CA - Henrietta Avila, 17, Santa Ana, Summer 1960

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Gardener1850

Gardener1850

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[h=1]Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila[/h]
  • henrietta_geck_cruz_avila_1.jpg
  • henrietta_geck_cruz_avila_2.jpg
Henrietta, circa 1960; Age-progression to age 75 (circa 2017)



  • Missing Since 06/01/1960
  • Missing From Santa Ana, California
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Date of Birth 10/10/1942 (75)
  • Age 17 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'0, 100 pounds
  • Clothing/Jewelry Description A gold chain and a wedding band.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Henrietta's maiden name is Cruz. She has a measles scar between her eyebrows.


[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] Henrietta was last seen in Santa Ana, California sometime in the summer of 1960. She had dropped out of Sana Ana High School prior to her disappearance and taken a job at a store. In the spring of 1960, she met 24-year-old Merle Avila. They married a month later and lived in Santa Ana. Three months into the marriage, according to Merle, Henrietta packed her belongings and left him. She didn't get in touch with her family, and her father reported her missing on August 1.

Merle stated he saw his estranged wife in a park in Long Beach, California on August 20. On August 27, Henrietta's parents got a collect call from San Francisco, California, from someone identified as Henrietta Cruz. Henrietta's mother said she would accept the charges, but the caller hung up. That same day, Henrietta's parents got a telegram from San Francisco, signed "Henrietta." It said she was okay, had gotten a job and would not be returning to her husband. Police determined the telegram had been phoned in from a pay phone by a woman who gave a false address.

The week before Christmas in 1961, Henrietta's father went outside to his driveway and found, sitting on the trunk of his car, a belt and some underclothing belonging to Henrietta. There was no other sign of her and she never contacted her parents again. Foul play is possible in her case, which remains unsolved. Santa Ana police are investigating.

http://charleyproject.org/case/henrietta-geck-cruz-avila

Dental information / charting is currently not available

DNA Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete

Fingerprint information is currently not available

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/34024/
 
So surprised there isn't more discussion on her case especially with the odd circumstances. In my opinion, the phone call and telegram were staged by the perpetrator and the person was someone that was close to her. The belt and underclothes on dad's car was super strange. Like what kind of underclothes? And how did they determine that were actually Henrietta's? And why dad's car!? I wonder if they ever interviewed the husband. I'm not saying he did it, but in this instance he's instantly suspect. I mean what we know about her disappearance is word of mouth from him. That she packed up and left. That he had seen her after her disappearance. Also when it comes to the belt and underclothes he would be the known person to have access to it since he was her husband. Just my opinion.
 
Sadly my post was deleted.

I was just summing up what happened and stating what is obvious if we start digging s bit.

Merle Avila. Her husband of 3 months was the last one to see her. She had good contact with her parents and when she stopped calling them they called Merle. He claimed she had left him for a job although she didn't have a car and that he had seen her not long after. Shortly after that her family receives a telegram saying shes ok and a phone called abrupted very quickly from someone stating she's Henrietta.

What kind of man would accept that his wife if 3 months would just go up and leave? And if she did she would probably go back to get parents. She was 17 and had good contact with her.

Merle would remary in 1962 and he died in 2012.

Not accusing anybody but this is what we know and it's very odd.
 
Moonwalker9 said:
Sadly my post was deleted.

I was just summing up what happened and stating what is obvious if we start digging s bit.

Merle Avila. Her husband of 3 months was the last one to see her. She had good contact with her parents and when she stopped calling them they called Merle. He claimed she had left him for a job although she didn't have a car and that he had seen her not long after. Shortly after that her family receives a telegram saying shes ok and a phone called abrupted very quickly from someone stating she's Henrietta.

What kind of man would accept that his wife if 3 months would just go up and leave? And if she did she would probably go back to get parents. She was 17 and had good contact with her.

Merle would remary in 1962 and he died in 2012.

Not accusing anybody but this is what we know and it's very odd.
Click to expand...

1960 Wow! Nearly 60 years later, and our advancements in technology would be able to tell us something. If there was anything to work with.

So, we either have a case of a young woman running away: She would avoid all confirmed communication with her parents. Not even a call to say, "Hey mom, I'm okay. I will call you once again when I'm settled."

I can see that she may have wanted to avoid her husband. If that's what this was.

But, did she really hate her parents that much? To never make any contact with her family? For forever? Her four siblings? Did she hate them all as much? I really do NOT think so. I believe this beautiful young soul met with foul play. From someone who knew their address, and phone number.

Yeah, I'm really not buying it. Someone got away with something here. All my alarm-bells are going off on these discrepancies. Sadly, IMO, there is a Jane Doe somewhere out there.

ETA: NCMEC has her: Have you seen this child? HENRIETTA AVILA

Charley Project: Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila – The Charley Project

I just realized these were posted before (up above, from May I believe) but I'm going to keep them here. To highlight that her DNA was submitted, and tests complete. Her only need now is to be found. Come home Henrietta,

ETA2: Or, and this is a big or, Henrietta lived a long life, somewhere out there. She was able to forget her mom, dad, and four siblings.
 
Jim_M said:
1960 Wow! Nearly 60 years later, and our advancements in technology would be able to tell us something. If there was anything to work with.

So, we either have a case of a young woman running away: She would avoid all confirmed communication with her parents. Not even a call to say, "Hey mom, I'm okay. I will call you once again when I'm settled."

I can see that she may have wanted to avoid her husband. If that's what this was.

But, did she really hate her parents that much? To never make any contact with her family? For forever? Her four siblings? Did she hate them all as much? I really do NOT think so. I believe this beautiful young soul met with foul play. From someone who knew their address, and phone number.

Yeah, I'm really not buying it. Someone got away with something here. All my alarm-bells are going off on these discrepancies. Sadly, IMO, there is a Jane Doe somewhere out there.

ETA: NCMEC has her: Have you seen this child? HENRIETTA AVILA

Charley Project: Henrietta Geck Cruz Avila – The Charley Project

I just realized these were posted before (up above, from May I believe) but I'm going to keep them here. To highlight that her DNA was submitted, and tests complete. Her only need now is to be found. Come home Henrietta,

ETA2: Or, and this is a big or, Henrietta lived a long life, somewhere out there. She was able to forget her mom, dad, and four siblings.
Click to expand...

It has happened before, a teen dropping their family to start a new life. Like in the case of Anita Drake. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ca...re-than-50-years---or-was-she?template=ampart
She left home at 15 in 1963. The difference is she left because of her home life and kept in touch with a few people that she swore into secrecy.

Her husband seems like the key in Henrietta's case. Literally all we know about her case is from his mouth. And the weird occurences like the telegram, phone call, and found clothing all could easily be staged. That he claims to have seen her after her disappearance seems fishy to me too. It could also be a situation where she feared her husband just that much that she didn't contact her family fearing he could easily find her if she did.

There was a 15/16 year old girl that went missing in the early 2000's that feared contact with her parents because she was afraid they'd be mad or she'd get in trouble for running away. It wasn't until she was over 18 and had just had a baby that she called her mom. Some people have their difference reasons for not resuming contact with family. Lori Ruff dropped contact for good and claimed to be an orphan with no family.

*I personally believe foul play was involved in Henrietta's case. Just comparing stories if others that disappeared for a while.
 
Sept 20, 2020

www.nbclosangeles.com

After Human Bones Found in OC, Family Hopes for Link to 60-Year-Old Disappearance

Arlene Torres has been waiting for answers for 60 years, wondering where her sister Henrietta Avila had gone. Avila, a newlywed at age 17 at the time of her disappearance, was the older one by a decade. “I hope this is it, you know, so that we can have closure once and for all,” Torres says. The...
www.nbclosangeles.com www.nbclosangeles.com
 
I am thinking she could possibly be Tuscon Jane Doe 1965. The reported height is off by a few inches but the findings were estimated on skeletal remains. The deceased Jane Doe was believed to have died around the time Henrietta went missing. The Charley Project identifies Henrietta as Hispanic but a newspaper ad with reward for info lists her as a white woman. I know many Hispanics appear white.

Tuscon Jane Doe https:///wiki/Tucson_Jane_Doe_(1965)
 
Posting all the articles I could find:

"Girl Vanishes From Santa Ana Residence," The Register (Santa Ana, CA), Dec 9, 1960, pg 27.

"Since Aug. 6, Mr and Mrs. Manuel A. Cruz of 512 North Townsend have searched for their daughter."

"Her husband has refused to answer questions concerning the disappearance of his wife. He claims his lawyer has advised him to do it."

"Her husband, whom she met in downtown Santa Ana in February of 1960, is a plumber at a Garden Grove construction company. The couple was married in April at Holy Family Catholic Church in Orange."

I also wanted to note that this article describes her hair as Auburn/Red.

"Officer Tells of Searching For Lost Girl," The Register (Santa Ana, CA), Oct 1, 1961 pg 49.

"Parents Seek Information, Post Reward for Daughter," Anaheim Bulletin (Anaheim, CA) Nov 2, 1961 pg 1.

"The girl was last seen by her mother on July 29, 1960, when the mother came to her daughter's Garden Grove home on a visit. The mother reportedly found the girl "very upset," but the girl would not say what was wrong."

"The husband told police he saw his wife on Aug. 10 in Long Beach after they had separated. He moved to Long Beach after their separation."

Coates, Paul, "The Strange Case of Henrietta, 19-Year-old Girl Who Vanished," The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), May 3, 1962, pg 40.

"[Her husband] was seven years her senior, and after a month long courtship, they were married."

"The marriage, according to Mrs. Cruz, was no overwhelming success. Avila explained to the police that his wife packed her possessions in boxes and left him. Garden Grove police files record his claim that he last saw her in a park in Long Beach on Aug. 20."

"Missing Two Years, Girl's Case Baffling," The Register (Santa Ana, CA), Nov 11, 1962, pg 25.

"Ten days before her dissaprence, Henrietta and her husband, Merle Martinez Avila, separated after a series of arguments and Henrietta remained alone at their 10673 Stanford Ave, Garden Grove, address."

"Mother Offers Reward," The Register (Santa Ana, CA), Nov 16, 1962, pg 36.

"A doctor confirmed that [Henrietta] is subject to epileptic seizures."
 
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