FL FL - Angela Westberry, 17, & Theresa Hickmon, 20, aboard boat Sea Fever, Jacksonville, 1 Dec 1984

Lost at Sea:

Angela Loraine Westberry
Missing since December 1, 1984 from Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: July 13, 1967
Age at Time of Disappearance: 17 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'10" (147 cm); 95 lbs (43 kg)
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Red/blonde hair; blue eyes.
Other: DNA available
The Doe Network: Case File 12DFFL
Agency Case Number: 85-29347
NCIC Number: M-321138296


Circumstances of Disappearance
Westberry was last seen leaving Jacksonville, FL on December 1, 1984 with a Caucasian female and two Caucasian males. They boarded a boat named Sea Fever, which was a 1960 Richardson, 42 or 46 feet with a white hull, twin cabins and a cockpit in between. It is believed that Westberry was planning on vacationing aboard the boat in the Bahamas at the time of her disappearance.

Sea Fever was last spotted by US Customs in the Grand Cayman Islands on December 14, 1984. It is not known if Westberry was still on board the boat at that time. Neither Sea Fever nor Westberry have been seen since. Her sister reported her as a missing person to authorities.
Foul play is suspected.

If you have any information on the location of Westberry or Sea Fever, please contact: Duval County Sheriff's Office 904-630-2627
OR
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office 904-630-0500

Source Information: The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
Sun-Sentinel

Link:
http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/12dffl.html

It sure sounds like there is every reason to hope she's just decided to go live the island life - I wonder if there have been any further reports of the two men and the other woman on board. I wonder why this is called an "abduction" when it states she planned to do this - so often these reports are so sketchy it's hard to see what's going on.

Hope she's safe.

Sadly, with time, so much info is lost. Especially for cases in the days before computers. I know it is hard to imagine now, but we did not have the technology then to store info other than on paper in many LE jurisdictions. When Jean Marie Stewart went missing, we gave LE much info that has been lost over the years, including photos. Tragically, I think many of the details get lost in the telling...

I was able to find a little information on the type of boat that the "Sea Fever" was. The link below has a photo of a slightly smaller cruiser, but made by the same company.

The Richardson Boat Company of Tonawanda, New York, produced boats from the 1930's through 1962.

In 1960, when "Sea Fever" was built, Richardson had teamed up with Avro Aircraft Limited, a division of A. V. Roe Aeronautical Group. Richardson manufactured the superstructures from teak and the fly bridges of heavy duty Fibreglass in Tonawanda. Hulls were manufactured of planked aluminum in Malton, Ontario, Canada, by Avro - working in tandem with Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Corporation.

Although aluminium had been in wide use for many years, electrolysis and the cost of welding meant most boats were constructed by riveting, which was not a practical use for larger cruisers. In advertising flyers produced for the 1960 market, the new aluminium-hulled boats were classed as "Cruisers of Tomorrow" made for Richardson's Phantom series. The hulls, permanently sealed for the life of the vessel, were advertised as not requiring recaulking. Thus the aluminium hull was impervious to rot, warping and water soakage. Maintenance costs would be minimal.
The finished hull was painted "yacht white." After extensive testing and sea trials, Avro President, Harvey Smith said these new vessels would be "the most advanced pleasure cruiser available on the market."

Richardson and Avro produced a 28-foot and a 32-foot Express model, a 36-foot Express and Sedan model, a 40-foot Double Cabin Fly Bridge, a 43-foot model and a 46-foot model. The Fibreglass fly bridge could be purchased as an "extra" for the sedan models. About 150 hulls were produced in the early 1960s. Today there are approximately 60 Richardson Phantom Series boats left in the United States and Canada, including, rumour has it, a few pristine hulls locked away in a garage, place unknown.

Link to Richardson Boats Richardson Boat Owners Association:

http://www.richardsonboats.com/memberboats-archives.php?boat=seaero

1984 being pre-technology, I think it would be very difficult to find out who Angela's traveling companions were. If they could be located, LE would have a much better picture of whether she just decided to disappear or if foul play was really involved.

CaliKid said:

1984 being pre-technology, I think it would be very difficult to find out who Angela's traveling companions were. If they could be located, LE would have a much better picture of whether she just decided to disappear or if foul play was really involved.

Click to expand...

There are records that could be searched. For instance, all boats have to be registered. Since the name and type of boat is known, then the owner's name would also be known. That person might have been on board, or if not, certainly could say who was aboard.

If the boat put into port in Bahamas or other places, there should be records available concerning that too. There would have been a radio station license for the boat as well, and its call sign may have been logged by Coast Guard or various ports of call.

i saw her case to perhaps she met one of the passangers of the boat a few days before or a week before, and he or she had asked her to go on the boat, like the brefrended her and decided to go alone, so sad and no reccord of the boat ever being found? dont they have reccords of boats by the number? maybe the people who owned the boat changed the name strange that she was never found again did they do exstensive search in the grand camen islands?

There is a thread on this case under the forum heading "Missing but not forgotten". I posted some information on that type of boat and a link to another website.

Boats of this type are registered in a specific state, much the same as a car is registered - usually in the state where the owner lives, or in the state where the boat is berthed/stored. It is assigned a registration number beginning with the first two letters of the State's abbreviation, usually followed by four numerals and two more letters, which are assigned by the State - usually by the Department of Natural Resources. The boat's owner purchases vinal letters and numbers and affixes them to the specified place on the boat's bow.

The history of that boat's ownership can be traced through registration records, as long as you know which state it was registered in. It becomes difficult if a boat is sold and subsequently re-registered in another state - which happens frequently. Changing the "name" of a boat is very common, usually done each time a new owner purchases it. The Boat's name, does not appear in the registration paperwork, however - only the manufacturer's serial number is recorded, along with the State assigned registration number. By the way, that state registration number stays the same for subsequent owners, unless/until it is registered in another state.

So, trying to locate a boat becomes a difficult task for an investigator if the boat was sold and re-registered in another state.

Where is Sea Feaver? Several possibilities:

1. She might have been lost at sea -

2. She may have been sold or simply re-registered in another state.

3. She may have been abandoned and sold at auction by the Coast Guard or other government agency, the new owner either re-registering her in another state or country.

You spoke of the registration on the boat. Wouldn't the DNR have a record of the boats registration information on file? Since the boat hasn't been seen since, could it have sunk somewhere? I've seen shows on Discovery Channel and remember reading an article about the Coast Guard doing routine sonar in places to verify there are no obstacles in the waterways. (It was how they located 2 locamotives that had fallen from a ship up in New York.) Have those logs been looked at just in case as well? I know they keep records of things they find as unusual and plot the coordinates so they can return at a later date with divers to confirm what the objects are. Just a thought I had on this case.

If the boat make and year are known, was there not a port of origin marked on the boat under the boats name? My dad's shrimp boats always had the city where he docked on the boat too.

It's been 23 years since Angela was reported missing.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/12dffl.html

My case file, with some speculation. Some of course may not be true, because I don't have much to go on.

http://www.forthelost.org/awestberry.html

If you so choose here is a great place to search for the Boat

http://cgmix.uscg.mil/PSIX/VesselSearch.aspx

I dont know if this is the same boat or not, I don't see how it would be they have never found it. It is named the Sea Fever, and is 42) long. Made in 1960 and it was the only one I found like it. I didn't look real real hard though.

HTH

http://cgmix.uscg.mil/PSIX/VesselResults.aspx?VesselID=77339

last seen on a split, cabin yacht (rare), with two males, one female. I believe this, rare, yacht was sold here ,in Jax Fl (1986-87), via ,an add placed in The Florida Times Union. I think Anglea's Dad, or Uncle, was a popular judge here. What haunts me, I think I recognize her picture, from a missing person's flyer, posted at a popular, I-95 S, rest stop. Also, I called, and inquired, (1986-87) about the , possibe, same boat! Which was last seen, in the Caribbean Sea.

Is this the same case?

http://www.forthelost.org/awestberry.html

That's a lot of people, to keep a secret. I am not sure what they meant. Have they found the other girl, 18 who was also on the boat?

Angela's Charley Project page:

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/westberry_angela.html

Welcome to Websleuths Haz! Have you called your info into LE yet?

Charley Project posted the profile for the other female on the Sea Fever boat, Theresa Hickmon: http://charleyproject.org/cases/h/hickmon_theresa.html.