OH OH - Ruth Baumgardner, 21, Delaware, 4 May 1937

[iNTERESTEDWOMAN]

GraceBlue, I saw that same information on Ancestry.com. It says the Florida's Ruth's Birth date is November 1, 1916, and yes this Ruth middle initial is E as well...Though if you look on the 1920 census (as mentioned above) It was Dated January 2, 1920. It has Ruth listed as 4 10/12. (4yrs 10 mo.) In my old census experience, that would mean that the missing Ruth's birthday would be approx. March of 1915.

Have to admit, when I saw that I got a little excited too.

 

[GraceBlue]

GraceBlue, I saw that same information on Ancestry.com. It says the Florida's Ruth's Birth date is November 1, 1916, and yes this Ruth middle initial is E as well...Though if you look on the 1920 census (as mentioned above) It was Dated January 2, 1920. It has Ruth listed as 4 10/12. (4yrs 10 mo.) In my old census experience, that would mean that the missing Ruth's birthday would be approx. March of 1915.

Have to admit, when I saw that I got a little excited too.

You want to call this woman up to find out if she indeed is THE Ruth Baumgardner?
"Hello...Ummm...are you the Ruth that ran away from college some 70 years ago?" How awkward that conversation would be but it will be so interesting to hear what she has to say (if it indeed was her.)

 

[LisainWV]

If you're gonna call, better do it soon. this woman isn't young by anyone's standards. But, hey, you never know. this is one case that I feel she just walked way. Probably had a "normal" life somewhere, has grandkids....

 

[GraceBlue]

If you're gonna call, better do it soon. this woman isn't young by anyone's standards. But, hey, you never know. this is one case that I feel she just walked way. Probably had a "normal" life somewhere, has grandkids....

You are welcome to call if you want. You can look her up at zabasearch.com

 

[Marilynilpa]

Just thought I'd look in on my favorite "case". For those who are interested, the Ruth Baumgardner in Florida is unrelated to the missing Ruth. You may also run across a Ruth Baumgardner in New Jersey, who also is not the missing Ruth. If Ruth did just "walk away" from her life, my thoughts are that she would have changed her name because she had to know her parents would search high and low for her. In her parents' obituaries, she is referred to as "the late Ruth Baumgardner", which I interpret to mean that with the passage of time she was eventually presumed dead.

Next month I will begin spending much more time researching this case, with the hopes of gathering enough info to write a book about Ruth and some other "missing" women, including Dorothy Arnold. I hope everyone continues posting their ideas, hunches, wild speculations, etc.!!

 

[AmandaBrown23]

Hey I came accross this and just wondered if there is any chance she is a victim of The Cleveland Torso Murderer. The timeline fits and she was in Ohio. Just a thought, I am an amateur so I dont really know.

 

[Marilynilpa]

Hey I came accross this and just wondered if there is any chance she is a victim of The Cleveland Torso Murderer. The timeline fits and she was in Ohio. Just a thought, I am an amateur so I dont really know.

Believe me, Amanda, I thought about that when I first started researching this case. Although nothing can be ruled out, after a couple of years of research I tend to think it unlikely that Ruth was a victim of the torso killer. However, I still keep that thought in mind as I continue researching this and if I find anything to even hint at a connection, I'll be sure to post it here.

Thanks for your interest!

Marilyn

 

[Stella]

Bump for Ruth. Marilynilpa, how is the book coming along?

 

[Stella]

Just re-read all and post #69 caught my attention for the first time. Don't know how I overlooked it before. The driver said the young man with Ruth (if it was Ruth) was wearing an award or letterman sweater. Someone from Wesleyan or maybe OSU in (not far away) Columbus? Wonder if a male student active in a sport dropped out or went missing around the time of Ruth's disappearance? That could be THE GUY.

 

[Marilynilpa]

Thanks for bumping this up. I've been busy researching another case and have let this one sit on the back burner for a while. I'll resume actively working on this one in the next month or so.

The letterman sweater is a good lead, and I don't recall ever looking into that aspect. Thanks for pointing it out - I've gone over this info so many times that I can't keep it all straight!

 

[Trino]

Just a quick reply...

I've followed the case a bit, and while I have nothing to contribute about the case itself, I just wanted to mention how awful the census records are, since I spent months tracking my family ancestry. Just as an example, on one census record my grandfather is married to his daughter but living in the same household as my grandmother!!! My own mother's name was recorded as Mazzie and Marcel, neither of which are a correct spelling of her name.

Part of this can be attributed to data entry errors. In fact, I found data on the Social Security Death Index for ancestors born after they died, i.e., born in the 1900's, died in the 1800's. Another factor was the census takers themselves who wrote what they thought they heard. Then, too, not everyone was literate; names were spelled differently by different people in the family. Finally, I, too, have encountered the same ancestor being born in different states on different census records. Just don't take the census records as gospel.

 

[BostonSu]

Bumping for my pet case.

 

[gaia227]

Wow, thanks for bumping. The name sounded familar but I don't think I have ever read anything about this case before. It reminds me of Dorthy Arnold a little bit.

If she did run away on purpose then I think the key lies with finding out as much as possible about her family. Why would she want to abandon her family? HOW could she? Did she have issues with her parents? Were they wealthy? Expected her to marry and become someone she didn't feel she was? Put a lot of pressure on her to be perfect? If she did get herself in trouble with something like pregnancy and IF her family was that way then it is very likely instead of shaming them and dealing with the rejection she simply disappeared resigned to deal with it herself. Although with only five dollars she would have had to have help.

When the truck driver stated the man he picked up called the fellow hitchhiker 'Bumby' was that info given without prompting? It would be highly coincidental that Ruth is missing, a truck driver picks a woman up who just happen's to have the same nick-name or pet name as Ruth.

This one has the potential to drive me NUTS!

 

[BostonSu]

If she did get herself in trouble with something like pregnancy and IF her family was that way then it is very likely instead of shaming them and dealing with the rejection she simply disappeared resigned to deal with it herself. Although with only five dollars she would have had to have help.

When the truck driver stated the man he picked up called the fellow hitchhiker 'Bumby' was that info given without prompting? It would be highly coincidental that Ruth is missing, a truck driver picks a woman up who just happen's to have the same nick-name or pet name as Ruth.

This one has the potential to drive me NUTS!

It's driven me nuts for a while now.

Because of the truck driver, as well as two women who seemed to have been reputible sightings, plus the purchase of a suitcase, I believe she left willingly.

Why she never returned, is where I go crazy. An accident? Possibly the young man was someone her family would have disapproved of?

It was an era where you only mixed with your own kind. Perhaps he was a different faith, and her parents would not have accepted him.

I do wonder about possible pregnancy, but I think, if that's the case, she was more likely running away to be married, than to have an abortion. The description of her as "excited" leads me to that conclusion.
I wish she'd left more clues!

 

[Trino]

I believe it's rare that people run away and never return, but it does happen. It would be interesting to know more about her inside relationship with her family.

 

[Marilynilpa]

I believe it's rare that people run away and never return, but it does happen. It would be interesting to know more about her inside relationship with her family.

As you can see from all of my posts on this thread that this is one of my "pet" cases. I spent several months researching Ruth's disappearance, and I've posted a lot of info on this thread regarding this case. If you will read through all of them, you might find answers to some of your questions.

Ruth's relationship with her family from all accounts was very good. She came from an upper-middle-class family, lived in suburb outside of Cleveland, Ohio, was a good student, and had gotten engaged shortly before her disappearance. She appeared to be a "normal" college student, very involved in her sorority. She had been studying for a test just before her disappearance. She had complained to her family about being under stress to get good grades, but what college student hasn't felt that way before?!?

I'm not sure where the info from regarding the purchase of a suitcase, as this is not something I've uncovered in my lengthy research. From what I've learned, she did not take much anything with her, and there was no suitcase purchased by her any time close to her disappearance.

The remaining big mystery to me is who called Ruth prior to her disappearance. Her sorority sisters claimed a man called for Ruth on at least one occasion, and that the voice was not that of Ruth's fiance.

My first thoughts were (1) Ruth was pregnant or (2) she became involved with someone her family would not approve of (or both).

Throughout all of my research over many months, I've started to think that perhaps Ruth HAD become involved with someone other than her fiance, maybe the "mystery man" who had been phoning her. Was this a married man, perhaps?

I'll post more later with my reasons for suspecting that.

 

[StealthTheory]

I hate to suggest this, but if she were pregnant and getting an abortion, she may have died as a result. I imagine it was a taboo and hard to get operation back then, so she would have had to go to a shady doctor that had no over sight. If she had been seeing another man and he took her for the operation, he and the doc may have panicked and gotten rid of her body.

 

[Stella]

Just read the Bellamy book on Ruth and something weird stands out. It says the alarm clock in her room was set for 6 a.m. and had run down, indicating she had arisen at that time. Who lets their alarm clock run down? As soon as it goes off, I can't reach the shut off button fast enough, just to stop the noise! To me, it indicates that she set the alarm, but left before 6 a.m. She wasn't there to shut it off and it just ran down. What are your thoughts on this, Marilynilpa?

 

[OilPainter]

It's been over a year since I've posted anything on this thread, but I do still keep this case in the back of my mind.

I had one possible lead about Ruth in late 2005. I had spoken to someone within the police force who put me in contact with the grandson of one of the policemen who investigated this case. The grandson said his grandfather had some old files stuck in boxes in the attic, and he believed at least one of the files contained information on the investigation into Ruth's disappearance. He promised to locate the file(s) and arrange a time for me to drive to Zanesville, Ohio, to pick them up. I had one more telephone contact with this man, then went a couple of months without hearing from him. When I tried calling him, his phone number was disconnected. All I had was a cell phone number for him, and I can't locate a listing for him in any phone directories.

From one of his statements, I got the impression that he read this and other "web sleuthing" sites, so if he reads this, I implore him to please contact me again!

This is what's most puzzling to me. Why would this man just "disappear"? At best he could have informed you that he couldn't find the files or maybe just too busy to dedicate the time looking for them but to suddenly drop all contact with you seems odd.

Maybe he found the file and read something disturbing? Then again, maybe I'm reading more into this.

This one sure is a head-scratcher.

 

[BostonSu]

Sorry, probably just a misunderstanding by me of the term "overnight case". In New England, that's what we call a small suitcase.

I'm VERY curious about the phone calls as well, and looking forward to hearing more of your theory about the married man.

Ruth has fascinated me for a long time now!