MI MI - Mary Jean McLaughlin, 27, Lake Odessa, 1965

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Very specific! I couldn’t get the link to work so I wasn’t sure exactly what it said. Interesting. I know Donald is her son, IIRC he’s listed on CP as being the one she visited at school before disappearing. Not sure about Nancy, but there are a few Hazels. And all of her siblings have died.

I’m curious why she chose to take a different last name when her mother passed. Why “Blair” of all the families she supposedly lived with before marrying and why didn’t the siblings change their names. I guess there are several explanations. I don’t know, I get a sense the remaining family may be the key.
 
The different names and dob makes it hard to search records for her. The above link is very useful for a indication of her life when she left. Perhaps some siblings did know more but respected she may have mental issues and/or have been afraid of her husband.

Mary Jane BEATTY b. June 13 ,1937 Manistee co.,Michigan to Willard BEATTY and Hazel "May" Reeves BEATTY. Raise by BLAIR family of Lake Odessa ,Michiagn after her mother died. In 1957 she married Carlon MCLAUGHLIN and they had 5 children. In 1965 she dissappeared from Lake Odessa. She had a new baby and was believed to be suffering from Depression and years of abuse. She may not remember who she is. May be living in Oregon and calling herself Hazel SHAW. Might be married to a Grant SHAW.She has nothing to fear anymore and we will come bring her home if she wishes. call Nancy and Donald
 
Yes, that link worked, thank you. And I found it on Ancestry. The different names and DOB are certainly making it difficult. I think at this point it may be worth contacting Donald and Nancy. I don’t mind sending them an email and offering assistance or finding any additional information they may want to offer. The original post was created in 2002, quite a while ago, but maybe it’s been sitting there waiting for a few websleuths to stumble upon it!

What do y’all think?
 
This is my first time reaching out to a family member like this, so I hope I didn’t trip over my own tongue when writing the email, but here is what I sent to the email address...

Hi Donald!

I saw your post on Ancestry and Rootsweb and wanted to reach out to you. As I understand it, you are Mary Jean and Carlon’s son. I research missing person cases in my free time, as I have a missing relative also. I’ve grown quite attached to your mother’s case and was hoping I could offer my assistance. I wanted to send this brief email and verify that it was still an active email address.
If so, please let me know!
-xxxxxx
 
Just checked my Spam box... :(
“This message was created automatically by the mail system (ecelerity). A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:
>>> dlmu757@cablespeed.com (after RCPT TO): 550-5.1.1 The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.”
 
  • mary_jean_mclaughlin_2.jpg
Mary Jean McLaughlin, circa 1965

  • Missing Since 06/01/1965
  • Missing From Lake Odessa, Michigan
  • Classification Endangered Missing
  • Sex Female
  • Race White
  • Date of Birth 06/13/1938 (81)
  • Age 38 years old
  • Height and Weight 5'5 - 5'7, 150 - 160 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Mary may wear eyeglasses. Her maiden name is Beatty, and she may use the last name Blair.
Details of Disappearance

Mary was last seen in Lake Odessa, Michigan sometime in the second half of 1965. Her oldest son, Donald McLaughlin, who was eight years old at the time, recalls that his mother visited him at school and told him she was going away for awhile but would eventually return.

Mary apparently traveled to her sister's home in Muskegon, Michigan afterward, and left a photograph there. She disappeared afterwards and has never been heard from again. She was possibly driving a dark blue Ford Falcon or Mercury Comet at the time of her disappearance. Donald filed a missing persons report for his mother in 2002, thirty-seven years later.

Donald and some of Mary's neighbors stated that she was having marital problems in 1965. Donald described Mary's husband, his father Carlon Arden McLaughlin, as a violent man. Carlon and Mary fought frequently and it was alleged that Mary had extramarital affairs. Carlon moved to Mississippi after his wife's disappearance.

Mary has five children. She lived with several foster families, including Carlon's parents, from the age of eight until her marriage. She is a 1957 graduate of Lakewood High School. There has been no activity on her Social Security number since around the time she vanished, and identity and public record checks have turned up nothing either.

Donald believes his mother left of her own accord, but was murdered sometime afterwards. Investigators believe Mary either died long ago, or changed her identity so completely that she cannot be found. Her case remains unsolved.

Investigating Agency
  • Lake Odessa Police Department 616-374-8844
  • Michigan State Police 616-527-3600
Source Information
 
MadMcGoo said:
Thank you Starr! :)

This match seems impossible at first glance, for several reasons. One of them being the majority of the reconstructions of Jane Doe being done in a manner that I think may be somewhat deceptive. Or could be deceiving, rather. Upon first glance - and this of course is just my opinion - it would seem as though we should be looking for a black/African American woman.

However, depending on the source (and the reconstruction), this decedent is described as either being Hispanic with black admixture, multiple, White/Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino, and initially believed to be of black and Native American descent. Which largely opens up the possibilities.

Then there’s Mary. She is listed as being a white/Caucasian female on most everything I’ve found pertaining to her. Except for The Doe Network - she is listed as a “Native female”. I take it that doesn’t mean she’s native to being female :)p) rather she, at some point or in some place, was recorded as being Caucasian with another unspecified admixture. Native American possibly. Or it was a massive typo and I’ll feel extra silly.

Looking at the photos of Mary that are attached to all of her missing person profiles, she does look to be of mixed race/ethnicity. I initially thought it could be Asian but after seeing more photos of her, I see something totally different. I’m not sure what, but I don’t see Asian. Anyway, that’s just my subjective, untrained observation.

Mysterious Mary... LOL ... I’m trying to understand the dynamics of her life and how and when the 3 surnames come in to play. From what I think I’ve gathered, she was born in 1938 “Mary Jean Beatty”. In 1947, at the age of 8 almost 9, her mother died. And this where I guess I’m confused - According to The Charley Project, “She lived with several foster families, including Carlon's [her husband] parents, from the age of eight until her marriage.”

So, this is where the name “Blair” comes from, one of her foster families. Going back a few generations I saw no Blairs on either Mary’s parent’s sides or Carlon’s. Now we have “Mary Jane Blair/Blaire”. That is what she is listed as in the 1955 Lake Odessa, MI yearbook. (This all seems irrelevant and I’m trying to get to the point as quickly as possible) But the photos I found of Mary - and I’m quite positive it is this Mary - were from 1953/1954 Solon, Iowa and 1956 Atkins, Iowa yearbooks. Then, reportedly she graduated from Lake Odessa HS in 1957.

So, we’ve got
- Mary Jean Beatty in Iowa 1953 (7th grade)
- Mary Jean Beatty in Iowa 1954 (8th grade)
- Mary Jane Blair/Blaire in Michigan 1955 (10th grade)
- Mary Jean Beatty in Iowa 1956 (10th grade)
- Mary Jane Blair in Michigan 1957 (12th grade)
(and there’s no book for 1957 that I could find)

****Ugh! Now I’m confusing myself...I’m going to create a quick (yah right) little tree for Mary and hopefully figure out where I’m messing things up :oops:)****

Oh, before I forget, I always thought that Mary knew she was saying goodbye to her son for the last time...whether it be she knew someone else was going to do something to her or she was going to do something to herself, I feel like she knew. This particular Doe’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. Some reports say homicide some say suicide - I don’t think it really could be determined. So, that’s another reason I believe it to be Mary.

Now I’m going to attempt to figure out...something. lol
Click to expand...

This is why I was looking her up! I had the same idea that it might be her, if anyone has any info on the family, will they share please? I'd love to ask questions
 
dandylione said:
This is why I was looking her up! I had the same idea that it might be her, if anyone has any info on the family, will they share please? I'd love to ask questions
Click to expand...
I had no luck with the email addresses that Donald listed on the message boards! I’m not brave enough to try the phone number! Other than that, I could not find anyone else to contact as far as family goes! I’m interested in knowing more about her though!
 
dandylione said:
I could try the phone number if you have it!
Click to expand...
That would be awesome!
This seems to be the most recent and commonly posted info by Donald...(the email, however, is the one that is no longer active - the one I tried)

alb1on said:
This may be a line to pursue if anything can be found (and I have found no trace on Ancestry). The message on rootsweb is very specific;
"May be living in Oregon and calling herself Hazel SHAW. Might be married to a Grant SHAW.She has nothing to fear anymore and we will come bring her home if she wishes. call Nancy and Donald McLaughlin at 616-374-1279 or e-mail dlmu757(a)cablespeed.com".
And it seems to be from family members (child?) who should be best placed to have such knowledge. There must be a reason for being so specific both about the name change (Hazel was one of her mothers forenames) and the name for the possible husband. Perhap's one of her siblings (who all seem to have died since the message) had some knowledge?
Click to expand...
 
Cincinnati Kid said:
Just wondering why the oldest won waited until 2002 to file a missing persons report for her. Even if he had to wait until he was 18 or even 21, it could have been done many years earlier. Why didn't her husband file something after she went missing? You could consider she just wanted out of whatever she was dealing with, but it seems unusual for a woman to just up and leave her children whether it's 1965 or 2013.
Click to expand...

Hello, I am married to the oldist son, Donald. He did not report her missing, I did. The children were raised to believe their mother was a horrible person who abandoned them. Mary's husband, Carlon Mclaughlin, was violent child abuser and his family had money to cover up his deeds. I reported her missing because I needed a missing person's case file number to get on a missing person's data file. We still thought she ran off at that time. It now looks like she was murdered. Much of what has been in the papers is incorrect. Nancy Mclaughlin
 
Nancysdharma said:
Hello, I am married to the oldist son, Donald. He did not report her missing, I did. The children were raised to believe their mother was a horrible person who abandoned them. Mary's husband, Carlon Mclaughlin, was violent child abuser and his family had money to cover up his deeds. I reported her missing because I needed a missing person's case file number to get on a missing person's data file. We still thought she ran off at that time. It now looks like she was murdered. Much of what has been in the papers is incorrect. Nancy Mclaughlin
Click to expand...
Welcome to Websleuths, Nancy! Thank you so much for joining this forum and discussion about Mary Jean!

I’m so sorry that any misinformation has been posted or discussed not just here, but anywhere. Speaking for myself, although I think we’d all agree, it was not done intentionally. I’m glad you’re here now and can clear the record about Mary Jean’s disappearance.

As for the terms and conditions of this particular site, I believe there is a simple process you must go through in order to become a “verified insider”, meaning you are basically considered a source of information. Whereas normally you’d need to provide a link verifying the information given. I’m not sure of the specifics, hopefully someone more familiar will see this and explain it better than I’m able to.

There are many great people here wanting to help find answers for what happened to Mary Jean! Again, welcome and thank you for joining. I’m wish we were meeting under different circumstances.
 
Mary Jane Beaty AKA Mary Jean Blair AKA Mary Jean Mclaughlin.

Answers to questions and corrections

  1. Her name: She was born Mary Jane Beaty. Her mother and older sister died on the same day when she was 10. Her father sent her to live with Sam and Goldie Blair at Lake Odessa. We have never found out why Blairs. They took in kids and used them as labor and treated them badly. She didn't like her middle name and so just started calling herself Mary Jean Blair. She was never in the foster care system.

  2. WHO IS HAZEL SHAW? No one. She was a person just picked by a unethical investigator. The family hired him and he claimed Mary changed her name to Hazel Shaw and moved to Klatskanie OR. There is a poor woman there by that name but she has nothing to do with Mary. I don't know if the investigator knew Mary's mother was named Hazel or it was coincidence.

    Another investogator told the family she was right in town the whole time! Apparently that investigator had never been a town that is 5 blocks long and 5 blocks wide. She couldn't have stayed hiden for a week, let alone decades.

  3. Why take the name Blair of all the families she lived with? She only lived with Blairs and Mclaughlins. Blairs all through school, then when Mary got pregnant Goldie Blair threw her out and Mary moved in with the parents of Carlon Mclaughlin. After her family selling her into servitude she probably didn't want to be a Beaty anymore.

  4. What about the Beatys helping her out? Mary's birth family weren't exactly a close and loving family. None of the older siblings offered to take her in apparently. No one made much attempt to visit her in Lake Odessa over the years. One sister, Kathleen Linstrom, has told a lot of stories about how she tried to see the kids and was turned away and Mary came and told her she was leaving Carl etc. Kathleen never had children and when Marys girls sought her out I think she didn't want to admit that no one ever looked into what happened to Mary or checked on her over the years. In short I think Kathleen told lies so the Mary's daughters would like her.

  5. DNA Her son and daughter have both had DNA taken by the police and put in a data base. There was a body found in Florida not long after she disappeard that they wanted to checkout. They never contacted us with any info.

  6. Why didn't her son, Donald, report her for so long? Donald didn't report her missing at all. I did. I wanted to get on a unclaimed body database and it required a missing persons case number. At the time I didn't consider her missing , just staying away. No one knew she was actually missing until the police came to us with questions. Her children were raised by Carlon Mclaughlin who was a vicious, abusive man. All they ever heard was that she was a worthless *advertiser censored* who abandoned them and no one ever questioned it. Mary's youngest child, Suzanne, was given to Carls brother, Nelson. When Suzanne was terminally ill that is when the family hired investigators to try and locate Mary. It was years after that when I reported her missing.

  7. Why didn't her siblings change their names? They were adults when Mary was sent away.

  8. Age. The April 6, 1940 Census record says she is 2 at that time. Any records she left were destroyed by Carl.
Interesting facts.

I've known Donald since we were kids. I remember strange things his father said.

He once said, “She's never coming back, mother and I made sure of it”. I don't know what he meant but Carl and his brother got into a lot of trouble and their mother always paid to get them out. Their parents were respected business owners in a small town and no one questioned their story of where Mary went.

Carl claimed she was American Indian, she wasn't.

Carl told many conflicting stories about where she went.

When the police went to Mississippi and knocked on Carls door he said “ are you here to arrest me?”.

Donald still lives in Michigan. His 2 sisters and brother live in Mississippi where Carl moved in the 70's. Everyone was estranged from Carl by the time he died.
Nancy Mclaughlin (Wife of Donald)
I will answer questions if I can.
 
Nancy,

Thank you so much for coming here and sharing with us all of this information! It sounds to me like you’ve been in a tough spot for quite some time. I can imagine having a missing family member, as I have one of my own, but never could I imagine having one missing under circumstances like these.

As “web sleuths”, it’s difficult enough trying to help find answers in these cases, but all the more challenging when we have been given (for whatever reason) mostly misinformation. So you’ve helped tremendously. I’m still trying to take everything in and figure out where to start, it’s a lot of information. I just want to reiterate that you’ve come to a great forum with many great and caring people! People wanting to help.

I’ve definitely read your post and wanted you to know I’m not ignoring or avoiding it. I am processing it!

Thank you again! I am sorry that you, Donald, and everyone else who loved Mary Jean, have had to endure this. Please don’t give up!

Nancysdharma said:
Mary Jane Beaty AKA Mary Jean Blair AKA Mary Jean Mclaughlin.

Answers to questions and corrections

  1. Her name: She was born Mary Jane Beaty. Her mother and older sister died on the same day when she was 10. Her father sent her to live with Sam and Goldie Blair at Lake Odessa. We have never found out why Blairs. They took in kids and used them as labor and treated them badly. She didn't like her middle name and so just started calling herself Mary Jean Blair. She was never in the foster care system.

  2. WHO IS HAZEL SHAW? No one. She was a person just picked by a unethical investigator. The family hired him and he claimed Mary changed her name to Hazel Shaw and moved to Klatskanie OR. There is a poor woman there by that name but she has nothing to do with Mary. I don't know if the investigator knew Mary's mother was named Hazel or it was coincidence.

    Another investogator told the family she was right in town the whole time! Apparently that investigator had never been a town that is 5 blocks long and 5 blocks wide. She couldn't have stayed hiden for a week, let alone decades.

  3. Why take the name Blair of all the families she lived with? She only lived with Blairs and Mclaughlins. Blairs all through school, then when Mary got pregnant Goldie Blair threw her out and Mary moved in with the parents of Carlon Mclaughlin. After her family selling her into servitude she probably didn't want to be a Beaty anymore.

  4. What about the Beatys helping her out? Mary's birth family weren't exactly a close and loving family. None of the older siblings offered to take her in apparently. No one made much attempt to visit her in Lake Odessa over the years. One sister, Kathleen Linstrom, has told a lot of stories about how she tried to see the kids and was turned away and Mary came and told her she was leaving Carl etc. Kathleen never had children and when Marys girls sought her out I think she didn't want to admit that no one ever looked into what happened to Mary or checked on her over the years. In short I think Kathleen told lies so the Mary's daughters would like her.

  5. DNA Her son and daughter have both had DNA taken by the police and put in a data base. There was a body found in Florida not long after she disappeard that they wanted to checkout. They never contacted us with any info.

  6. Why didn't her son, Donald, report her for so long? Donald didn't report her missing at all. I did. I wanted to get on a unclaimed body database and it required a missing persons case number. At the time I didn't consider her missing , just staying away. No one knew she was actually missing until the police came to us with questions. Her children were raised by Carlon Mclaughlin who was a vicious, abusive man. All they ever heard was that she was a worthless *advertiser censored* who abandoned them and no one ever questioned it. Mary's youngest child, Suzanne, was given to Carls brother, Nelson. When Suzanne was terminally ill that is when the family hired investigators to try and locate Mary. It was years after that when I reported her missing.

  7. Why didn't her siblings change their names? They were adults when Mary was sent away.

  8. Age. The April 6, 1940 Census record says she is 2 at that time. Any records she left were destroyed by Carl.
Interesting facts.

I've known Donald since we were kids. I remember strange things his father said.

He once said, “She's never coming back, mother and I made sure of it”. I don't know what he meant but Carl and his brother got into a lot of trouble and their mother always paid to get them out. Their parents were respected business owners in a small town and no one questioned their story of where Mary went.

Carl claimed she was American Indian, she wasn't.

Carl told many conflicting stories about where she went.

When the police went to Mississippi and knocked on Carls door he said “ are you here to arrest me?”.

Donald still lives in Michigan. His 2 sisters and brother live in Mississippi where Carl moved in the 70's. Everyone was estranged from Carl by the time he died.
Nancy Mclaughlin (Wife of Donald)
I will answer questions if I can.
Click to expand...
 
It has been 55 years since Mary went missing...

MJMcLaughlin.jpg
MJMcLaughlin1.jpg
mary_jean_mclaughlin_1.jpg


Mary Jean McLaughlin
Missing since 1965 from Lake Odessa, Ionia County, Michigan
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
    • Date Of Birth: June 13, 1938
    • Age at Time of Disappearance: 27 years old
    • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'5-5'7"; 140-150 lbs.
    • Distinguishing Characteristics: Native female. Brown hair; blue eyes. May wear glasses.
    • Nickname/Alias: Mary Jane Beaty, Mary Jane Blair, Mary Jean Blair
    • DNA: Available
Circumstances of Disappearance

Family members say they last heard from Mary Jean McLaughlin, a mother of five, in 1965. Mary Jean's oldest son, was eight years old when his mom disappeared. He recalls that she visited him at school in 1965, and told him she was going away for a while, and said she'd be back.

Though she wasn't reported missing until August 2002, investigators discovered there is no record of Mary, public or private, since the mid-1960s; and there has been no activity on her social security number since that time.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Lake Odessa Police Department
Sgt. Bey Hudson
616-374-8844
--
Michigan State Police - Ionia Post
Detective Sgt. Michael Morey
616-527-3600

Agency Case Number: 68-3897-02

Source Information:
Ionia Sentinel-Standard Online 2/24/05
Ionia Sentinel-Standard Online 2/26/05
WOODTV 3/10/05
NamUs MP #2486
The Doe Network: Case File 1641DFMI
Mary Jean McLaughlin – The Charley Project
 
StarrChance said:
There were eight dependant children when Mary’s mother and daughter died within a day which seems to answer why the children didn’t all stay with other family members.

View attachment 233245
Click to expand...

Thanks for the news clipping.

No date on the article, but probably 1946 or 47?

According to the article; at her death, Mrs. Hazel Beatty had a total of six children: Dorothy (who preceded her in death a day earlier), three sons and two other daughters - Mary Jean being the youngest at about age 8 or 9.

Dorothy left behind four children.
 
upload_2020-2-20_19-17-51.jpegGoldie was born Golda I Miller, an only child. Dod May 1970, she married Samuel D Blair in 1933. No children that I can find.
Samuel died 1992 Mass.
 

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Last edited:
Richard said:
Thanks for the news clipping.

No date on the article, but probably 1946 or 47?

According to the article; at her death, Mrs. Hazel Beatty had a total of six children: Dorothy (who preceded her in death a day earlier), three sons and two other daughters - Mary Jean being the youngest at about age 8 or 9.

Dorothy left behind four children.
Click to expand...

Yes April 1947
 
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