FL FL - Amy Billig, 17, Coconut Grove, 5 March 1974

[kdsmith21]

I think whatever or whoever took her, she was probably dead within hours and might have been an unidentified skeleton, and there was no dna (if the remains had been found). I agree with another poster about the Pagans,,, no Pagans in Florida, that would never happen. Outlaw maybe, but to take her to Washington, I don't think so. Bikers have territories and they don't trade women or anything else between gangs. they don't like each other to put it mildly.

 

[amber1]

I think another look at the UID bases would be good. It was long thought that Amy was Lady of the Dunes, but I think she has been ruled out.
There have been rumors that she was taken to a party where stuff went sour, she was drugged and thrown in a swap. ( I cant remember if I read that on an article or in the book). But I hope to God that was not the scenario otherwise she may never be found. I also think Amy was gone fast vs being held hostage. Such a sad story:/

 

[Markybug]

Is there more background on Henry Blair ? He seems credible, what made the police rule him out exactly ?


Mark.

 

[amber1]

Is there more background on Henry Blair ? He seems credible, what made the police rule him out exactly ?


Mark.

I was actually thinking about that this morning as I was checking for updates in Amy's case. Theories that seemed to be talked about are:

1) Biker Theory
2)Hitch Hiked with the wrong person/Serial Killer
3)Taken to a party where she over dosed on drugs

But what exactly made police rule out Henry Blair Johnson?

Amy wrote in her diary about a man named Hank who would take her to South America some day. Blair's nickname was Hank, and he had had connections with South America because he worked for US Customs Department (he over saw drug interdiction at the Port of Miami), where it required him to move to South America around the time Amy vanished. A photo developed from a roll of film from Amy's camera showed a van that resembled Johnson's.
I decided to look up human trafficking through out the years in Latin and South America, and I have found Brazil is a VERY ACTIVE place for human trafficking. So active, in fact, it is a place where women from all over are taken and sold abroad to Spain, Netherlands, etc.

Here is an article with a little more about it:
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Brazil-2.htm
Here is another account of a girl captured into human trafficking at the age of 9, and how she survived over 18 years of it. Human trafficking was alive and thriving in the 70s, because no one paid attention to the issue. What if Amy was sold into human trafficking by Henry "Hank" Blair Johnson? What if she is still alive? I know that's a long shot, and a scary on because she could be anywhere in the world.
http://www.expatdailynews.com/2010/06/sex-trafficking-in-latin-america.html

As for why he was ruled out, that is hard to determine because it is really not talked about anywhere. Charley Project states He has not been positively linked to Amy, and the FBI stated an inquiry was pending but does this mean he was ruled out, or not? I can't find if that was ever answered..
I think he could have been involved in some dirty work like that, he knew the drug interdiction for 24 years, so he had the resources to make those connections, and get away with it. I wish I could have found more info. on him or sex slavery rings linking from the US to South America in the 70s, but there really is not too much to be found, because this issue was very hush-hush.
Could this incident and Amy's journal writings be a coincidence??? I really do feel there could be a connection here...
but how would Amy have met him? They did not have anything "online" back then, did she know him through someone else?..and Amy was so close to graduating from high school, which would align with the time frame for her wanting to maybe leave to explore the world, but it does not seem likely she would leave to do that without telling her parents. It does not seem like she would have the heart to keep them wondering forever.

I would have liked to have Johnson investigated more because I don't think those journal entries were coincidence with the fact that he would spend 20+ years harassing her mother. I know it said he was an alcoholic and had OCD, but there had to have been another driving factor.
Unfortunately, we may never find the answer because I think he already passed, if this is in fact him:
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ne...?n=henry-johnson-blair&pid=86746208&fhid=6703

Any thoughts on Henry Blair Johnson??

 

[Markybug]

Was there anyone else that the hank reference could be meaning?

Thanks, Mark.

 

[amber1]

Was there anyone else that the hank reference could be meaning?

Thanks, Mark.

I wish I knew! Logic would say it may have been another high school boy, or maybe a friend of a friend? I think the only way to determine this would be to back track to her senior year of high school, maybe look through yearbooks for someone with a name or nick name of Hank, or maybe even look through for someone who may know someone who goes by that name.

 

[kdsmith21]

I know most people in normal society abhor The Outlaws (the primary biker gang in Florida) but the truth is, stealing a girl to drug and rape really isn't their M.O. Before anyone screams, let me explain.


The Outlaws make some of their money in the sex trade, this is true, but not prostitution as a rule. They own strip clubs up and down both coasts of Florida, mainly bikini clubs where nudity isn't allowed and hard liquor isn't served. (keeping ATF out of the mix for the most part) The laws in Florida governing this type of activity (along with the warm weather) was one of the primary reasons The Outlaws came to Florida way back when.

I've actually tended bar in several of their clubs. The girls I worked with came and went as they pleased. Many times their was no one in the establishment from the club for days at a time.

Most of these girls who strip are what are known as Charlie Chasers (the Outlaw symbol is called Charlie after the enemy name in Vietnam) These girls willingly do anything they are asked to be close to the club. I watched two girls fist fight over the affections of one grubby, dirty, unkempt guy who showed zero interest in either of them. BUT, many of the guys are attractive and slick-talking... making them irresistible to the bad-boy loving girls.
(many of The Outlaws patch in as 18-19 year-olds)

They control these Charlie Chasers for profit, much like a pimp, but they do it in such a way that the girls make money too. (they keep their tips, but earn no pay) Most of these girls are very happy with the arrangement (earn money and be close to the club) and those who aren't are quickly kicked to the curb.
Unhappy Girls = Possible Snitches.
Would be easy for a girl to tell a sympathetic client they are in danger.
Kidnapping is just not their style. They let the girls come to them.

When I worked for them, in Florida, they were very professional in their business dealings. They paid me, in a business check, let me pick my schedule and treated me (as an outsider) with a fair amount of respect. (the younger ones called me ma'am) They never asked me to do anything besides my job. I was desperate for money at the time, and it would have been to their advantage to take advantage of that. They didn't, even though they trusted me enough to make orders, write checks for suppliers and take bank deposits.


I write to several of The Outlaws in prison. If they trust you, they are great sources of information since nothing happens in their territory without them knowing it.
The police in their main territories put a lot of crimes on The Outlaws out of public relations and pure laziness. It's easier to scare the public with "the big bad biker club" than tell them they have no suspects.

I am in NO WAY saying The Outlaws are innocent parties getting a bad rap.
Just that in no way do they fit the M.O. of Amy's disappearance.

Sorry this is so long.
I know I'm new and am probably posting too much, but I think it's important to look at some of the stories in a different light than has been shed by the media.

I am in Jacksonville FL - There was a lady in Jacksonville Fl just a couple of months ago, missing from a bar, Boots and Bottles, surveilance showed her leaving the parking lot on a motorcycle, they found her with a tip a few weeks later,dead in the woods. The biker is part of the Jacksonville Outlaws (Southside Boys), no arrest yet - so I am not saying whoever this is killed her, but... and I know a few of the Southside Boys here in Jacksonville FL who died from playing russian roulette, apparently they were the only one playing... sometimes in odd places, cook outs, parties... and are no longer with us, needless to say. One man was a dear friend of mine for many years, had sold his bike and was trying to get out and away from the group, and he shot himself in the head broad daylight at a cook out- and a couple of the gang were the only other people there (that was March 2012).. needless to say he had a lot to live for and his recent actions (doing tons of remodel work on his house and barn) did not lend him to be suicidal- much less walk out a door and put a gun to his head by the grill, after "inviting" these people over to cook out. I doubt he even invited them over, last time I saw them they were very angry at my friend, not the cooking out kind of friends anymore. I think it depends on what you know about their activities, what you owe them, or who you piss off... if the bikers would kill you. Even a google of outlaws on the Doe Network brings up several cases of missing people and UID's who were closely hanging with the group. I can see them picking her up and killing her after something goes wrong, but I don't think they kept her alive for years and traded her around. If they got her, she was dead within hours like Paul said.

Actually the many of the Jacksonville FL -Southisde Boys aka Outlaws also showed up at my friends funeral, and all made it a POINT to leave in the middle of the service (at least 10 or 12 of them ) and very loudly take off on their bikes. They made a statement when they left for sure, and it wasn't how much they "liked" him or came to pay their respects, more like they came to pay their "disrespect" and let everyone know - yeah, we did it, nothing you can do about it.

The leader of the group (also at the funer and left) owns a local motorcycle repair shop, has for years. Has a clean record in this area when i look him up, as well as others who I know are members. I thought it was all bullcrap about them killing people, etc.. until my friend died last year, and now the lady from the bar. The detective over my friends case, just blew it off and said suicide. I know the local authorities have busted their clubhouse in Jacksonville Fl several times for drugs and weapons, but it seems they never go down for murder or kidnapping. I believe the police know it happens and don't think they can prove it, or they are paid off, or they figure it is easier to bust them for the drugs and weapons to get them off the street.
Google the Jacksonville Outlaws, and Boots and Bottles (I think the lady's name was Sherrie something, I will try to find the link).. she was the neice of a co worker, and it was in the news. The outlaw connection is not yet in the news, no arrests have been made - as is usual.

 

[kdsmith21]

Only know from co worker who is related to Prather, that the guys on the motorcycle are part of the Jacksonville Outlaws (or affiliated with)
Posted: 2:52 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012

Jacksonville police search for missing woman

Jacksonville Sheriff's Office
Sherry Lee Prather
By WOKV News Team
Jacksonville, FL —

Jacksonville Police are asking for your help finding a woman missing since Friday.

Sherry Lee Prather was last seen October 12 at 2:20 AM at the Boots and Bottle Tavern on 12405 New Berlin Road. She was seen talking with two men sitting on motorcycles in the parking lot.
The family tells police she has never been away for this long without making contact.

She is a white female, 5’7”, 150 lbs. She has green eyes, red/auburn hair and was last seen wearing a white and gray long sleeve shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to calls the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500.

And then found:

: November 21, 2012 - 7:58am

By The Times-Union

Skeletal remains found in a wooded area off Jacksonville’s Braddock Road on Nov. 14 have been identified and foul play is suspected.

The remains have been identified as those of Sherry Lee Prather, 43.

A Facebook page for Prather said she has been missing since Oct. 11 and was last seen at Boots and Bottles, a nightclub in Jacksonville’s Oceanway area.

Detectives initially went to the scene to investigate a tip related to a missing persons case. The human remains were found in an area where animal carcasses had been dumped.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...letal-remains-are-missing-woman#ixzz2LprPn1un

 

[amber1]

I have been very curious about the status of Amy's case. This prompted me to e-mail her NAMUS case manager, Micheal Morrill, who told me that the investigation of her case is very active, and all references (possible matches) are researched. I was very pleased to hear this, wish there was more details available to see the progress in her case, but I also understand why a lot can't be released. But if anyone has a list of UIDs (PMs) ruled out against Amy, please let me know, as I'd like to put together a list

 

[amber1]

I opened up my e-mail today and found an update in Amy Billig's NAMUS case! They have released an age progression of what Amy might look like at 56 years old. It was created recently, July 10, 2013. This is great because it tells us her case is active and that there is a chance she is still alive today. I am having trouble uploading images, so I will provide you a direct link to her new photo:
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/photos/full/37283

 

[Still_Seek_Answers]

I can remember this case very well. I felt so bad for this girl and her family as they were going through the same thing we were. I know often theories do not seem to fit, or perhaps they are so horrible that we in our minds simply do not want to allow them to fit. Some motorcycle gangs are great, others are pure evil....and then we have the ones that are half and half. to me, rather it fits or not a dying mans confession is something to be taken seriously. It apparently brought some peace to her mother, and it must have had enough correct details...or I think the mother would have came out publicly blasting it full of holes. It is hard to deal with knowing someone you loved died a horrible death, and very hard to accept......we will look for any detail that just could not be right and we will come out blasting. Amy's mother said there were things she could not discuss about the deathbed confession......she did not however say she felt it was false. That fact alone speaks volumes to me.......
I do not believe they took this girl to rape and kill, I think as they said they were taking her to their party.......and as things will.....someone got angry and everything got out of hand. I am also not saying I think anybody should look less hard for her.......heavens knows I think all the lost children need brought home......I am saying Florida is very slow to give up it's dead. I just can't imagine somebody confessing as they were dying.......for no reason whatsoever....

 

[amber1]

I can remember this case very well. I felt so bad for this girl and her family as they were going through the same thing we were. I know often theories do not seem to fit, or perhaps they are so horrible that we in our minds simply do not want to allow them to fit. Some motorcycle gangs are great, others are pure evil....and then we have the ones that are half and half. to me, rather it fits or not a dying mans confession is something to be taken seriously. It apparently brought some peace to her mother, and it must have had enough correct details...or I think the mother would have came out publicly blasting it full of holes. It is hard to deal with knowing someone you loved died a horrible death, and very hard to accept......we will look for any detail that just could not be right and we will come out blasting. Amy's mother said there were things she could not discuss about the deathbed confession......she did not however say she felt it was false. That fact alone speaks volumes to me.......
I do not believe they took this girl to rape and kill, I think as they said they were taking her to their party.......and as things will.....someone got angry and everything got out of hand. I am also not saying I think anybody should look less hard for her.......heavens knows I think all the lost children need brought home......I am saying Florida is very slow to give up it's dead. I just can't imagine somebody confessing as they were dying.......for no reason whatsoever....

I don't know how reliable the newspaper Sun Sentinel is, but I dug up an article about Susan's search for Amy and about the deathbed confession. While there will always be a shroud of fog surrounding this subject, Susan says in the article she has always felt the confession to be false. She believes Paul Branch never made a confession, and that his wife made it up for money. There are so many theories in this case, it's hard to know what to believe, but I've always believed in a mother's instinct. I have always believed the "confession" didn't make sense when one considers all the information Paul Branch and his partner Red gave before Branch died of cancer.

Susan Billig did not believe a word of it.

She does not believe Branch made such a confession, or that Amy was dead the night she vanished.

"She made up the whole thing," Susan says of Branch's girlfriend, who reportedly was paid for her interview.

Further disputing the deathbed confession was an old biker known as Pompano Red. Red and Branch lived together in a South Dade trailer in the 1970s. Susan had met him there during visits to Branch.

During research for Without a Trace, author Greg Aunapu found a very sick Pompano Red living in Hollywood.

Red told Aunapu that he drove Amy Billig from Florida to Virginia sometime after Branch went to prison in the mid `70s. In Virginia, he turned Amy over to another biker. He did not see her again.

If that was false, why would Red admit driving a kidnapped girl across state lines, asks Aunapu, who believes Amy died or was killed later, possibly after bikers took her to the West Coast.

If Amy died the night she disappeared, why did Branch repeatedly call Susan Billig over the years and lead her across the country? What about the store clerk in Orlando who said she saw Amy with two bikers?

Looking back, Susan believes Branch told her the truth.

"It was a feeling in my gut," she says. "As much as Paul could be honest because of the person he was, I believed he was honest with me. What he was with other people, I shut out of my mind."

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2001-10-04/lifestyle/0110030367_1_bikers-susan-billig-cancer/2

 

[Still_Seek_Answers]

My question now becomes......did he confess to anybody other than his wife? I will read through all the posts again tomorrow.....with fresh rested eyes. If my memory serves me correctly, and it may not as there are so many different cases I have followed for so long.....Susan did acknowledge in later stories that he knew to many things he would not have known......for his story to be totally false. I will do some research to confirm that.......before I say anything else......it never hurts to take a minute to be certain.

 

[amber1]

In the article where they talk about his friend "Red", Susan stated he knew many details about Amy the regular public did not at the time, including her a certain scar on her abdomen (possibly from appendix removal?)
I myself can't decide if he had some substance or if he took her on a wild goose chase. I believe the confession was a false, but I have never read anything where he confessed to someone else, although from the sound of the book Susan got very close to working him for one. (Her book is really the best research to his case. Although it just focuses on the biker theory because that's what she believed happened to Amy. The biker theory itself is a rabbit hole!).

 

[kemo]

1) The whole "motorcycle gang" angle is a good example of what can go wrong when parents’ try to go "pro-active" and solve a case on their own. Information is like any other commodity; if someone is willing to pay, someone will "furnish" the supply. Sometimes the "pay" is only attention and the chance to feel important or special. If, in the very unlikely event that there is some real "truth" in all of the "information" that all of those "sources" provided, the water has been hopelessly muddied.

2) From what I can tell, Amy arranged to go to her father’s gallery to get some money and then she was going to meet some friends; possibly for lunch. Her father's gallery was less than 1/2 a mile away and she never arrived. The walk there would take approximately 5 minutes. It is inconceivable that she would hitch-hike or accepts a ride unless it was from someone she wanted to be with. What I don't know is how far away were the friends she was to meet. If they were beyond walking distance, she might have called someone to give her a ride, first to her father's gallery, then to where her friends were. If they were also nearby, it would seem that she either accepted a ride from someone she knew and trusted or she was abducted "off the street". It is my understanding that some construction workers witnessed her walking by. It is unusual for a grown adult woman to be abducted off an urban street in the middle of the day but it is a possibility. Does anyone know the exact location of Amy's house, the place where the construction workers saw her, her father's gallery, and the place she was to meet her friends? (So I can lay it all out on a map).

3) In the 60's and early 70's, The Grove was the type of place that arty; hippy/counter-culture types lived in or gravitated to. There were also plenty of more "normal" types who were attracted to the ambiance of the scene. Local teenagers would also come around and hang out. There was plenty of opportunity for these groups to interact. It is not at all inconceivable that a straight-laced Customs Agent and a local high School girl could meet up and form some sort of relationship. Did the FBI thoroughly check out Henry Blair Johnson’s “extra-curricular” activities in 1974? This would not be the first time a young girl wrote of an imaginary admirer/lover in her diary but the name “Hank” is quite a coincidence if, and it’s a big “IF” Henry Blair Johnson really used the nick-name “Hank”. (Can anyone verify that?)

 

[Still_Seek_Answers]

My sister vanished in 1972, so I know first hand and very well the things people will create for money. This continued for years, so few of the things people do for money when a missing child is involved......surprise me.
I can understand people hoping and wishing that Amy is alive out there somewhere. Happy, well and safe. I myself hope that is the case. Dealing with all the years she has been gone......given her mothers very public attempts to locate her.....I doubt that is a reality.
Could the confession have been a lie for attention and to make money from a book deal? SURE. One of my biggest pet peeves is people buying these types of books. Or any book that makes a profit for any person off the deaths of children and other innocent parties. I think the laws should require all money from the sale of such things to go into a fund to help the families of those who remain missing.
Could the confession have been true? Amy's mother received a call only a week or so after Amy vanished and the anon. caller said she had been carried off by one of the biker gangs. So it is not as if that theory is new.
Florida is very very slow in giving up the dead. Until Amy is found, one way or the other, there is no certain way of knowing. The family needs to hold on to what gives them peace. Horrible as it may sound to someone who does not live with the question of where a loved member of your family is.....day after day.....then year after year.....sometimes the thought they they are gone and nobody can harm them anymore......gives you the only peace you can find. So if it brought peace to her mother, then that alone is enough for me.

 

[amber1]

**UPDATE:
Here is a 2013 news article and news clip (very informative) about Amy's disappearance. A tipster who worked at a shop nearby claims they say stick her thumb out, and get into a van they believed to be affiliated with the "Pagans" biker gang. I don't know how valid it is, but LE are taking it very seriously.
http://www.wsvn.com/features/articles/justice/MI98734/amy-billig/

**Also, any rumors you hear about Amy already being recovered in New York is NOT true. There is no proof of Amy's whereabouts, and if she is alive or not.

 

[thefragile7393]

Her mom's book pretty much confirms she was taken in by a biker gang but after that point its pretty murky as to who, what, when, where.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

 

[JustCryssy]

I am in Jacksonville FL - There was a lady in Jacksonville Fl just a couple of months ago, missing from a bar, Boots and Bottles, surveilance showed her leaving the parking lot on a motorcycle, they found her with a tip a few weeks later,dead in the woods. The biker is part of the Jacksonville Outlaws (Southside Boys), no arrest yet - so I am not saying whoever this is killed her, but... and I know a few of the Southside Boys here in Jacksonville FL who died from playing russian roulette, apparently they were the only one playing... sometimes in odd places, cook outs, parties... and are no longer with us, needless to say. One man was a dear friend of mine for many years, had sold his bike and was trying to get out and away from the group, and he shot himself in the head broad daylight at a cook out- and a couple of the gang were the only other people there (that was March 2012).. needless to say he had a lot to live for and his recent actions (doing tons of remodel work on his house and barn) did not lend him to be suicidal- much less walk out a door and put a gun to his head by the grill, after "inviting" these people over to cook out. I doubt he even invited them over, last time I saw them they were very angry at my friend, not the cooking out kind of friends anymore. I think it depends on what you know about their activities, what you owe them, or who you piss off... if the bikers would kill you. Even a google of outlaws on the Doe Network brings up several cases of missing people and UID's who were closely hanging with the group. I can see them picking her up and killing her after something goes wrong, but I don't think they kept her alive for years and traded her around. If they got her, she was dead within hours like Paul said.

Actually the many of the Jacksonville FL -Southisde Boys aka Outlaws also showed up at my friends funeral, and all made it a POINT to leave in the middle of the service (at least 10 or 12 of them ) and very loudly take off on their bikes. They made a statement when they left for sure, and it wasn't how much they "liked" him or came to pay their respects, more like they came to pay their "disrespect" and let everyone know - yeah, we did it, nothing you can do about it.

The leader of the group (also at the funer and left) owns a local motorcycle repair shop, has for years. Has a clean record in this area when i look him up, as well as others who I know are members. I thought it was all bullcrap about them killing people, etc.. until my friend died last year, and now the lady from the bar. The detective over my friends case, just blew it off and said suicide. I know the local authorities have busted their clubhouse in Jacksonville Fl several times for drugs and weapons, but it seems they never go down for murder or kidnapping. I believe the police know it happens and don't think they can prove it, or they are paid off, or they figure it is easier to bust them for the drugs and weapons to get them off the street.
Google the Jacksonville Outlaws, and Boots and Bottles (I think the lady's name was Sherrie something, I will try to find the link).. she was the neice of a co worker, and it was in the news. The outlaw connection is not yet in the news, no arrests have been made - as is usual.

Firstly, The "Southside Boys" are not AOA (Outlaws) They are a support group that is actually known as The Black Pistons now.

Secondly, there was NEVER any official suspicion on the Outlaws for Prather. She was seen with a group of motorcycle riders... just because someone rides a motorcycle does not mean they are O.L's.

Finally, I don't like to victim bash, but Sherrie was a known thief... she would meet men at bars to rip them off. (look up her arrest record)
The most likely scenario of her death is that she tried to heist some guy's wallet and they killed her for it.

 

[kdsmith21]

Firstly, The "Southside Boys" are not AOA (Outlaws) They are a support group that is actually known as The Black Pistons now.

Secondly, there was NEVER any official suspicion on the Outlaws for Prather. She was seen with a group of motorcycle riders... just because someone rides a motorcycle does not mean they are O.L's.

Finally, I don't like to victim bash, but Sherrie was a known thief... she would meet men at bars to rip them off. (look up her arrest record)
The most likely scenario of her death is that she tried to heist some guy's wallet and they killed her for it.

Yes, I meant "support group" for AOA and no, the people I am referring to are still the Southside Boys- at least of last year 2012 at my friends funeral whom was affiliated with the Southside Boys-to what level I do not know nor do I want to know, which are probably lesser involved in the Outlaws than the Black Pistons... I do not know Sherrie and cannot speak about her lifestyle, I do work with a relative of hers who said I recall in conversation she said Sherrie had some issues with substance abuse, not sure if she was clean or not at the time of her death or still battling addiction or relapsed- if this was the case..again I do not know her.