CA CA - Rachel Hanna Ziselman, 11, Pacific Palisades, 5 Sept 1977

[Kat]

The Doe Network:
Case File 73DFCA

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/73dfca.html

Rachel Hanna Ziselman
Missing since September 5, 1977 from Pacific Palisade, Los Angeles County, California
Classification: Non Family Abduction



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Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: September 30, 1965
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 11 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'8; 70 pounds
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; blue eyes. Ziselman has high cheekbones.
•Clothing: White t-shirt over a yellow, blue and pink bikini bathing suit.
•Dentals: Available


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Circumstances of Disappearance
Ziselman was last seen walking home from a local supermarket in Pacific Palisade, CA on September 5, 1977.



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Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Los Angeles Police Department
213-485-5381
OR
213-485-4189
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number: 830811002

NCMEC #: NCMC601948

NCIC Number: M-135832126
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information: The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
CA DOJ

http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/detail.asp?FCN=2748429810186

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/z/ziselman_rachel.html
More details of circumstances at Charley Project.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/7586/0/
NamUs Profile:
Dental: Available and entered
DNA: Sample submitted tests complete
Fingerprints: NA

Rachel has been missing almost 33 years. Come home soon.

Photo on the left is age-progressed to 36 years of age. (circa 2002).

 

[Richard]

Bumping case up. The 36 year anniversary of this little girl's abduction has just passed.

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Rachel Hanna Ziselman
Missing since September 5, 1977
from Pacific Palisade, Los Angeles County, California
Classification: Non Family Abduction

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: September 30, 1965
Age at Time of Disappearance: 11 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'8; 70 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; blue eyes. Ziselman has high cheekbones.
Clothing: White t-shirt over a yellow, blue and pink bikini bathing suit.
Dentals: Available
DNA: Available


Circumstances of Disappearance

Ziselman was last seen walking home from a local supermarket in Pacific Palisade, CA on September 5, 1977.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Los Angeles Police Department
213-485-5381
OR
213-485-4189


You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number: 830811002

NCMEC #: NCMC601948

NCIC Number: M-135832126


Please refer to these numbers when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:

The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
CA DOJ
NamUs
The Doe Network: Case File 73DFCA

LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/73dfca.html

 

[Richard]

NonFamily Abduction

RACHEL ZISELMAN

DOB: Sep 30, 1965
Age Now: 48
Missing: Sep 5, 1977
Missing From:
PACIFIC PALISADES
CA
United States
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 4'8" (142cm)
Weight: 70lbs (32kg)
Age Progressed

Rachel's photo is shown (at link below) age-progressed to 47 years.

She was last seen walking home from a local supermarket when she disappeared. Rachel has not been seen or heard from since. She was last seen wearing a white T-shirt over a yellow, blue and pink bikini bathing suit.

ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)

Los Angeles Police Department (California) - Missing Persons Unit 1-213-485-5381 OR 1-213-485-4189

LINK:

http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...aseNum=601948&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

 

[Richard]

Rachel Hannah Ziselman was born in New York City on September 30, 1965. After living in the US Virgin Islands for a period of 5 years, her family moved to Pacific Palisades, California.

On Labor Day in 1977 she disappeared while walking home from the grocery store.

To date, there have been no arrests, major discoveries or any other resolutions of the questions raised by her disappearance. Also, the Los Angeles Police Department never found any evidence of her death.

Rachel's family is still actively searching for her. Her brother's comments appear on the below linked websites:

LINKS:

http://www.nowpublic.com/rachel_ziselman_missing_person


http://members.boardhost.com/BellCo/msg/211.html

 

[Richard]

Possible connected case?

Exactly one year earlier, on 5 September 1976, nine year-old Lisa Dickinson went missing from Walnut Creek, California. Lisa was likely abducted while out riding her bicycle alone. She has never been found.

Here is Lisa's description:

Age at Time of Disappearance: 9 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'10"; 80 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; blue eyes.
Clothing: She was last seen wearing a yellow crew-neck T-shirt with Snoopy and the word "Happiness" on the front, blue cutoff shorts and white leather, three-strapped sandals.

Note the similarities with Rachel's case. I wonder if they might be connected?

LINK to Lisa's case file information:


http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/802dfca.html

 

[Richard]

I wonder if Thomas Francis Edwards had anything to do with Rachel's disappearance.

Edwards spent many years in and out of the Patuxent Institution with mental problems. He was a sexual sadist with a fondness for young girls ages 10 through 14, who had a documented fetish for hair and necks. He particularly liked blonde hair and pony tails.

In 1970, he was a suspect in two separate murders of women in Maryland. He was returned to the Institution, where he remained until his final discharge in July 1977.

Some time after his release, he went to California, where in 1981 he shot two 12-year-old girls, killing one and severely wounding the other. He was caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.

Edwards remained in prison, on death row, filing appeal after appeal until his final appeal was denied in 2008. He died of natural causes a few months later.

In 2009, DNA testing on old evidence indicated that he did indeed kill the two Maryland women in 1970, but by then he had already died.

Here is a link to the final appeal decision from Public Records in California. It contains some fairly graphic descriptions of Edwards' crimes, and makes references to his mental institution records, which he submitted as part of his appeals.


http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1422483.html

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

A very detailed series done this year on Rachel's case. Reviews the timeline of events leading up to the disappearance and the searches that took place. Rachel's brother Sam is interviewed as well as some of Rachel's friends and neighbors. Rodney Alcala is explored as a possible suspect.

Still Searching: Rachel Ziselman Missing from Palisades since 1977 Part 1

http://www.palipost.com/still-searching-rachel-ziselman-missing-from-palisades-since-1977/

Still Searching for Rachel: Post Article Stirs Memories...and Clues? - Part 2

http://www.palipost.com/still-searching-for-rachel-post-article-stirs-memories-and-clues/

Still Searching for Rachel: Photo May Hold Clues - Part 3

http://www.palipost.com/still-searching-for-rachel-photo-may-hold-clues/

Still Searching for Rachel: A Serial Killer Connection - Part 4

http://www.palipost.com/still-searching-for-rachel-a-serial-killer-connection/

Cold Case Detective Opens Book on Rachel Ziselman - Part 5

https://www.palipost.com/cold-case-detective-opens-book-on-rachel-ziselman/


Rachel and her siblings had just returned from their father's (John) home where they had spent the afternoon swimming. Rachel's mother (Rosemarie) sent her down to the store. She was last seen walking back with a bag of groceries but never made it home.

Sam (Rachel's brother) was considering going to the store with her but decided to take a nap instead. Rosemarie woke him up a couple of hours later in terrified state and asked him to go look for her. This was the beginning of the investigation although it took some time for LE to arrive. The searches conducted following her disappearance were vast but no evidence was found.

There were conflicting reports on what Rachel was wearing. Apparently, the bathing suit she was thought to have been wearing was found in her room. She probably just changed before leaving. Everyone in the family (except Sarah, Rachel's sister who was seven) were given polygraphs.

Sam talks about his parents being investigated as potential suspects in Rachel's disappearance. Detectives looked for hidden insurance policies, secret lovers, connection to criminals, etc but nothing was found. Sam maintains his innocence as well as his parents and I don't think they were involved. Although they were separated when Rachel disappeared, they were not divorced. After the disappearance, they remained together for the rest of their lives.

LAPD detective Luis Rivera has been in charge of the case since 2012. There's a picture of him with Rachel's case-file and it's quite large. Despite this, he says they actually have very few leads on what could have happened to her. One witness reported that Rachel was having trouble carrying the grocery bag. The witness said she was about 100 yards away from her home. There were no witnesses to a crime or no evidence that a crime had occurred.

The detective says that Rodney Alcala is a "person of interest" because of the Huntington Beach case and has been for awhile. They would like to interview him about Rachel. They also received information that Alcala may have been in the area during the time period of her disappearance.

In the summer of 1977, 15 year-old Lisa S. and Linda F. were at the Village Green and a man took a photo of both of them. He offered to take more pictures in his van but they declined. Years later, they stumble upon Alcala's story online and realize that it was most likely the same man. They believe he said his name was Rod. After all this time, Lisa still has the photograph from that day.

Before this report was done, there was not a lot of information out there on Rachel. It's great that people were willing to sit down and share the information they had. Hoping it leads to a resolution.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Thank you for all this information, JusticeWillBeServed ! This poor, sweet, beautiful child. She was a walking target, so tiny and then struggling with the cumbersome grocery bag. I wonder if someone she was slightly aquainted with offered her to carry the bag for her. Regardless of that, she would have been easy to snatch having the distraction of trying to carry that bag.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Thank you for all this information, JusticeWillBeServed ! This poor, sweet, beautiful child. She was a walking target, so tiny and then struggling with the cumbersome grocery bag. I wonder if someone she was slightly aquainted with offered her to carry the bag for her. Regardless of that, she would have been easy to snatch having the distraction of trying to carry that bag.

I'm wondering if that was the case, the person may have offered Rachel assistance. That might explain why no one saw anything since it didn't look suspicious. If Alcala was responsible, he probably had his van nearby.

 

[Lavender Moon]

We've now learned that Rachel was not wearing the clothing that has been described ( bathing suit and T-shirt). If her hair was still wet from swimming, it probably looked much darker and also shorter as hair tends to curl up a bit when wet. If anybody did see her, she might not have looked at all like she was described in her missing profiles.

 

[Sleuthster]

Could she be one of Rodney Alcala's victims? I'll have to look through the pics again.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Could she be one of Rodney Alcala's victims? I'll have to look through the pics again.

Two of his victims from 1977, Georgia Wixted and Jill Barcomb were apparently found in areas that were not far from Pacific Palisade. The information JusticeWillBeServed found for us certainly points toward the abomination that is Rodney Alcala. I viewed the YouTube clip of his Dating Game stint. I thought I was smelling the smoke of Hell's fires when I looked at him and heard him speak.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Possible connected case?

Exactly one year earlier, on 5 September 1976, nine year-old Lisa Dickinson went missing from Walnut Creek, California. Lisa was likely abducted while out riding her bicycle alone. She has never been found.

Here is Lisa's description:

Age at Time of Disappearance: 9 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'10"; 80 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; blue eyes.
Clothing: She was last seen wearing a yellow crew-neck T-shirt with Snoopy and the word "Happiness" on the front, blue cutoff shorts and white leather, three-strapped sandals.

Note the similarities with Rachel's case. I wonder if they might be connected?

LINK to Lisa's case file information:


http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/802dfca.html

I think the two cases of Rachel Ziselman and Lisa Dickinson are related.

 

[scriptgirl]

This sounds related to the Lisa Dickinson case. I wonder if it was the same person. How far apart are Pacific Palidsades from where Lisa was taken?

 

[Lavender Moon]

Pacific Palisades is 333.56 miles from Walnut Creek, making it a 5 1/2 mile drive between the two towns. Despite the distance, I think the same creep took both girls.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Bumping for Rachel

 

[Paligal]

I grew up in Pacific Palisades, and remember vividly being a child and a friend pointing out the house and telling me a girl had been kidnapped who lived there. The house is literally a block from the grocery store she went to, and it's a fairly well traveled street right in the middle of town. The abduction would have had to be very quick. I believe this person the Palisades Post article describes as having taken photos of teenaged girls that day is probably the perpetrator. The photos and the name "Rod" make me fear this is related to Rodney Alcala. Is there any way to detect the type of camera used to photograph the teens and compare it to Alcala's photos/camera?

 

[Alinew]

I grew up in Pacific Palisades, and remember vividly being a child and a friend pointing out the house and telling me a girl had been kidnapped who lived there. The house is literally a block from the grocery store she went to, and it's a fairly well traveled street right in the middle of town. The abduction would have had to be very quick.

The fact that she was supposedly kidnapped from a busy street in the middle of a day and ere are no eye witnessesmakes me think she may not have been kidnapped. In cases like that like Michaela Garecht's for example, there are usually many eye witnesses. I remember that somebody online said that her parents or one of them was a suspect but there was not evidence to make an arrest. Not sure if that's true but Charley Project does say both parents took polygraph tests.

 

[strangepup]

Two of his victims from 1977, Georgia Wixted and Jill Barcomb were apparently found in areas that were not far from Pacific Palisade. The information JusticeWillBeServed found for us certainly points toward the abomination that is Rodney Alcala. I viewed the YouTube clip of his Dating Game stint. I thought I was smelling the smoke of Hell's fires when I looked at him and heard him speak.

Barcomb, Wixted, and Lamb were all in West LA. I see from the Alcala timeline that he returned from New York in September to begin a job at the LA Times, but I don't have the day in September. I could see him pull up and take a picture of Rachel and talk his way into getting close enough to overpower her.

I have heard about this case since moving to the Palisades about a decade ago and it has become folklore. Parents tell their kids about the girl that went to Ralph's by herself to get milk and she was kidnapped and never seen again...so don't leave home alone. It is a really safe community and it is easy to develop a false sense of security.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Bumping for Rachel