CA CA - Mary Elizabeth Lozano, 4, Venice, 13 Feb 1969

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

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Mary Elizabeth Lozano

Non-Family Abduction from Venice, California since February 13, 1969

Age: 4 -- Height: 3'0" -- Weight: 40 lbs -- Hair Color: Brown -- Eye Color: Brown

Mary has scars on her feet from surgery to remove extra toes.


Mary was last seen in her bedroom in Venice, California at 9:30 pm on February 13, 1969. A neighbor reported seeing a man standing in front of the sliding glass door of Mary's home at 3:00 am, which leads police to believe she was abducted. There was no ransom note, no suspects were ever identified, and despite an extensive search, Mary was never found.


NCMEC

NamUs

Charley Project

 

[Gardener1850]

[h=1]Mary Elizabeth Lozano[/h]

• 
• 

Mary, circa 1969; Age-progression to age 48 (circa 2012)

• Missing Since 02/13/1969
• Missing From Venice, California
• Classification Non-Family Abduction
• Date of Birth 12/06/1964 (53)
• Age 4 years old
• Height and Weight 3'0, 40 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A yellow pullover shirt and blue capri pants.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Mary has scars on her feet from surgery to remove extra toes.

[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] Mary was last seen in her bedroom in Venice, California at 9:30 p.m. on February 13, 1969. She has never been heard from again.

During the early hours of the morning, her parents and her disabled aunt were awakened by her cries for help, but they assumed she must be talking in her sleep and didn't investigate. Her three brothers, who shared her bedroom, slept through the night without being disturbed.

A neighbor arriving home at 3:00 a.m. saw a man standing in front of the unlocked sliding glass door of Mary's home. The man ran away and the neighbor assumed he'd left the area, and went to bed.

The police believe Mary was abducted by the person the neighbor saw. There was no ransom note, no suspects were ever identified, and in spite of an extensive search the child has never been found. Her case remains unsolved.

http://charleyproject.org/case/mary-elizabeth-lozano

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3404dfca.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/12844/

 

[Moonwalker9]

A child is abducted and there is almost nothing on her. Where did they live? how did the suspect look like? how could her brothers not see or hear anything? Didn't they find finger prints or anyother evidence? he must have come in somehow, if he did ofcourse and this isn't a smoke screen for something else that happened to her.

 

[CastlesBurning]

This one strikes me as incredibly odd...

Three adults in different rooms hear her "cries for help" - but all decide to ignore her, a barely 4-yr-old, because it must be nothing? But all her siblings right in the same room didn't as much as wake?

 

[Diane Redfern]

This one strikes me as incredibly odd...

Three adults in different rooms hear her "cries for help" - but all decide to ignore her, a barely 4-yr-old, because it must be nothing? But all her siblings right in the same room didn't as much as wake?

According to Charley Project, they thought she was talking in her sleep. However, I agree it's not common, but maybe she usually talked while sleeping and because of that her parents did nothing and her brothers were used to that so they didn't even wake up.
As Moonwalker9 says, it's extremely weird the lack of information... Was there an investigation at all?

 

[Diane Redfern]

Could this child be a match?
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/8610/details?nav

 

[Lady77]

Could this child be a match?
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

I think it is worth perusing as it looks like only a dental comparison can be made so the scars on feet will not be able to be identifiable. Same state and within timeframes.

 

[hymphs]

It's crazy, I tried searching old newspaper records for reporting of her case and it doesn't seem like there was much....just a few different papers publishing her story, a lot of them had the exact same writing.

It seems like the public nor the newspapers did not care about the case very much. The columns are so skinny and not sensationalized at all, not what you would expect when a 4 yo girl is clearly kidnapped from her bedroom. The implication seems to be that her family was poor? Or maybe it had to do with racism. Either way, this is devastating. Although it seems like police did their due diligence, nothing came out of it. The neighbor's quote is crazy to me, although maybe if this is a high-crime area seeing people trying to break into your neighbor's house does not warrant a call from the police, or maybe he did not want to get the police involved. These columns also explain why no one checked on her when she called out, her disabled aunt may not have had the mobility to do so and assumed the parents did. If the parents recently got home so late, they might have been tired and either not heard her cries or not bothered since she talked in her sleep. Strange all of her brothers slept through. I can't get over how she just seems to disappear, it seems that even her community forgot about her quickly

 

[Diane Redfern]

I think it is worth perusing as it looks like only a dental comparison can be made so the scars on feet will not be able to be identifiable. Same state and within timeframes.

I send an e-mail in February. I have no answer. It's weird because other times I've informed about a possible match, I've received a default answer, but not this time.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Robert Eaton, "No motive seen in tot's kidnaping," Evening Vanguard [Venice, CA], 14 February 1969, 1.

"I've been trying think -- we've all been trying to think -- who could do this to our family," David Lozano said "We don't have any money.

[...]

The girl was reported missing about 8 a.m. when Mrs. Lozano returned from taking her husband to work and was told by the other children that Mary was missing.

The girl was put to bed about 9:30 Wednesday night by an aunt who takes care of the children while their parents are at work.

[...]

The door, which has a broken lock, was found to be open about six inches by Mrs. Lozano. A wire coat hanger used as a temporary locking device was bent, releasing the door.

[...]

The suspect seen by Leno is described as a male of Latin extraction about 5 feet 10 inches tall and of slender build. He was wearing a dark long sleeve shirt and dark pants.

Roy Haynes, "Girl, 4, Kidnaped From Venice Home Despite Calls for Help," Los Angeles Times, 14 February 1969, pt. 1, 3.

The aunt, Miss Freddie Beavers, 26, who takes care of the Lozano's four children while the parents work, told officers she checked on the children at 2:15 a.m. -- about an hour before she heard the screams.

The parents returned from their jobs at a nearby taco stand at 2:45 a.m.

Susan Stocking, "Venice Police Hunt Child Molester in Kidnaping of Girl, 4," Los Angeles Times, 15 February 1969, pt. 2, 2.
[part 1] [part 2]

A kidnaper who slipped into the rear room of a Venice home and carried off a screaming 4-year-old girl probably was a child molester, authorities said Friday.

[...]

Police were running checks on all known sex offenders in the beach area, including a 22-year-old man described as a friend of the family.

The unidentified man, who was not booked, was expected to undergo a lie detector test. [/] Police said he fits the general description of an adult male reportedly seen in an alley outside the girl's home shortly before the girl disappeared.

[...]

Earlier Friday, police questioned a 15-year-old boys' camp escapee with a record as a peeping tom. The boy, found Thursday night in a shed five blocks from the Lozano home, was cleared after a lie detector test.

[...]

A neighbor, Ben Leno, 809 Warren St., told officers he saw a prowler hanging around the modest one-story Lozano home when he returned from work about 3 a.m. Thursday.

The suspect -- described as slender, of Latin extraction, average height, about 20 years old and wearing dark pants and a dark shirt -- was standing in the darkened alleyway outside the sliding glass door to the girl's bedroom.

"He heard me and ran away. I waited a few minutes and thought he had left the area; then I went to bed," Leno, a milk truck driver, told officers.

Mary was apparently taken from a bedroom she shared with three brothers, David, 5, Mike, 3, and John, 2, short after 3 a.m., according to police. Her father, 26, told authorities he heard the child cry out in the night, but thought she was "only having a bad dream."

An aunt, Freddie Beavers, 26, who cares for the Lozano children, told officers she heard the child scream, "Mamma, Mamma, help, help," but she thought the father had "looked in on the child." Miss Beavers is confined to a wheelchair.

The mother, Ramona, 24, was not awakened. The parents' bedroom is adjacent to the children's room, the aunt's around a bend in the hallway.

Detectives said a homemade coathanger lock to the sliding glass door of the children's room was left unlatched.

Police theorize the kidnaper entered through the door, pushed aside drawn curtains, and then took the girl who was sharing a bed with her 5-year-old brother David.

"No new leads in kidnaping," Evening Vanguard [Venice, CA], 17 February 1969, 1.

Police questioned several sex registrants in the area over the weekend but turned up no new leads in the case.

[...]

Police would not say if they found fingerprints of any suspects when they examined the home.

 

[spartanx]

I have the impression that the parents want this in some way... I don't understand how not to go see their baby when they call or talk at night...
rest in peace

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Mary Elizabeth Lozano – The Charley Project

 

[Ciriii57]

A registered sex offender who was a friend of the family....seems quite clear cut what happened here.