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

Just wanted to say, that yesterday (March 5, 2014) marks 40 years since Amy was abducted off the Main Highway in Coconut Grove, Florida. Still searching for you, no matter how many years go by. In all the theories proposed about Amy's disappearance, the scenarios involve multiple people having knowledge about Amy's whereabouts. Whether she was forced to go at a party and you were there or if she was sold in the biker trade and you were an onlooker or in the gang, SPEAK NOW!!!
http://deaniepeters-missingangels.blogspot.com/2014/03/amy-billig-still-missing-without-trace.html
 
I found this article upon researching some history of bike gang activity in Florida. It centers around The Outlaws. I can't help but feel Amy really was taken by a biker gang. The artcile states that The Outlaws ran wild in Florida in '70s, especially 1974. They would target teen girls who were hitch hiking or simply walking down the streets. They would either pick her up on a bike, or pull the girl in one of the club's vans. In the following article are graphic accounts of what these guys did to the girls they did take. Many who lived were so terrified they did not testify against the people who took them, raped them and tortured them. I have a feeling Amy's mother was led on a wild goose chase, because if they did take Amy, I doubt they would have let her live long:(

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-09-10/news/9509100181_1_bikers-spaziano-outlaws

Like ogres in a fairy tale, they're part of a legend that reaches across decades to seed the sleep of innocents with nightmares.

These are grim brothers, all right: rugged, hairy men in black leather and chains, roaring across 1970s Florida on motorcycles.

The bikers nailed one woman to a tree. They chained another to a ceiling for an afternoon of rape and torture. They snatched teen-age girls from sidewalks, took them to dark clubhouses and raped them repeatedly.
Tales of motorcycle gangs were so potent in the 1970s that even today, 20 years after Outlaws member Joe Spaziano was sentenced to death for killing an Orlando woman, many people familiar with the case still are too terrified to talk about it publicly.

Their fear has become an element of Spaziano's renewed bid this summer to escape execution.

Gov. Lawton Chiles signed Spaziano's fifth death warrant two weeks ago after state investigators reinvestigated the case. Agents found witnesses who convinced Chiles that Spaziano deserves to die, but they provided information on condition that they remain anonymous.

A group of news organizations, including The Orlando Sentinel, is seeking to read the report, but Chiles has insisted that the witnesses must be protected.

Some of those witnesses and others familiar with the case have told the Sentinel they are terrified to speak publicly because of the Outlaws. They give the same comments, over and over:

''They'll kill us.''

''They'll come and get us.''

''You don't know these people.''

Such is the enduring, even paralyzing, fear of the bikers.

Certainly in the late 1960s and 1970s, people had a reason to be afraid:
In January 1970, a girl who rode with the Outlaws was chained to a warehouse ceiling in the Lake County city of Oakland Park. Bikers stripped, beat and sexually abused her as punishment for trying to flee the gang. Bikers threatened to kill her or nail her to a tree.

Two years earlier, Outlaws members did nail a teen-ager to a scrub oak, in Palm Beach County. She was dating a biker, and when she did not give him $10 as ordered one day, gang members nailed her hands to a branch. Her toes barely touched the ground, and she told investigators the bikers threatened to beat her if she cried. Investigators learned of the incident when bikers stole drugs from the hospital where the girl was being treated.

A biker and two friends burst into the Orlando hotel room of a 20-year-old woman in February 1974 and forced her to another room, where they beat, kicked and raped her. They gave the same treatment to a 16-year-old they lured into the room with the promise of a party. The two women were held overnight and threatened with death if they reported the crimes.

Four Outlaws were arrested in Fort Lauderdale in 1974 on charges they tied a 21-year-old woman to a chair, kicked her, beat her and burned her with hot spoons. They said she stole a decal from a biker's motorcycle.

In 1978, three Outlaws were convicted of killing a nightclub singer in Orange County. They beat her, then stabbed her 13 times and slit her throat on orders of a club enforcer.

Several gangs were active in Orange County in the 1970s, but none more so than the Outlaws.

''The Outlaws were running wild,'' said Dan Nazarchuk, an Orange County Sheriff's investigator who still works homicide cases. ''Witnesses would not testify for fear. Rape victims would not press charges. . . . Prosecution of the Outlaws, at that time, was difficult.''

Over and over, women hitchhiking or just walking down the street were pulled into bikers' vans and driven to the clubhouses, where members gang-raped them.

Members made their living selling drugs or stolen motorcycle parts. Biker girlfriends supported their boyfriends by prostitution or by dancing in topless bars.

''It was organized crime, basically,'' said Orange County detective Denny Martin. ''They ruled by intimidation and fear. People didn't want to go against them.''

Tavern takeovers were common. Bikers pulled up at bars on east State Road 50 or South Orange Blossom Trail, went in and took over. Tavern owners were too afraid to oppose them. People who lived near the bars feared letting their children venture outside.

Almost as common as tavern takeovers were gang fights. The Outlaws battled the Hells Angels, Pagans, Warlocks and Iron Cross for dominance. In a 1974 case, the son of an Orange County deputy was kidnapped and beaten when he refused to leave the Pagans and join the Outlaws.

A large part of the biker legend involved Spaziano. In January 1976, he was convicted of killing Laura Harberts, 18, and dumping her mutilated body along a roadside. His trial had extensive news coverage, spreading the biker lore.

In August 1975, an earlier jury convicted Spaziano of raping a 16-year-old girl, slashing her neck and eyes, choking her and dumping her, unconscious, in woods.
Another woman told police that she was grabbed in downtown Orlando, taken to a south Orange Blossom Trail clubhouse and forced to have oral sex and intercourse with at least four men. She identified Spaziano as one of her attackers but declined to prosecute because of fear.

Mel Colman was Orange County sheriff in the 1970s, and he said the biker gang violence evolved slowly. For years, the biker gangs kept mostly to themselves. 'For a long time, it was just a typical gang of motorcycle riders. They'd get drunk and raise hell from time to time,'' Colman said. ''It steadily got worse. . . . There seemed to be a trend toward spreading the violence outside their own.''

Colman and other law enforcement chiefs put pressure on the gangs. By the early 1980s, many had been prosecuted under racketeering laws.

When many members ended up with long prison terms, and others grew too old for the partying lifestyle, gang activity - in Central Florida at least - died down. Investigators estimate there may be no more than a dozen hard-core Outlaws these days at the Orlando and Daytona Beach clubhouses.

Motorcycle gangs still resurface in the news from time to time - a federal jury in Tampa found 14 Outlaws guilty of various drug and arson charges last month - but their violence is directed these days at each other.

Moreover, the image of bikers has mellowed. Twenty years ago, an upstanding citizen never would have approached a group of bikers on the street to talk about motorcycles, Seminole Sheriff's Director Roy Hughey said. Today, doctors and lawyers do it all the time.

The biker threat has diminished, investigators say. But some of the fear won't go away.
 
I found this article upon researching some history of bike gang activity in Florida. It centers around The Outlaws. I can't help but feel Amy really was taken by a biker gang. The artcile states that The Outlaws ran wild in Florida in '70s, especially 1974. They would target teen girls who were hitch hiking or simply walking down the streets. They would either pick her up on a bike, or pull the girl in one of the club's vans. In the following article are graphic accounts of what these guys did to the girls they did take. Many who lived were so terrified they did not testify against the people who took them, raped them and tortured them. I have a feeling Amy's mother was led on a wild goose chase, because if they did take Amy, I doubt they would have let her live long:(

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1995-09-10/news/9509100181_1_bikers-spaziano-outlaws

Like ogres in a fairy tale, they're part of a legend that reaches across decades to seed the sleep of innocents with nightmares.

These are grim brothers, all right: rugged, hairy men in black leather and chains, roaring across 1970s Florida on motorcycles.

The bikers nailed one woman to a tree. They chained another to a ceiling for an afternoon of rape and torture. They snatched teen-age girls from sidewalks, took them to dark clubhouses and raped them repeatedly.
Tales of motorcycle gangs were so potent in the 1970s that even today, 20 years after Outlaws member Joe Spaziano was sentenced to death for killing an Orlando woman, many people familiar with the case still are too terrified to talk about it publicly.

Their fear has become an element of Spaziano's renewed bid this summer to escape execution.

Gov. Lawton Chiles signed Spaziano's fifth death warrant two weeks ago after state investigators reinvestigated the case. Agents found witnesses who convinced Chiles that Spaziano deserves to die, but they provided information on condition that they remain anonymous.

A group of news organizations, including The Orlando Sentinel, is seeking to read the report, but Chiles has insisted that the witnesses must be protected.

Some of those witnesses and others familiar with the case have told the Sentinel they are terrified to speak publicly because of the Outlaws. They give the same comments, over and over:

''They'll kill us.''

''They'll come and get us.''

''You don't know these people.''

Such is the enduring, even paralyzing, fear of the bikers.

Certainly in the late 1960s and 1970s, people had a reason to be afraid:
In January 1970, a girl who rode with the Outlaws was chained to a warehouse ceiling in the Lake County city of Oakland Park. Bikers stripped, beat and sexually abused her as punishment for trying to flee the gang. Bikers threatened to kill her or nail her to a tree.

Two years earlier, Outlaws members did nail a teen-ager to a scrub oak, in Palm Beach County. She was dating a biker, and when she did not give him $10 as ordered one day, gang members nailed her hands to a branch. Her toes barely touched the ground, and she told investigators the bikers threatened to beat her if she cried. Investigators learned of the incident when bikers stole drugs from the hospital where the girl was being treated.

A biker and two friends burst into the Orlando hotel room of a 20-year-old woman in February 1974 and forced her to another room, where they beat, kicked and raped her. They gave the same treatment to a 16-year-old they lured into the room with the promise of a party. The two women were held overnight and threatened with death if they reported the crimes.

Four Outlaws were arrested in Fort Lauderdale in 1974 on charges they tied a 21-year-old woman to a chair, kicked her, beat her and burned her with hot spoons. They said she stole a decal from a biker's motorcycle.

In 1978, three Outlaws were convicted of killing a nightclub singer in Orange County. They beat her, then stabbed her 13 times and slit her throat on orders of a club enforcer.

Several gangs were active in Orange County in the 1970s, but none more so than the Outlaws.

''The Outlaws were running wild,'' said Dan Nazarchuk, an Orange County Sheriff's investigator who still works homicide cases. ''Witnesses would not testify for fear. Rape victims would not press charges. . . . Prosecution of the Outlaws, at that time, was difficult.''

Over and over, women hitchhiking or just walking down the street were pulled into bikers' vans and driven to the clubhouses, where members gang-raped them.

Members made their living selling drugs or stolen motorcycle parts. Biker girlfriends supported their boyfriends by prostitution or by dancing in topless bars.

''It was organized crime, basically,'' said Orange County detective Denny Martin. ''They ruled by intimidation and fear. People didn't want to go against them.''

Tavern takeovers were common. Bikers pulled up at bars on east State Road 50 or South Orange Blossom Trail, went in and took over. Tavern owners were too afraid to oppose them. People who lived near the bars feared letting their children venture outside.

Almost as common as tavern takeovers were gang fights. The Outlaws battled the Hells Angels, Pagans, Warlocks and Iron Cross for dominance. In a 1974 case, the son of an Orange County deputy was kidnapped and beaten when he refused to leave the Pagans and join the Outlaws.

A large part of the biker legend involved Spaziano. In January 1976, he was convicted of killing Laura Harberts, 18, and dumping her mutilated body along a roadside. His trial had extensive news coverage, spreading the biker lore.

In August 1975, an earlier jury convicted Spaziano of raping a 16-year-old girl, slashing her neck and eyes, choking her and dumping her, unconscious, in woods.
Another woman told police that she was grabbed in downtown Orlando, taken to a south Orange Blossom Trail clubhouse and forced to have oral sex and intercourse with at least four men. She identified Spaziano as one of her attackers but declined to prosecute because of fear.

Mel Colman was Orange County sheriff in the 1970s, and he said the biker gang violence evolved slowly. For years, the biker gangs kept mostly to themselves. 'For a long time, it was just a typical gang of motorcycle riders. They'd get drunk and raise hell from time to time,'' Colman said. ''It steadily got worse. . . . There seemed to be a trend toward spreading the violence outside their own.''

Colman and other law enforcement chiefs put pressure on the gangs. By the early 1980s, many had been prosecuted under racketeering laws.

When many members ended up with long prison terms, and others grew too old for the partying lifestyle, gang activity - in Central Florida at least - died down. Investigators estimate there may be no more than a dozen hard-core Outlaws these days at the Orlando and Daytona Beach clubhouses.

Motorcycle gangs still resurface in the news from time to time - a federal jury in Tampa found 14 Outlaws guilty of various drug and arson charges last month - but their violence is directed these days at each other.

Moreover, the image of bikers has mellowed. Twenty years ago, an upstanding citizen never would have approached a group of bikers on the street to talk about motorcycles, Seminole Sheriff's Director Roy Hughey said. Today, doctors and lawyers do it all the time.

The biker threat has diminished, investigators say. But some of the fear won't go away.
I grew up in Miami, and lived a few blocks from Amy in Coconut Grove. She rode on the school van with me and my sister. We were friends with her.
I can tell you for a fact that there were motorcycle gangs that would visit the Grove, and that hitchhiking was common then. I hitchhiked frequently with my friends.
The day before we moved away, I was at the park (Coconut Grove) to say goodbye to some friends. A biker gang was there, and one of the bikers picked me up and put a hickey on my neck. It was a very frightening moment.
I believe it is entirely possible she was picked up hitchhiking, and possibly harmed by bikers.
 
I read Without a Trace when the book came out perhaps a decade or more ago. I've read hundreds of true crime books, but few cases haunted me like this one. I must agree with others, even while reading it, I felt that the wild goose chase the bikers were leading her on was just that. It just made zero sense that people who were cruel and callous enough to have abducted her and kept her as a sex slave would then turn around and help her mother find her. Plus, they would be exposing themselves to serious criminal charges if they ever did succeed in reuniting them. Amy could possibly testify against them. No way would they do that. Entirely illogical. I don't blame the mother one bit for grasping at those straws - that's all she had. But sadly, that's all it was. They were playing some cruel game with her for reasons I don't understand.

I do believe it is altogether possible she was captured by a biker gang, perhaps naively accepting a ride on a motorcycle or in a van. This type of thing was happening back then. Even her mother answered, "She might" when asked by police if Amy would accept such a ride. She was innocent and naive like most of us at that age, and "stranger danger" would not become a common fear for another decade. However, I also believe that if bikers grabbed her, she would not have lasted long.

It is entirely possible that Branch's alleged death bed confession was real, and that for once in his pathetic life, he told the truth. And maybe, just maybe, that was his motivation for stringing Susan along all those years. Maybe he was worried about getting a murder rap and the accompanying death penalty, and therefore felt he had to keep the myth going that Amy was still alive. As long as there was a belief she was still alive, then he wasn't a murder suspect. There are plenty of holes in this explanation too, I know. But it's one angle I thought possible.

Just as likely, however, she was picked up by a serial killer. If Amy was naive back then (and she was), it must be said that all of society was naive when it came to serial crime, including the police. The term 'serial killer' did not even exist. It would be another decade before that term would be used with any frequency. Police were usually unaware that such criminals existed, hampered by extreme "linkage blindness" in that they simply did not have the knowledge or the tools to link related crimes together. This on top of the jurisdictional impediments, which, while still a problem today, were towering obstacles in the 1970s.

So was it Henry Blair Johnson? The coincidences are too large to ignore. The picture on her camera that could have been his van. The diary entries about "Hank" and South America. But, they found ZERO evidence that Amy even knew who he was, or had ever crossed paths with him. Not only was there no evidence that he killed her, there was no evidence he ever killed anyone. So if we believe it was him, there goes our serial killer theory. I believe a one-off of this sort is very unlikely, though not unprecedented. After I had finished the book, I found myself agreeing with the cops that while he was a compelling (and completely contemptible) suspect, he probably didn't do it.

Cynical investigators will often say, "I don't believe in coincidences." Yet they will also run into seemingly slam-dunk cases in which all the pieces fit, only to get blown out of the water when forensic or other evidence rules out an otherwise "perfect" suspect. Henry Blair Johnson is by no means unique in that regard. Arthur Leigh Allen seemed like a slam dunk for the Zodiac, yet every piece of forensic evidence ever developed (handwriting analysis, fingerprint from the Stine murder scene, writer's palm print from a known Zodiac letter, DNA from the stamps & envelopes) rule him out. It wasn't him. It just wasn't. In that light, we can't conclude it was Johnson either. He's a "perfect" suspect, but cases aren't always that tidy. The cops sure wanted it to be him. It would have put this awful case to bed. But it wasn't.

That leaves me with either A) bikers who took her, used her, and killed her within a few days, then spent a decade covering their tracks by leading her mother on a wild goose chase, or B) a serial killer. Likely we'll never know.
 
I read Without a Trace when the book came out perhaps a decade or more ago. I've read hundreds of true crime books, but few cases haunted me like this one. I must agree with others, even while reading it, I felt that the wild goose chase the bikers were leading her on was just that. It just made zero sense that people who were cruel and callous enough to have abducted her and kept her as a sex slave would then turn around and help her mother find her. Plus, they would be exposing themselves to serious criminal charges if they ever did succeed in reuniting them. Amy could possibly testify against them. No way would they do that. Entirely illogical. I don't blame the mother one bit for grasping at those straws - that's all she had. But sadly, that's all it was. They were playing some cruel game with her for reasons I don't understand.

I do believe it is altogether possible she was captured by a biker gang, perhaps naively accepting a ride on a motorcycle or in a van. This type of thing was happening back then. Even her mother answered, "She might" when asked by police if Amy would accept such a ride. She was innocent and naive like most of us at that age, and "stranger danger" would not become a common fear for another decade. However, I also believe that if bikers grabbed her, she would not have lasted long.

It is entirely possible that Branch's alleged death bed confession was real, and that for once in his pathetic life, he told the truth. And maybe, just maybe, that was his motivation for stringing Susan along all those years. Maybe he was worried about getting a murder rap and the accompanying death penalty, and therefore felt he had to keep the myth going that Amy was still alive. As long as there was a belief she was still alive, then he wasn't a murder suspect. There are plenty of holes in this explanation too, I know. But it's one angle I thought possible.

Just as likely, however, she was picked up by a serial killer. If Amy was naive back then (and she was), it must be said that all of society was naive when it came to serial crime, including the police. The term 'serial killer' did not even exist. It would be another decade before that term would be used with any frequency. Police were usually unaware that such criminals existed, hampered by extreme "linkage blindness" in that they simply did not have the knowledge or the tools to link related crimes together. This on top of the jurisdictional impediments, which, while still a problem today, were towering obstacles in the 1970s.

So was it Henry Blair Johnson? The coincidences are too large to ignore. The picture on her camera that could have been his van. The diary entries about "Hank" and South America. But, they found ZERO evidence that Amy even knew who he was, or had ever crossed paths with him. Not only was there no evidence that he killed her, there was no evidence he ever killed anyone. So if we believe it was him, there goes our serial killer theory. I believe a one-off of this sort is very unlikely, though not unprecedented. After I had finished the book, I found myself agreeing with the cops that while he was a compelling (and completely contemptible) suspect, he probably didn't do it.

Cynical investigators will often say, "I don't believe in coincidences." Yet they will also run into seemingly slam-dunk cases in which all the pieces fit, only to get blown out of the water when forensic or other evidence rules out an otherwise "perfect" suspect. Henry Blair Johnson is by no means unique in that regard. Arthur Leigh Allen seemed like a slam dunk for the Zodiac, yet every piece of forensic evidence ever developed (handwriting analysis, fingerprint from the Stine murder scene, writer's palm print from a known Zodiac letter, DNA from the stamps & envelopes) rule him out. It wasn't him. It just wasn't. In that light, we can't conclude it was Johnson either. He's a "perfect" suspect, but cases aren't always that tidy. The cops sure wanted it to be him. It would have put this awful case to bed. But it wasn't.

That leaves me with either A) bikers who took her, used her, and killed her within a few days, then spent a decade covering their tracks by leading her mother on a wild goose chase, or B) a serial killer. Likely we'll never know.

Raging Ranter,
I am also reading the book for a second time, and it has really made me rethink a lot about this case. I also agree that Branch took Susan on a wild goose chase, which makes sense why after awhile he started to get interested in the money. Of course at first he would pretend to not be, because it would make him more believable. But why did he call Susan out of the blue? It makes me believe that he truly did know what happened to Amy, or had a hand in it himself. Keeping up the rumors that Amy was alive could have helped him not get a murder rap, especially since he already had so many court dates for various things. I can't see someone like him, "The Executioner" for the Pagans, being kind to Amy, keeping her alive for years or even months or days. I still lean towards to theory that she was taken by bikers, but I don't think she lived long after that:( I think there are probably multiple people who know what happened to her, even some "ol ladies" or "biker chicks", but they may be too terrified to speak.

If anyone's interested, I found the official website for The Outlaws. If you browse through, you can even find a picture of Big Jim Nolan, the leader.
http://www.outlawsmcflorida.com/Home.htm

My question is, was Branch's death bed confession about Amy valid? Was she taken by the Outlaws or the Pagans? The book says the Outlaws and Pagans sometimes crossed paths, so is there a chance they would trade with each other?

Out of all the cases I have come through, I'm really attached to Amy's, it haunts me in a way I never thought possible.
 
Happy Easter, Amy. Where ever you may be today.
 
I was reminded of this case last weekend when I saw several Outlaws driving along I-77 near Charlotte, NC. As soon as I saw the name of their gang, this case immediately came to mind.

Acting on impulse, I shouted from my car. "Hey--what happened to Amy Billig back in the 70s?" They didn't hear me as they whizzed past my vehicle.

I'm not sure if this was a NC faction or if they were heading back to Florida. I'm also reminded of this case every time I tutor German, as "billig" is the word for "inexpensive" in German.
 
I just finished reading Without A Trace. I am confused as to what to believe happened. It does seem likely that Paul Branch was involved somehow and that he knew her. I am iffy on believing the supposed deathbed story. He never got all that much money or help from Sue Billig and it's hard to believe he would have traveled and worked with her and kept on with the ruse for so many years if he knew Amy was dead.

The Blair guy is interesting and I really think the "Hank" in Amy's diary and Mr Blair are the same person. The fact that they were both going to South America seems too far of a stretch not to be the same person. There is also the photo on her camera of the white van and the possible witness statement that someone saw her get into a van the day she disappeared. At this point I still think her being abducted by a motorcycle gang is more likely than Blair killing her. I do think he was somehow obsessed with her, but I have doubts about him killing her.

Overall, I think she is most likely no longer with us, no matter which of the men was involved. It's sad that her parents had to go to their deaths without ever having any answers, but I believe they are all together again now.
 
I just finished reading Without A Trace. I am confused as to what to believe happened. It does seem likely that Paul Branch was involved somehow and that he knew her. I am iffy on believing the supposed deathbed story. He never got all that much money or help from Sue Billig and it's hard to believe he would have traveled and worked with her and kept on with the ruse for so many years if he knew Amy was dead.

The Blair guy is interesting and I really think the "Hank" in Amy's diary and Mr Blair are the same person. The fact that they were both going to South America seems too far of a stretch not to be the same person. There is also the photo on her camera of the white van and the possible witness statement that someone saw her get into a van the day she disappeared. At this point I still think her being abducted by a motorcycle gang is more likely than Blair killing her. I do think he was somehow obsessed with her, but I have doubts about him killing her.

Overall, I think she is most likely no longer with us, no matter which of the men was involved. It's sad that her parents had to go to their deaths without ever having any answers, but I believe they are all together again now.

I'm glad you read it :) I've read it twice, it's a great read and Amy's mother is so inspiring. I also do not believe the deathbed confession ever happened, it does not make any sense. I believe the author, Greg Aunapu, put together the most likely scenario at the end, with Paul Branch being the one who really took her, handed her off along with his bike to Dishrag Harry and then she got lost in the trade while Paul was in prison. I do not believe Paul was after Susan's money. I honestly believe some of the stuff he said was truthful, and the later sightings of Amy matched up to Pagan areas. Paul was almost killed in Oklahoma when he went to meet Susan to get Amy back, he was barely alive left for dead. I don't believe Amy could have lasted long with people like this.
 
Looking at post #101, she looks so similar to Amy. Was this ever checked out?
 
This is one of my top 10 cases I'd like to see solved. I found the book at a flea market last summer & couldn't put it down. I do honestly believe she was taken by one of the motorcycle gangs, but sadly I don't think she's still with us. :( Although the soup run/store sighting does make me wonder otherwise. I've often wondered just how much Paul Branch really did know about Amy's disappearance, but I also feel he wasn't after money. Then I wonder why a guy like him would keep trying to help her mother for? It just seems like some kind of redemption act to me. Just my 2 cents.
 
SandraLynn,

I've always believed that too. A guy like Paul Branch living the life style he lived could have gotten killed at anytime. I often wonder if that got to him and he was after Amy's mom for redemption. Some of those girls with the bikers got into that life willingly, but they just took Amy against her will. I wonder if that made her different compared to the other girls. And Amy's mother not giving up and stirring up a storm to get her daughter back had to have scared him a little, especially since he already served jail time. A conviction for murder or kidnapping would have put him away for a very long time. Maybe he felt if he kept in touch with her, he'd know what she was up to and "control" her in her search for Amy. The whole scenario with Paul Branch is very baffling. I think there was some truth to things he said, but how much?

Also, Amy's mother seems to have felt there was some truth to his story as well, and I believe in a mother's intuition.
 
Does anyone know if Amy was ever ruled out as being Lady in the Dunes?
 
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?)

I find this the most realistic outcome , (point2) anyone able to help with the details?

Mark.
 
I just read the book. It's a fantastic read, I couldn't put it down! I highly recommend it. You can buy it on Kindle for just $3.93! https://www.amazon.com/Without-Trace-Disappearance-Billig-Mothers/dp/0380814137

After reading the book, I definitely have no doubt Paul Branch was telling the truth. All of the bikers also agreed he would not have went on this cross country goose chase if he wasn't telling the truth. I also don't know how he would have known Amy had a two-inch appendectomy scar on her abdomen when that information hadn't been released to the public.

Also FYI Paul Branch was nearly killed by a bunch of Dishrag Harry's friends who dragged him out of a bar, drove him across the state border, busted both his kneecaps, and shot him twice in the abdomen, and left him for dead. He was almost crippled and had to walk with a cane. If i can recall Dishrag Harry is the person Paul Branch gave Amy to when he went to jail. The first real lead Susan got was on March 17, a person claimed a of theirs went up to Daytona, where they had the motorcycle races. And a motorcycle gang was there. They claimed both Amy and another girl was being held against their will. Was there any other girls who disappeared around March 5, 1974?
 
I just got done reading the book co-written by her mom in 2001 and wow. I don't know what to think. I'm not sure I trust Branch- because quite honestly, every biker she talked to was like "yeah that's Amy!" But yet it never was.. to me that shows that at the time, Amy was a very generic , normal looking teenager. I believe that her disappearance has nothing to do with motorcycle gangs.

As for "Hal Johnson," what a jerk. I need to research him more to see where I stand with his involvement.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I was looking through the folder of Eileen Hynson who went missing from Napa and in the folder someone posted a list of 50 pictures that was found in William Richard Bradford’s possession. I am not able to move that list over here so if someone can I would appreciate it. In my humble opinion, #34 in the pictures resembles Amy and after reading about Bradford he made his way through Florida in the 70’s (unsure of date). What do you all think?

http://murderpedia.org/male.B/b/bradford-william-photos.htm

Edit: Added link
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
178
Guests online
1,777
Total visitors
1,955

Forum statistics

Threads
589,984
Messages
17,928,670
Members
228,033
Latest member
okaydandy
Back
Top