UNSOLVED NC - Wilkes Co, Photo of Gagged Woman Tied To Chair, Circa 1970s or Early 80s

[madamx]

Now I came across this girl also and says she was Never without her smokes! I know neither of the girls are in NC.. but everything else seems to fit.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/305dfpa.html
Michele Reidenbach
Missing since September 22, 1981 from Evans City, Butler County, Pennsylvania
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: December 29, 1964
Age at Time of Disappearance: 16 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2; 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; blue eyes.
Clothing: Last seen wearing blue jeans; a wine-colored, v-necked sweater and a gold necklace with a "knot" pendant.
Dentals: Available
DNA: Available


Circumstances of Disappearance
Reidenbach was last seen at her after-school job in Evans City, Pennsylvania on September 22, 1981. She had an after-school job addressing envelopes and writing advertisements for the owners of Mel Den, an appliance store at 240 S. Main St. in Zelienople. She left her job at 4 to walk to a pharmacy located a half-block away, to buy some cold medicine. She then intended to return to the store. The clerk told police that Reidenbach bought cold medicine and left the store. Michele was last seen at a supermarket parking lot on South Main Street in Zelienople. It was the last confirmed sighting of the girl.
She was a senior at Seneca Valley High School at the time of her disappearance.
She wasn't having troubles at home and was very attached to her family. She was devoted to an older sister who was paralyzed and in the hospital. Police found Reidenbach's purse and school books at Mel Den. She was a chain smoker who was never without her cigarettes. She had more than $100 tucked in a drawer at home, money saved for a class ring, that she would probably have taken if she had run away. She had her senior photos taken that afternoon.

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[Bird of Paradise]

I'm not seeing blue eyes on the gagged girl though...

Now I came across this girl also and says she was Never without her smokes! I know neither of the girls are in NC.. but everything else seems to fit.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/305dfpa.html
Michele Reidenbach
Missing since September 22, 1981 from Evans City, Butler County, Pennsylvania
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: December 29, 1964
Age at Time of Disappearance: 16 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2; 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; blue eyes.
Clothing: Last seen wearing blue jeans; a wine-colored, v-necked sweater and a gold necklace with a "knot" pendant.
Dentals: Available
DNA: Available


Circumstances of Disappearance
Reidenbach was last seen at her after-school job in Evans City, Pennsylvania on September 22, 1981. She had an after-school job addressing envelopes and writing advertisements for the owners of Mel Den, an appliance store at 240 S. Main St. in Zelienople. She left her job at 4 to walk to a pharmacy located a half-block away, to buy some cold medicine. She then intended to return to the store. The clerk told police that Reidenbach bought cold medicine and left the store. Michele was last seen at a supermarket parking lot on South Main Street in Zelienople. It was the last confirmed sighting of the girl.
She was a senior at Seneca Valley High School at the time of her disappearance.
She wasn't having troubles at home and was very attached to her family. She was devoted to an older sister who was paralyzed and in the hospital. Police found Reidenbach's purse and school books at Mel Den. She was a chain smoker who was never without her cigarettes. She had more than $100 tucked in a drawer at home, money saved for a class ring, that she would probably have taken if she had run away. She had her senior photos taken that afternoon.

 

[AmyPond]

Now I came across this girl also and says she was Never without her smokes! I know neither of the girls are in NC.. but everything else seems to fit.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/305dfpa.html
Michele Reidenbach
Missing since September 22, 1981 from Evans City, Butler County, Pennsylvania
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: December 29, 1964
Age at Time of Disappearance: 16 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2; 110 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; blue eyes.
Clothing: Last seen wearing blue jeans; a wine-colored, v-necked sweater and a gold necklace with a "knot" pendant.
Dentals: Available
DNA: Available


Circumstances of Disappearance
Reidenbach was last seen at her after-school job in Evans City, Pennsylvania on September 22, 1981. She had an after-school job addressing envelopes and writing advertisements for the owners of Mel Den, an appliance store at 240 S. Main St. in Zelienople. She left her job at 4 to walk to a pharmacy located a half-block away, to buy some cold medicine. She then intended to return to the store. The clerk told police that Reidenbach bought cold medicine and left the store. Michele was last seen at a supermarket parking lot on South Main Street in Zelienople. It was the last confirmed sighting of the girl.
She was a senior at Seneca Valley High School at the time of her disappearance.
She wasn't having troubles at home and was very attached to her family. She was devoted to an older sister who was paralyzed and in the hospital. Police found Reidenbach's purse and school books at Mel Den. She was a chain smoker who was never without her cigarettes. She had more than $100 tucked in a drawer at home, money saved for a class ring, that she would probably have taken if she had run away. She had her senior photos taken that afternoon.

Eyes are way too far apart. Doesn't look much like person in photo at all, to me.

 

[jccoa1999]

I'm not seeing blue eyes on the gagged girl though...

I'm not seeing blue eyes in Michele reichenbach's photo Either. I get that it says they are blue but in photo they look brown to me

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Reidenbach's

 

[Gardener1850]

Photos from the 70's and 80's don't always show a true eye color, IMO. I've noticed many missing persons cases from those decades where the picture of the MP looks like brown or hazel eyes but their description says blue or green. I don't think we can say for sure what color her eyes are. JMO.

 

[jccoa1999]

Anyone that is a smoker is never without their smokes

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[jccoa1999]

I don't see this "lever" in the picture! What I see is tubing like the kind of tubing for a blood pressure band coming out of the end of whatever it is wrapped (not tied) around her neck! The speaker is on a wooden pallet type of thing and I definitely don't see any kind of chair! She is sitting on the floor! In my opinion

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[jccoa1999]

Kind of like a cervical collar with air tube like at the end of the tubing there would be a bulb to fill it up with air

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[Hazelnutty]

The thing around her neck reminds me of two things:1. Width-end of a 4"-ish baby bed bumper. Cloth-covered folded polyester filled 1/2"-3/4" thick. Had ties on each end.
2. Draftdoger. A foam filled fabric covered , width of door thingie used to block heat/cold from underneath a door that is not completely flush with threshold.

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[Strangeworld]

If there had been a struggle to get her into that position, those cigarettes would have long fallen out of her pocket IMO.

 

[DQN]

this is a little bit fftopic:, but it is a similar case that came to my attention a couple of years ago.

Back in 2015, I was contacted by a woman who told me that she thought her ex-husband was involved in the 1982 disappearance of Angie Hamby of Wilksboro North Carolina. She said that when they had separated, he left a lot of items behind in their house that she thought suspicious. She sent me the items in the mail, and as I looked through the items I found this 35 millimeter slide of an unknown female bound to a chair and gagged.

She said that she recognized the background as being his apartment back in the 1970's.

The woman in the photo obviously is not Angie Hamby, and there are no missing woman who resemble this woman. but this photo was obviously either evidence of a crime against an unknown victim, or something created with her cooperation for his own amusement.

I immediately contacted the Wilkes County Sheriff, and told him about this woman's story. I emailed him this photo. The Sheriff detective said that was interesting because the woman's ex-husband contacted him about a month earlier, and said his ex wife was crazy and was going to make accusations against him. The detective had no idea who he was or what he was talking about - until I called.

That was over two years ago, and I don't know what they were ever able to learn about this guy's possible connection to Angie Hamby or this unknown woman.

But I was just looking at this photo again today, and figured it was time to show it to you all. This Port St. Joe thread seemed the best place to show it, as I don't think it warrants a dedicated thread.


EDIT TO ADD: I separated the comments pertaining to this photo into a separate thread. I didn't want to get too far off topic from the Port St. Joe photo.

I don't understand, why doesn't local LE pay her ex husband a visit with the actual photo and ask him about it, instead of just calling him. His ex wife said she thought he was involved in the disappearance of Angie Hamby and this woman is obviously not her.

They could have had a bitter divorce and the ex wife is trying to find something with him. We don't know. It could easily be cleared up if he sees the actual photo and say oh that was blah blah blah, she lives in in such such you can ask her about it. You think????

 

[gitana1]

The look of fear and the look of smiling can be close. They originate from the same primal instinct.

If this had had been a joke photo I think the gag would look more staged and "normal". Not this large, weird thing.

To me it looks like they were making use of what they had or knew would work rather than what one would think a gag would look like. So I vote for not staged. The condition of the cigarettes don't sway me.

 

[Dr.Strangelove]

Her eyes to me look like shed been crying

 

[Bird of Paradise]

Her eyes to me look like shed been crying

Could be the lighting but I noticed the eyes as well. Looks like dark circles beneath...though that could be her normal complexion.

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Could be the lighting but I noticed the eyes as well. Looks like dark circles beneath...though that could be her normal complexion.

To me, it also looks like she's bruised around her eyes. [emoji50]


[emoji202]MOO

 

[Byte]

She has brown hair and a tanner complexion so we can assume her eye color is most likely brown, or less likely hazel. Rather than smiling she looks like she's biting or trying to move the gag. If she is biting down or struggling her nose may be flared meaning she may have a more narrowed nose tip in a missing persons photo. That speaker is definitely a relic of the era so there were many companies that made them- I'll try to find a specific date and possibilities for the one in the image. The bearded tiki head is just that, looks like the popular wooden decoration often sold at the believed time. The speaker is on what I believe to be a red cassette cabinet although it may also be a wooden table with something red between the speaker and the table. The towel gag would make sense in a residency where noise can travel easily- doesn't look overly big to me especially considering the possibility of this being a opportunity abduction. The chail looks like it has a bend between the posts and is under a covering

 

[CarlK90245]

I'm thinking that object behind her head is the headrest on a car seat. The lever would be to adjust the height of the head rest.

Maybe she is tied to a detached car seat.

 

[sunnynz]

It is interesting to analyse the items in the room, however I think we need to remember that we have a pretty clear idea of who the possible/alleged abductor/gagger was and the location of the apartment from the backstory that CarlK got.

The focus and effort, imo, needs to be on who she is rather than where she is.

 

[mrtnira]

If I am getting the story correctly, I think it is an odd thing for a divorced man to go to the police and tell them his ex-wife is going to start saying things about him, and that she is crazy. Then, later, when the ex-wife shows the police a photograph she found in her husbands abandoned property, and that photograph is of a bound woman, that the police don't call the guy in and say, "Have a seat. We just want to ask you a few questions."

From the story, it appears the ex-husband was trying to sow seeds of doubt in the mind of law enforcement. However, when presented with something this suspicious, who wouldn't want to follow-up with questions of the husband? At that point the appearance of a former husband trying to get ahead of an ex-wife presenting something against him might actually work against the man by creating an appearance of prior knowledge on his part.

 

[skydelta3574]

ok first off I had this same exact haircut and its my exact same color too in 1983!..and by 1986 I was smoking B&H menthol which I was turned on to by my friend who used to steal them from her mom.

I saw this girl and reminded me of the towel girl..
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/427dftx.html

Teresa Marie Byers
Missing since November 1, 1979 from Kilgore, Gregg County, Texas.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: May 28, 1961
Age at Time of Disappearance: 19 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4"; 100 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown eyes; brown hair.
Marks, Scars: She has a cross-like scar on her left hand.
Dentals: Not available.
DNA: Available in CODIS.


Circumstances of Disappearance
Byers was last seen in Kilgore, Texas in November 1979.
Circumstances of this case as well as life style and lack of family contact indicate possible foul play.

All MOO

This is the only person in this thread who resembles the gagged woman.

A couple things I'm thinking:

- there is not a great way to tell if this woman is smiling or in distress because half her face is covered and science tells us that many of us suck at reading emotions through the eyes (Google it)

- the window to the left (our left) is open halfway

- it is easy to zoom in on this picture on a tablet or phone. Just click the picture and zoom with your fingers

- upon zooming there is nothing weird in this picture except the fact that the woman is gagged

- the curtains and her shirt seem very late 70's to me

- we can't pay a lot of attention to her skin tone or hair color. My sisters are both white but resembled this woman at a time when they both dyes their hair and tanned. Look at the shape of the features instead. They are petite.

- whoever contacted Carl could be using a fake FB account, fake picture, etc. hell, it could BE THE GUY

- were the police ever contacted by the ex wife or...?

- going purely off my own perception, the woman's hands are tied behind her back. She is sitting up stiff and unnatural with her shoulders hunched

- what many are perceiving as "crazed" eyes could be drugged eyes

- let's not assume that the person who contacted Carl is a nut just because this wasn't brought out sooner, maybe the person was scared or maybe the person isn't who they say they are at all

- guarantee that whoever contacted Carl is reading this thread

That's all.


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