KY KY - Claude Shelton, 37, & Martha “Sue” Shelton, 27, Corbin, 1971

Mods,

We need confirmation of the date for Claude and Sue Shelton. Either May 21, 1971 or May 28th, 1971. Than the title thread should be updated. IMO, I think their car and remains are in the lake.

Satch

I'm not a mod but the title is often left vague if there are conflicting dates from different agencies. One way to clear it up would be to try to find some old newspaper clippings from when they went missing.

Also, I was looking at their blurry photos and thinking it would be awesome if someone could find clearer pictures-- maybe their yearbook pics are online now.
 
Update on the case from March 29th, 2015

https://charleyross.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/select-it-sunday-claude-shelton/

Stunned by the comment about the number of missing people who are actually found in water when search efforts go there!

Satch

That is disturbing. I feel like there needs to be a non-profit organization that makes it a mission to go around using sonar on lakes and pulling out old vehicles. I don't know if a group like would get enough public support/donations to operate but a lot of missing people (or their cars) could be found if we searched the lakes and ponds. JMO.
 
I found an article from the Lexington Herald
Tuesday, June 22, 1971 Lexington, Kentucky Page:13


attachment.php


This says missing since May 28th, 1971.
How strange that the friend Mrs Carl Hudson said that the children said their parents left the house at to go for a ride at 2:30 AM. :thinking:

The children were 7, 9 and 10 years old so they would be old enough to tell when their parents left the house. JMO.
 

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I found this newspaper clipping attached to a family tree on Ancestry.
attachment.php

I was able to look up the same article on Newspapers.com to find the newspaper name and date which I added in typing under article. Here is the link to the same article on Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/image/21234330/
The image is not clear at all on Newspapers.com like it is in the original clipping.
I hope the family member who posted it does not mind my sharing it here (it was on a publicly viewable tree).
Having clear images is always a huge help in missing persons cases, IMO.
 

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While looking into Wyoming's unidentified, I came across Fox Park Jane Doe:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

From that website: "human female bones located in 1999. Appears bones have been there for a long period of time." Recovered with the remains were "one silver band with M.S.S. engraved, one silver colored rope style ring with two (2) clear colored tear drop shaped stones".

Susan Shelton's full name was Martha Sue Shelton and listed on her namus page (The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)), it says she wore "1 wedding band and another ring that was silver braided (like a rope) with a blue stone set in it".

I saw where DNA testing was done on remains found in Oregon back in 2009 and it wasn't a match to Susan. Is there any way to find out if Fox Park Jane Doe and Susan's DNA have been compared?
 
Was this ever submitted?

While looking into Wyoming's unidentified, I came across Fox Park Jane Doe:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

From that website: "human female bones located in 1999. Appears bones have been there for a long period of time." Recovered with the remains were "one silver band with M.S.S. engraved, one silver colored rope style ring with two (2) clear colored tear drop shaped stones".

Susan Shelton's full name was Martha Sue Shelton and listed on her namus page (The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)), it says she wore "1 wedding band and another ring that was silver braided (like a rope) with a blue stone set in it".

I saw where DNA testing was done on remains found in Oregon back in 2009 and it wasn't a match to Susan. Is there any way to find out if Fox Park Jane Doe and Susan's DNA have been compared?
as
 
I ended up moving not long after I posted but I did find an article from 2012 which says
"One of the rings is engraved with "M.SS," the initials of a woman from Tennessee who has been missing since 1972. Meyer has asked for a DNA comparison.

Meyer says the woman, her husband and their vehicle vanished in 1972."

That year should be 1971. If it is referring to the Shelton case.

Satch


Albany County Sheriffs Still Hoping to I.D. Jane Doe from 1999
 
Can't find it now,
But the daughter remembers overhearing Claude saying to Sue, "Are you going, or are you going to stay here?" when she was in bed. Claude's Charlie Project is here:
Claude Shelton – The Charley Project Sue's is here:

Martha Sue Shelton – The Charley Project
It suspects foul play, but I still think they had an accident and are in the lake. What bodies of water were within a 5 mile radius of their Trailer Park Home in 1971?

Satch
 
Can't find it now,
But the daughter remembers overhearing Claude saying to Sue, "Are you going, or are you going to stay here?" when she was in bed. Claude's Charlie Project is here:
Claude Shelton – The Charley Project Sue's is here:

Martha Sue Shelton – The Charley Project
It suspects foul play, but I still think they had an accident and are in the lake. What bodies of water were within a 5 mile radius of their Trailer Park Home in 1971?

Satch

I think they went missing in a body of water, too. I was looking on Google Earth, and couldn't find but one body of water nearby, but I have no idea what the area would have looked like when they went missing.
 
Article from 2017 Martha Sue and Claude Shelton – UNSOLVED APPALACHIA

On May 21, 1971, Sue, 27, and Claude Shelton, 37, came home from a small get together with their friends. They put their 3 children into bed, letting them know that they were going to drive to a nearby truck stop for a late-night bite to eat. At around 2:00 AM they left their home at Gerry’s Trailer Park on 18th Street in Corbin, Ky, and headed to King’s Truck Stop. This was around 5 miles from their home, so it shouldn’t have taken them long to drive there and back, but they’ve never returned.

The Shelton’s daughter Sheila remembers her father asking her mother if she was ‘going to go with him or stay home’. That was the last time she heard their voices. They walked out of the house, took $600 that they had stored in a jar, shut the door behind them, and never came back.

The employees of King’s Truck Stop said they never saw Sue, Claude, or their vehicle (a white 1967 Ford Galaxie) on the night they went missing. For them to leave behind their 3 children, something bad had to have happened.

Family and friends were interviewed, all of which said that Martha and Claude would have never left their children unattended, so the entire trip was completely out of character for the couple.

The area around their home, the truck stop, as well as some wooded areas were searched after their disappearance but nothing was ever found.

The latest update regarding this case that I could find was an article from May 22, 2009. A DNA test was being conducted on the body of a woman that was found in Oregon just 2 days after Sue and Claude went missing. It was not a match.

<snipped>
It seems that the trailer park and the truck stop are both gone now, so I’m working off the information of 18th street, and the fact that King’s was listed to be at Exit 29 in Corbin.

map.jpg


<snipped>
 
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$600 is a heckuva lot of cash for a late night quick snack, just saying.

I always thought that they drowned in a lake or got carjacked and were killed. Some reports have them leaving, and say that the $600 was discovered gone at a later time. This report says they took the $600 when they left.

Fact is, we may never know the whole conversation before Claude and Sue left, because the children were asleep, except for one who heard, "Are you going to go, or are you going to stay here?" There might be much more to the story than the children heard. Did the parents say earlier in the evening where they were going that night? That probably could have been the only other things the kids heard. That $600 missing is strange.

What lakes or rivers are in that area?

Satch
 

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