WA WA - Marcia Joyce, 28, Bellingham, 30 Aug 1978

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My first thought is that the husband grabbed the wife from the backyard (or got someone to do it) and went somewhere and called his son to establish an alibi.

Another thought: why would she close the account and take the money but stick around? Wouldn't you leave as soon as the money was taken out? If she did take it out, the only reason I could see her staying is because she needed to wait for the right time so she could take her kids, but she went missing without them. if you are going to leave on your own, why wait? Why not just go? And if you were going to leave on your own and perhaps try to get the kids later, wouldn't most moms leave when they know their kids are ok and not leave a 9 year old with a 3 year old?? Nothing in this scenario fits with a mom leaving her kids willingly.

I wonder if she did take the money, he found out and he killed her before she could leave with the kids

I am assuming that she had no mental illness; I am sure the husband would have mentioned it if she did.
 
kline said:
Im wondering if her disappearece was promted so suddenly by the fact the Husband was going to the bank?
Perhaps it was either bail then or be there at Ground Zero when he came home with alot of questions?
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But would she leave her kids?
 
Even in the late 70's there had to be a transaction record for who took the money. Someone would have had to write a check to clear out the account since there weren't debit cards or ATM machines. There would be a way to at least see a withdrawal signature or check signature. That doesn't necessarily mean that the person who signed was the actual person who took the money but it would give us a clue as to what happened.
LE has to have some clue about who took the money....
 
Wife plans to leave.
She probably has a boyfriend.
She goes and gets as much money as she can from their joint account at the bank, maybe Monday or Tuesday.
She knows the gig is up as soon as the husband checks the bank account.
He wakes up Wednesday morning, eats breakfast, says he is driving to the bank to get some dough.
As soon as he leaves, she calls the boyfriend to pick her up.
Tells the kid go watch TV, i have to go outside and hang the laundry.
Kid starts at the Banana Splits and Captain Kangaroo until the phone rings. He looks outside for dad and does not see mom.
Mom is miles away by then on her way to LA with the boyfriend.
He dumps her after a time, she is too ashamed to go home, gets into the drug scene, and dies of OD in 1981.

Case closed ?

1) The husband would likely be able to figure out if she was cheating. Behavior, little clues. For a minute imagine she was - now who was it with? Can that person be ID'ed, traced. Did any local men leave their home or job around the same time?
2) What did he do for a living? 12 hour shifts? Why was he home on a Wednesday? Night job? Going to the bank in the AM? Was he due into work later that day?
3) Kid home on a Wednesday? No school yet, still August - summer vacay.
4) The bank would absolutely have a paper trail of when and where the money was withdrawn. And likely by whom. How many people can WD from a bank account? How easy would it have been then to fake an ID or a signature to WD cash? This was before ATM's, so ID card, driver license, and comparison of a signature to a signature card would have been necessary, right?
5) If the wife withdrew the cash, does that not point to an abandonment situation on her part?
 
I don't have much of significance to add. The Northwestern Commercial Bank, according to bankencyclopedia.com, was merged into US Bank of Washington. With the merger and that branch closing in 1989, I don't know if the police would be able to get access to any records from 1978.

After the flurry of activity in 2009, LE and MSM seems to have gone quiet again.

I hope that other WSers have more to offer than me. Maybe members in Washington could ask around if anyone worked at that bank in Bellingham in 1978. In 1980 there were fewer than 46,000 people living there so it seems like someone might remember her.

Maybe her husband set her up - had her withdraw the money - and then went to the bank and pretended to be surprised when the money had been withdrawn. Back in the day when there were no cell phones to track people, he could have come home and done something to her when the kids were in the house, hidden her in the garage or trunk, or he might have used the money to pay someone to grab her.

Some time later (I can't find the exact time in any of the articles), he uses the money for an annulment, gets remarried and moves on.

Although I don't recall if the money was in their home. Sorry, I will go re-read the articles. :(

His description of her character, as someone who would abandon her children, is opposite of what the cousin and sisters describe.

But maybe she did have her reasons and left the family. I feel so sorry for Tony. I will say a prayer for him tonight.
 
~n/t~ said:
attachment.php


si-ns-police-missing-powell.jpg



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/american-woman-missing-from-cruise-ship-1.1235007
Click to expand...

Sarah Tessier Powell has dark brown eyes, unlike Marcia's blue ones. But there really is a resemblance otherwise.
 
alllads said:
Sarah Tessier Powell has dark brown eyes, unlike Marcia's blue ones. But there really is a resemblance otherwise.
Click to expand...

I can't find anything indicating Sarah's eye colour. Her eyes look blue to me
 
Kimster said:
We don't usually condone inviting family via FB, but with a case this cold, I'll look the other way.

Many of the cold cases come as requests. This time I felt led to find a case that was ice cold on WS and let the family know that all missing persons cases are important to us. :grouphug:
Click to expand...

Was reading right along until I got to this post! Kim, you made me cry......happy tears! :loveyou:




Does anyone else find it odd that the money was withdrawn two days before?
 
In 1978 there would have been a paper withdrawal slip signed by whoever did the transaction and retained in the branch. With the husband's permission, LE could have established that day who made the withdrawal. Assuming she did make said withdrawal, two possible explanations:

Whatever the wife had in mind, she knew she was in big trouble as soon as hubby got to the bank so she took off .

OR

The wife withdrew the money with the husband's permission (possibly at his behest) and the husband used that withdrawal as part of a plot to murder and "disappear" his wife and make it look like she just took off.
.
What we don't know is how much was taken. That would shed a lot more light on the situation.
 
kemo said:
In 1978 there would have been a paper withdrawal slip signed by whoever did the transaction and retained in the branch. With the husband's permission, LE could have established that day who made the withdrawal. Assuming she did make said withdrawal, two possible explanations:

Whatever the wife had in mind, she knew she was in big trouble as soon as hubby got to the bank so she took off .

OR

The wife withdrew the money with the husband's permission (possibly at his behest) and the husband used that withdrawal as part of a plot to murder and "disappear" his wife and make it look like she just took off.
.
What we don't know is how much was taken. That would shed a lot more light on the situation.
Click to expand...

Any idea how we can find this out? I'm also looking for a photo of Marcia's sister or mother so CarlK can do age progression photo.

Information is so limited on the web. :sigh:
 
kemo said:
In 1978 there would have been a paper withdrawal slip signed by whoever did the transaction and retained in the branch. With the husband's permission, LE could have established that day who made the withdrawal. Assuming she did make said withdrawal, two possible explanations:

Whatever the wife had in mind, she knew she was in big trouble as soon as hubby got to the bank so she took off .

OR

The wife withdrew the money with the husband's permission (possibly at his behest) and the husband used that withdrawal as part of a plot to murder and "disappear" his wife and make it look like she just took off.
.
What we don't know is how much was taken. That would shed a lot more light on the situation.
Click to expand...

He said he used to have records to prove she had taken their money with her, but over the course of 30 years has thrown them away.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/new-efforts-to-unlock-womans-disappearance-30-year/nKbb2/
 
If LE wanted to charge anyone with her disappearance or murder, I wonder if the time allowed by the statue of limitations has run out.

Did the husband lose the paper bank documents in the normal course of moving and packing and spring cleanings, or did he ditch them once the time period was up that they could be evidentiary?
 
I don't think there are any jurisdictions with a Statute of limitations on murder; no matter how long it has been, you can be charged. There is a statute of limitations on manslaughter, so if they ever get enough evidence to charge him, I wouldn't be surprised if he pleads guilty to manslaughter instead.
 
messina said:
If LE wanted to charge anyone with her disappearance or murder, I wonder if the time allowed by the statue of limitations has run out.

Did the husband lose the paper bank documents in the normal course of moving and packing and spring cleanings, or did he ditch them once the time period was up that they could be evidentiary?
Click to expand...

If he's involved I'm guessing he ditched them soon after. LE really botched this case. They should have checked the bank records immediately. :banghead:
 
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