AZ AZ- Ann Caldwell, 18, Tucson, Pima County, March 13, 1956

[SimsGuy67]

I wonder about her SSN. I'm not from the US so I don't know how they work now or then, but let's say she was never employed, later when everyone needed to have one, would she need it for a driver's license? Or marriage? Could you get away with never getting a SSN?

I noticed this in the very first post of this thread:

I tried looking for the episode (awful show btw), but of course the ones available weren't even in '57, most were destroyed since apparently that was normal back then, and the few still available might be in some archives.
It would have been interesting to see what exactly her mother had to say.

I also did some digging to find the Queen For A Day episode. Nothing from 1957 on my end either. Possibly lost media? To get back on topic, I'm also not from the US so I have no idea about the SSN or card either...

If Ann was found alive, only one question remains. Why isn't she listed on any of her families obituaries? It's possible she was disowned, but that means nobody knows what happened to her anyways...

 

[Diavola]

If Ann was found alive, only one question remains. Why isn't she listed on any of her families obituaries? It's possible she was disowned, but that means nobody knows what happened to her anyways...

That baffles me too. One thing that might explain why she isn't mentioned is that her family was the type that liked to bury trauma. There have been several cases on The Vanished podcast where you would have a younger family member decide to dig into a family mystery only to have everyone around them clam up because "it's too painful to talk about it" or in some cases they were involved (not saying Caldwells were).

 

[cenazoic]

tried looking for the episode (awful show btw), but of course the ones available weren't even in '57,

Haha! Funny to think that at least 3 people in 2023 were looking for a specific episode of a forgotten TV show from 1957.

By the 1980s at the latest, she would have needed a social security number to get a driver’s license or credit card (or a job).

Why isn't she listed on any of her families obituaries?

That’s the single thing that gets me. At least 5 close family members’ obituaries (parents, brother, maternal aunt and uncle) don’t mention her even though they mention the brother. I’ve seen other missing persons cases where a parent doesn’t mention the missing person, but it seems relatively rare. FIVE seems like a deliberate act.

<modsnip: off topic>

 

[SimsGuy67]

<modsnip> I have a feeling a missing person may be listed as dead or alive based on the wishes of their family. Not being on it at all could suggest two things.

1. She was disowned by her family, likely after 1960, when she was excluded from being the skeleton of Yolanda Gomez.
2. The family had no idea what to put down as on one end, she seemed to have disappeared voluntarily, but she hadn't been seen for decades...

There's definitely more reasons as to why this could have happened, but these two seemed most prevalent to me. On a side note, it's strange that there's absolutely nothing on Yolanda Gomez...

 

[Diavola]

<modsnip>

I have a feeling a missing person may be listed as dead or alive based on the wishes of their family. Not being on it at all could suggest two things.

1. She was disowned by her family, likely after 1960, when she was excluded from being the skeleton of Yolanda Gomez.
2. The family had no idea what to put down as on one end, she seemed to have disappeared voluntarily, but she hadn't been seen for decades...

There's definitely more reasons as to why this could have happened, but these two seemed most prevalent to me. On a side note, it's strange that there's absolutely nothing on Yolanda Gomez...

Who writes obituaries exactly? Not the deceased, obviously. I could understand if brother's didn't have her listed since the surviving family members may not have been aware of her existence. But her parents?
You can make a case for every theory here. I really hope we find something...

Maybe Yolanda's case was resolved quickly?

 

[sonz82]

<modsnip>

I have a feeling a missing person may be listed as dead or alive based on the wishes of their family. Not being on it at all could suggest two things.

1. She was disowned by her family, likely after 1960, when she was excluded from being the skeleton of Yolanda Gomez.
2. The family had no idea what to put down as on one end, she seemed to have disappeared voluntarily, but she hadn't been seen for decades...

There's definitely more reasons as to why this could have happened, but these two seemed most prevalent to me. On a side note, it's strange that there's absolutely nothing on Yolanda Gomez..

Do you mean Yolanda Villagomez?

 

[Quoththeraven]

Do you mean Yolanda Villagomez?

El Paso Herald-Post​

El Paso, Texas · Friday, June 10, 1960

 

[Diavola]

Is Ann's NamUs still restricted?

 

[Amateur Web Sleuth]

If there were other female siblings, what exactly were their ages and what happened to them? Weird for a family to have 3 daughters but mention none in obituaries JMO

 

[Diavola]

If there were other female siblings, what exactly were their ages and what happened to them? Weird for a family to have 3 daughters but mention none in obituaries JMO

Stillborn probably.

 

[cenazoic]

There was a stillborn son, born before Ann. Her only sibling was a younger brother.

 

[Amateur Web Sleuth]

I thought someone said in post #16 there were 2 siblings born in between Ann and her brother?

“Ann had a younger brother named Donald Jim, who died in 2015. No mention of his parents or sister. (His birth certificate is online via the state.). There were 2 other children born to the family in between Ann and Donald, but apparently they died before his birth - see his birth certificate.”

Makes sense if they were stillborns though

 

[cenazoic]

I thought someone said in post #16 there were 2 siblings born in between Ann and her brother?

Haha - I wrote #16 and had totally forgotten this! Apologies for the confusion.

I just spent some time prowling around Ancestry and can (re-)confirm that there was a son born in 1935 (died after birth), Ann in 1938, another stillborn boy in 1941, and Donald Jim, 1943-2015.

 

[Diavola]

Bumping. Ann has been possibly missing for 68 years.

 

[cenazoic]

Ann’s case is the one I return to most often, re-checking the online sources for any newly added newspapers, trying different search terms, etc. I’ve even gone so far as to build out a fairly extensive family tree, although for what reason, I’m not sure.

I do know she had relatives in Amarillo, which is where she was headed when she left El Paso. Whether she actually made it there is unclear.

I even started a list: books about Arizona, Tucson, New Mexico, or Texas mysteries that don’t mention Ann.

Slender threads to create or pull on:

- a map, using 1956 data, showing confirmed sightings

- table/ spreadsheet of known facts, and unconfirmed ones (the second girl a witness reported seeing her with near Alamagordo, NM)

- requesting any remaining case files (long shot) from the various LE jurisdictions

- find a copy of the 1955 Ocotillo, her senior yearbook (others are in Classmates). Just want to see if it gives any greater sense of who she was. I’m even willing to buy the dang thing, but I’ve only sen it offered for sale once (on Etsy) long after it sold.

- contact Radford School to see if a copy can be made, or if they have any other documentation relating to her disappearance. Unlikely, but it was a small class (and school) and its hard to believe the admin/students/alumna weren’t aware of it at the time.

- track down graduating classmates to see if they ever heard anything.

- find 1956 copies of the University of Arizona student newspaper (the Wildcat), to see if they mention her.

- she does have a ton of living cousins who may know somethings/heard a family story.

- additional newspaper research on Jane Does in New Mexico and Texas, otherwise unreported today.

Probably other stuff I’m not thinking of at the moment!

 

[Diavola]

Ann’s case is the one I return to most often, re-checking the online sources for any newly added newspapers, trying different search terms, etc. I’ve even gone so far as to build out a fairly extensive family tree, although for what reason, I’m not sure.

I do know she had relatives in Amarillo, which is where she was headed when she left El Paso. Whether she actually made it there is unclear.

I even started a list: books about Arizona, Tucson, New Mexico, or Texas mysteries that don’t mention Ann.

Slender threads to create or pull on:

- a map, using 1956 data, showing confirmed sightings

- table/ spreadsheet of known facts, and unconfirmed ones (the second girl a witness reported seeing her with near Alamagordo, NM)

- requesting any remaining case files (long shot) from the various LE jurisdictions

- find a copy of the 1955 Ocotillo, her senior yearbook (others are in Classmates). Just want to see if it gives any greater sense of who she was. I’m even willing to buy the dang thing, but I’ve only sen it offered for sale once (on Etsy) long after it sold.

- contact Radford School to see if a copy can be made, or if they have any other documentation relating to her disappearance. Unlikely, but it was a small class (and school) and its hard to believe the admin/students/alumna weren’t aware of it at the time.

- track down graduating classmates to see if they ever heard anything.

- find 1956 copies of the University of Arizona student newspaper (the Wildcat), to see if they mention her.

- she does have a ton of living cousins who may know somethings/heard a family story.

- additional newspaper research on Jane Does in New Mexico and Texas, otherwise unreported today.

Probably other stuff I’m not thinking of at the moment!

Don't forget the Queen for a day episode featuring Ann's mother.
I'm thinking of shooting a mail to the PD again, maybe someone will decide to reply.

 

[SimsGuy67]

Ann's NamUs was never deleted, but it's still restricted and unchanged since last year. I think that Ann was either found, the report was never digitized, or it was lost sometime between 1960 and the digitization of the records.

As much as I would say not to contact family, is there anyone else on this planet who knows if Ann is still missing? I doubt it. Even if she isn't missing and this is all for nothing, at least we know we aren't leaving a potential unsolved case behind.

- a map, using 1956 data, showing confirmed sightings

- table/ spreadsheet of known facts, and unconfirmed ones (the second girl a witness reported seeing her with near Alamagordo, NM)

I can try narrowing down these two. They're two of the few things I have tools to work with right now. I'm gonna have to pull out the old newspaper records I have on Ann.

 

[SimsGuy67]

Looking back over these details, I just realized that the possible sighting at the hotel actually occurred in October 1958, not March 1959 as I thought. I don't think this sighting is genuine, but it's something to note.

 

[SimsGuy67]

This is very basic, but I made a map with the sightings of Ann we know of, along with the corresponding newspaper records. If I forgot anything, let me know!

Ann Caldwell disappearance - Points of Interest - Google My Maps

Points of interest in the disappearance of Ann Caldwell. Blue lines show Ann's possible path. Key: Blue - Arizona Sightings Red - New Mexico Sightings Yellow - Texas Sightings

www.google.com

 

[UnlicensedPI]

Ann's NamUs was never deleted, but it's still restricted and unchanged since last year. I think that Ann was either found, the report was never digitized, or it was lost sometime between 1960 and the digitization of the records.

As much as I would say not to contact family, is there anyone else on this planet who knows if Ann is still missing? I doubt it. Even if she isn't missing and this is all for nothing, at least we know we aren't leaving a potential unsolved case behind.


I can try narrowing down these two. They're two of the few things I have tools to work with right now. I'm gonna have to pull out the old newspaper records I have on Ann.

I don't think NamUs ever deletes submissions, they just stay restricted.

I tried reaching out to people who knew her brother. These are people who might have known if she was still missing, but wouldn't have known her before she went missing. No one responded to me.