KY KY - Ann Gotlib, 12, Louisville, 1 June 1983

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I just googled her and after reading this site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Gotlib

It seems that a Michael Lee Lockhart admitted to the crime in 1990 and told that he buried her in Fort Knox but she was never found.

I then googled Michael Lee Lockhart and went to this site

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/lockhart430.htm

It seems he has now been executed in Texas for killing a police officer. It also talked about a 16 year old girl in Indiana (a horrific crime), so he was in KY's neighborhood. It doesn't mention anything about Ann though.

I've read online (through the googling) that a police dog led them to grandparents home, but the grandmother hadn't seen her. I was unclear if this was her grandmother or just A grandmother. The name was foreign and led me to believe it was her grandmother. Then there was a comment about the grandmother sending her back to Russia. I don't know, really confusing. Let me see if I can find that site again....

Here it is....

http://www.topix.com/louisville/200...ann-gotlib-still-baffles-kentuckiana#comments

I would really love to see this one solved. If Lockhart did do it, I'm sure it'll never be proven cause he is dead. However, if the remains were found it might give the parents some closure.
 
Thanks for locating and posting the recent info.

I did not know Ann Gotlib but she was just a couple of years older than me so I remember this well. I used to occasionally shop at the Bashford Manor Mall in the 80's and always felt a little creaped out being there.

It's so sad that a family has to live with the heartache of never knowing what happened to their child.
 
[SIZE=+2]Developing Story:Police pursuing new developments in Ann Gotlib dissappearance

[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]11:11 AM EST on Thursday, December 4, 2008

[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1] [/SIZE] (WHAS11)—Some stunning developments today in case of a little girl who disappeared from a Louisville mall 25 years ago.

M_IMAGE.101688cd0b5.93.88.fa.7c.2cf66c128.jpg

WHAS11 News has learned that Louisville Metro Police have been pursuing new information in the case of Ann Gotlib and might know who could have been tied to her disappearance. WHAS11’s Mark Hebert will have more on this story during WHAS11 News at Noon and we will update this story as more information comes into the news room.


 
The noon news stated that they believe the sexual predator that LE suspects of taking her has since died in prison. Nothing more was said, including why they suspect this guy.

A press conference may follow sometime this afternoon.
 
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Ann was last seen in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky on June 1, 1983. She was riding her red and white bicycle from the Bashford Manor Mall back to her family's residence between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Her bicycle was later found propped up against a brick pillar outside of Bacon's Department Store in the mall. She never arrived home and has not been heard from again. The mall was across the street from her Gerald Court home.

Ann apparently vanished without a trace; there are very few clues as to what happened to her. Police believe she was abducted by a non-family member and have thirty to forty possible suspects, many of whom have died in years since her disappearance.

Three days after Ann's disappearance, a police bloodhound picked up her scent around a ditch near the mall and led investigators to the window of an apartment across the street. It was the residence of Ester Okmyansky, the grandmother of the last friend to see Ann before she disappeared. Okmyansky said Ann had never visited the apartment. Officials eventually concluded that the dog erred when distracted by the smell of cooking food. The Okmyanskys were checked and all were cleared.

Three weeks after Ann vanished, police questioned a man who was suspected of molesting one child and exposing himself to two others. He admitted to those incidents and also to half a dozen like them in Kentucky and Indiana, but he had an alibi for the time Ann disappeared. Another man, who broke into a police officer's house in January 1984 and stabbed and attempted to rape the officer's teenage daughter, was placed at the Bashford Manor Mall just hours before Gotlib's disappearance. He denied any involvement in her case, however, and no evidence was located tying him to Ann.

Several girls living in the New York area were thought to be Ann, but they all turned out to be someone else. A theory that she was kidnapped by the Russian government in an attempt to force her family to return to that country has been discarded. There was speculation that Ann left voluntarily because she was having trouble adjusting to life in America, but her loved ones say she was not unusually anxious and, if she did run away, she would probably have contacted them eventually or taken money and her favorite possessions.
 
[SIZE=+2]Police name dead felon as suspect in disappearance of Ann Gotlib

[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]06:58 PM EST on Thursday, December 4, 2008

[/SIZE] WHAS11 Coverage
News conference on developments | Part 2
1983 WHAS11 Coverage of disappearance
Timeline of Ann Gotlib case
Gotlib announcement brings memories back to those close to the case
Leave your comments on the Ann Gotlib case


(WHAS11)—Some stunning developments today in case of a little girl who disappeared from a Louisville mall 25 years ago.
081204_ann12_20_8221-t240.jpg

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Watch this story


Louisville Metro Police say they have new information about the disappearance of Ann Gotlib. The little girl was last seen near Bashford Manor Mall 25 years ago.

This has been Louisville’s most heart breaking mystery for 25 years. If you've lived in this area, you know the story of 12-year-old Ann Gotlib.

Now, according to our sources, Louisville Metro Police believe they've tied a convicted Louisville felon to the little girl's disappearance.

Sources tell WHAS11 News that Louisville Metro Police have reinterviewed witnesses and now have enough to pin Ann Gotlib's disappearance on a convicted felon who died in 2002.

Police believe Gregory Oakley Jr. followed 12-year-old Ann Gotlib to the parking lot at Bashford Manor Mall and abducted her, leaving only her bicycle behind. Oakley died six years ago after serving a prison sentence at the Lagrange reformatory for burglary, rape and being a persistent felon.

M_IMAGE.11dd54fc55a.93.88.fa.d0.2e096a80.jpg
Gregory Oakley Jr.

June 1, 2008 marked the 25th anniversary of the little girl's disappearance with Gotlib's parents and friends still hoping for a break in the case.

According to our sources, Oakley was one of the potential suspects police interviewed back in 1983 because he was connected to attacks on other women in the area around the time of Gotlib's disappearance. As searches for Gotlib droned on, neither Oakley nor anyone else was ever charged and Gotlib's body was never found. Police are not saying what led to the new break in the case.

Again, Louisville Metro Police aren't saying much except to confirm that there is new information in the Ann Gotlib case. A police spokesman says they might talk to reporters later today. But it appears police may have solved this long running, disturbing case of a 12-year-old Louisville girl who vanished from a mall parking lot 25 years ago.

LINK TO STORY: http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/081204whasasTopAnnGotlib.2d6614f4.html
 
Watch news conference #2, very interesting. The original detective speaks of how he was certain 25 years ago this suspect killed Ann but his superiors disregarded it.

The suspects ex-girl friend has stepped forward with info as well as an ex-cell mate.

The suspect was a vet and had a thing for young red headed girls. He allegedly injected and killed Ann with a overdose of animal medicine. He lived around the corner from the mall where Ann was taken. Oakley was at his bank, which was either at or near the mall within 2 hours of Ann disappearing.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Gotlib family sue the pants off the City of Louisville for not working the case 25 years ago.

Ann was the reason the Center for Missing and Exploited Children was started. It began in Louisville with this case and within a year was nation wide. I did not know that till tonight. I pray that with this new information her body can be found. :rose:
 
http://www.whas11.com/video/whas11video-index.html?nvid=310808
[SIZE=+2]Former victim of suspected Gotlib abductor speaks to WHAS11 about the fear

[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]09:02 AM EST on Saturday, December 6, 2008

[/SIZE]


Police say there is one thing they do know for sure; Ann Gotlib was only one of Gregory Oakley Jr.’s many victims. Just three months after police say he abducted Ann, Oakley attacked a 13-year-old girl. Her testimony is what finally sent Oakley to prison in 1984.
WHAS11’s Adrianna Hopkins sat down with Leigh Moody Hellinger, a grown woman now; she says she’s known all along that Oakley kidnapped and likely killed Ann.
She told WHAS11 that she just had a feeling. And she also says her father, a police detective at the time, went to his grave knowing Oakley was to blame for Ann’s disappearance.
Leigh says her father worked hard to catch Oakley and put him behind bars because they both felt he would strike again. “I will never forget his face, the belt buckle he wore, the cowboy boots he had on; you just don’t,” said 37 year old Hellinger. “He was a predator.”
And three months after Ann Gotlib’s disappearance on June 1, 1983, Leigh was Greg Oakley, Jr’s prey. “I heard the door open and he came in and I was back in the kitchen,” said Leigh.
She was 13 years old on Sept. 9, 1983, living in a townhome on Masemure Court and baking a cake for her friend. “He pulled out a knife and said ‘take your clothes off.’ And I said ‘no!’ It was like being a trapped rat,” said Leigh. “And I asked him, ‘what are you going to do to me?’” She says Oakley told her he would rape her.
Then she says, despite being scared to death, she had a plan: she wanted to get him upstairs where her father kept a gun.
“I ran towards him and we struggled and he pushed me into the countertop and reached around and stabbed me,” said Leigh. “I said you know my dad is a city policeman and I said, -- I didn’t know, I was kind of bluffing—he’s going to be home any minute and if he catches you here he’ll blow your brains out.”
At that, Oakley left and Leigh ran next door.
Her father didn’t catch Oakley then, but kept an eye out for the man his daughter described. Police eventually caught up with Oakley when Leigh identified him at a restaurant. “The color in his face went white when he saw me,” she said.
“Because he knew?” asked Adrianna Hopkins. “Yes! Sure he knew” said Leigh. He knew that his run of attacking young girls was over.
Leigh testified in court against Oakley and says she’ll never forget his demeanor. “He was just very cocky and sure that he would never get caught and that he could convince a jury that this 13 year old girl, it was a case of mistaken identity.”
But it wasn’t and he went to jail.
But all the while, Leigh says she and her father knew that Oakley attacked Ann Gotlib. “There is a little bit of me that has “survivor’s guilt.” Why did she not survive, and why did I?”
Of course neither Leigh nor her father could ever prove that Oakley kidnapped and killed Ann Gotlib, but she says this new development in Ann’s case is some vindication. She also says she’s prayed for the Gotlib family and is happy the jury believed her and kept Oakley from attacking anyone else.
 
Here is a UID in Tennessee http://doenetwork.org/cases/482uftn.html
IMO the likeness is eerily close. What do you all think? I'll e-mail or call it in, if you all agree, but I really don't want to get anyones hopes up, unless, you guys somewhat agree. I will wait to hear from some of you.

Just a note; I don't believe Oakley did it, I realize he was a predator, but when he was dying, he gave an interview to a reporter, said he had nothing to do with this, plus, why is Oakley's girlfriend just now telling them that he came by that day with clothes? How could she remember that exact day? :confused:
If it was that clear to her now, I can't grasp why she didn't come forward then, I believe it should be public knowledge as to who she is, just in case, a book comes out in the future! JMHO.....
 
MadeaBecBec said:
Here is a UID in Tennessee http://doenetwork.org/cases/482uftn.html
IMO the likeness is eerily close. What do you all think? I'll e-mail or call it in, if you all agree, but I really don't want to get anyones hopes up, unless, you guys somewhat agree. I will wait to hear from some of you.

Just a note; I don't believe Oakley did it, I realize he was a predator, but when he was dying, he gave an interview to a reporter, said he had nothing to do with this, plus, why is Oakley's girlfriend just now telling them that he came by that day with clothes? How could she remember that exact day? :confused:
If it was that clear to her now, I can't grasp why she didn't come forward then, I believe it should be public knowledge as to who she is, just in case, a book comes out in the future! JMHO.....
Click to expand...
That's only a few hours from where she disappeared from, so it's possible.
 
I heard back from the ME on this Jane Doe, http://doenetwork.org/cases/482uftn.html and he said that when JD was first found they thought it was Ann, but the dentals didn't match up! Ugh! But I haven't heard from University of Texas yet on the DNA, I'll wait on that rule out, before I get discouraged!
That's all I (we)can do, huh? :waitasec:
 
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.d.../805310478/1008

Ann Gotlib's fate unknown 25 years later
Girl, 12, vanished quarter-century ago
By Sara Cunningham • scunningham@courier-journal.com • May 31, 2008


The evidence relating to the 1983 disappearance of Ann Gotlib takes up an entire four-drawer file cabinet in the Louisville Metro Police Major Crimes Division.


Despite the staggering volume of tips, leads and theories surrounding the missing 12- year-old Russian immigrant with red hair and freckles, what happened to Ann remains a mystery, said Maj. Dave Wood, commander of the Major Crimes Division, which is responsible for the case.

"Until we physically have a body, somebody tells us where she is or she walks in the door, it'll be an open case," Wood said yesterday during a news conference held to mark the 25th anniversary tomorrow of the girl's disappearance.

Ann was last seen on June 1, 1983, at Bashford Manor Mall, across the street from her Gerald Court home. She was supposed to be headed home but never got there. Her bike was found leaning against a brick pillar at the busy shopping center off Bardstown Road.

At the time, Wood was working on the traffic detail for Jefferson County police and was called in to help search.

Police combed the area, talking to anyone who might have witnessed what happened, but nothing turned up that explained Ann's disappearance.

There were witnesses who couldn't pass polygraph tests, suspects with airtight alibis, strange coincidences and tips that led nowhere.

Some of the more outlandish theories included the suggestion that the Soviet government had kidnapped Ann because it wanted to force her family to return to Russia. FBI officials said they never found evidence that supported the theory.

Others thought she ran away or was murdered by a serial killer. But there was never any concrete evidence to convince police.

"Everything's a possibility until we find a body or her," Wood said.

Ann's parents, Lyudmila and Anatoly Gotlib, still live in Louisville and talk to police off and on about the case, Wood said.

The Gotlibs are also still in contact with the Exploited Children's Help Organization. ECHO, formed just a month before Ann vanished, provides support for families of abused or missing children, said Lucy Lee, executive director of the organization.

"Our founder, Rosie Norris, has always been a support person for Ann's parents," Lee said.

Norris will be one of the speakers at a memorial service to be held in Ann's honor tomorrow at the Meredith Dunn School. The Gotlibs plan to attend. A plaque will be put near a tree planted in Ann's memory, Lee said.

"We're holding the service for all missing children, especially Ann," Lee said. "Families want the public to remember their child's photo, their faces. It's very difficult, but you never know when something might trigger a memory that could help find out what happened to Ann."

Police continue to pursue leads that come in from time to time about Ann, Wood said. Police ask anyone who might know something about the disappearance of Ann Gotlib or any other missing person to call the anonymous tip hot line at 574-LMPD.

"Any time it's a child, it's a traumatic event for the community," Wood said. "It's one of those open wounds we'd like to heal for the community."

Reporter Sara Cunningham can be reached at (502) 582-4335.

Many more articles here http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=8259
 
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