CA CA - Karen Tompkins, 11, Torrance, 18 Aug 1961

[Tuffy101]

itsreenw, I set you the Pro-quest again yesterday or you haveing a problem opening it ?

 

[Carl W. Goss]

I'm thinking Karen's school was on the west side of the freeway. Did she lived on the east side of the freeway? If so, she might have passed
under the freeway on one of those streets that cut under the freeay.

If Mack Ray Edwards was working on the freeway he might have somehow
seen her. He lurks near the street underpass and grabs her. How the devil he did this with no one seeing him at 5:30 PM when there was heavy commuter traffic is something I just can't understand. Unless, Karen took some kind of short cut. It all depends on where Karen's home is relative to Halldale school.

I'm sure the answer lies in precisely what route she used to follow to get home from school. Seems to me she had a brother who might remember. If I could get her home address at the time, and the route she followed normally to go home after school, someone might be able to see if the route came anywhere near the freeway.

Seems to me the governor of the state should establish some sort of commission to try to find the bodies and relate Edwards work and home addresses to missing children. This business of letting each police department go its merry way with limited resources is not good enought.

Personally I'm offnded to think that the bodies of children are lying underneath freeways everyday and no one can seem to find them.

 

[Tuffy101]

Head north on Dalton Ave toward W 209th St0.3 mi1 min

6.Turn left at Torrance Blvd0.5 mi1 min

7.Turn left at S Western Ave0.5 mi1 min

8.Turn right at W Carson St0.2 mi1 min

9.Turn left at Border Ave0.1 mi

To:
Border Ave
Torrance, CA 90501

Address for Karen is 21110 Dalton Ave.
School @ 21514 Halldale Ave Karen used a path (Short cut) that ran in back of the school (News paper clipping show the dad and uncle searching in that area ) news paper accounts state that her dad had told them about using a short cut.....However the last person that saw Karen a classmate talked to her (Before she crossed the Street) indicating she may not have taken the shortcut......
Dorothy Brown @ 213th Street and Border Ave. She Lived in a Mobile Home Park her bike was found on an over bridge.......

Drive:1.1 mi (about 4 mins)

10.Head north on Border Ave toward W Carson St0.1 mi

11.Turn right at W Carson St0.7 mi3 mins

12.Turn left at Halldale Ave0.3 mi1 min

To:
W 213th St
Torrance, CA

 

[Tuffy101]

fter a 2006 interview with [Mack Ray Edwards]' widow and other relatives, a family member showed [Weston DeWalt] a letter from Edwards to his wife, Mary, when he was on death row. Of the six killings Edwards confessed to, the first took place in 1953: Stella Darlene Nolan was an 8-year-old snatched from a refreshment stand in Norwalk where her mother worked. Within days after Edwards confessed, police found her remains near a freeway abutment in Downey.
Also that month, 16-year-old Roger Dale Madison, a friend and classmate of Edwards' son, disappeared from Sylmar. Edwards told police he stabbed Madison repeatedly while they were in an orange grove before burying him under the 23 Freeway in Thousand Oaks, which was under construction.



"I absolutely believe he's responsible for the disappearance of Tommy Bowman," said Detective Vivian Flores of the Los Angeles Police Department's Cold Case Homicide Unit. "He's gotten away with it. He can't win and I won't let him."
Not that Edwards is around to take his punishment. He committed suicide in 1971 in San Quentin state prison.
From 1953 to 1968, Edwards is known to have killed half a dozen children

Law enforcement officials suspect convicted serial murderer Mack Ray Edwards may be responsible for 10 unsolved child killings in the 1950s and '60s. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff's Department's Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or the LAPD Cold Case DivisionOn the eve of the 50th anniversary of Tommy Bowman's disappearance, a Pasadena author and police believe the 8-year-old Redondo Beach boy fell prey to a serial murderer who killed children.
» VIDEO » Author wanted help Redondo Beach family find closure
http://www.scvresources.com/highways/east_los_angeles_interchange.htm

this is maps of the freeways under constution and is the one that goes by both Brown and Tompkins Homes

 

[Carl W. Goss]

I'm going to have to get an aerial
photo of Halldale Ave school as it existed in 1961 and 1962. There’s no large vacant areas near Halldale Ave school now. But back then there must have been undeveloped areas. With an older photo I could go over possible routes she might have followed between the school and Karen’s home. Also I'd like to know if Dorothy Gale Brown attended the same school and what route she followed to go home. If Dorothy attended Halldale school she would have had to walk about 5 blocks in a westerly direction to the intersection of 213th Street and Border Ave. Karen would have walked in a northwesterly direction to the 21000 Block of Dalton Ave. Did Dorothy and Karen share the same routes, going home at least part of the way? That might be the key to where they were grabbed. At least narrow it down. I’m sure the same person killed them both. Was Halldale Ave school under construction at the time of the disappearances? Was construction equipment being stored there? Did Mack Ray Edwards maybe visit the site for some reason?
More questions than answers…..

 

[Tuffy101]

Dorothy told her father she was going to ride around the block before Dinner(5 to 6) Karen's father said he had told her about using the short cut....and the last person to see her a class-mate said she crossed the street and that was the last she at seen of her a black sedan was seen in the area at that time and several people were taken in for questioning......This is from News paper accounts:

 

[anthrobones]

Bumping up

 

[anthrobones]

Bumping Up? Was she ever DNA tested to eliminate her as related to Sharon Marshall in any way?

 

[anthrobones]

Bumping her up again.

 

[Tuffy101]

Karens'sister was at one timeon this thread....she still maybe checking in now and again.....she coud best answer that question about the DNA

 

[anthrobones]

Anyone know her sister's hat?

 

[Tuffy101]

Anyone know her sister's hat?

maybe karensister back in threads

 

[ravensangel]

When I was 10 years old in 1961, my family lived in Torrance, California.
I remember seeing on the news a report about a missing girl named Karen Lynn Tompkins. The reporters were at her house and you could see her poor mother reclined on the couch with a cold compress on her forehead. I felt so sad for her. My mother became very worried and wouldn't let me or my sister walk to school alone anymore and became generally very cautious. I remembered hearing on the news that Karen was wearing a mustard seed necklace. About a month later during a family outing at Redondo Beach, while looking for seashells, I found in the sand a mustard seed necklace. I told my parents about it but they didn't seem to think it was important at the time. Maybe it wasn't. I don't know. All these years, from time to time I would think of Karen. Her named stayed with me and I know I was somewhat traumatized by her disappearance since I had never been aware such things could happen when I was only ten. I never forgot the look on her mother's face and always hoped Karen would be found. Shortly after Dorothy Gale Brown went missing a year later, my family moved away from Torrance. It just occured to me recently that since we now have the internet, I might be able to find out what happened if anything. That's how I came upon this site. I always wanted to tell someone about the mustard seed necklace and maybe it means nothing but I'm glad I finally got this out there.

Thanks for Listening

 

[anthrobones]

There's a new age progression of Karen on her Doe page.

 

[Kat]

Bump

Karen has been missing 49 years today. Come home soon.

 

[karens sister]

Ravensangel
The mustard seed necklace was never found and neither was Karen.
Can you remember if the necklace was lying on the ground like it had fallen or hidden. It's nice to know that Karen is remembered.
Thank you for any information.
We are still looking for Karen,
karens sister.

When I was 10 years old in 1961, my family lived in Torrance, California.
I remember seeing on the news a report about a missing girl named Karen Lynn Tompkins. The reporters were at her house and you could see her poor mother reclined on the couch with a cold compress on her forehead. I felt so sad for her. My mother became very worried and wouldn't let me or my sister walk to school alone anymore and became generally very cautious. I remembered hearing on the news that Karen was wearing a mustard seed necklace. About a month later during a family outing at Redondo Beach, while looking for seashells, I found in the sand a mustard seed necklace. I told my parents about it but they didn't seem to think it was important at the time. Maybe it wasn't. I don't know. All these years, from time to time I would think of Karen. Her named stayed with me and I know I was somewhat traumatized by her disappearance since I had never been aware such things could happen when I was only ten. I never forgot the look on her mother's face and always hoped Karen would be found. Shortly after Dorothy Gale Brown went missing a year later, my family moved away from Torrance. It just occured to me recently that since we now have the internet, I might be able to find out what happened if anything. That's how I came upon this site. I always wanted to tell someone about the mustard seed necklace and maybe it means nothing but I'm glad I finally got this out there.

Thanks for Listening

 

[ravensangel]

Yes, I remember I was looking for shells in the sand about half way down the beach toward the water and I picked up what I thought was a shiny shell but it was a mustard seed necklace. The chain was broken. It was just below the surface of the sand as though it had been dropped. I know that's very little information and I certainly wish there was more I could do. I have misplaced the jewelry box I kept the necklace in but I'm still looking for it. I kept it all these years just in case there was some way of finding out in the future if it belonged to Karen.
I never forgot her and hoped she would be found someday. I felt so bad for her family. I just hope you have found some peace in the many years since she went missing. I was speaking about this to my younger sister and she remembers very well the events of those days and being very afraid. We will continue to pray for Karen and her family. Especially you, Lori.
What a wonderful sister, you have kept up the search. I would certainly have done the same had it been my sister.

Hoping for the best,
Ravensangel

 

[Fukiyama]

Bump. Did anyone ever hear back from the sister?

 

[Seajay]

My parents best friends lived across the street from Karen on Dalton Ave. When we would go over there, I got acquainted with Karen. She and I played hopscotch and jump rope together.

When she disappeared, it scared the living bejesus out of me. I couldn't believe this happened to her. Her disappearance has haunted me for 51 years. She was 3 days older than me, we were born the same month and the same year.

Every time we went over there after that, when we passed the area she was last seen in, I would ask myself what happened to her. I have never been able to pass it without thinking of her.

I've been at WS since this July and the other day on another forum, I was telling the story of Karen and someone suggested I sleuth it. It brought me here. Wow.

 

[karens sister]

This is Karen's sister. I have not been on Websleuths in a few years. I am very glad people remember Karen.