NC NC - Jennifer Ramsey Rivkin, 42, Gastonia, 4 May 2008

There was a rash of murder/disappearances of young women in the Gastonia NC area in 2008. Two of the women, Randi Saldana and Heather Catterton were found dumped along rural roads in Oct/Nov 2008. Danny Hembree was convicted of those murders. I can't tell if he was a serious suspect in any others. Irinia Tarmenlko was found murdered east of town in May 2008. Mark Carver and Neal Cassada were charged with the murder. Cassada died before going trial but Carver was convicted. There is apparently some controversy over the conviction. The body was not hidden, it was staged to look like an auto accident. I have no idea if Cassada and Carver were considered for earlier disappearances.

Jennifer Rivkin and Jaimie Fraley disapeared on April 8th and May 5th. They both had ties to the Gastonia drug community but did not, apparently travel in the same circle. There is a suspect in Fraley's disappearance (who suffered a grisly death) but there was no real evidence. The timing is the primary connection.

15 year old Rebecca Mainess disappeared Aug 1st. She has been listed as a runaway but has not surfaced since. (thats a long time).

There is another young girl missing; 16 year old Nataly Zapata who disappeared July 7th with her 1 year old child. She is believed to have returned to her native Mexico but it is unclear if that has ever been verified.

What is strange is that except for 2008, there have been no similar disappearance or murders of young women that I could find.
 
The impression I got was that Jennifer was not exactly a "down at the heals" junkie. She apparently was attractive, dressed well and hung out with a crowd that was by no means poor. She had use of a BMW that was not registered to her (does anyone know who it was the owner). The whole picture suggests possible involvement in trrafficing.

Anytime a body disappears but the victim's vehicle is found in a high crime area the victim was not known to frequent, you sort of suspect "staging" to make it look like a random "street crime" when it was really someone she knew. I wonder if she was an informant or suspected of being a drug informant.
 
Jennifer was listed in a 2016 article as one of 7 people still missing from Gastonia:
Jennifer Rivkin - Rivkin, 42, was reported missing in May 2008. The BMW the Kings Mountain woman had been driving was found that month at a bar and grill on West Franklin Boulevard, and Rivkin’s purse was still in the vehicle. The last communication known to have come from her came via a cellphone message left for her friend on May 4, 2008. She was a 5-foot-5, 130-pound white female with brown hair and hazel eyes.
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/20161126/fifteen-years-few-answers
 
Nov 3, 2023

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Rivkin, circa 2008
 

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