PA PA - Ilonka Cann, 22, Huntington Mills, 26 May 1970

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Ilonka Cann, 22, Missing Since 26 May 1970 from Huntington Mills, PA

ILONKA CANN
Case Classification: Missing
Missing Since: May 26, 1970
Location Last Seen: Huntington Mills, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Physical Description

** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.

Date of Birth: Unknown
Age at Time of Disappearance: 22
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height at Time of Disappearance: 5'6
Weight at Time of Disappearance: 122-130 lbs
Hair Color: Blonde; long hair
Eye Color: Blue
Alias(s) / Nickname(s): None
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not available
Fingerprints: Not available
DNA: Not available Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance

Disappeared from her home sometime on 5/25/70 and was reported missing the following day by husband Charles Cann II.

Charles says he last saw his wife Ilonka on Tuesday at 7:20 AM when he left for his teaching job at Berwick Jr. Highschool.

When he arrived home at 3:30 PM, their 15 month old son was crying in his crib upstairs and Ilonka was no where to be found. Charles returned to work two days later.

Investigating Agency(s)

If you have any information about this case please contact;


Agency Name: Pennsylvania State Police
Agency Contact Person: Trooper Christopher King
Agency Phone Number: 570-697-2146
E-Mail: chrking@state.pa.us

NCIC Case Number: M648707699

NamUs Case Number: MP #11085

Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Information Source(s)
Pennsylvania Missing
NamUs
The Doe Network: Ilonka Cann - 3096DFPA

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3096dfpa.html
 
I googled Ilonka's name and found a 1993 divorce citation for Grace Brown and Charles Cann, Ilonka's former husband. Here are some snippets relating to Ilonka -

In 1968, appellant married Ilonka Cann. The couple had one child. In 1970, Ilonka disappeared and has not been heard from since. In 1971, appellant began a relationship with appellee, who was fully aware of appellant's marriage and his wife's disappearance. In late 1971, appellee moved into appellant's home where she lived until 1987.
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In the present case, appellant's wife disappeared in 1970 and has not been seen nor heard from since. In 1971, appellant entered into a meretricious relationship with appellee. As appellant's wife had been missing for a period exceeding seven years, the trial court held that appellant's wife was presumed dead as of 1977. To overcome the presumption, the burden is on appellant to prove that his first spouse was alive at the time of the second marriage. Schaefer at 120, 149 A.2d at 578 (1959). As appellant offered no evidence to the contrary, the impediment to marriage was removed in 1977.
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The full citation is here - http://pa.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.19931028_0044497.PA.htm/qx
 
I've been searching for additional information today, but nothing terribly substantial. It appears there may be family members in Kentucky.

** If she does have family members, I wonder why there is no DNA on file. Maybe she was adopted? Very perplexing.
 
Satch said:
Was her husband ever considered a suspect or at least a person of interest in his wife's disappearance. What does he think may have happened to her?

Satch
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It seems that LE reopened the case in 1992 (see http://archive.timesleader.com/1993...ENED_AFTER_23_YEARS_STATE_POLICE_ARE_SEA.html). It may be coincidence but this is during what seems to have been a very unpleasant divorce from his second (common law) wife, as noted in #4 above. This divorce process ran from at least 1990 to 1992 and involved Cann claiming the marriage was never valid (known as 'doing a Jagger' since the Jagger-Hall divorce), an argument which he lost. I do wonder if either the second wife provided some information to LE, or if his behaviour during the divorce caused LE to reopen the case. Clearly it did not lead anywhere at the time.
 
Sadly, I found this scenario over and over again while researching MP cases for possible matches to UP's.The number of cases where the husband/boyfriend was the last person to have seen the MP, and the police just shrugged and said, okay, have a nice life, and they went on their merry, blows my mind. Yes, I'm exaggerating and being tongue in cheek, I'm just angry at how some of these guys seemed to have gotten away with it. I know it doesn't apply to every missing female who was in a relationship when they disappeared, and I have come across one example where the husband went missing and the wife doesn't seem to have been questioned, but missing wife/girlfriend with no charges against their significant others who saw them last, appears to be a common theme.
 
fred&edna said:
Daughter of C. Harless??

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/KYGREEN/2005-06/1119560278
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He is from Virginia and lived in Kentucky. Ilonka lived in Pennsylvania (the family could've moved off course over the years)
Nowhere in that article is written that they lived in Pennsylvania or moved.

He married Renate April 19th 1952.
quote from the article: 'To this union were born three daughters:' meaning: all 3 daughters were Renate and Harless' s daughters)

If Ilonka was 22y old in 1970 she would've been born in 1948. (so 4 years earlier then their marriage) It's possible that they married a long time after they first met off course. But in those days wasn't it more unlikely that they marry after their child was already 4 y old?

She could've been adopted at 4y (Ilonka: Hungarian name, also in Greek it means 'Light')

 
Evelyne1982 said:
He is from Virginia and lived in Kentucky. Ilonka lived in Pennsylvania (the family could've moved off course over the years)
Nowhere in that article is written that they lived in Pennsylvania or moved.

He married Renate April 19th 1952.
quote from the article: 'To this union were born three daughters:' meaning: all 3 daughters were Renate and Harless' s daughters)

If Ilonka was 22y old in 1970 she would've been born in 1948. (so 4 years earlier then their marriage) It's possible that they married a long time after they first met off course. But in those days wasn't it more unlikely that they marry after their child was already 4 y old?

She could've been adopted at 4y (Ilonka: Hungarian name, also in Greek it means 'Light')
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Yes, thanks! Long ago, when I was doing a bit of research on Ilonka's case (was trying to match her to a UID) I located her mother and a sister living in Green Co KY. I haven't done any additional research since that time.
 
For those with access to Ancestry there is a yearbook picture of Ilonka in the Morehead State University yearbook for 1968 under her maiden name of Ilonka Harless (although it says Ilanka Harless). It gives her home as Kitts Hill, Ohio. The link is http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1...ce&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=43135_b171275_00333

Ilonka's father, Clinton Harless, who died in 1997, served in the US Army through WW2 and the Korean War. I could not find a birth record for Ilonka but there is a passenger record on Ancestry for Ilonka arriving in New York from Frankfurt on Trans World Airlines with her mother, who is listed as Renate Harless. Given the army record, the flight from Frankfurt and the maiden name of Renate (Rusgen) I would guess that Ilonka may have been born in Germany after Clinton met Renate there. The marriage may have been to 'regularise' matters for the return home.

There is an interesting piece at https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/65207137/ where the Hazleton newspaper seems to be reporting an attack on Charles Cann (Ilonka's husband) by her father Clinton Harless, who has arrived in town to find the truth. Unfortunately I do not have a subscription to newspapers so can only get the general thrust from the OCR text. If anyone has a sub and can access the page there may be more information.
 
alb1on said:
For those with access to Ancestry there is a yearbook picture of Ilonka in the Morehead State University yearbook for 1968 under her maiden name of Ilonka Harless (although it says Ilanka Harless). It gives her home as Kitts Hill, Ohio. The link is http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1...ce&usePUBJs=true#?imageId=43135_b171275_00333

Ilonka's father, Clinton Harless, who died in 1997, served in the US Army through WW2 and the Korean War. I could not find a birth record for Ilonka but there is a passenger record on Ancestry for Ilonka arriving in New York from Frankfurt on Trans World Airlines with her mother, who is listed as Renate Harless. Given the army record, the flight from Frankfurt and the maiden name of Renate (Rusgen) I would guess that Ilonka may have been born in Germany after Clinton met Renate there. The marriage may have been to 'regularise' matters for the return home.

There is an interesting piece at https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/65207137/ where the Hazleton newspaper seems to be reporting an attack on Charles Cann (Ilonka's husband) by her father Clinton Harless, who has arrived in town to find the truth. Unfortunately I do not have a subscription to newspapers so can only get the general thrust from the OCR text. If anyone has a sub and can access the page there may be more information.
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The husband definitely knows what happened and was maybe already having an affair at the time of her "disappearance." Reading about his behavior immediately afterwards... something just isn't right. That's not the behavior of a concerned spouse.
 
Renewed efforts to find woman missing since 1970 | Times Leader
State police at Shickshinny has renewed their investigation to find a woman missing for more than 48 years.
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New information has been developed regarding the investigation but state police has not released what they recently learned.
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State police did say DNA samples have been obtained from Cann’s relatives, which were provided to the National Missing Persons DNA Database in an attempt to help identify Cann if her remains are discovered.
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58FE81D4-43B0-42F0-B37D-C71255F3F462.jpeg
 
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