CA CA - Jennifer Wilmer, 21, Willow Creek, 13 Sept 1993

[MysticJynx]

I think a lot could be answered by the roommates. I wonder where they are now and if they think about Jennifer. Jennifers' family could set up a website or Facebook page, it may help people from that time to know this case is still unsolved and in dire need of tips. Perhaps they are afraid to come forward?

Its funny you say that. Cause the thought of a Facebook came to my mind too. If it were me, I would have that Page join all the Humboldt Co., Trinity Co. Eureka, Arcata, Willow Creek facebook sites. Maybe Place a few Comments with her picture. Do you remember me, I was a waitress here, hung here. My roommates were. Do you remember me Happiness or Cowboy Fred? She had to have met other people in the year she lived and sometimes worked there. Some of those people may still live in the area. Maybe they hold the key.

 

[LucyOso]

The things I am wondering about the farm. If it was a pot farm and the friend knew they weren't hiring, Wouldn't they know more about the Pot farm business? Like never just go walking up to one and introduce yourself. So why would her friend offer the advice to do so? Unless it was just a regular farm..

Respectfully snipped. This is a great question. You know, I can't tell you how many "not-so-smart" hippies, want to be hippies, wanna-be-dead-heads, dead heads, etc I have known over the years and how many end up getting busted for drugs. It seems common sense to us, but the reason people disappear or get beaten up or run out of town is because people don't know when to shut their mouths. Not saying Jennifer was unwise, but a not-so-birght roommate could have sent her somewhere she shouldn't be. I have been in that situation, very sketchy. I guess a good way to get an idea about not so bright folks, is to look at the local news...headlines abound "man pulled over for speeding, 15lbs of pot found" or "woman pulled over for headlight out, busted for meth." If I were running drugs I sure wouldn't speed, etc. But, people aren't so bright, especially if they think they are. We ALL know name droppers and people who are on the periphery of things that try to make others think they are in the "circle". :twocents:

 

[SophieRose]

So at 7:30 in the morning on Monday, Sept. 13, Jennifer set out to hitchhike the nine miles into "town" along Rt. 299.

Since she didn't have a job at "the farm", I wonder why she left so early in the morning. Maybe more cars commuting at that time to Arcata to hitch a ride? There is also a bus (takes 15-20 minutes) but currently it doesn't come through Hawkins Bar until later in the morning.

 

[FigTree]

Since she didn't have a job at "the farm", I wonder why she left so early in the morning. Maybe more cars commuting at that time to Arcata to hitch a ride? There is also a bus (takes 15-20 minutes) but currently it doesn't come through Hawkins Bar until later in the morning.

Good thought.

I wonder what the transport timetable was like back in Sept 1993.

I also wonder if there was a meetup type of place at Hawkins Bar where people could hangout and see if someone was driving into town so they could get a lift.
When reading the Gary Summars Case there was a camping ground down near a river that people would hangout - some people had cars and would give lifts to others going into Alcata.

Was the petrol station open at the time? - might be a reasonable place to catch a lift from a motorist.

 

[SophieRose]

Currently there is a minimart with gas station in Hawkins Bar, bus stop also in front of it, plus a small saloon on the other side of Denny Rd and 2nd building on HW299.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...2!3m1!1s0x54d3daa56b227951:0x1eb162e9e2710cc6

Press on little yellow man on the right for street view (or 3rd and 6th picture on bottom.)

 

[FigTree]

Currently there is a minimart with gas station in Hawkins Bar, bus stop also in front of it, plus a small saloon on the other side of Denny Rd and 2nd building on HW299.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...2!3m1!1s0x54d3daa56b227951:0x1eb162e9e2710cc6

Press on little yellow man on the right for street view (or 3rd and 6th picture on bottom.)

I tried looking for a map of the area around 1990 - not luck as yet.
I cannot find anything related to where the house Jennifer lived in at the time (1993) was either. Does anyone know what street the house was in?

OT... Looking at the Google Map of Hawkins Bar...
WOW - why work on the farm when you could be the worlds busiest Pool Cleaner

.

 

[LucyOso]

Currently there is a minimart with gas station in Hawkins Bar, bus stop also in front of it, plus a small saloon on the other side of Denny Rd and 2nd building on HW299.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/H...2!3m1!1s0x54d3daa56b227951:0x1eb162e9e2710cc6

Press on little yellow man on the right for street view (or 3rd and 6th picture on bottom.)

Thanks for the map link. That really helped me get a visual. Curious...any chance there was a river crossing or place to wade across that would get her to the highway faster? Any chance she had a misadventure in the river? Not sure if they had running water in their place (or if the water was off) but bathing in the river to prep for the day (hence leaving everything at the house) she could have had an accident. Or crossing the river in a shallow area or via logs and fell?

 

[MysticJynx]

Well believe it or not Mingo may not have been nickname at all. I did happen to come across a Mingo who was Jennifer's age, that was living in Arcata in 1993.

Well I hope this is ok to share as it is from MSM.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_20494570/three-arrested-suspicion-selling-heroin

Snipped from article.
"During the investigation, 38-year-old Mingo Allen Gaitan arrived at the building and was detained. According to police, Gaitan was on formal felony probation for maintaining a place for drug sales."

http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/civica/press/display.asp?layout=1&Entry=480

Raises My brow. http://billyjensen.com/long-islands-lost-girls-dark-star-ship-of-fools/
I still have to wonder if the roommate named MINGO, also mentioned by name in Jennifer's note wasn't a nickname at all. Why was he mentioned by name and no one else like her boyfriend? And who did Jennifer's mother meet at the Hawkins Bar Home? Meeting only 3 of Jennifer's roommates when she lived with 4 other people. This could mean a few things. Could mean she had already met THE BOYFRIEND TRO And MINGO OPIE AND REBECCA are the 3 roommates. Or it could be any combination of the 4 people she actually lived with. The first of those combinations would be Tro, Opie, and Rebecca. Since Jennifer's note points to either Jennifer or MINGO being gone for several months.

And maybe Opie was just a nickname for Ronald. As in Ron Howard who played Opie in the Andy Griffith Show. No O name at all. Or as someone said before someone who resembled Opie.

 

[here]

OT
Humboldt County is a 2008 comedy/drama film.

http://youtu.be/xW5UJo8Lm8s

I saw the trailer after reading about Jennifer Marie Wilmer and Humboldt County.

 

[MysteryMaven]

Well I hope this is ok to share as it is from MSM.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_20494570/three-arrested-suspicion-selling-heroin

Snipped from article.
"During the investigation, 38-year-old Mingo Allen Gaitan arrived at the building and was detained. According to police, Gaitan was on formal felony probation for maintaining a place for drug sales."

http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/civica/press/display.asp?layout=1&Entry=480

Raises My brow. http://billyjensen.com/long-islands-lost-girls-dark-star-ship-of-fools/
I still have to wonder if the roommate named MINGO, also mentioned by name in Jennifer's note wasn't a nickname at all. Why was he mentioned by name and no one else like her boyfriend? And who did Jennifer's mother meet at the Hawkins Bar Home? Meeting only 3 of Jennifer's roommates when she lived with 4 other people. This could mean a few things. Could mean she had already met THE BOYFRIEND TRO And MINGO OPIE AND REBECCA are the 3 roommates. Or it could be any combination of the 4 people she actually lived with. The first of those combinations would be Tro, Opie, and Rebecca. Since Jennifer's note points to either Jennifer or MINGO being gone for several months.

And maybe Opie was just a nickname for Ronald. As in Ron Howard who played Opie in the Andy Griffith Show. No O name at all. Or as someone said before someone who resembled Opie.

Wow! Good find.

 

[FigTree]

Well I hope this is ok to share as it is from MSM.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_20494570/three-arrested-suspicion-selling-heroin

Snipped from article.
"During the investigation, 38-year-old Mingo Allen Gaitan arrived at the building and was detained. According to police, Gaitan was on formal felony probation for maintaining a place for drug sales."

http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/civica/press/display.asp?layout=1&Entry=480

Raises My brow. http://billyjensen.com/long-islands-lost-girls-dark-star-ship-of-fools/
I still have to wonder if the roommate named MINGO, also mentioned by name in Jennifer's note wasn't a nickname at all. Why was he mentioned by name and no one else like her boyfriend? And who did Jennifer's mother meet at the Hawkins Bar Home? Meeting only 3 of Jennifer's roommates when she lived with 4 other people. This could mean a few things. Could mean she had already met THE BOYFRIEND TRO And MINGO OPIE AND REBECCA are the 3 roommates. Or it could be any combination of the 4 people she actually lived with. The first of those combinations would be Tro, Opie, and Rebecca. Since Jennifer's note points to either Jennifer or MINGO being gone for several months.

And maybe Opie was just a nickname for Ronald. As in Ron Howard who played Opie in the Andy Griffith Show. No O name at all. Or as someone said before someone who resembled Opie.

Great sleuth, MysticJynx!

 

[Mouse]

Googling "Opie" and "Arcata" gives me a hit for an Opie's Chevrolet & Buick and an Opie's Body Shop in the Arcata area. I wonder if "Opie" is a last name that's common in the area, maybe?

ETA: I'm not from California...Arcata is in the right area, yes?

 

[MysticJynx]

Googling "Opie" and "Arcata" gives me a hit for an Opie's Chevrolet & Buick and an Opie's Body Shop in the Arcata area. I wonder if "Opie" is a last name that's common in the area, maybe?

ETA: I'm not from California...Arcata is in the right area, yes?

Yes Arcata is in California Humboldt Co. next to the town McKinleyville, in which this place is located.

And I Never thought of Opie as a last name. Good Thought

 

[Lilibet]

Yes Arcata is in California Humboldt Co. next to the town McKinleyville, in which this place is located.

And I Never thought of Opie as a last name. Good Thought

I had found Opie's Auto awhile back, but it's the first name of the owner, and he doesn't look like the right Opie to me.

http://www.opies.gmpsdealer.com/Staff

The Opie I found with photos on a site called oninstagram lives in Trinity and looks to be about the right age and lifestyle. But I won't link it since I'm not sure it's the right person.

We aren't sure about Mingo either, but that was a great catch, and again, the age and lifestyle is on the right track.

Both very unusual names.

 

[Lilibet]

Well I hope this is ok to share as it is from MSM.
http://www.times-standard.com/ci_20494570/three-arrested-suspicion-selling-heroin

Snipped from article.
"During the investigation, 38-year-old Mingo Allen Gaitan arrived at the building and was detained. According to police, Gaitan was on formal felony probation for maintaining a place for drug sales."

http://www.ci.eureka.ca.gov/civica/press/display.asp?layout=1&Entry=480

<respectfully snipped for focus>

BBM

Since we don't know for sure if this is THE Mingo, we're on thin TOS ice, but I will join you in being naughty. Here is a link to a mug shot of this guy in 2011. He is the next to last photo.

My reason for posting it is that I hope Jennifer's cousin will see it and show it to her mother. She would know if this is the same Mingo (if she ever saw him) and see that he is still in the area. Mingo might know where the rest of the roommates are.

http://lostcoastoutpost.com/2011/oct/26/eureka-pop-makes-heroin-busts-takes-yet-more-beaut/

ETA: I really hope that THIS Mingo and the lady pictured below him have been through rehab and are staying away from drugs. They just had a baby in January!

 

[MysticJynx]

BBM

Since we don't know for sure if this is THE Mingo, we're on thin TOS ice, but I will join you in being naughty. Here is a link to a mug shot of this guy in 2011. He is the next to last photo.

My reason for posting it is that I hope Jennifer's cousin will see it and show it to her mother. She would know if this is the same Mingo (if she ever saw him) and see that he is still in the area. Mingo might know where the rest of the roommates are.

http://lostcoastoutpost.com/2011/oct/26/eureka-pop-makes-heroin-busts-takes-yet-more-beaut/

ETA: I really hope that THIS Mingo and the lady pictured below him have been through rehab and are staying away from drugs. They just had a baby in January!

I know this is thin ice. I guess I skate dangerously for those who no longer can skate themselves.

However I was not saying he is Mingo the roommate named in the article https://sites.google.com/site/billjens/longisland'slostgirls:flowerchildfrombaldwin I was just pointing out that the name Mingo mentioned in Jennifers Bye Everyone note may have been a real name. Not a nickname. Since the article did mention a few nicknames its hard to say which were and were not that of nick names. Jade was Jennifers. Rebecca doesn't sound like a nickname to me. And Tro was his real name. I cannot help that there are coincidences between the two Mingos.

If it does gets snipped. I hope that if they are trying to get the case reopened that the simple fact that Ernest Christie Jr was named a murder of the area would be enough. A known killer of one missing woman from the late 80's. Sandy Turpin and she was missing 22 years before she was found deceased and her remains identified in 2010. Four years after the Ernest's death. If it were up to me I'd have fresh eyes look at this case and a few others from the area during his life time. Including Claire Louise Christie nee Williams, Ernest Christie Jr's wife who has been missing since 1977. Lost at sea, so it was said in his 2006 obituary. Who seems to be presumed dead but no body was ever found, no death record is found, and no missing record in any of what I call the websites that help identify these cases. Should "Jennifer's Law" apply to Christie's wife as well?

Susan Wilmer helped pushed through a bill called "Jennifer's Law" signed by Bill Clinton in March 2000. The law expanded the nation's missing-children database by providing the states money to enter more complete data on each missing person's case.

 

[FigTree]

On the public record sites there are listings for Jennifers former addresses.

But in some of the listings:
- there are 3 addresses for Jennifer in Humboldt County. (Arcata)
http://www.myrelatives.com/SearchRe...g=0&utm_source=peoplefinders&utm_campaign=tzr

- there are 3 addresses for Jennifer (2 in Arcata, 1 in Eureka)
http://www.ussearch.com/search/people/Jennifer/~/Wilmer/NY/Baldwin?refer=5270

The address in NY I am assuming is where she lived with her family.

I have not paid to view the addresses - problem with the form - so without the full former addresses for Jennifer I cannot confirm but maybe a sleuther in the US has better access...

My point is that as far as I had read Jennifer had one address in Arcata that she shared with a friend until the friend bailed - and then she moved to the house in Hawkins Bar - so that's 2 addresses.

Was the Hawkins Bar address one of the listed addresses?

Was there more address' for Jennifer that was not known or listed at the time she was in Humboldt County before or after she went missing?

Was one of the adress' Tro Pattersons (Jennifers boyfriend at the time)?

In pre-internet days it would have been impossible to know exactly where she had stated she was living unless it was only through official records that were easily available and linked up.

.

 

[MysticJynx]

On the public record sites there are listings for Jennifers former addresses.

But in some of the listings:
- there are 3 addresses for Jennifer in Humboldt County. (Arcata)
http://www.myrelatives.com/SearchRe...g=0&utm_source=peoplefinders&utm_campaign=tzr

- there are 3 addresses for Jennifer (2 in Arcata, 1 in Eureka)
http://www.ussearch.com/search/people/Jennifer/~/Wilmer/NY/Baldwin?refer=5270

The address in NY I am assuming is where she lived with her family.

I have not paid to view the addresses - problem with the form - so without the full former addresses for Jennifer I cannot confirm but maybe a sleuther in the US has better access...

My point is that as far as I had read Jennifer had one address in Arcata that she shared with a friend until the friend bailed - and then she moved to the house in Hawkins Bar - so that's 2 addresses.

Was the Hawkins Bar address one of the listed addresses?

Was there more address' for Jennifer that was not known or listed at the time she was in Humboldt County before or after she went missing?

Was one of the adress' Tro Pattersons (Jennifers boyfriend at the time)?

In pre-internet days it would have been impossible to know exactly where she had stated she was living unless it was only through official records that were easily available and linked up.

.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/2QM3-QMY

2nd Address: 474 Granite Ave
2nd Address Continued: Arcata, California 95521
2nd Address Date: 13 Nov 2000
3rd Address: 17 St
3rd Address Continued: Arcata, California 95521
3rd Address Date: 01 Jun 1994

Both are in the area of Humboldt State University in Arcata and both listed for after when she was missing. Was unable to find the one in Eureka. And Believe that was her families address in New York.

 

[FigTree]

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/2QM3-QMY

2nd Address: 474 Granite Ave
2nd Address Continued: Arcata, California 95521
2nd Address Date: 13 Nov 2000
3rd Address: 17 St
3rd Address Continued: Arcata, California 95521
3rd Address Date: 01 Jun 1994

Both are in the area of Humboldt State University in Arcata and both listed for after when she was missing. Was unable to find the one in Eureka. And Believe that was her families address in New York.

Thanks once more MysticJynx - great find
Funny about the dates ....
And not having a listing for the Eureka Property - maybe it was not in Jennifers name, just an address she used - maybe to get her SS check?

The second address at 474 Granite Ave Arcata - is listed with Humboldt Property Management
Property -

As you mentioned MysticJynx - the 2nd address is dated - 13th Nov 2000
7 years after Jennifer went Missing.

The 3rd Address: 17 St, Arcata, California 95521
is dated 01 Jun 1994
8.5 months after Jenifer went Missing.

Glitch in the records?
Maybe this was the date the address was entered into the Public records?
There's another Jennifer M Wilmer?
Someone using Jennifer's name?

 

[MysticJynx]

My thought about the addresses is that her mother kept some kind of PO box or something in Jennifer's name. The addresses in the area stop after Jennifer was declared Legally Dead. Which can't happen till the person has been missing about 7 years. which would have been in 2000


I have found the cousin of Jennifer's on facebook. Including a facebook I think is Susan's but I am to chicken to write them there. Any one interested in writing one of them?