AZ AZ- Ann Caldwell, 18, Tucson, Pima County, March 13, 1956

sonz82

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No, I didn't make the account, I just saw that they made a post about Ann and I wanted to share it here.

In that Facebook account, cases of disappearances from the 50s are shown, I wonder if some of those cases were ever solved or not.
I'm currently working through those reports to see if they are still missing or not. 5 or 6 are definitely still missing. I'll be trying to add content more often.
Thank you for sharing my page
 

sonz82

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Oh! I have actually been using that page for a while to find MP's as I didn't have newspapers at that point! Thanks for kind of sparking my interest in these types of MP!
I'm also working on some, there are a few that are impossible to find. For example Yolanda. I found her family information, but after 1955 when she disappeared, nothing.
 

Bit of hope

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I'm currently working through those reports to see if they are still missing or not. 5 or 6 are definitely still missing. I'll be trying to add content more often.
Thank you for sharing my page
Hi sonz82. You know I helped you a couple of times with the FBI bulletin stuff. If you are going through them would you please be on the look-out for a cancellation for Miss Caldwell. So far I couldn't find one.
 

Quoththeraven

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El Paso Times, 28 Mar 1956, Wed · Page 1 Excerpts from article states "She was last seen in Las Cruces, NM, March 14 when she bought a bus ticket for El Paso"

"Caldwell said the family has reason to believe that she is now staying with El Paso friends."

El Paso Times, 28 Mar 1956, Wed · Page 18 states "He (James Caldwell) said he would not force his daughter to return home with him if she were found. We are only anxious to know where she is, he said."

Other articles state she told her mother she would be staying on campus after the sorority party. The dean there said no one was allowed to stay overnight at the campus.

Tucson Citizen 13 Jul 1956, Fri · Page 28 states "her parents have learned she bought a bus ticket to Amarillo, TX and got on the bus. She was seen drinking coffee in Alamogordo, NM and returned to the bus..."

Tucson Citizen 13 Sep 1956, Thu · Page 27 states "From Tucson she went to Las Cruces, NM, where she boarded a bus to El Paso, her father said. She remained in El Paso overnight, leaving the following morning for Amarillo, TX and was known to have arrived in Amarillo on Mar 18, but from there the trail stops."


Her father's, mother's and one brother's obits do not mention her at all, either preceding them in death or surviving them in death.

IMO, she planned her disappearance, didn't want to be found and her family disowned her without even a mention of her name in their obits.

 

Quoththeraven

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I also would like to add to my theory that she ran away, that her possible final destination was Amarillo, Tx, which is about an hour's drive from Plainview, TX, which is where she was actually seen and where the sheriff did not want to disclose any info about her until he had talked with her parents. Her parents weren't even available for a comment when she was sighted as the article below states. Most telling; no follow up articles to that article. Silence. Hmm.

1960 thru 1993, 2003 and 2015 (death dates of her mother, father and brother) we hear nothing of Ann in the newspapers (that I could find). No anniversary follow ups, no updates, no pleas for information from her family members. No social security death index information, even 66 years later. No NAMUS. Nothing. No mention of her in her family member's obits, either. Decades of silence. Crickets.

Why? Because, IMO, they had found her already. It turned out to be a private family matter after the sheriff talked with the parents and told them Ann did not want to come home and they felt it better to let sleeping dogs lie rather than cause any further embarrassment to the family. They wanted to respect their privacy and Ann's privacy.

Sure, there were some articles mentioning her disappearance after the Amarillo and Plainview sightings, but those were rehash articles. And they ended in 1960.



plainviewsighting..jpg

 
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SimsGuy67

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I also would like to add to my theory that she ran away, that her possible final destination was Amarillo, Tx, which is about an hour's drive from Plainview, TX, which is where she was actually seen and where the sheriff did not want to disclose any info about her until he had talked with her parents. Her parents weren't even available for a comment when she was sighted as the article below states. Most telling; no follow up articles to that article. Silence. Hmm.

1960 thru 1993, 2003 and 2015 (death dates of her mother, father and brother) we hear nothing of Ann in the newspapers (that I could find). No anniversary follow ups, no updates, no pleas for information from her family members. No social security death index information, even 66 years later. No NAMUS. Nothing. No mention of her in her family member's obits, either. Decades of silence. Crickets.

Why? Because, IMO, they had found her already. It turned out to be a private family matter after the sheriff talked with the parents and told them Ann did not want to come home and they felt it better to let sleeping dogs lie rather than cause any further embarrassment to the family. They wanted to respect their privacy and Ann's privacy.

Sure, there were some articles mentioning her disappearance after the Amarillo and Plainview sightings, but those were rehash articles. And they ended in 1960.



View attachment 393827

How is the comparing of a Jane Doe a rehash? The Doe was found in November 1959, after the Plainview sighting! Also, this stuff happens. Take Susan Lund for example. She was reported on after her disappearance in the 90s and was reported on until about August 1993, saying she was alive (obviously she wasn't) and then crickets for a long time until she was identified as the Ina Jane Doe last year. This happens! I just don't want to leave her case without true confirmation that she is not missing.
 

branmuffin

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Yes, I had posted this article above. I don't think it was someone posing as her. More likely, another case of mistaken identity.

After I posted this article, I noticed something interesting about her timeline. I couldn't find a follow up to this article confirming she was located or if it was another false lead, but no more articles were posted about her disappearance until the three-year anniversary in 1959. That article, which is just a rehashing of the known info, is here: ann e caldwell - Newspapers.com
The next day, there was another possible sighting, posted above as well: Tucson Daily Citizen from Tucson, Arizona on March 14, 1959 · Page 1

The gap between this article in 1957 and the anniversary in 1959 is strange. I can't tell if she was found and the news didn't reach the papers (hard to imagine with the extensive reporting), or if reporting naturally died down with the passage of time. There were no articles until the 1960 comparison, and nothing after that at all that I've found yet.

It seems to me that the last time someone can guarantee the last sighting or contact with AC was the night she phoned her mom to tell her she was staying over night on the UA campus. Every other sighting of her could be false. She's quite tall, much taller than the average woman, so a tall blonde woman would stand out a bit but it doesn't mean it was her.

It's curious in all the obituaries she isn't referred to at all. I wonder what that's all about? Even her own brother didn't mention her at all. He would have been around twelve when she disappeared. Could it be that instead of believing that Ann was legitimately missing they think she left of her own accord and decided to disown her? It's very odd. I've read a lot of obits where missing people are mentioned in the article regardless of the circumstances of their absence.
 

Quoththeraven

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How is the comparing of a Jane Doe a rehash? The Doe was found in November 1959, after the Plainview sighting! Also, this stuff happens. Take Susan Lund for example. She was reported on after her disappearance in the 90s and was reported on until about August 1993, saying she was alive (obviously she wasn't) and then crickets for a long time until she was identified as the Ina Jane Doe last year. This happens! I just don't want to leave her case without true confirmation that she is not missing.
Aside from the article speculating on whether Yolanda Gomez was Ann Caldwell, everything else was information on Ann from past articles, which we knew about. That was my point about rehashing old news. Until we find out why there were no public comments from Ann's family after the Plainview sighting and they obviously stopped searching for her after 1959 and she was never mentioned in the news after 1960 (or mentioned in their obits), I'll go with my theory that she was found March, 1957 in Plainview, TX.

El Paso Times, 28 Mar 1956, Wed · Page 18 states "He (James Caldwell) said he would not force his daughter to return home with him if she were found. We are only anxious to know where she is, he said."

Even her father speculated that she may have run away. The warrant officer from Plainview, TX even alluded to the fact there was a problem to clear up between Ann and her parents before he released any more information. She didn't want to go back home, IMO.

I'm not saying to give up, but if the family (and law enforcement) have said nothing for 30+ years, there's a reason why they haven't.
 

SimsGuy67

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I'm not saying to give up, but if the family (and law enforcement) have said nothing for 30+ years, there's a reason why they haven't.
Normally police stop saying things about cases because they run cold. Ann may have also got lost in the thousands of MP reports filed. I believe the same thing happened to Sherri Jarvis (Walker County Jane Doe).

An alternate theory is that police found her or at least someone claiming to be her (probably her as her appearance is quite recognizable) and they left her in Plainview. I believe Ann may have continued her journey after Plainview realising her family may try and contact her. She leaves Plainview making her whereabouts unknown, making her just as missing as after the Plainview sighting.

Also, the rehashed articles are altered to fit the time. 1959, instead of saying "missing for 1/2 years" it says "missing for 3 years". These articles also speak nothing of the Plainview sighting. If Ann was found and in contact then why would they rehash false information? There was also new information in 1959 like the hotel sighting: Caldwell hotell 1959 - Newspapers.com

This sighting was in October 1958, after the 1957 Plainview sighting. Ann was possibly seen using a fake name in a Tucson hotel. No word of her being found before this. It says "missing for 3 years" just like the rest of them. If Ann was found it would have to be in the early 60s, not 1957.

You can stick with your found in 1957 theory but I don't believe it. There's too much new info after the sighting for it to be the end of her case.
 

branmuffin

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I think perhaps Ann led a fairly sheltered life. That may have to do with her parents losing two girls when Anne was very young. It seems she went to an all girls school. Transitioning to a co-ed university may have been quite a paradigm shift for her.

The story she told her parents about staying at the school after the sorority meeting suggests to me either she had a secret boyfriend or she and another girl had some alternate plans.

I have a feeling she left home of her own volition and after a year or so, her parents believed that too. A lot of that speculation has to do with each of the obituaries that make no mention of her at all. She was excised from their life. It's very telling to me that her father's obituary listed about 10 organizations he was a member of and other minutiae yet failed to mention a daughter. They didn't mention the other daughters too, which is also a bit bizarre, imo.

I hope Ann lived a long and happy life; she may still be alive since longevity seems to run in her family.
 

Quoththeraven

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Normally police stop saying things about cases because they run cold. Ann may have also got lost in the thousands of MP reports filed. I believe the same thing happened to Sherri Jarvis (Walker County Jane Doe).

An alternate theory is that police found her or at least someone claiming to be her (probably her as her appearance is quite recognizable) and they left her in Plainview. I believe Ann may have continued her journey after Plainview realising her family may try and contact her. She leaves Plainview making her whereabouts unknown, making her just as missing as after the Plainview sighting.

Also, the rehashed articles are altered to fit the time. 1959, instead of saying "missing for 1/2 years" it says "missing for 3 years". These articles also speak nothing of the Plainview sighting. If Ann was found and in contact then why would they rehash false information? There was also new information in 1959 like the hotel sighting: Caldwell hotell 1959 - Newspapers.com

This sighting was in October 1958, after the 1957 Plainview sighting. Ann was possibly seen using a fake name in a Tucson hotel. No word of her being found before this. It says "missing for 3 years" just like the rest of them. If Ann was found it would have to be in the early 60s, not 1957.

You can stick with your found in 1957 theory but I don't believe it. There's too much new info after the sighting for it to be the end of her case.
So, a girl who disappeared on March 13, 1956, came back to Tucson, AZ under an assumed name in October 1958, almost 2 years, 8 months later and was recognized by a Tucson hotel owner about 6 months later in March of 1959 and looked a great deal like Ann Caldwell from a 3-4 year old photograph in the newspaper? OK. I don't buy this hotel owner's photographic memory of a 17 year old girl who obviously aged since the photograph was taken and whose looks changed in 3 years. Aa a hotel owner, she should have verified the woman's identity with identification to make sure she really was who she said she was. I don't know any hotel that will let you stay there without knowing who you are. I think she was looking for publicity for herself and name recognition for her hotel.

<modsnip: rude>


ghostfromthepast.jpg
 
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SimsGuy67

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So, a girl who disappeared on March 13, 1956, came back to Tucson, AZ under an assumed name in October 1958, almost 2 years, 8 months later and was recognized by a Tucson hotel owner about 6 months later in March of 1959 and looked a great deal like Ann Caldwell from a 3-4 year old photograph in the newspaper? OK. I don't buy this hotel owner's photographic memory of a 17 year old girl who obviously aged since the photograph was taken and whose looks changed in 3 years. Aa a hotel owner, she should have verified the woman's identity with identification to make sure she really was who she said she was. I don't know any hotel that will let you stay there without knowing who you are. I think she was looking for publicity for herself and name recognition for her hotel.

You know what you're saying? You're saying that she's no longer missing if she came back to Tucson under an assumed name. So, case closed. Thanks for proving my point. She's not missing after all.


View attachment 393952
Doesn't this prove there is was a semi-active missing persons investigation after the Plainview sighting? Also, you say you don't buy the hotel owner saw Ann and neither do I. Doesn't this mean she didn't go to Tucson? I never said this WAS Ann. I said this was proof there was still a semi-active investigation. <modsnip: quoted post was snipped>
 
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SimsGuy67

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<modsnip> I have sent an email the the Tucson PD but they haven't gotten back to me yet. Does anyone have any ideas. I don't know of any more leads available to us.
 
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