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

[dms]

I recently saw a couple of photos of children's author Julie Fogliano and all I could think about was how much she looks like Amy would in middle age. This is in no way a suggestion that there's any sort of connection between the two, but it's a great example of how WS starts to inhabit your brain after you hang out here for a while.

 

[JohnnyChicago]

"In 1992, Susan Billig was contacted by private investigator Virginia Snyder. She and a British investigator were working on a case when they received a tip about Amy. The investigator was in a post office in Falmouth, England, when he was approached by an American biker. He said that he had a girl that he wanted to sell to him. He said that she was American, from Oyster Bay, and was "mute". The description seemed to match Amy. However, he left without showing a picture of her. Susan felt certain that that was Amy. However, she was unable to find any trace of her. Tragically, the British investigator passed away a year later."

Anyone recall the name of the British investigator who passed away? What were his credentials? I will have to revisit the Unsolved Mysteries episode to see if they mention it. I do not recall them saying though.

 

[chesterfieldkings]

"In 1992, Susan Billig was contacted by private investigator Virginia Snyder. She and a British investigator were working on a case when they received a tip about Amy. The investigator was in a post office in Falmouth, England, when he was approached by an American biker. He said that he had a girl that he wanted to sell to him. He said that she was American, from Oyster Bay, and was "mute". The description seemed to match Amy. However, he left without showing a picture of her. Susan felt certain that that was Amy. However, she was unable to find any trace of her. Tragically, the British investigator passed away a year later."

Anyone recall the name of the British investigator who passed away? What were his credentials? I will have to revisit the Unsolved Mysteries episode to see if they mention it. I do not recall them saying though.

In the book “Without A Trace” by Greg Aunapu and Susan Billig this is covered in a few paragraphs. The British detective isn’t named and the lead went nowhere. Susan Billig did travel to England to follow up on it and there were investigations into British biker gangs but no information on Amy was discovered. The book is a fascinating read. Susan Billig was determined, resourceful, and very tough. She never gave up hope and never stopped searching for Amy.

 

[JohnnyChicago]

Agreed, "Without A Trace" is a solid read. It is heartbreaking the amount of times con artists tried to take advantage of the family over the years.

 

[Markybug]

Agreed, "Without A Trace" is a solid read. It is heartbreaking the amount of times con artists tried to take advantage of the family over the years.

i think the bikers angle was all a con too sadly.

 

[sportstergirl]

Me too, especially the British connection. Spent a lot of time on the bike scene and far as I know the Pagans MC never had official overseas chapters. Outlaws MC didn't expand into the UK til the late 90s/ early 2000s

 

[Seratonin]

 

[dotr]

Thinking of Amy.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article226721904.html
February 25, 2019
''A local photographer had snapped Amy as she stood in front of her father’s gallery during the annual arts festival, just weeks before she vanished.

Recently, he asked Susan Billig if she would like to have it.

“Of course I wanted it,” she says.

In it, Amy is wearing the Indian turquoise necklace her mother gave her for her 17th birthday on Jan. 9. She is smiling.''

 

[PayrollNerd]

What a pretty girl. Such a sad story.

 

[Kano]

Me too, especially the British connection. Spent a lot of time on the bike scene and far as I know the Pagans MC never had official overseas chapters. Outlaws MC didn't expand into the UK til the late 90s/ early 2000s

The Pagans were getting a lot of RICO cases in the 70s and 80s. It possible you had Pagans that ran to Europe but the story itself sounds kinda fantastical to me

 

[jimbob5]

i think the bikers angle was all a con too sadly.

Yes, they saw her as a desperate, easy mark to con for money & probably had some sick fun tormenting her. The obviously staged bar fight was ridiculous. Don't even get me started on that clown over here in England with his ludicrous story about the post office biker-the idea of a US biker wandering into a quaint Cornwall post office & offering sold old guy lining up to post a parcel, or collect his state pension a sex slave is less feasible than aliens abducted her.

 

[jimbob5]

Me too, especially the British connection. Spent a lot of time on the bike scene and far as I know the Pagans MC never had official overseas chapters. Outlaws MC didn't expand into the UK til the late 90s/ early 2000s

The idea this guy would just be able to wander into a UK rural post office or any post office & start offering people sex slaves is insane & nobody in England would respond to pops as it isn't a term used here-old man or grandpa would be the most used terms. A big biker in a Cornwall town post office would attract huge attention & you would have lots of witnesses to him being there.

 

[dotr]

2019
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article226721904.html
''This much we all know: On March 5, 1974, 17-year-old Amy disappeared near the Billig’s Coconut Grove home. She was on her way to her dad’s art gallery in the Grove, then a Bohemian enclave.

Some said Amy accepted a ride from a biker. Others said she got into a van or pickup truck.

Clues were strewn across the state — her camera along Florida’s Turnpike in Central Florida; her hairbrush at a convenience store in Kissimmee.''

 

[Markybug]

I knew about her camera , but not the hairbrush. Is this amy leaving clues to her direction of abduction? Or someone seeding a false trail?

Wa the film in the camera that supposedly showed a white van ever released to the public ?

 

[dotr]

I knew about her camera , but not the hairbrush. Is this amy leaving clues to her direction of abduction? Or someone seeding a false trail?

Wa the film in the camera that supposedly showed a white van ever released to the public ?

More about the camera in this book page#251 , or in link search bar at left.(Type ''amy billig camera along Florida’s Turnpike'')
Photos all over exposed except for one showing a white van, they think Amy was possibly dropping clues.


The Corpse Had a Familiar Face
By Edna Buchanan
The Corpse Had a Familiar Face

 

[KDiz24]

This is my first post, and I really don't know how to go about laying this out, so here goes:

I've been looking into an ex Hialeah Police Officer the past 6 months or so, Marc Leroy Holliday (died September 2000). He was fired in 1973 for harboring a 15 year old runaway on his boat at Dinner Key Marina and in his apartment on Key Biscayne, but was later reinstated, only to be fired in 1976 for falsifying an arrest report.

In 1978 he was arrested for raping and robbing a 15 year old girl, however, he was acquitted due to prosecutorial misconduct. He was defended by renown defense attorney Roy Black. When arrested he mentioned "The Canal Murders", 12 unsolved homicides of females in Dade and Broward counties in 1975 and 1976, which is how he popped up on my radar, I was looking into those cold cases.

Marc Leroy Holliday (MLH) moved to California sometime in 1979 or 1980 (he had lived there as a child) and kidnapped a 5 year old girl in Palm Springs in November of 1980, and a 4 year old girl from Indio in early 1981. He let both girls go, the 4 year old was not sexually assaulted, the 5 year old Palm Springs girl was however.

Before being sentenced he told two different psychiatrists that he abducted many young women, mostly hitchhikers, for his own sexual gratification. He said the oldest was 15.

I contacted one of MLH's ex wives a couple months back, and she had no idea about any of the 1978 Florida stuff or any of the California stuff. She said that as soon as they got divorced she moved somewhere else in the state. She did however say a couple things that stood out:

After she moved she said some detectives came and got a gun of hers that she had owned while they were married (it was later returned to her).

While telling me how surprised she was about the young ages of the California girls she said she wasn't as surprised about the 1978 case, and said that MLH had a disdain for prostitutes.

She told me that "he got a little crazy with her". When I asked her if she wanted to elaborate, she said "he knocked her around".

So now that the backstory is out of the way, here's why I had to come here and post this.

-MLH's boat was docked at Dinner Key Marina, LESS THAN A MILE from where Amy went missing.

-His apartment was ~5 miles from where Amy went missing.

-In 1974 when Amy went missing it looks like MLH's job was in limbo, and it doesn't seem like he had been reinstated yet.

-MLH was a Narc Officer with Hialeah until they dissolved the Narc Squad.

-In Susan Billig's book it says the bikers would convene at Dinner Key Marina before driving North to Daytona for Bike Week.

-MLH's ex wife and an ex co-worker of his who I've been in contact with said everyone thought he died in the early 1990's. The following is speculation, but according to the ex co-worker, he thinks MLH or his family kind of floated that bad info back to Florida on purpose.

Did he see the bikers coming through town and think that this was a perfect opportunity?

 

[KDiz24]

Articles aren't in any order, sorry about that.

 

[KDiz24]

The rest of the articles.

 

[dotr]

The rest of the articles.

Welcome to Ws @KDiz24, thanks for the very intriguing theory!

HOLLIDAY v. STATE | 389 So.2d 679 (1980) | so2d6792932 | Leagle.com

Desert Sun 4 February 1981 — California Digital Newspaper Collection
''Kidnap suspect staying longer in Riverside
INDIO The 39-year-old former Florida policeman accused of kidnapping an Indio youngster last week is not expected to appear at his preliminary hearing scheduled Friday since he has been detained in Riverside an additional two weeks. Marc Leroy Holliday, charged with kidnapping 4-year-old Belinda Tamez from outside her family’s apartment Jan, 26, was transferred from the county jail shortly after his arraignment last week to Riverside General Hospital for what was to be a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation. Palm Springs detective Ray Lotz, who wants to interview Holliday in connection with the unsolved November kidnapping of a 5-year-old girl in Palm Springs, said Tuesday that the suspect would remain in Riverside General Hospital for at least 14 days. In light of that development, Indio police Lt. Juan Montez said Tuesday it was unlikely Holliday would be present for his scheduled preliminary hearing here. Holliday, a policeman in Hialeah, Fla. from 1970 to 1975, was arraigned here last week and charged with kidnapping and possession of a billy club. He pleaded innocent''

 

[KDiz24]

Welcome to Ws @KDiz24, thanks for the very intriguing theory!

HOLLIDAY v. STATE | 389 So.2d 679 (1980) | so2d6792932 | Leagle.com

Desert Sun 4 February 1981 — California Digital Newspaper Collection
''Kidnap suspect staying longer in Riverside
INDIO The 39-year-old former Florida policeman accused of kidnapping an Indio youngster last week is not expected to appear at his preliminary hearing scheduled Friday since he has been detained in Riverside an additional two weeks. Marc Leroy Holliday, charged with kidnapping 4-year-old Belinda Tamez from outside her family’s apartment Jan, 26, was transferred from the county jail shortly after his arraignment last week to Riverside General Hospital for what was to be a 72-hour psychiatric evaluation. Palm Springs detective Ray Lotz, who wants to interview Holliday in connection with the unsolved November kidnapping of a 5-year-old girl in Palm Springs, said Tuesday that the suspect would remain in Riverside General Hospital for at least 14 days. In light of that development, Indio police Lt. Juan Montez said Tuesday it was unlikely Holliday would be present for his scheduled preliminary hearing here. Holliday, a policeman in Hialeah, Fla. from 1970 to 1975, was arraigned here last week and charged with kidnapping and possession of a billy club. He pleaded innocent''

Thanks for the welcome! I'm almost positive he was with Hialeah Police from 1967-1976, he was in the USMC from 1959-1963. Think he was married 5 times. At least 4.

And I found a court case regarding a Person & Estate Conservatorship/ "Matter of Mark Holliday", however I haven't been able to confirm that it is indeed him. However, MLH's last listed address is the San Bernardino Coroner's office. And the file date on the court case is 16 months before MLH dies at 59 years of age.
Superior Court of California - County of San Bernardino