CA CA - Rose Cole, 16, Oakland, 1972 - #1

[HeartofTexas]

Shadow, I just got an email from Yannette and she said to tell you this:

Just let them know is just me under Rose's name

So I don't believe she'll be answering you after all. Again, I'm sorry for the confusion, and I think it's wonderful that you even found her listed under Classmates.com. I'm just sorry it wasn't her.

 

[Shadow205]

Shadow, you sent the message to Rose's SIL Yannette, the one I'm emailing! LOL! She just emailed me the following:


And yes, Rose was originally from Flint, Michigan. Sorry you weren't really contacting Rose... but I appreciate your efforts a lot! Yannette will probably answer you. At first I told her I didn't think it was one of our posters but, after reading your post, I just emailed her back and said I thought it was.

HoT,
Darn!!!! I thought I might have found something!

Goody,
There have been quite of few people reading my post but so far noone has answered.

Itsreenw,
Don't feel bad, I got all excited too!

 

[HeartofTexas]

I got an email from Yannette today and here are a few excerpts from it:

I read all the posting in the forum regarding Rose. Please let them know that we are very grateful to have so many people trying to find Rose.

The wife of the author of either the book or the newspaper gave me the secret code to enter the site. She was very nice and kind when I talked to her a few years ago. Sorry I don't have notes on this; I was so excited to get the code that I just type it directly into the computer. I then posted her picture and checked in often until I got kicked out.

 

[HeartofTexas]

From Yannette's email:

For the person who is going to talk to a Synanon teacher here are a couple of clues about the time Rose was there:

She visited a ranch in Tomales Bay. She describes the place as beautiful and peaceful. She also called it a Boot Camp. She was interviewed to be sent to live there but only wanted to visit. She lived at the Center.

Rose and a girl named Ruth were the youngest ones in Oct 15, 1972. They visited the ranch together.

Fall of 1972. William "Buckwheat" Thomas from the Little Rascals visited the Center. She makes reference to this in another letter. Buckwheat dedicated most of his life to help kids on drugs around the CA area.

 

[itsreenw]

From Yannette's email:

For the person who is going to talk to a Synanon teacher here are a couple of clues about the time Rose was there:

Thanks for that info. If anyone has questions they'd like me to ask the teacher tomorrow please post here or PM me. Later this evening I'll do a complied post with all the questions I intend to ask so we can see if anything''s left out. I don't know how receptive she'll be to the call so I want to ask what I can while I have her on the line.

On the Synanon site, it asks for any names you used while you were there. I haven't read anything that said they used aliases. I am determined to get into that site. I found a blog of Syn & Straight kids but none from Oakland. There were MANY suicides of teens that left the facities all over the country. It made me think of the post on the Anna Waters thread that said there was a rash of suicides at the local high school during that time.

 

[Shadow205]

I'm sorry if this has already been asked/answered but do we have a picture of Rose somewhere?

 

[Shadow205]

A possible Jane Doe at doenetwork

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/324ufca.html

The girl was found in 1979. The estimated age could be right.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Shadow, I thought I posted the two pix of Rose in this forum but I may not have. I'll have to go back to Sharon's thread and retrieve them. The last picture of her is undated... she appears to be anywhere from 10-14 in the picture, but it may well be a picture of her before she left for Synanon at age 15.

The biggest clue in the Jane Doe you referenced is the tongue thrusting. Tongue thrusting is normally hereditary so it's possible one of the siblings has it, too.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Here's the only other picture of her that I've seen (the first picture was of Rose when she was about 2-3 years old). As I said above, this one appears to be anywhere from 10-14 years old.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/o/l/Yannette-Cole/PHOTO/0025photo.html

 

[tompettyfan]

The original story by the Point Reyes Light was done April 16, 1979... don't know if the story is available on microfilm at a library or not, but it would be worth checking out. Here's a synopsis of their story:

http://www.ptreyeslight.com/stories/apr15_04/synanon_story.html

Member Lance Kenton, son of band leader Stan Kenton, and another member named Joe Musico hid a 4.5-foot rattlesnake, whose warning rattles had been cut off, in Morantz’s mailbox.
On the homepage of that website, I noticed in the "names you might recognize" a Lance was listed. My curiosity is killing me..really would like to snoop around in there.

 

[gardenmom]

A possible Jane Doe at doenetwork

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/324ufca.html

The girl was found in 1979. The estimated age could be right.

I can see a similarity. We need to find out when the last correspondence with her family was. A picture that would have been current around the time she went missing would be nice too. Can her sister provide one?

 

[Shadow205]

A possible Jane Doe at doenetwork

http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/324ufca.html

The girl was found in 1979. The estimated age could be right.

If you clink on the link http://www.western-project.com/svenson/sve_img.html it will bring up this picture. I can see some likeness with Rose.

This is amazing what this man Arne Svenson
has done with these recontructions.
<snip> from the article

Svenson: "I wanted them to be looking at us as if they're saying, 'Find me,' and also as if they're looking at their killer."
​

 

[HeartofTexas]

Shadow, you may be on to something. I wrote Yannette last night to ask how old Rose was in the picture above, and she said she was 14, and that it was the last picture they had of her (she left for Synanon at age 15 and turned 16 on December 23 of that year... 1972).

In response to my question on whether anyone else in the family might have "tongue thrusting", here is what Yannette responded:

What's up with the "tongue thrusting" question? Willie had terrible teeth like the first picture in this link http://www.braceface.com/Oralhabit.htm

Jesse had a lot of oral surgeries while at the service. His teeth where just like Willie, Little Jesse, our son, has the same issues. In the initial visit to the orthodontist "tongue thrusting" was explained to us.

I will ask Jesse in the morning but I am almost certain the answer is yes. Why? Did you find a Jane Doe?

Gardenmon, the last correspondence from Rose was written on her birthday (December 23, 1972) but not mailed until February of 1973 because she didn't have a stamp. That's the last time anyone heard from her.

 

[Shadow205]

HeartofTexas, I have a couple of questions if you can try and get the answers from the SIL.

Can she find out the age of Rose in that picture?
It appears to be a school picture. Was it the last year she attended school before going to Synanon. If not, then what school was she attending before leaving for Synanon. Maybe we can get a more updated picture from the school.

When Rose wrote to the family saying that she had ranway from Synanon. Did the family report her as a runaway or missing? At any point, did the family make any type of report with LE?

Did the family always live in Flint, MI and do they still? Are the parents still living?

Sorry for all of the questions.

 

[Shadow205]

HoT,

I was typing my last post when you posted that. Sorry for the duplicate questions. I think that we might be on to something with this Jane Doe.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Shadow, the mother and father are both deceased. Rose never had much of a relationship with her real mother (Willie Mae) after her parents divorced when they were very young. The father remarried a woman named Opal, who became Rose's stepmom (she also later divorced the father but not for a good number of years). Nobody in the family saw the letters from Rose until after the father's death, so I doubt she was ever reported as a runaway. To my knowledge, the only person who has ever tried to locate Rose is the SIL Yannette.

The family did live in Flint, MI. I know the SIL does not live there.. and I know the siblings all live in different states now (there were originally 3 siblings in the family... Pose, Jesse, and Rose... but then the father adopted Opal's 3 kids who were Billy, Brenda and Norma).

The father died in 1991.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Shadow... two things that concern me. Rose's hair was brown and doesn't appear to be too wavy in her last picture (Doe mentions blonde to light brown hair and wavy). Also, the Doe report says blue eyes, and the SIL said she had green/hazel eyes. Not sure how much importance to place on these discrepancies but thought I would mention them.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Shadow, to answer your earlier question, I'm assuming after reading the following that she went to Emerson Junior High.

Yannette emailed me this just a few minutes ago:

From:
Barbara (view profile)
To:
Rose Cole
Sent:
March 27, 2006 09:04:07 AM Subject:
RE: Looking for Rose Cole


Jesse-

Hi- I knew Rose at Emerson and I liked her so very
much. When I got to Northern I just assumed the
reason I hadn't seen her was because we weren't in any
classes together.

I have lived in Oregon since 1977 and have kept in
touch with some of the people I went to school with at
Northern . . . even fewer from Emerson but none the
less I will try and contact them about Rose.

Please let me know if there is anything you think I
might be able to do to help and I would be very
interested in knowing your progress. She and your
family will be in my prayers.

-Barbara -

 

[Richard]

What was her family's address in Flint, Michigan? What Jr. High School and High Schools did she attend?

I lived in Flint during my Junior High Days and later came back to teach in one of the Flint High Schools in January 1972. I have also been to Oakland, CA in the mid 1970's. Where was this cult located?

 

[Shadow205]

Richard,

Rose attended Emerson Jr. High in Flint, MI. She never made it to high school. She was sent to Synanon when she was 15.

I found this for one of the Synanon locations:

The Club Casa del Mar, a large beachside 1926 hotel in Santa Monica, was purchased and used as a headquarters and dormitory for drug treatment. Children were reared communally in the Synanon School, and juveniles were often sent to Synanon by the courts.

more on Synanon
Beginning in 1974 the authorities began to question Synanon's promises and practices. The concept of "lifetime rehabilitation" did not agree with therapeutic norms, and it was alleged that the group was running an unauthorized medical clinic, and that on remote properties in California such as Tomales Bay in Marin County and Badger, Tulare County, the organization had built unpermitted buildings, a trash dump, and an airstrip. Tax issues came up. To dodge these accusations Dederich declared that Synanon was a tax exempt religious organization, the "Church of Synanon."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synanon