VA VA - Elsie Roane, 16, West Point, 20 May 1957

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed

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Elsie Mae Roane

Endangered Missing from West Point, Virginia since May 20, 1957

Age: 16 -- Height: 5'9" -- Weight: 115 lbs -- Hair Color: Brown -- Eye Color: Blue

Elsie wears eyeglasses.


Elsie was last seen carrying two suitcases on the street in West Point, Virginia on May 20, 1957. She lived with her adoptive father, who worked the night shift. He came home from work when she would normally be in school, and didn't immediately realize she was missing. He reported her disappearance on May 23, 1957.


Charley Project
 
Elsie Mae sounds like a classic runaway. Perhaps she had not been happy since her mother died and that her father didn't spend much time with her. I hope she's alive and well taking care of her grand kids.
 
The implication is that she was a voluntary runaway and it's quite possible that she had a productive life afterwards and indeed that she is still alive.

There aren't many "Elsie Mae"s born in 1940/1941 and if she married then a DoB and forename match would be very persuasive.
 
She was last seen on the morning of May 20th, but her father didn't report her missing until the 23rd because he didn't realize she was missing right away? That just seems a little fishy to me. Night shift worker or not, I would think a parent would realize a daughter was missing and make a police report before three nights has passed. It would be interesting to know what the family dynamics were. There's a little more information over on the Porchlight For the Missing site, and from that description she seems rather timid and shy, and not someone I would think would have the "gumption" to run away, or to be someone who would be likely to have a secret love she was running away to meet.

Also, note that the Charley Project and Porchlight list the last sighting of her as being by a police officer at 11pm, but the original news article linked above says 11am. May 20th, 1957 was a Monday; I wonder if the school year was still in session in her school district at that time.

ETA: Porchlight site (which seems to be mostly a fairly recent article from the Tidewater Review that I can't seem to find online by itself):
http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=75262
 
It mentions adoptive parents; I'm wondering what the circumstances of the adoption were. Did Elsie Mae, perhaps, have a parent somewhere that she knew about, and might have wanted to go visit or live with?

Then, the officer quoted mentions seeing Elsie walking with suitcases...at 11 a.m. on what was apparently a school day. Did he not think to question what she might be doing? It just says he saw her, not that he actually spoke with her.

I just checked online and apparently West Point is a VERY small community...just 3,306 residents as of 2010. So I'm thinking that Elsie would be pretty well known around town. Did anyone else recall seeing or speaking with her that morning? Someone selling tickets for the bus or train, perhaps?
 
I found something. http://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/West-Virginia/Elsie-M-Roane_55cw08

Age 4, born abt 1936
Birthplace West Virginia
Gender Female
Race White
Home in 1940
Fudger Creek
Grant,
Cabell, West Virginia
Household Members Age
Head Charles Roane 23
Wife Ruth Roane 22
Daughter Joan Roane 7
Daughter Elsie M Roane 4
Son Charles E Roane 3
Daughter Mary A Roane 1
Son David Lee Roane 8/12

http://articles.dailypress.com/2003-03-04/news/0303040146_1_washington-funeral-home-charles-cemetery
Here is something else: Elsie Mae Roane 76 Tappahannock, VA
 
A new lead in Elsie's case...

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...708,0,5780624.story+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

West Point has suspect in 58-year-old cold case

Elsie Mae Roane went missing from her home without a trace in 1957

4:37 p.m. EDT, July 14, 2015

WEST POINT – The West Point Police Department said it now has a suspect in the disappearance of Elsie Mae Roane, who went missing 58 years ago at the age of 16.

West Point Police Chief Robert Mawyer said he has interviewed the suspect several times and, as a result of new information and witness accounts, believes the suspect has knowledge or information of her disappearance.

To date, it's the only unsolved missing-persons case on record in the town of West Point.

"In review of interviews and new information, original information was made more credible and corroborated with our findings," Mawyer said. "All of our findings have furthered objectives of the case and a very viable suspect has developed."
 
Police have suspect in 58-year-old missing persons case

Mawyer wasn't able to release the name of the suspect because of the ongoing investigation, but says the suspect is a male, and around the same age as Roane.

"We may never have the right evidence to prosecute and at this point I'm not concerned with that. My focus right now is to find Elsie Mae and her child and give them a proper burial"

She was pregnant and the primary suspect is a male around the same age as Elsie. She was last seen carrying suitcases. Based on this, I'm guessing the male suspect is the father of the baby and they had made plans to run away together. Obviously something went horribly wrong and Elsie was most likely murdered that same night.

The video from the article features a sweet classmate of Elsie's recounting a memory that displayed Elsie's competitiveness and spirit. I'm glad Elsie hasn't been forgotten and I hope the detective can give them a proper burial.
 
Pregnancy definitely makes sense...for a teenage girl in a small town back in the '50s to have been pregnant would have been a horrific scandal. But of course, young men are also young men, no matter what era. It's possible he freaked out, feeling pressure and simply didn't want to (or couldn't) cope with it all. It happens. So terribly sad.
 
New evidence supports the idea that she did not leave of her own accord. It also says that she might have been murdered and that she could have been pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
 
I wish we knew who the suspect is it’s now been 61 years since Elsie vanished and there has been no progress since 2015.
 
1993UFAZ

Could this be Elsie?
The timeline and the hair (wavy) seem to line up, but there's a substantial difference in height: Elsie was definitely on the tall side at 5'8" to 5'10", and the unidentified remains are on the short side at an estimated at 5 ft. to 5'3". I know that height on skeletal remains can be off, but in this case we're talking about a difference of 5" on the low side and 10" on the high side. I don't know what is considered an acceptable range of difference, though, so I think it's definitely worth pursuing further.
 

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