MI MI - Joyce Alice Fisher, 28, Cassopolis, 16 April 1978

[TheArtfulDetective]

Joyce Alice Fisher​

Case Classification: Endangered Missing / Suspected Homicide
Missing Since: April 16, 1978
Location Last Seen: Cassopolis, Cass County, Michigan

Description:​

• Date of Birth: circa 1950
• Age: 28
• Race: White/Caucasian
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5' 6" (66 Inches)
• Weight: 125 lbs
• Hair Color: Blond/Strawberry
• Eye Color: Green
• Nickname/Alias: Unknown
• Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
• Clothing & Personal Items: Blue nylon jacket, blue plaid shirt, and blue denim jeans.
• Identifiers: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance:
Joyce was last seen on April 16, 1978. She left her parents' summer cottage on Indian Lake shortly before 3:00 p.m and drove six miles to an antique store called Bell's Corner in Sister Lakes, Michigan. She was meeting her estranged husband of two years, Jerry Wayne Fisher, to sign a car title over to him so he could sell it. They went to get the title notarized but she never returned and has never been heard from again.

Jerry said he dropped Joyce off at Bell's Corner between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., about forty-five minutes after they'd left. Other witnesses reported that Jerry was alone when he came back. Joyce's 1969 Buick was later found parked in front of the store. There was no sign of a struggle and no indication of her whereabouts.

Joyce had told family and friends she was afraid of Jerry and that he had beaten her several times, and she feared he would try to take their daughter from her. They had separated in December and were in the process of a divorce. She took their daughter to Michigan every two weeks so Jerry could visit with her, and it was during one of these trips that she disappeared.

Following Joyce's disappearance, Jerry refused to cooperate with the investigation and hired an attorney. In 1987, he was charged with Joyce's murder. He was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 1988 and sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison, but four years later the case was overturned on appeal and he was released.

Joyce's body has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

Investigators:

• Cass County Sheriff's Office: (269) 445-1560
  Reference Case#: 3410-78

NamUs Case Number: MP9624
NCIC Case Number: N/A

https://charleyproject.org/case/joyce-alice-fisher
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Caring1]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

10 Unidentified Person Exclusions

 

[heartanium]

17 April 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 33

"Mrs. Fisher formally taught at the high school and junior high school in Dowagiac. She resigned in January."

"Her auto was found in the store's parking lot located across from the Bishop Inn, at 4pm Saturday [April 16th]"

20 April 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 1

"[Joyce's] car was found with keys still inside.... The 1969 Buick she was driving was found two hours later at Bell's Corner, a small community about 5 miles from the lake."

"Fisher planned to return from Bell's Corner later that afternoon"...

24 April 1978 - The Herald Palladium

25 April 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 1

4 May 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 1

"Collins said Fisher and his daughter had been separated since December and had filed for divorce in Cass Circuit Court..."

31 May 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 1

31 May 1978, The Petrosky Review, pg 8

"Mrs. Fisher, who had been living in Chicago since divorce proceedings got under way, traveled to her parent's cottage at Indian Lakes every other week to comply with visitation rights set up for her husband."

<modsnip: removed screenshots of full length articles>

 

[heartanium]

13 June, 1978 - The Herald Palladium, pg 1

"Deputies said Mrs. Fisher's parents signed a complaint against Fisher after he was seen on the porch of the cottage, was told to leave and did, but returned several minutes later."

12 July 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 10

"Mr.Fisher is contesting the Collin's [Joyce's parents] custody petition."

"Mrs. Fisher had filed for divorce prior to her disappearance and had been granted custody of the child."

"Fisher contends that his sister, Bonnie, is the mother of three children, lives in Van Buren County and is willing to care for the child...he asks that custody be given to either his sister or his mother of rural Hartford, who has raised seven children, according to his response."

15 September 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 12

"Jerry Fisher is being sought for allegedly taking his 19 month old daughter from her grandparents on Thursday at Western Springs, Illinois."

"Mrs. Collins and Laura were returning from the grocery store...when a man ran up the stairs towards them. Mrs. Collins held onto the child until the man struck the woman. Fisher then grabbed Laura and threw her into the passenger side window of a car."

"A hearing of permanent custody for the child is set for Oct 12th."

16 September 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 12

"Fisher took deputies to the Benton Harbor area where Fisher's sister Debbie had the child."

"Arpaia told Hoff that Fisher took the Child because the grandparents had refused to left him see the girl."

13 October 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 1 and 16.
"[Jerry and Joyce] met around 3:30 to travel together to Hartford so Joyce could sell a car...[Jerry] said he handed Joyce the five $100 bills. They then noticed the title was for a different auto They cancelled the trip to Hartford, and took a drive at Joyce's suggestion and returned to Bell's Corner around 4:15".

"Collins testified that his daughter left the cottage between 2:30 and 2:45 in his station wagon, which was found at Bell's Corner the next morning."

Miss Herman [Joyce's friend] testified that Joyce was afraid of Jerry Fisher. She mentioned that Joyce loved her parents to much to stage the incident".

14 October, 1978 - The Times Herald, pg 6


19 October 1978, The Herald Palladium, pg 29


14 November 1978, The Herald-Palladium, pg 10

Miss Herman [Joyce's friend] testified that Joyce was afraid of Jerry Fisher. She mentioned that Joyce loved her parents to much to stage the incident".

"Mrs. Collins testified yesterday that her animosity for Joyce's husband, Jerry, began "The first time he beat Joy up.""

"Deputy J. Thomas King agreed with Jerry's attorney that he had cooperated fully with the original investigation of the disappearance of Joyce...once the attorney got involved in the matter, he halted cooperation."

"Earl Bell, part owner of the Sister's Lakes antique store, said Joyce and Jerry left the store together at 3pm. The next time he saw either one of them was at 5."

"Bell said Jerry entered the store and asked "Where's Joy?" Bell said he answered "You ought to know, she's with you."

John [Joyce's brother] testified "Within a few months of her marriage, when she learned she was pregnant, Jerry Fisher beat her severely...I saw the bruises on her body..."
<modsnip: copyright>

 

[heartanium]

15 November 1978 - The Palladium Herald, pg 16

2 January 1979, The Herald Palladium, pg 1

10 January 1979, The Herald-Palladium, pg 32
<modsnip: copyright>

 

[heartanium]

Jerry's trial on Joyce's murder occurred around 1987.

Going off the testimony of one of the antique shop owners, Joyce should be within a ~2 hr radius of the area.

 

[heartanium]

Going off that, maybe this UP could be Joyce? #UP8820



Unidentified Female
Date Found: April 28, 2011
Location Found: Comstock, MI
Race: White/Caucasian
Age: 35-55
Height: 5'6"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Circumstances: The skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near the intersection of ML Avenue and 31st Street in Kalamazoo, MI. The skull shows evidence of blunt force perimortem trauma.

Comstock, Michigan is abt an hr drive from Sisters Lake. If this is her it would possibly give enough time for Jerry (or whoever) to dump her and make it back in the time span that they were gone.

 

[MichiganTrueCrimer]

This case is oddly similar to the Glenna West case.

MI - MI - Glenna West, 34, PawPaw, 5 Dec 1977

What's odd to me is that this case made newspaper headlines multiple times, yet Glenna didn't get so much as a single article. They went missing during the same time, in roughly the same area and with very similar situations.

Sad for the families of both women.

 

[heartanium]

This case is oddly similar to the Glenna West case.

MI - MI - Glenna West, 34, PawPaw, 5 Dec 1977

What's odd to me is that this case made newspaper headlines multiple times, yet Glenna didn't get so much as a single article. They went missing during the same time, in roughly the same area and with very similar situations.

Sad for the families of both women.

I saw Glenda's case when researching Joyce's and was shocked she had nothing written about her too. The area is quite small, two missing women in the span of under a year should have made news. It could be that she was written about in another newspaper, I'm not super familiar with Michigan publishers.

 

[MichiganTrueCrimer]

I saw Glenda's case when researching Joyce's and was shocked she had nothing written about her too. The area is quite small, two missing women in the span of under a year should have made news. It could be that she was written about in another newspaper, I'm not super familiar with Michigan publishers.

She (Glenna) would have also been reported in the Herald-Palladium. I've spent hours searching at the library and Newspapers.com for any mention of Glenna having gone missing. Zip, zero, zilch, which as you said, is very odd for our little area.

 

[Richard]

45 Years Missing...​

Joyce Alice Fisher, age 28
Missing since 16 April 1978

Joyce was last seen on April 16, 1978. She left her parents' summer cottage on Indian Lake shortly before 3:00 p.m., leaving her one-year-old daughter in her mother's care, and drove six miles to an antique store called Bell's Corner in Sister Lakes, Michigan to meet her estranged husband of two years, Jerry Wayne Fisher, who lived in Keeler Township, Michigan. She never came back and has never been heard from again.

Photographs of Jerry are posted with this case summary. Joyce was going to sign a car title over to him so he could sell it, and they went to get the document notarized

Joyce told the owner of Bell's Corner that she would return in about half an hour. Jerry stated they had driven only a short distance when Joyce realized they had the wrong title. He said he dropped Joyce off Bell's Corner between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., about forty-five minutes after they'd left.

Other witnesses, however, said Jerry was alone when he came back. Joyce has never been heard from again. The 1969 Buick she was driving was later found parked in front of the store. There was no sign of a struggle and no indication of her whereabouts.

Joyce left behind $600 in her bank account. She is described as a reliable and responsible woman and a dedicated mother who was close to her family.

She told family and friends she was afraid of Jerry and that he had beaten her several times, and she feared he would try to take their daughter from her. They had separated in December and were in the process of a divorce.

Joyce had worked as a special education teacher for the Dowagiac Union School District, but she resigned in January 1978 and moved in with her father and mother in the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area. She took their daughter to Michigan every two weeks so Jerry could visit with her, and it was during one of these trips that she disappeared.

Although she was stressed over her pending divorce, her loved ones don't believe she would have left without warning or taken her own life.

Following Joyce's disappearance, Jerry refused to cooperate with the investigation and hired an attorney. He was later accused of beating his and Joyce's daughter, and in January 1979, he lost custody to Joyce's parents. He was ordered to have no contact with the child until he underwent a psychiatric evaluation.

He moved to Florida shortly after Joyce went missing, and remarried eight years later. He told his friends and his new wife that Joyce suffered from mental illness and had been "put away" as a long-term patient in a psychiatric hospital.

In 1987, he was charged with Joyce's murder. He was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 1988 and sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison, but four years later the case was overturned on appeal and he was released.

Joyce's body has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

Investigating Agency​

• Cass County Sheriff Department 269-445-1560

Source Information​

• The Doe Network
• USA Today
• No Body Murder Cases
• The St. Petersburg Times
• The South Florida Sun-Sentinel
• The Benton Harbor News-Palladium
• The Lansing State Journal
• The Palm Beach Post
• The Detroit Free Press
• The Battle Creek Enquirer
• The Camden Courier-Post
• The Herald-Palladium
• Joyce Alice Fisher – The Charley Project

 

[theshadow45]

Joyce has been missing for 46 years today.

 

[spartanx]

her ex-husband was found guilty of the murder... Joyce is most likely buried somewhere...
There are so many ways to solve this problem and they are looking for the most terrible way... justice was once again blind... a good mother and a better woman... I hope that guy one day pays for his crime in some way and knows that in the end he left to his motherless daughter and a destroyed family...
either way
rest in peace

 

[theshadow45]

Today is Joyce’s birthday.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

*She vanished nearly 50 years ago form a small town in southwest Michigan leaving behind her 1-year-old daughter. But a recent arrest 600 miles away may hold the key to the 1978 disappearance of Joyce Fisher form Van Buren County. (Aug. 23, 2024)