler had taken the car to Jefferson and she had assumed that he had picked her up. When Weckler returned at 6 p. m. without Georgia, the search began.

Today, the sheriff's office is attempting to track down any "suspicious"' events that might have been connected with the girl's disappearance.Ernie Simdon, Fort Atkinson, informed officers that he drove to Oakland about 3:45 yesterday afternoon and that an "old" car, believed to be a Ford, pulled out in front of him from the vicinity of the Weckler drive and that it stayed ahead of him until he stopped in Oakland Center. He reported that he had not noticed the car before the Weckler drive area and believed that it might have started out from there. Deep tire tracks, possibly made by a car starting out fast, were observed in the entrance to the drive this morning.

Mrs. Twist, teacher at the near by Ives school, told police that she observed an "old" car come slow­ly by the school at about 3:50 p. m. yesterday and then pull up and stop in front of her car. The driver sat there looking back ford about 5 minutes, Mrs. Twist said, and then pulled out fast when she walked from the school toward her car.

Sheriff officials are considering that the car seen by Simdon and that by Mrs. Twist was the same vehicle. In the search for clues this afternoon, approximately 300 persons many of whom were rounded up in Fort through the aid of John Briggs' loud-speaking midget car continued to tramp through the rain swept woods and fields.

To help during the search emergency, several telephone operators from out-of-town have been called in to aid the local exchange.
Link:
http://home.comcast.net/~j.weckler/
 
Yesterday, May 1, marked 59 years since Georgia vanished from her driveway. There are some likely suspects though they have never been completely proven. Her body has never been found...wonder if this mystery will ever be solved. Please take a look at the site that has been created by her cousin. The link is in the post by Richard right above this post. Her cousin , John Weckler posted just once with the link a few posts up. Are you still out there John? We would be interested to hear more of your thoughts. Thanks for sharing the link with us.
 
It is VERY unlikely that Georgia could be Boulder Jane Doe, as there were 7 years separating Georgia's disappearance and Jane Doe's recently murdered body being found. But, abductions have happened, and people have been held against their will. One of the Boulder Jane Doe researchers would like John Weckler to take a look at www.boulderjanedoe.com, just in case.
 
It is unlikely that Georgia Weckler is Boulder Jane Doe..but I do see a slight resemblance and stranger things have happened. It's definitely worth checking out.
 
I have been working on this a little more. I believe she dump in the Blue River near the city / town of Blue River (CR133). Also that Sennett & McClelland with the unidentified woman who took the police to a hideout were all involed. I would like to get a hold of the police records on this from the Jefferson County Sheriffs office which would hold more information. Even though this is not being looked into the case is still open and those records are some where. My current project is get her picture colorized.

j
 
I have another website setup since I'm having trouble updating the current one so just in case I created a second site. This has the colorized picture of Georgia Jean I just had done and maps with the locations I believe she put.

http://home.comcast.net/~georgiajean/
 
Thank you John that's a very nice web site you was so kind to post for us..as allway's we feel you hurt too as we looking at each and every missing person board..feel more than welcome to come here on this site anytime you like ..if i can do anything for you just yell..
 
Thanks for the updates, John. That colorized picture of Georgia is quite haunting. It really "brings her to life" It is just so real looking. I know it takes time and money and easier said than done but I wonder if it is possible to search that river near the bridge. If she is in there, there could be something still there, possibly buried in the river bed. Though with it being a river she could have been carried quite far away. Very frustrating. I sure hope you find more answers. Are any of her siblings still living? Thanks again and please keep posting when you can.


Websleuthers-to see the colorized picture and maps scroll way down on John's website.
 
joellegirl.....is right very nice colorized picture i think it's the best i ever seen from that time period..
 
All 3 are still living around Ft Atkinson, and Kate was the one where I got a good B&W picture of her. I just went and had it sent in to be colorized for that purpose. With all of the modern technology that is now available that could be used and the trained dogs could be used. If she is there in that area I think she would be along the banks and near where she was put. Since I don't that river or current flow it maybe not that strong, just a theory.
 
Just a note that my 2nd site was updated today with another web site that I found. That has more of the same information and some about a Green House where she maybe
j
 
I am clearing off my article storage, so I thought I'd post this before I delete it for those interested:

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
Wednesday, August 20, 1947

FAIL TO LINK LEG BONES WITH MISSING FARM GIRL

Centerville, Wis.-(AP) Mystery continued today to surround the leg bones of a small child found on a nearby Lake Michigan beach Sunday after shoes and a purse discovered in the area were declared not to belong to a missing Wisconsin girl.

George Weckler, whose eight year old daughter, Georgia Jean, disappeared from their Fort Atkinson, Wis. farm home last May 1, arrived yesterday with two deputies and took the purse and shoes back to Fort Atkinson where he and Mrs. Weckler declared they did not belong to Georgia Jean.

Tuned Over To FBI
The bones, which Manitowoc county sheriff Arthur Truttschel said were from a child about eight years old and complete from hip to foot of the right leg, were taken by Weckler and the deputies to Milwaukee, where they were turned over to the FBI for study.

Officials of Manitowoc and nearby Sheboygen counties asserted there were no children reported missing from that area. Sheboygen county Coroner Wesley Van Vanten added he believed the bone had been exposed for five or six months before it was found, along with a piece of shriveled human flesh, by two Sheboygen men strolling on the beach.

Find Purse, Shoes
An intensive search of the beach followed the discovery, and yesterday the purse and small shoes were found in the sand, along with several other odds and ends of discarded clothing which officials did not believe had any connection with the bones.

The Weckler girl was last seen after school on the afternoon of May 1, when she stepped out of a neighbor's car and started up a lane leading to her home. Despite an exhaustive search and hundreds of tips, no clue to her disappearance ever has been found.
 
Thanks for the article , Hollow. I wonder if the FBI still has these bones. With today's technology maybe we could get some answers. So the only reason the bones were not thought to be Georgia's is because the purse and shoes weren't hers? Those items may be completely unrelated to the bones. Even after DNA testing if it is found not to be Georgia, then who could they belong to? Very interesting.
 
I know, that's excactly what I thought. Maybe they can have an answer, and maybe they can go back and recover the rest of the remains, they may hold a clue of what happened to her.
 

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