LA LA - Bertha Yvonne Gould, 14, Morgan City, 11 May 1978

[MadMcGoo]

Bertha Yvonne Gould

Date of Last Contact: May 11, 1978
Missing From: Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age: 14 Years
Date of Birth: March 27, 1964
Height: 5' 1" (61 Inches)
Weight: 89 lbs
Hair Color: Brown; Shoulder length wavy hair
Eye Color: Hazel

Clothing: Blue jeans and a printed pullover style shirt

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Bertha Gould was a 14-year-old that was a murder victim attributed to serial killer Robert Carl Hohenberger. She was abducted along with a friend Judy Adams (16) on May 11, 1978 walking home on Victor II Blvd. in Morgan City, Louisiana leaving a fair. Her body has never been found.

Investigating Agencies
Morgan City Police Department
Sergeant Travis Trigg (985) 380-4605
Agency Case Number: 4471B

Sources

• NamUs MP65869
• Find A Grave
• Ancestry.com
• The Yazoo Herald
• The Daily Review

 

[MadMcGoo]

The Yazoo Daily Herald | May 16, 1978

 

[MadMcGoo]

Could Bertha be Iola (Texas) Jane Doe?


Bertha UID
May 1978 October 29, 1981 (PMI: up to 5 years)
Morgan City, Louisiana Iola, Texas
14 years old 13-19 years old
5’1” 5’3”
89 lbs. 110 lbs
Brown Red/Auburn hair

 

[MadMcGoo]

The Charley Project has added Bertha...
Bertha Yvonne Gould – The Charley Project

Details of Disappearance
Bertha was last seen in Morgan City, Louisiana at 11:30 p.m. May 11, 1978. She and a friend, fifteen-year-old Judy Ann Adams, were walking home from the Central Catholic High School fair on the grounds of the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium. A witness saw both girls get into a white car driven by a strange man.

A photo of Judy is posted with this case summary. Her body was found in a septic tank in Bayou Vista, Louisiana two weeks later. A second body in the tank was identified as nineteen-year-old Bridget Cantrell Sons, who was abducted during a grocery store robbery in April 1978. Both teenagers had been bound and strangled. The body of Gordon M. Canella Jr., the seventeen-year-old boy who was abducted with Bridget, was found in a cane field. Bertha, however, has never been located.

Authorities believe Judy, Bridget, Gordon and Bertha were all victims of the serial killer Robert Carl Hohenberger, a former sheriff's deputy from California. He had abducted and raped four women in California, escaped from prison there and went to Louisiana, where he lived under an alias name.

A photo of Hohenberger is posted with this case summary. Investigators believe he used his police badge to lure victims to their deaths. He may have killed up to seven people over a three-month period before his death in June 1978. He took his own life when the police tried to arrest him.

Bertha lived in Yazoo City, Mississippi with her sister until early 1978, when she moved to Morgan City to live with her parents. She and Mary Leah Rodermund, who disappeared in March of that year, are the only presumed victims of Hohenberger who are still missing.

 

[Owutatangledweb]

What an EVIL EVIL man!!!!

 

[MadMcGoo]

Refreshing for Bertha...

 

[Bit of hope]

What if Bertha is Arroyo Grande Jane Doe?

Who Was Arroyo Grande Jane Doe?

Bertha UID
May 1978 October 5, 1980 (PMI: 24 hours)
Morgan City, Louisiana Henderson, Clark County Nevada
14 years old 14-25 years old
5’1” 5’2”
89 lbs. 103 - 110 lbs
Hair brown Light Brownish-Blonde hair
Eye color Hazel Blue or green or hazel

For Arroyo Jane Doe there are all kinds of identifiers, so it should be possible to rule her in or out if there are for Bertha.

Are we sure this picture in Bertha's file is Bertha? I always thought it was Mary Leah Rodermund. When searching on Internet this picture pops up a lot of times being Leah.

 

[MadMcGoo]

What if Bertha is Arroyo Grande Jane Doe?

Who Was Arroyo Grande Jane Doe?

Bertha UID
May 1978 October 5, 1980 (PMI: 24 hours)
Morgan City, Louisiana Henderson, Clark County Nevada
14 years old 14-25 years old
5’1” 5’2”
89 lbs. 103 - 110 lbs
Hair brown Light Brownish-Blonde hair
Eye color Hazel Blue or green or hazel

For Arroyo Jane Doe there are all kinds of identifiers, so it should be possible to rule her in or out if there are for Bertha.

Are we sure this picture in Bertha's file is Bertha? I always thought it was Mary Leah Rodermund. When searching on Internet this picture pops up a lot of times being Leah.

Hmmm. I hadn’t considered AGJD before. I don’t immediately see it, but the stats do fit.

I’m pretty sure that photo is of her. Although it is hard to see her face.

 

[AutumnEveHodge]

Just turned in this match. Walker County TX Doe. November 1 1980.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[MadMcGoo]

Just turned in this match. Walker County TX Doe. November 1 1980.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Thank you for taking the time to send this in! Keep us updated.

 

[AutumnEveHodge]

Thank you for taking the time to send this in! Keep us updated.

I still haven't heard anything back. But neither case has been excluded from each other on NamUs. I don't know where else to look besides there

 

[MadMcGoo]

I still haven't heard anything back. But neither case has been excluded from each other on NamUs. I don't know where else to look besides there

That’s probably the best place! Unless they contact you directly with an update, which usually isn’t the case in my experience. It will probably take some time to make a comparison though. Until then, we wait.

 

[AutumnEveHodge]

I received a email confirming they did receive the files I sent. I asked to be contacted if it is a match as I would still be researching this case. I guess we will see..

 

[madamx]

Name: Bertha Gould
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: May 11, 1978
Location Last Seen: Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana

Physical Description
Date of Birth: March 27, 1964
Age: 14 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 89 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown, Short
Eye Color: Hazel
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Not Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Blue jeans, Printed pullover style shirt
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

 

[Shanaynay38]

What if Bertha is Arroyo Grande Jane Doe?

Who Was Arroyo Grande Jane Doe?

Bertha UID
May 1978 October 5, 1980 (PMI: 24 hours)
Morgan City, Louisiana Henderson, Clark County Nevada
14 years old 14-25 years old
5’1” 5’2”
89 lbs. 103 - 110 lbs
Hair brown Light Brownish-Blonde hair
Eye color Hazel Blue or green or hazel

For Arroyo Jane Doe there are all kinds of identifiers, so it should be possible to rule her in or out if there are for Bertha.

Are we sure this picture in Bertha's file is Bertha? I always thought it was Mary Leah Rodermund. When searching on Internet this picture pops up a lot of times being Leah.

Yes this is Bertha. This is when she won a beauty pageant. My Aunt Delphine did her hair. She was so beautiful & talented!

 

[Bit of hope]

Name: Bertha Gould
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: May 11, 1978
Location Last Seen: Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana

Physical Description
Date of Birth: March 27, 1964
Age: 14 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 89 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown, Short
Eye Color: Hazel
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Not Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Blue jeans, Printed pullover style shirt
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

I noticed that in the paper clipping posted upthread the clothing description of what Bertha was wearing when she went missing is different from the above. According to the paper clipping Bertha was wearing (light) green slacks with green stripes and a dark green pullover and Judy was wearing blue jeans and a white sweater with a pink and blue floral design. Did media mixed them up?

Bertha Yvonne Gould - Cold Case Missing (1978)

Bertha Yvonne Gould was last seen 05/11/78 walking home from a church fair in Morgan City, Louisiana. She was 14-years-old. Foul play is suspected.

sleuthandjustice.com

Bertha and Judy were both walking home on Victor II Blvd, Morgan City on 5/11/1978 when they went missing. Mary Rodermund went missing 3/2/1978 from the B&G Drugstore parking lot on Victor II Blvd, Morgan City.

It's puzzling that Judy Ann Adams's body (missing together with Bertha) was found in a welding shop's cylindrical industrial septic tank in Bayou Vista, on 5/25/1978. A second body in the tank was identified as nineteen-year-old Bridget Cantrell Sons. She was abducted during a robbery that took place in the Penny Saver Store in Bayou Vista on 4/27/1978.

Another teenager named Gordon M. Cannella Jr. was also abducted with Bridget from the store. His body was found on 5/27/1978 in a Calumet sugarcane field by a farmer. It was buried there (Per paper clippings) On his Find a Grave it is stated that he died on 4/27/1978 (age 17) in Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, USA. Gordon Mark Cannella (1960-1978) - Find a Grave...

Hohenberger was working as a welder at a Morgan City Welding Company R&N service near Bayou Tech (Bayou Vista) under the alias Frank Henry Green at the time. He lived and worked at the welder shop where the bodies were found. It seems he was doing odd jobs from December 1977 in the area to the day he fled, approx. a week before the time LE discovered the remains of the girls. He fatally shot himself on 5/31/1978 in Tacoma, Washington.

From My heritage. May 26 1978, The Bonham Daily Favorite


IMO his "dumping ground" must be somewhere in the area beneath. I don't know why but I have the feeling the remains of Bertha and Mary might be together somewhere. I find it strange that Bertha wasn't in the septic tank too. What could be the reason? Could he have taking off with her in the trunk of his car?

 

[Pennysmom1]

Bertha Yvonne Gould - Cold Case Missing (1978)

Bertha Yvonne Gould was last seen 05/11/78 walking home from a church fair in Morgan City, Louisiana. She was 14-years-old. Foul play is suspected.

sleuthandjustice.com

Bertha Yvonne Gould

Left and Right: Bertha circa, 1978 Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance Missing Since: May 11, 1978 Missing From: Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana Classification: Non-Family Abduction D…

rcccmcc.com

Bertha Gould (1964-1978) - Find a Grave Memorial

Bertha Gould was a 14-year-old that was a murder victim attributed to serial killer Robert Carl Hohenberger. She was abducted along with a friend Judy Adams on May 11, 1978 walking home on Victor II Blvd. in Morgan City, Louisiana leaving a fair. Her body was never found.

www.findagrave.com