Identified! CA - Mendocino Co, 2 WhtFem Teens, Jul'79 *Francine Trimble & Kerry Graham*

[LadyL]

I'm sure they will if someone notifies them. To do so, click on the triangle in the bottom left of the post in question.

??? I know this is a post from an old thread which has migrated to a cold case thread, but is anyone (such as the mod) going to update and correct this for the sake of accuracy?

 

[CarlK90245]

??? I know this is a post from an old thread which has migrated to a cold case thread, but is anyone (such as the mod) going to update and correct this for the sake of accuracy?

The official story is that they were alerted to it in 2015 after they changed Kerry's Date of Last Contact in NCIC from Dec'79 to Dec'78. Roselvr suggested in 2014 that they question the DLC after it was discovered that Kerry and Francine went missing together, and that Francine's DLC was in Dec'78.

Do you have an indication that someone alerted them to this prior to Roselvr?

 

[Jerrod]

??? I know this is a post from an old thread which has migrated to a cold case thread, but is anyone (such as the mod) going to update and correct this for the sake of accuracy?

The official story is that they were alerted to it in 2015 after they changed Kerry's Date of Last Contact in NCIC from Dec'79 to Dec'78. Roselvr suggested in 2014 that they question the DLC after it was discovered that Kerry and Francine went missing together, and that Francine's DLC was in Dec'78.

Do you have an indication that someone alerted them to this prior to Roselvr?

I realize you were going on the best information you had in 2016, but now that Lost Coast Highway has been published, it’s clear that Kerry’s sister Kelly is the one who deserves full credit for finally prevailing upon law enforcement agencies in 2012 to take seriously the information she’d been providing them since 1989, when she furnished them with the pertinent details of Kerry and Francine’s disappearance, i.e., the fact that it was 2 girls missing (not a boy & girl), and the fact that they disappeared in Dec. ‘78 (not ‘79). The first few chapters of the book reveal the true chain of events, but the first page in Chapter 8 sums up the entire fiasco quite well:

 

[CarlK90245]

I realize you were going on the best information you had in 2016, but now that Lost Coast Highway has been published, it’s clear that Kerry’s sister Kelly is the one who deserves full credit for finally prevailing upon law enforcement agencies in 2012 to take seriously the information she’d been providing them since 1989, when she furnished them with the pertinent details of Kerry and Francine’s disappearance, i.e., the fact that it was 2 girls missing (not a boy & girl), and the fact that they disappeared in Dec. ‘78 (not ‘79). The first few chapters of the book reveal the true chain of events, but the first page in Chapter 8 sums up the entire fiasco quite well:

OK Thanks, Jerrod. I'll remove the Match flag and replace it with Identified.

Nevertheless, Roselvr deserves kudos for connecting the dots, but we can't call this a WS Solve. The credit belongs to Kerry's sister.

 

[Roselvr]

I realize you were going on the best information you had in 2016, but now that Lost Coast Highway has been published, it’s clear that Kerry’s sister Kelly is the one who deserves full credit for finally prevailing upon law enforcement agencies in 2012 to take seriously the information she’d been providing them since 1989, when she furnished them with the pertinent details of Kerry and Francine’s disappearance, i.e., the fact that it was 2 girls missing (not a boy & girl), and the fact that they disappeared in Dec. ‘78 (not ‘79). The first few chapters of the book reveal the true chain of events, but the first page in Chapter 8 sums up the entire fiasco quite well:

I'd like to see more. I don't know if my library has a copy of the book.
I searched the thread, I don't see that you've been following it.

I'm a missing person's advocate. I work with a lot of families to get them into NamUs and fight with each agency as much as I can. I have one case that my partner and I have been trying to get marked "resolved" since June 2017 with NCMEC. It's because of this experience that I have a good idea of what they did after her sister contacted them. It's very frustrating; we have to keep on them; my partner has even had to file a formal complaint. NCMEC doesn't appear to be interested in resolving older cases because they have too much on their plate with newer missing kids. I wish I could say more about the case we've been trying to close but I can't right now. It's disgusting what I've had happen to me from one of their supervisors. They actually went on vacation without giving me a new case worker when DNA was supposed to be taken. I learned of the vacation when I asked who the LE were contacting when they went to get the DNA sample. Thankfully I emailed someone I know at NCMEC who made it right. If it wasn't for this person all along, we wouldn't be as far as we got because they were short staffed, there was no case worker on the MP's side.

If you go back to when I originally thought Kerry may be one of the girls, you'll see what I was doing from a different end, which had I known Kerry's sister, I could have worked harder to try to get the case closed a lot sooner.

To be taken to where I got the quotes from, hit the arrow in each quote. There is record of what I did except for the many FB messages I sent Todd Matthews. One key point was getting the Mendocino Does gender changed to 2 females. Todd sent Carrie Sutherland to speak to LE within a day or 2 of me contacting him via FB. At one point my partner called LE to make sure NamUs sent in the info I gave them but they had gotten a hit on Kerry's dentals when they finally changed her missing date.

You really should take the time to read the full thread as I can't copy every post, these are just the main ones.

From memory, the biggest challenge were that the Does did not have DNA in the system until their remains were sent to Andrews base because they had a newer way to get it from degraded remains.

It all started when Kerry's sister was working on Arroyo Jane Doe. You can see how hard I was working for Kerry and Francine with the Mendocino Does while she was waiting on it.

Anyway, I'm very thankful they found their loved ones. I can't imagine how shocking it was after all of those years.

Arroyo Grande Thread - 2-09-2014 See the bold. Kerry's sister has called Arroyo's LE to compare them. The date of missing was still 1979. This got Kerry listed in NamUs if I remember correctly.

I sent an e-mail to my friend at CC to see if he knows and can share anything more about Janet's case --her story i.e. why she was in the Wilmar, MN group home -- what makes the sister believe (per article) that AGJD is her sister -- and whether or not Janet's family recalled the dental spacing that we know AGJD had. Not sure if he can share -- but, if he does, I will let you all know what I learn.

Just as a side note: Rick told me the first time I met him that AGJD was very likely a runaway from a group home who had never been reported to the authorities as missing. DNA has been submitted -- so I guess we will just have to wait and see. Janet's birthday is June 3rd...maybe we will know by then.

Update: I learned from Rick that the sister comment was not from Janet's sister. His office received a tip submitted by the sister of a Somona, CA missing girl Kerry Ann Graham - DOB 11/12/1963. Kerry left home with a female friend in Dec. 1979 and was classified as a runaway. She was never listed as a missing person in any data base until recently (Nov 2013). Kerry was last seen on December 24, 1979, in Forestville. Her parents are still living and are giving DNA samples for testing.
Report Type: Runaway Juvenile
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair: Blonde
Eye Color: Green
Height: 4 ft. 11 in.
Weight: 95 lbs.
Date of Birth: 11/12/1963
Last Seen: 12/24/1979
Scars/Marks/Tattoos: Glasses
Dental X-rays Available: No
Age in photo 14

http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/detail.asp?FCN=5651331600149
Photo is really distorted...

8-02-2014 Mendocino Thread

Brought over from NV - Henderson, "Arroyo Grande" WhtFem 258UFNV, 14-25, Oct'80 *GRAPHIC*

3-09-2014

Charley Project just created a new casefile for Kerry Graham, and included a better photo.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/g/graham_kerry.html

She does have a 7-8 gap. Now I see why they are interested in her as an Arroyo Grande possible, though her resemblance to AGJD is kind of iffy. And if her listed height is correct, she would be too short.

4-22-2014

Searching for more details about Kerry Ann Graham...

Seems it is thought that she left on her on accord with a female friend. But no information is available about the friend - except to say that neither of the two girls have been seen since. Wonder who this other girl is -- can't find any other female reported missing from Forestville, CA. hmmmm....

Both girls had ties to New Jersey and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In her M&EC Prolife it states...
Kerry was last seen on December 24, 1979. She may be with a female companion. They may have traveled to New Jersey. When Kerry was last seen she had blonde highlights in her hair. She has freckles, pierced ears, and a scar on her left arm from the removal of a cancerous growth. It also states that Kerry was a smoker in 1979.
http://www.missingkids.com/poster/NCMC/1225186/1
Hair color is listed as auburn and eyes are listed as green. It would be great to see Kerry with her natural hair color, auburn. I have to admit that there are quite a few similarities, IMO.

What if they have her missing date wrong where she was actually last seen Christmas eve 1978? We have no clue who the friend is; but this case is 2 girls. I do not follow either case; but am throwing out for you guys.

10-05-2014

I passed on the info to Todd Matthews of NamUs; he is looking into it. Hopefully her profile will be updated soon.

07-29-2014

Huge huge huge huge development that I just found out........
Both of these kids were female. Spoke with the case manager and he said they recently did DNA testing and it showed that it was not one male and female but both were female.
Also, he said that he is certain the peoples temple was not involved and there were other alike murders in other counties but they can not link them. I asked if they could be foster kids and he said maybe but more likely runaways.

I also gave him Kerry Graham as a potential match; explained her missing date to him too.

08-02-2014

Carl; can you update the very 1st post for anyone new clicking on it or for anyone following the post that may miss where DrDMike posted the info? I have it below as well as the links.

New NCMEC links. Not sure what they did but none of the previous URLs have been working on any case I follow
NCMEC Girl
NCMEC Boy

Girl NamUs UP #10447
"Boy" NamUs UP #10450

I do not think Carl called to confirm; I believe he changed the title after your phone call; I had asked if he can change it. Hopefully Todd can get it changed fairly quick. My guess is NCMEC is holding everything up like they did for another case my friend & I work

11-26-2014

Still having my coffee; so happy to see Todd managed to get it changed! Glad to have a small hand in this too. Happy Thanksgiving!

NamUs Case # 10450 has had changes made. You can view the case by clicking the url

The following fields have been changed:
Demographics : Sex changed from "Male" to "Female"

Not changed yet NCMEC Boy

11-29-2014 - Carl did their recons as 2 females

We now have 2 updated recons! You will see the female with her 2 earrings, the now female that was male has no earrings! Thank you to Carl Koppelman for the new recons!

Mendocino County, California - 2 TEEN white females -July 8, 1979

11-30-2014

Here they are combined into a flyer. I based their facial shapes on the NCMEC CT-Scan recons shown below.

B]5-03-2015[/B]

4-14-2015 Just sent Carrie Sutherland an email

Thank you to Migmuu for PM'ing me to ask if I had heard from Carrie. I had not; so I sent her another email to ask if she got it; she said there are many similarities, but there are many differences as well. She sent it forward. Glad to finally know it's been sent in!

6-20-2015

My grandson is in my lap; gonna let him play on my desk; I have lots to do lol
I would think there would be school records.
Francine NamUs Date last seen December 16, 1978

06-22-2015

[SUB][/SUB]

UIDs were located July 1979 but Trimble & Graham didn't disappear til December 1979. They can't be a match.

I think it's mentioned up thread that Charley has the year wrong. Namus has Francine last seen in December 1978. From Francine's profile:

Circumstances

Was last seen in Forestvile, Caifornia on December 16, 1978. She may have been in the company of Kerry Ann Graham (NamUs MP # 22630).

Namus does list Graham as missing since December 1979, but since they are believed to have disappeared together, I think it's likely that one of these years is wrong. So I don't think we can rule them out based on the dates listed online.

I tend to think NamUs has the correct date because Carl was looking in classmates, she is there for 1977 & 1978 but not for 1979. Hopefully they have school records
Francine Trimble NamUs

8-22-2015

I'm new to this and not sure if this helps, (maybe it's been done already), but the last reply to this FB post on 7/20/15 by GS says she can put someone in touch with Francine's blood relatives for DNA.

https://www.facebook.com/mendomissi...0.1440286674./399207713590675/?type=1&theater

11-10-2015

Just received communication from Clark County stating that Kerry Graham was not a match for AGJD (NV) BUT was matched via CODIS to unidentified remains from Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Bragg CA. You guys had this for a while. My understanding is that Kerry's family has been notified.

11-10-2015

Does anyone know if Francine's DNA was submitted to CODIS? My LE contact is in NV, not CA. So this match of Kerry came as a result of NV running Kerry's mitochondrial DNA (I think from mom and sister) thru CODIS as a potential for their Jane Doe. If anyone has a connection at Mendocino County, they might be willing to share Francine's DNA status. It would make logical sense that these two teens who left together would be found together.
God Bless their families and grant them peace.
c:

11-11-2015

This was not a CODIS hit. It was a NCIC hit on dentals. Earlier this year, the detective in charge of Kerry's case looked in the casefile and realized that the Date of Last contact was a year off. It had her DLC as December 79, when in fact she was LKA in December 78.

When he changed the DLC in NCIC, the system immediately kicked out a hit on dentals.

One major weakness in the NCIC system is it will not generate a dental hit if the DLC is later than the Date of Discovery. So if there is a DLC error, as there was here, the NCIC system will not run a dental comparison.


________

Edit to add correction: The hit wasn't on dentals, it was just a hit based on general similarities. The dentals were never entered in the system until after they got the hit. But the match was confirmed using dentals.

My point about inconsistent dates precluding a dental match is correct though. If the DLC precedes the date of discovery, NCIC will not compare the dental charts.

It should be noted that at the time that Roselvr contacted Todd Mathews and Carrie Southerland of NamUs, Francine Trimble's name was nowhere in the public domain, except for just her name being noted in the circumstances section of Kerry Graham's NamUs MP casefile.

Kerry's Date Last Known Alive (DateLKA) was listed in NamUs as December 1979 (i.e., a full year after she was last seen alive, and several months after the remains of the two girls were found. A guy named Justin, who assists Meaghan at Charley Project with researching cases, created a MP casefile for Francine in 2015, and I contacted her elementary school and obtained two photos of Francine from the 1977 and 1978 yearbooks.

When Francine's casefile came online, it reflected the correct Date LKA, and it was only after that, that several people spoke up that the Dates LKA were a year apart despite that they disappeared together, and therefore, one of them must be incorrect.

So in 2014, when the only public mention of Francine Trimble was a notation in Kerry Graham's NamUs page, it was not so obvious that the dates should be questioned.

And because of this, Roselvr deserves kudos for connecting these two girls to the Mendocino case at a time when it wasn't so obvious.

 

[fredhead1952]

I realize you were going on the best information you had in 2016, but now that Lost Coast Highway has been published, it’s clear that Kerry’s sister Kelly is the one who deserves full credit for finally prevailing upon law enforcement agencies in 2012 to take seriously the information she’d been providing them since 1989, when she furnished them with the pertinent details of Kerry and Francine’s disappearance, i.e., the fact that it was 2 girls missing (not a boy & girl), and the fact that they disappeared in Dec. ‘78 (not ‘79). The first few chapters of the book reveal the true chain of events, but the first page in Chapter 8 sums up the entire fiasco quite well:

I am Kelly. Does anyone know the title of the book or where I might find one? I knew he was writing one but he never contacted me again.

 

[pukasonqo2]

I am Kelly. Does anyone know the title of the book or where I might find one? I knew he was writing one but he never contacted me again.

 

[Murder Inc]

This case is a great example of why it's time the public takes the reigns from LE when it comes to solving murders. Does anyone have Kerry & Francine's addresses in Forestville?

 

[burblestein]

"Lost Coast Highway" is available through Amazon.

And from the time I began this thread, I knew the NamUS listing for date last seen was an error. In fact, this is far from the first time I have found a wrong date in NamUs or other missing persons sites. I no longer trust their veracity.

 

[Richard]

The Murder Of Kerry Ann Graham And Francine Marie Trimble

Fifteen-year-old Kerry Graham (left above) and 14-year-old Francine Trimble (right above), both of Forestville, California, went missing sometime in December 1978. On their last day alive, the girls had gone to Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa in order to buy Christmas gifts for their friends and family. In a strange turn of events, both girls would go missing on the same day but would be reported missing on different days. Specifically, Trimble’s mother filed a missing child report with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office in mid-December, while the Graham family did not report their daughter missing until Christmas Eve.

As was so often the case in the 1970s, police officers believed that the girls were runaways. However, Trimble had been prescribed some medication following the removal of her appendix, and she had left this medication in her room on the day of her disappearance.

On July 8, 1979, skeletal remains were found in a shallow embankment inside the Jackson State Forest in Mendocino County, California. Examinations of the remains found that both victims had been bound with duct tape and buried in plastic bags.

These skeletons would not be identified as Graham and Trimble until 2015. Amazingly, friends and schoolmates of both girls had lived for over 30 years without ever knowing that the girls were even missing, let alone dead.

Although Graham and Trimble are only suspected victims of the Santa Rosa murderer, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence, from the use of a ravine to the fact that both girls were known to hitchhike, to suggest that they ran afoul of the unknown serial murderer...

LINK:

10 Horrific Facts About The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders - Listverse

 

[cvaldez1975]

The Murder Of Kerry Ann Graham And Francine Marie Trimble

Fifteen-year-old Kerry Graham (left above) and 14-year-old Francine Trimble (right above), both of Forestville, California, went missing sometime in December 1978. On their last day alive, the girls had gone to Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa in order to buy Christmas gifts for their friends and family. In a strange turn of events, both girls would go missing on the same day but would be reported missing on different days. Specifically, Trimble’s mother filed a missing child report with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office in mid-December, while the Graham family did not report their daughter missing until Christmas Eve.

As was so often the case in the 1970s, police officers believed that the girls were runaways. However, Trimble had been prescribed some medication following the removal of her appendix, and she had left this medication in her room on the day of her disappearance.

On July 8, 1979, skeletal remains were found in a shallow embankment inside the Jackson State Forest in Mendocino County, California. Examinations of the remains found that both victims had been bound with duct tape and buried in plastic bags.

These skeletons would not be identified as Graham and Trimble until 2015. Amazingly, friends and schoolmates of both girls had lived for over 30 years without ever knowing that the girls were even missing, let alone dead.

Although Graham and Trimble are only suspected victims of the Santa Rosa murderer, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence, from the use of a ravine to the fact that both girls were known to hitchhike, to suggest that they ran afoul of the unknown serial murderer...

LINK:

10 Horrific Facts About The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders - Listverse

am i mistaking this for another case, or werent these ones linked to the guy who also killed the young couple on the beach?

 

[cvaldez1975]

never mind, he had killed his brother later.

Parents get new details about Jenner Beach murders as Shaun Michael Gallon sentenced to life in prison.

 

[burblestein]

To the best of my knowledge, the Jenner beach murders weren't linked to any other murders.

 

[cvaldez1975]

To the best of my knowledge, the Jenner beach murders weren't linked to any other murders.

the guy killed his brother later i think. see the link.

 

[Diavola]

Bumping for Kerry and Francine... It was a complicated journey for their identification. I would love to see the perpetrator identified as well.