NM NM - Ann Linda Riffin, 33, Mora, 13 Sept 1982

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Kat

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The Doe Network:
Case File 1394DFNJ

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1394dfnj.html

Ann Linda Riffin
Missing since September 13, 1982 from Mora, New Mexico.
Classification: Endangered Missing



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Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: May 8, 1949
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 33 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4"; 125 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
•Marks, Scars: Scar on left knee and back. Wears large, brown horn rimmed glasses.
•Dentals: Available



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Circumstances of Disappearance
Riffin was last seen on September 13, 1982 in New Mexico, where she was living at the time. At the time of her disappearance she was on a brief vacation in the mountains, from her job in a restaurant in Ruidoso, New Mexico.
State police found her car locked, stuck in a ditch and abandoned on a roadside September 21, 1982, a short distance from Highway 3, between Mora and Tres Ritos in New Mexico. Inside were some clothing, painting materials and some paintings Riffin had done of the New Mexico landscape. The only thing missing from the vehicle was Riffin's purse. There was no evidence of foul play in the vehicle. A woman at a gas station ten miles from where Riffin's car was found believes she saw her shortly after her disappearance. According to the witness, Riffin appeared to be alone and requested assistance. She has not been seen since.
Her bank account and credit cards have not been used since her disappearance.

Her parents in Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey reported her disappearance to police; Montclair authorities are investigating Riffin's case although she lived in New Mexico and disappeared from there.

Riffin was graduated from William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. She had been an anthropology major who had lived on and off at home since graduation. She had once worked as a volunteer in Peru. She had had a few articles published in Israel, where she had lived for a while, and she also wrote poetry.



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

Montclair Police Department
973-744-1234

Agency Case Number: 310134

NCIC Number: M-102357389
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
California Department of Justice
The Record
NamUs

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/r/riffin_ann.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/658/2/
NamUs Profile
Dental: NA
DNA: Sample submitted-tests not complete
Fingerprints: NA

No archived articles found at this time.

Ann has been missing almost 28 years. Come home soon.
 

Attachments

Without a trace: 35 years after woman vanished, what happened remains a mystery

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/without-a-trace-years-after-woman-vanished-what-happened-remains/article_ebfb5717-6d53-5c18-b236-4bc1135d91d2.html

Ann Riffin’s parents suspected she might have run off to join a cult. Maybe a convent, they thought, or a commune.

Why else would their daughter, 33 years old and a native of New Jersey, disappear in a remote corner of New Mexico? Where else could she have even gone?

Thirty-five years after police found Riffin’s car in September 1982 parked off a lonely, wending stretch of highway near Mora known as Holman Hill, those questions remain unanswered.

If Riffin had run off, family supposed she would get in touch some day. She had always kept in contact in the past. But as the years went by and her parents died, there was never a phone call.

“They never really gave up,” Silva said, recounting that Riffin’s parents kept in contact for years with him and his colleagues at the state police.
Click to expand...

Susswein recalled visiting the area years after Riffin disappeared. She had been visiting New Mexico, saw Mora on a map and drove there with relatives. They met with one of the officers who had worked the case. They drove to where Riffin’s car had been found.

And what struck Susswein was the vastness of the place.

“There’s no comparison with the desolation, the remoteness of the country,” she said.

In a strange way, the high pines of Mora County may have been a place Riffin would have loved — distant, remote, like the woman herself.

Perhaps that is what confounds those who knew her, those who have wondered what happened all those years ago.

Solving a mystery is usually a matter of connecting the dots. But in this case, it’s as if there aren’t any dots to connect.
Click to expand...
 
This is a fascinating case. Ann Linda Riffin was an introverted girl, born 5-8-1949 to high-achieving Jewish parents in the New York City suburb of Montclair NJ. Her father Irving was a physician, her mother Babette was a tireless community volunteer. She would grow up in the shadow of her equally high-achieving older sister. Ann was a restless and naïve woman, never staying long at one place or thing. Even at one point converting to Christianity. Her parents thought that she could have ended up with some Christian sect or cult when she first disappeared.

Timeline;
6-2-1974 Received Bachelor of Arts Degree from College of William & Mary.
Mid-May 1982 Leaves her parent’s home in Montclair, NJ, ostensibly to visit friends in Pennsylvania. She takes very few possessions. A week later her parents would receive a postcard from her from
Oklahoma. A few days later they received a call from her from Ruidoso, NM with news of a job offer.
6-7-1982 Starts work at Whispering Pines Restaurant in Ruidoso. Ruth Ellis is her manager. Becomes a roommate of Joan Stokes, who is the sister of Ruth Ellis. While in Ruidoso, she visits Albuquerque,
NM twice. Her roommate, Joan Stokes said that she never talked about the trips. While in Ruidoso, Ann calls her parents every Sunday.
9-12-1982 Ann told her roommate she was going on a two-week vacation to visit her father’s cousin and his wife in Colorado Springs, CO. Ann had discussed on the phone with her mother the idea of
spending Yom Kippur in Colorado Springs. Yom Kippur would not begin until 9-26. Rosh Hashanah however, would begin later that week on 9-17. The trip to Colorado Springs from Ruidoso
would be about 450 miles and take a little less than 7 hours. Her mother estimated that Ann would have had a few hundred dollars.
9-13-1982 Reported date she was last seen. Her roommate would later report that Ann took all her possessions with her, as if she had no intention of returning.
9-27-1982 New Mexico State Police Officer Herman Silva investigates her car, a white 1979 Chevrolet Chevette, registered to her father, Irving, pulled off the road near Holman, NM. The parked car had
been reported to him a week earlier by a local farmer. Vehicle had a ¼ tank of gas, was locked, and seemingly undamaged.

My questions;
How was the car found? Parked on the roadside, or driven into a ditch? What was the apparent direction of travel. Was the vehicle operable? Drivable? Was it processed? What was the disposition of the vehicle?

Last person to see her was a convenience store employee who stated that someone who looked like Ann had asked for assistance. On what date was that? Was that person interviewed? What kind of assistance was asked for? Was it provided? Is like to read the interview of this person.

I don’t buy into any story about her willfully vanishing and joining a cult or religious order. Too much time has passed with no contact. She would be nearly 70. There was never any activity on her bank or credit card accounts. Ann loved the mountains and had taken up painting. I believe that she was on her way to Colorado Springs and made a side-trip attempting to travel to Taos, NM. Taos would have been less than an hour north of where her car was found. The distance from Ruidoso to where her car was found was just under 4 hours. Is it possible that she was fatigued, and pulled off the road to rest and became stuck? Had she walked to the convenience store looking for help and accepted a ride from the wrong person? Is there any way to obtain the official records?
 
Hi Nate Bro! David Parker Ray was a suspected serial killer. He was convicted for kidnap, rape, and torture of two women (there was also a third, but he died of a heart attack during trial, I believe). The FBI hasn't released exactly why they think he's a serial killer, other than that he had lists of other kidnap victims, and he told both his ex-wife and his girlfriend that he killed women. His daughter at one point reported him to the FBI- she said that he was selling girls in Mexico (this occurred in New Mexico, not terribly far from the border). The FBI never investigated until a victim was able to escape. That brave woman helped put him and his girlfriend, Cindy Lea Hendy, in prison, though she recently got out. Ugh. This case is awful, proceed with caution. This is a pretty good overview of the crimes. David Parker Ray Kidnapped Women and Turned Them Into His Sex Slaves
 
t`
Laughing said:
Ruidoso & Elephant Butte are close by New Mexico standards.

Mora is several hours north.

JMHO YMMV
Click to expand...

Laughing, are you also a New Mexican? :)
I do think that DPR searched for victims from pretty far away. One he picked up off of Central in Albuquerque, 4ish hours from Elephant Butte. I think he might have looked in Mora for a victim even though it was far away (though it doesn't make sense to me to look so far away).
 
Rojofox said:
t`


Laughing, are you also a New Mexican? :)
I do think that DPR searched for victims from pretty far away. One he picked up off of Central in Albuquerque, 4ish hours from Elephant Butte. I think he might have looked in Mora for a victim even though it was far away (though it doesn't make sense to me to look so far away).
Click to expand...

OT for Ms. Riffin, apologies.

I am currently living in the Midwest but we're 1950's era Anglos.
 
Rojofox said:
Hi Nate Bro! David Parker Ray was a suspected serial killer. He was convicted for kidnap, rape, and torture of two women (there was also a third, but he died of a heart attack during trial, I believe). The FBI hasn't released exactly why they think he's a serial killer, other than that he had lists of other kidnap victims, and he told both his ex-wife and his girlfriend that he killed women. His daughter at one point reported him to the FBI- she said that he was selling girls in Mexico (this occurred in New Mexico, not terribly far from the border). The FBI never investigated until a victim was able to escape. That brave woman helped put him and his girlfriend, Cindy Lea Hendy, in prison, though she recently got out. Ugh. This case is awful, proceed with caution. This is a pretty good overview of the crimes. David Parker Ray Kidnapped Women and Turned Them Into His Sex Slaves
Click to expand...
The part about him selling girls is interesting. If he was able to cross the border with someone not being detected, He might also have transported some of the bodies over the border too. (but my theory is that he buried them). I tried to find unidentified females in Mexico but The Doe Network is having problems with the missing and unidentified females indexes for Mexico (ive advised them its been like that a while, they acknowledged it, but as yet its still broken). Is there any other list of unidentified females in Mexico during the time period that David Parker Ray was active?
 
ann linda riffin.png ann_linda_riffin_2.jpg HealdsburgJaneDoe1983_web.jpg The photos are Ann Linda Riffin and the recreation is the Healdsburg Doe. Ann disappeared 37 years ago this week in 1982. The estimated PMI for the Doe is sometime in December of 1982. The DNA Doe Project should be able to find a match because Ann's family dna is on file.
 
Nate_Bro said:
Female Bones found within 'walkable' distance years later.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov
Click to expand...


Not walkable, close to a 3 hour drive -- whether or not we count on the map pins.

www.google.com

107 Kit Carson Rd to Rio en Medio Trail

www.google.com www.google.com

Please note that the NAMUS map pins are, um, unreliable. Somewhere in the county, but unfortunately not the exact location. We talked about this on other threads -- sometimes in local press a street address is available and those addresses have yet to match the map pin.

Specifically in this case, a hiker found a bone & turned that bone into LE. They could name the trail used that day, Rio En Medio, but not the point on that trail where the bone was located.

As the linked Google Map shows, the Rio En Medio Trail, very close to the ski basin -- is quite a distance from the NAMUS map pin labeled Santa Fe Public Schools. That might be a field trip location, or just a mark to specify a tax district.

Two remote areas, yup, actually three.

re: border crossing and serial killer taking girls int Mexico -- about 5 1/2 or 6 hours of driving between Mora & the border crossing in El Paso.

Missing New Mexico & my family there, you betcha.

jmho ymmv lrr
 
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