Identified! Canada - Casselman, Ont, 'Nation River Lady' WhtFem 239UFON, 25-50, May'75 *POI charged* - Jewell Parchman Langford

[Cedars]

Unsavoury topic, but can you imagine keeping her body at the Morgue for all these years?

According to this article, she had been buried as an unidentified person in Ontario. In the CBC French article, it says the family had her remains disinterred and then cremated, so could be sent for burial to the US.

Nation River Lady: Former Montrealer named as suspect in Ontario cold case

Rodney Nichols, who now lives in Florida, has been named as a suspect in death of Jewell Parchman Langford, a successful businesswoman from Tennessee.

montrealgazette.com

I'm still not clear why this news wasn't released when killer charged last year. Was it due to his age?

"Rodney Nichols, 81, of Hollywood, Florida, was charged with murder last year, but the charge was not announced at the time so as to not jeopardize his extradition from the United States. " Florida man arrested after woman found floating in Canadian river in 1975 finally identified

Of course, it was impossible for Ontario police to arrest him. IMO they wanted to wait to make the announcement after he'd been arrested by US police and scheduled to face an extradition hearing that they were confident they would win.

It's not at all clear to me that he has yet been arrested in the US or sent for extradition, there's no American articles that say that. Even the local Hollywood, Florida news outlet is just quoting Canadian media. Local News | Miami News, Fort Lauderdale, Florida News | WPLG Local 10

Perhaps the US authorities are stalling for some reason, and OPP have now made the announcement to try to force their hand.

JMO

 

[AddyFinch]

Thanks for clearly the exhumation up. One would imagine the body count could get quite high in the morgue over the years.
The dragging of heels re extradition of murderer is strange, and lack of info???

 

[AddyFinch]

The accused also was associated with Westmount High, wondering if he attended school there, and if by small chance he went to L A. California?
Yes, slightly curious if he knew murdered Reet J. speculation, imo. rbbm

''Quebec court records indicate that Nichols lived in Côte-des-Neiges during the 1970s.

Good thinking! She visited Montreal too!
Cotes des neiges and Westmount are close neighbours. It used to be an affluent area, maybe family funds allowed for travel. Nichols would have been 28 when Reet body found.

 

[dotr]

 

[AddyFinch]

I'm confused. I read she was married. Was she having a romantic relationship with Mr Nichols? Why did husband not report her missing? Was it due to her affair? Wouldn't this be motive for an angry husband to have killed her? Where is the husband now?

 

[dotr]

I'm confused. I read she was married. Was she having a romantic relationship with Mr Nichols? Why did husband not report her missing? Was it due to her affair? Wouldn't this be motive for an angry husband to have killed her? Where is the husband now?

rbbm

Man charged with murdering beloved businesswoman who was found dead in river decades ago

After almost five decades, police have identified the remains of a woman discovered dead in a river, and they've charged a man as the alleged killer.

lawandcrime.com

“So adored in life, that when her ex-husband of many years learned of her disappearance, [he] rallied with her mother, siblings, and friends to search for her,” Mulcock said in a media announcement.

Langford and her ex-husband ran a successful health spa together in the U.S. after they divorced.

“In this respect, she truly was a woman ahead of her time,” Mulcock said of the businesswoman.

 

[Betty P]

So she went to Montreal for a business trip.

She knew Rodney Nichols, of Hollywood, FL and had lived with him for a short period of time. Apparently, he made the trip with her? More will come out at trial, according to her family. It doesn't sound as though they know many of those details, either.

Florida man arrested after woman found floating in Canadian river in 1975 finally identified

The woman had been known for decades only as the “Nation River Lady” after the remains were found on May 3, 1975.

www.wesh.com

Rodney Nichols, 81, of Hollywood, Florida, was charged with murder last year, but the charge was not announced at the time so as to not jeopardize his extradition from the United States. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported that Nichols has yet to appear in court in connection with the charge and has not entered a plea.

 

[AddyFinch]

Dotr ^^^^ Thanks for clearing the waters!

 

[Cedars]

So she went to Montreal for a business trip.

She knew Rodney Nichols, of Hollywood, FL and had lived with him for a short period of time. Apparently, he made the trip with her? More will come out at trial, according to her family. It doesn't sound as though they know many of those details, either.

Florida man arrested after woman found floating in Canadian river in 1975 finally identified

The woman had been known for decades only as the “Nation River Lady” after the remains were found on May 3, 1975.

www.wesh.com

An article indicates he lived in Montreal at the time "Quebec court records indicate that Nichols lived in Côte-des-Neiges (a neighbourhood) during the 1970s." Nation River Lady: Former Montrealer named as suspect in Ontario cold case

So one mystery is how she'd met him. Did she go to Montreal to be with him, or did she meet him there?

He lives in Florida now - which many from Montreal would love to do, but they can only stay 6 months. So I think he must have either been an American all along, or later got a green card and naturalized.

JMO

 

[Betty P]

An article indicates he lived in Montreal at the time "Quebec court records indicate that Nichols lived in Côte-des-Neiges (a neighbourhood) during the 1970s." Nation River Lady: Former Montrealer named as suspect in Ontario cold case

So one mystery is how she'd met him. Did she go to Montreal to be with him, or did she meet him there?

He lives in Florida now - which many from Montreal would love to do, but they can only stay 6 months. So I think he must have either been an American all along, or later got a green card and naturalized.

JMO

I was just wondering the same thing. I checked Newspapers.com and there were a few mentions of him involved with a local rugby team in Montreal. Mostly quotes from their team winning, etc. The last of those articles was in 1974. Could be he went to the US and met Ms. Langford then. Not sure where they met in the US, but its possible he was also a fitness buff and met her somehow through her business.

If they briefly lived together, perhaps it was in the US. He then had to return to Montreal, but convinced her to come visit him there. Maybe he was going to convince her to invest in a new fitness center in Montreal.

Clipping about court case in Montreal

The Gazette 27 Mar 1974, page 35 - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from The Gazette dated 27 Mar 1974, page 35.

www.newspapers.com

Clipping about playing rugby in Montreal in 1973

 

[Springrain]

Interesting, Westmount is a very, very wealthy area of Montreal (very familiar with the area - spent a large portion of my childhood there).

 

[dotr]

Started a thread for this missing woman who had previously been thought to be the Nation River Doe due to several similarities.rbbm

CANADA - Canada- Anne Moran, 30, Irish nurse, missing from College St. apt., husband thinks she joined cult, Toronto, approx. 1 January 1970 *New initiative*

Lengthy article. By Peter EdwardsStaff Reporter Sat., July 8, 2023 https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2023/07/08/how-new-dna-tech-solved-the-nation-river-lady-mystery-but-not-this-familys-heartbreak.html ''An Irish family hasn’t given up hope of discovering the fate of a relative who vanished...

www.websleuths.com

How new DNA tech solved the ‘Nation River Lady’ mystery — but not this family’s heartbreak

“We will continue to search for Anne,” says the niece of Toronto nurse Anne Moran, the missing person they’d hoped would be identified as the “Nation River Lady,” but wasn’t.

www.thestar.com

July 8 2023
''An Irish family hasn’t given up hope of discovering the fate of a relative who vanished from Toronto almost 50 years ago — even though their prime hunch was dashed this week by DNA testing.

The family of nursing assistant Anne Moran had been pinning their hopes on the emerging genetic genealogy technology to prove she was the “Nation River Lady” — the woman at the centre of one of this province’s most puzzling unsolved mysteries.

Moran disappeared from her College Street apartment sometime in the early 1970s and hasn’t been seen since, her niece Annie McKay said. Moran’s family had suspected that she might be the Nation River Lady, whose body was discovered in a river near Ottawa in 1975.''

 

[Cedars]

Interesting, Westmount is a very, very wealthy area of Montreal (very familiar with the area - spent a large portion of my childhood there).

Yes, (I lived there too for elementary school, tho not wealthy!), but while the club was (is) based/funded out of a private school there, I doubt they've ever restricted players to only people that live in the area.

But I noticed, while the Gazette says he lived in Cote-de-neige (a cheap university area with lots of apartments), the address associated with the court case is in a very nice suburb of Montreal...69 Kirkwood, Beaconsfield....so perhaps he was well off.

JMO

 

[Betty P]

Yes, (I lived there too for elementary school, tho not wealthy!), but while the club was (is) based/funded out of a private school there, I doubt they've ever restricted players to only people that live in the area.

But I noticed, while the Gazette says he lived in Cote-de-neige (a cheap university area with lots of apartments), the address associated with the court case is in a very nice suburb of Montreal...69 Kirkwood, Beaconsfield....so perhaps he was well off.

JMO

Thanks for checking to see what kind of neighborhood he was living in. The house at that address today looks rather new, so probably isn't the original one. The neighborhood, as you say, is very nice.

69 Av. Kirkwood · 69 Av. Kirkwood, Beaconsfield, QC H9W 5L3, Canada

Building

www.google.com

I wonder if he was the kind of guy who flirted and chased divorced or widowed women with money? I wish we could find an older photo of him. I wonder who he was suing in court and why?

 

[AndrewM71]

Yes, (I lived there too for elementary school, tho not wealthy!), but while the club was (is) based/funded out of a private school there, I doubt they've ever restricted players to only people that live in the area.

But I noticed, while the Gazette says he lived in Cote-de-neige (a cheap university area with lots of apartments), the address associated with the court case is in a very nice suburb of Montreal...69 Kirkwood, Beaconsfield....so perhaps he was well off.

JMO

What was the court case about?

 

[Cedars]

What was the court case about?

Doesn't say, it was just a newspaper notice in 1974 for an upcoming case.

It's linked in BettyP's post above.

Nichols was suing another man, but that person had disappeared from his known address. So I guess since he couldn't be served directly, it was printed in the paper.

I notice it was for Superior Court, which hears only high value cases, not petty claims.

Possibly there might be records at a court house...

JMO

 

[AndrewM71]

If this was the old days of big media budgets, at least the Gazette and CBC/RC would have a reporter in Florida finding out anything they could about Nichols, talking to neighbours etc. Instead they are just googling and asking for info on Twitter.

 

[AndrewM71]

Doesn't say, it was just a newspaper notice in 1974 for an upcoming case.

It's linked in BettyP's post above.

Nichols was suing another man, but that person had disappeared from his known address. So I guess since he couldn't be served directly, it was printed in the paper.

I notice it was for Superior Court, which hears only high value cases, not petty claims.

Possibly there might be records at a court house...

JMO

Sorry I plain missed it right there in the post.

I sent the information to a journalist to see if they will chase it down.

 

[Betty P]

Sorry I plain missed it right there in the post.

I sent the information to a journalist to see if they will chase it down.

Just curious about his citizenship status. Was he born in Canada? If he's a Canadian citizen, why is he in a nursing home in FL? Perhaps he later became a US citizen.

I'm just throwing out questions, none of us know yet. With these types you always wonder if they have other victims.

 

[Cedars]

Just curious about his citizenship status. Was he born in Canada? If he's a Canadian citizen, why is he in a nursing home in FL? Perhaps he later became a US citizen.

I'm just throwing out questions, none of us know yet. With these types you always wonder if they have other victims.

IMO, if he was a Canadian citizen they'd just deport him for outstaying the strict 6 mo annual limit.

I think he maybe had a strong motivation to move to the US in the mid-70's...Maybe it was easier then.

Just like sometimes people who find out they're being investigated or charged, suddenly develop health problems they didn't have before. Recently saw this in the Marion Barton case, and prosecutors alleged the Golden State killer was not feeble, like he presented himself in court.

JMO