Identified! OR - Cave Junction, 'Annie Doe' WhtFem UP10929, 16-20, Redwood Hwy, Aug'71 - Annie Lehman

[CarlK90245]

The only problem with the serial killer angle is there was only one operating in the southern Oregon area in the 70s (And I don't believe that someone from Northern Oregon would dump her that far south, that's close to a five hour drive from Portland). He actually sounds fairly plausible because of the fact that he killed a family of campers (And they found the camping maps in her back pocket)



So Sgt K Flynn called me back, anyone else have that moment where when an officer calls you you're convinced that they caught you doing something illegal? Even if you haven't been to that city in months? Because it took me a good five seconds to remember who she was. Haha.

Anyways, she had no idea who Ellen Louise McCollum Drake was and why I was calling her (She's the Eugene Sgt) instead of someone in Portland so I emailed her the link and she'll go find out who Ellen was and what happened to her file.

I believe this is my Aunt from Portland Oregon. We were living in the same aplenty complex when I was 8 years old. Can someone help me with this

This looks like a very plausible possible. She has been submitted, and a NamUs casefile has been created for Ellen Louise McCollum-Drake

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/37652/0

Until now, I had hidden the above post that Ellen's Niece wrote because she originally joined Websleuths using her real name as a monicker, and I didn't want everyone to look her up and try to contact her. I also wanted KLEE to have the chance to contact Ellen's family and get DNA samples (which they have done).

I am putting the following info up at the request of Ellen's Niece.

Ellen's Niece says that the Jan 1967 Date LKA is definitely too early. Ellen gave birth to a son in 1968, and the son was 1-2 years old when she was last seen. Ellen's Niece places the date LKA around 1970. She was about 19 years old when last seen.

Ellen's Niece was browsing the internet, and saw Deca's and EmmaliLucia's mention of Ellen's name. She saw my recon and showed it to her mother (Ellen's sister), and her mother said that the recon very strongly resembled Ellen. The family has very few photos of Ellen. The two below are of Ellen when she was about 15-16 , and at her wedding in 1967.

Ellen's hair was dyed black in the B&W photo, and it was pulled up for her wedding. Ellen's Niece said that she dyed her hair frequently, but it was red at the time of her disappearance, and normally it was "kinky curly", but she might have straightened it.

Here's the kicker. Remember the ring with the letters AL scratched into it? She had a boyfriend whose name is AL. Ellen's NamUs page says she was last seen in Portland. However, Ellen's Niece says that she was living in Coos Bay with Al, when she was last seen. She had broken up with him and was on her way back to Missouri to be with her child when she disappeared.

Ellen McCollum Drake has been added to the rule-out list. I was thinking she was a very good possible.

 

[leilarose68]

I know these MPs are a long shot but what do you think?

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/33036/0/

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/346dfak.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18331/0/

 

[ALightForEricka]

The second girl, Megan Emerick, went missing in 73, Annie was found in 71. The other two are possibilities, but since neither of them are listed as having auburn hair it also seems unlikely

I know these MPs are a long shot but what do you think?

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/33036/0/

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/346dfak.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18331/0/

 

[rats]

On Tuesday, the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children unveiled new results from forensic isotope testing that revealed the woman, referred to as Jane "Annie" Doe, grew up in the northeast corner of the United States. She eventually moved west to the Great Lakes and then further west to Oregon and Washington State.

Per the link above ( https://www.kgw.com/article/news/lo...s-in-1971-southern-oregon-cold-case/430548038 )

Should we be focusing our sights for missing people on Northeast/New England, GL, or PNW?

 

[dotr]

The second girl, Megan Emerick, went missing in 73, Annie was found in 71. The other two are possibilities, but since neither of them are listed as having auburn hair it also seems unlikely

Welcome to Ws Anarkitty!
Just noting that Darlene Polizzi had reddish brown hair, for what it is worth, fwiw.
From leilarose's link.
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18331/0/

 

[ALightForEricka]

Well, if she traveled west, perhaps starting out with folks from the GL area, possibly Washington, would be a good idea. It's a shame it doesn't really say how much time she spent in these areas so that we could get a more solid idea as to her last known location.

Per the link above ( https://www.kgw.com/article/news/lo...s-in-1971-southern-oregon-cold-case/430548038 )

Should we be focusing our sights for missing people on Northeast/New England, GL, or PNW?

 

[ALightForEricka]

Oooh, ok, somehow I missed that.
I'm curious... how many of the people on this thread reside or have lived in Josephine County? I actually live in Cave Junction, just a few miles from where Annie was found. I'm going to be looking into the local history around that time to get a better idea of why Annie may have been passing through the area, there are a lot of people who come here just because they're running from something and want to start over, but since she had the map in her pocket it's entirely possible that CJ was just a random stop for her in her travels. She could've been hitchhiking and been dumped by whoever harmed her, but given her appearance, the fact that her clothes were kind of nice, and the fact that she was found fully clothed, I'm not sure how likely that is. Robbery also likely wouldn't have been a motive, as her jewelry was still on her.

People go missing or turn up dead around here for a reason, typically. It's sad but true.

Welcome to Ws Anarkitty!
Just noting that Darlene Polizzi had reddish brown hair, for what it is worth, fwiw.
From leilarose's link.
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18331/0/

 

[rats]

Oooh, ok, somehow I missed that.
I'm curious... how many of the people on this thread reside or have lived in Josephine County? I actually live in Cave Junction, just a few miles from where Annie was found. I'm going to be looking into the local history around that time to get a better idea of why Annie may have been passing through the area, there are a lot of people who come here just because they're running from something and want to start over, but since she had the map in her pocket it's entirely possible that CJ was just a random stop for her in her travels. She could've been hitchhiking and been dumped by whoever harmed her, but given her appearance, the fact that her clothes were kind of nice, and the fact that she was found fully clothed, I'm not sure how likely that is. Robbery also likely wouldn't have been a motive, as her jewelry was still on her.

People go missing or turn up dead around here for a reason, typically. It's sad but true.

Do locals still talk about her case?

 

[ALightForEricka]

To my knowledge, yes, though I haven't heard anything directly. I've brought it up to people who know about it, through others, though. Going to see if I can get in touch with a few old timers around here and see how much anyone is willing to say.

Do locals still talk about her case?

 

[dotr]

Oooh, ok, somehow I missed that.
I'm curious... how many of the people on this thread reside or have lived in Josephine County? I actually live in Cave Junction, just a few miles from where Annie was found. I'm going to be looking into the local history around that time to get a better idea of why Annie may have been passing through the area, there are a lot of people who come here just because they're running from something and want to start over, but since she had the map in her pocket it's entirely possible that CJ was just a random stop for her in her travels. She could've been hitchhiking and been dumped by whoever harmed her, but given her appearance, the fact that her clothes were kind of nice, and the fact that she was found fully clothed, I'm not sure how likely that is. Robbery also likely wouldn't have been a motive, as her jewelry was still on her.

People go missing or turn up dead around here for a reason, typically. It's sad but true.

It is super good to have a local person on thread, wondering if the uid is dressed in a way that would be typical for that place and time?
She looks to be dressed for a work function or a job interview, imo, are there many convention centers in the area?

 

[ALightForEricka]

That's the weird thing. Well, one of many weird things. This is kind of a..... hippie/redneck area. Lots of draft dodgers escaped up here, there's a little hippie community called Takilma and another one called Sunstar out this way, near the border. Cave Junction was and is heavily populated by loggers/redneck types as well. So, unless her manner of dress was just typical for the time in general, she's way more put together than your average resident. I'm not sure what the layout of the town was like back in the 70's but I'd imagine it was probably smaller and more po-dunk than it is now.

It is super good to have a local person on thread, wondering if the uid is dressed in a way that would be typical for that place and time?
She looks to be dressed for a work function or a job interview, imo, are there many convention centers in the area?

 

[ALightForEricka]

To add to the confusion, there was some strife between the hippies and the loggers around that time, I"m going to clear up timeframes in future conversations, but the logger side started some sort of association that was very anti-hippie at the time. Given her manner of dress, if Annie was at all involved it would have been on the more formal side of things.

 

[theshadow45]

Welcome to Websleuths, Anarkitty :welcome4:!

 

[leilarose68]

The second girl, Megan Emerick, went missing in 73, Annie was found in 71. The other two are possibilities, but since neither of them are listed as having auburn hair it also seems unlikely

The vast majority of her rule outs were unlikely too... if we only submitted missing women with hair listed as auburn or red there would be very few rule outs; many of her rule outs are listed as having brown hair but I guess her case manager still felt they were worth submitting. At this point we need to think about people who could have been slightly incorrectly listed or described in some way. There isn't any unsubmitted missing person in the system whose description and information is 100% exactly like Annie Doe at this point. So it's relative.

 

[Roselvr]

Oooh, ok, somehow I missed that.
I'm curious... how many of the people on this thread reside or have lived in Josephine County? I actually live in Cave Junction, just a few miles from where Annie was found. I'm going to be looking into the local history around that time to get a better idea of why Annie may have been passing through the area, there are a lot of people who come here just because they're running from something and want to start over, but since she had the map in her pocket it's entirely possible that CJ was just a random stop for her in her travels. She could've been hitchhiking and been dumped by whoever harmed her, but given her appearance, the fact that her clothes were kind of nice, and the fact that she was found fully clothed, I'm not sure how likely that is. Robbery also likely wouldn't have been a motive, as her jewelry was still on her.

People go missing or turn up dead around here for a reason, typically. It's sad but true.

Her LE has posted here for years so best suggestion would be to make sure you read the whole thread. If I remember correctly they thought Annie was passing thru due to the way she was dressed. You also could do an advanced search for her user name KLEE. This should be her 1st post

Per the link above ( https://www.kgw.com/article/news/lo...s-in-1971-southern-oregon-cold-case/430548038 )

Should we be focusing our sights for missing people on Northeast/New England, GL, or PNW?

I think she's not listed as missing yet. She's going to be like Cali/ Tammy Jo Alexander, Grateful Doe/ Jason; Buckskin Girl/ Marcia. Just waking up; I'm not sure how accurate the isotopes were for Marcia

The vast majority of her rule outs were unlikely too... if we only submitted missing women with hair listed as auburn or red there would be very few rule outs; many of her rule outs are listed as having brown hair but I guess her case manager still felt they were worth submitting. At this point we need to think about people who could have been slightly incorrectly listed or described in some way. There isn't any unsubmitted missing person in the system whose description and information is 100% exactly like Annie Doe at this point. So it's relative.

This is what KLEE said about her hair. Honestly we've seen the color with Carl's recon.

Oh that map - it was too dissagrated and no marking were noted. I would LOVE to see that map!!!!!!!!!!!! The hair, it could go either way, red or auborn. I wouldn't go brown.

 

[Alleykins]

Just waking up; I'm not sure how accurate the isotopes were for Marcia
.

OT:

Snp'd for focus.
Good morning Roselvr!
I'm fairly certain Marcia's isotopes are accurate for the time period they covered. The NeTX/SwOK water isotopes are the only ones like it in the country and are very unique, and can't be mistaken for somewhere else. Since they only did her hair and nails, it only painted a short picture of her whereabouts, a year or so prior to her death. I think when investigators dig around, they'll find she was in that area.

 

[carbuff]

Oooh, ok, somehow I missed that.
I'm curious... how many of the people on this thread reside or have lived in Josephine County? I actually live in Cave Junction, just a few miles from where Annie was found. I'm going to be looking into the local history around that time to get a better idea of why Annie may have been passing through the area, there are a lot of people who come here just because they're running from something and want to start over, but since she had the map in her pocket it's entirely possible that CJ was just a random stop for her in her travels. She could've been hitchhiking and been dumped by whoever harmed her, but given her appearance, the fact that her clothes were kind of nice, and the fact that she was found fully clothed, I'm not sure how likely that is. Robbery also likely wouldn't have been a motive, as her jewelry was still on her.

People go missing or turn up dead around here for a reason, typically. It's sad but true.

I had family in the area at the time Annie was killed. I grew up in the mountain west and I'm the same age.

She's dressed the way I would have been dressed for a driving vacation.

 

[ALightForEricka]

My gut is saying she was probably never reported, as there were a lot of "Cali Or Bust" types in the area at that time. However, KLEE repeatedly stated that she felt as though Annie was going north and not south, perhaps she'd already passed through California.
With the addition of the isotope testing, it seems as though KLEE's instinct may have been wrong, as it was likely that she had previously resided in the Pacific Northwest for a little bit before ending up in Southern Oregon.
I also have noticed that the theory regarding the possibility of her being part of a localized commune was thrown out there. I considered that as well, but am still unsure about that angle due to the way that she was dressed.

It might be a bit of a long shot, but I noticed that this woman who went missing from Washington in '70 seems similar in appearance to Annie.

http://charleyproject.org/case/bertha-louise-burke

Pros: She had large front teeth, and Annie was 'slightly bucktoothed'
She was tall and fairly slender
hair is brown but looks reddish in some of the photographs.

Cons:
It looks like her ex husband may have had something to do with her disappearance, so it's likely that she never left Washington
She's a little bit older than Annie's estimate
Her hair is curly and kind of short, whereas Annie's was long and apparently straight.

 

[carbuff]

My gut is saying she was probably never reported, as there were a lot of "Cali Or Bust" types in the area at that time. However, KLEE repeatedly stated that she felt as though Annie was going north and not south, perhaps she'd already passed through California.
With the addition of the isotope testing, it seems as though KLEE's instinct may have been wrong, as it was likely that she had previously resided in the Pacific Northwest for a little bit before ending up in Southern Oregon.

(snipped for focus)

She could have been traveling south to north without ever having lived to the south. Maybe they had been to Disneyland or San Francisco and were driving back home to the northwest.

 

[ALightForEricka]

(snipped for focus)

She could have been traveling south to north without ever having lived to the south. Maybe they had been to Disneyland or San Francisco and were driving back home to the northwest.

This is a very good point. I just finished reading the entire thread, I wouldn't rule it out. If her head was covered by her coat, it's likely that the person who killed her felt some sort of remorse or knew her personally. So the 'going on a trip with friends or family' angle is entirely plausible.
I was talking the case over with some friends, and somebody brought up the possibility that this could be a "go ask alice" sort of situation, where she was a runaway, went on an adventure to the big city, OD'ed, and someone dumped her body.