OH OH - Sharon Lynn Pretorius, 13, Dayton, 28 Sept 1973

A studious, pretty and promising 13-year-old girl left her home on Cornell Drive in Dayton View one afternoon 33 years ago wearing a yellow long-sleeved sweater, blue jeans and gym shoes.

Sharon Lynn Pretorius, a tall girl with long, brown hair in braids, had come home from Fairview High School, where she was a freshman, took a piano lesson, then said goodbye to her brother Richard and began to move about the neighborhood collecting money for her Journal Herald route.
She never returned.

The mysterious disappearance triggered more than three decades of frustration for family members, friends and Dayton police investigators.

Now, members of the Pretorius family, who have lived with the unknown all these years, have made a "joint decision of the heart" to have a memorial service as they pray for closure.

In a paid notice on the obituary page of the newspaper today, the family indicates that Sharon is "presumed abducted and murdered" after she disappeared on Sept. 28, 1973.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/search/content/localnews/columns/daily/072306dale.html

If anyone has a picture, send it to me -- I can't put her on the Charley Project without a picture.

Here's a website for her


http://www.legacy.com/dayton/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=18544776

just bumping her up. Does anyone have any other info on her?

I grew up in this area and just recently heard about this case. They talked about it on the news and that is how I learned of it.

Sharon Lynn Pretorius
Missing since September 28, 1973 from Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date of Birth: about 1960
Age at Time of Disappearance: 13 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: Tall for her age.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Long, brown hair, worn in braids.
Clothing: A yellow long-sleeved sweater, blue jeans and gym shoes.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Pretorius was last seen she left her home on Cornell Drive in the Dayton View neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio on September 28, 1973.

She had attended her classes at Fairview High School, where she was a freshman, gone home, had a piano lesson, and left to collect money in the neighborhood for her Journal Herald newspaper route.

Procedures at the time prohibited Pretorius's family from reporting her as a missing child until 24 hours had passed. Investigators believe she did not run away and was probably abducted and murdered. A witness saw a girl matching Pretorius's description struggling with a man near a car at the corner of Cornell and Philadelphia Drive on the day she disappeared, but the man has never been identified and the girl was not confirmed to be Pretorius.

Authorities followed up many leads in her disappearance over the years, but her case remains a mystery. Her family held a memorial service for her in 2006. On the obituary page of the newspaper, the family indicates that Sharon is "presumed abducted and murdered" after she disappeared on September 28, 1973.

This missing-persons case was one of the most publicized cases in Dayton police history.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Dayton Police Department 937-333-COPS


Source Information:

Dayton Daily News
Guest Book for Sharon Lynn Pretorius
Dayton Daily News
Charley Project
The Doe Network: Case File 2051DFOH

Link:
http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/2051dfoh.html

But doesn't she resemble Bonita Bickwit, who disappeared around two months previously?

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/3dfny.html

bump...

Sharon Lynn Pretorius, 13, Missing since September 28, 1973 from Dayton, OH

Sharon Lynn Pretorius
Missing since September 28, 1973 from Dayton, Montgomery County, Ohio
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date of Birth: about 1960
Age at Time of Disappearance: 13 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: Tall for her age.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Long, brown hair, worn in braids.
Clothing: A yellow long-sleeved sweater, blue jeans and gym shoes.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Pretorius was last seen she left her home on Cornell Drive in the Dayton View neighborhood in Dayton, Ohio on September 28, 1973.

She had attended her classes at Fairview High School, where she was a freshman, gone home, had a piano lesson, and left to collect money in the neighborhood for her Journal Herald newspaper route.

Procedures at the time prohibited Pretorius's family from reporting her as a missing child until 24 hours had passed. Investigators believe she did not run away and was probably abducted and murdered. A witness saw a girl matching Pretorius's description struggling with a man near a car at the corner of Cornell and Philadelphia Drive on the day she disappeared, but the man has never been identified and the girl was not confirmed to be Pretorius.

Authorities followed up many leads in her disappearance over the years, but her case remains a mystery.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Dayton Police Department 937-333-COPS


Source Information:
Dayton Daily News
Guest Book for Sharon Lynn Pretorius
Dayton Daily News
Charley Project
The Doe Network: Case File 2051DFOH

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2051dfoh.html

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/133ufoh.html

There is a time gap, but still fits the age range and description.

Maybe with the third artist's sketch, but I am sure police have checked this out, if there were a possibility.

Bump

This month marks 27 years since Sharon went missing. Come home soon sweetie.

Sharon, my prayers are with you where ever you are.
Whoever is stopping her from coming home, have mercy on her loved ones.
I am sure they're much more interested in having their baby back home with them than convicting you.

updated information;
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/pretorius_sharon.html

http://www.whiotv.com/news/28332582/detail.html

Updated: 6:07 pm EDT June 23, 2011

A $2,500 reward is being offered for information that leads authorities to the body of a 13-year-old girl who has been missing since 1973, her family and investigators announced today in Dayton.

Click to expand...

Another link (it has a video as well)

http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/crime_stoppers/reward-offered-in-decades-old-cold-case
Updated: Thursday, 23 Jun 2011, 5:57 PM EDT
Megan O'Rourke; Web produced by David Robinson

a caller to the coroners office with a tip lead investigators to the site where a gas station once stood at the corner of Hoover Avenue and Guenther Raod. The caller said that's where police would find Sharon's remains.

Click to expand...

I am so happy this is being pursued still!

Her poor family. I can't imagine after all this time. One thing-where was Bundy at this point in time?

scriptgirl said:

Her poor family. I can't imagine after all this time. One thing-where was Bundy at this point in time?

Click to expand...

I wondered that too, just because Sharon resembles his target: brunette teen with long hair, parted down the middle. Except I can't remember coming across anything that ever said he was in Ohio. I will try to see where he was at this point in time.

In Sept. 1973, Bundy enrolled at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, which he would eventually leave in May 1974 to go to Olympia, Washington.
Unfortunately, nothing is detailed enough to prove he wasn't in the Ohio area or that he was.
However, after being in prison in Glenwood Springs, CO, he did escape and travel eastwards, reaching Michigan. That was in 1977 though and Sharon vanished in 1973. It still is a possibility.
His first confirmed victim was Joni Lenz in 1974, but some believe he may have started attacking women in 1963. The failure of his relationship with fellow student Stephanie Brooks could have been a trigger, but he could have attacked women before that time in his life as well. Who knows.

http://diaryoflivingdeadgirls.blogspot.com/2010/06/ted-bundy-timeline.html
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/680054/Ted-Bundy-timeline.html?pg=all