PA PA - Myra Manley, 19, Philadelphia, 2 Sept 1983

[foryourwine]

Missing since September 2, 1983 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Classification: Missing


Vital Statistics

•Date Of Birth: April 26, 1964
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 19 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'5"; 110 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair, hazel eyes.
•Marks, Scars: Mole under right breast. Scar on right hand near the palm that is very noticeable.
•Clothing: Myra was last seen wearing a tiger-print halter top, purple terrycloth shorts and brown canvas shoes.
•Dentals: Available. All four wisdom teeth had been extracted. Previous braces. She also had a chipped upper front tooth (possibly the left) that had been repaired.
•DNA: Available in Codis.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Manley was last seen her father's residence at the Presidential Apartments on City Line Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the afternoon of Friday, September 2, 1983. She was going to swim in the apartment complex pool. She never returned to the apartment, and no trace of her has ever been found.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2105dfpa.html


http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/manley_myra.html

 

[foryourwine]

http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/myramanley.html

 

[Snackcakes66]

Respectfully snipped "

The namesake of Pepe's organization, Myra Manley, vanished Sept. 2, 1983, not long after a falling out with a boyfriend. Manley, who was 19, has not been seen or heard from since, according to the state's missing-persons website. "

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home...offers_women_hope_and_help.html#ixzz0ujrRXyaH
This is a friend of Myra's, coincidentally the place is in Jenna Lord's hometown. The link in the article doesn't work, this one should http://myrasplace.org/​

 

[scriptgirl]

Was her boyfriend investigated?

 

[bunniswife]

http://doenetwork.org/cases/72uftx.html


Could this be Myra??? The height and build are close, the hair colour is right and the previous braces. The anthropologist thinks the body had been there a year but in a warm climate like Texas, wouldn't decomposition be faster, especially if the body had been left in an open field?

 

[alllads]

I don't think that one can be a match based on dental. On Namus, it says for that case that teeth 1 and 16 had not erupted - the upper wisdom teeth had not come in. The lower jaw was not recovered so no info on those. One of the front teeth was post-mortem missing so no way to verify if it was chipped or not.

 

[tang]

This is so sad to me. From 1983 - 1987 I attended college just up the street from here. From 1984 - 1985 I worked in the restaurant at the base of the Presidential Apartments. Until this day in 2013, I had never even heard of Myra Manley.

The public is much more willing and able to help in disappearances. It is so sad that the word does not get out in a timely manner.

God Bless you Myra. I hope you are found some day.

 

[scriptgirl]

Tang, what are the presidential apartments like? Is the building in a good area?

 

[alllads]

Bump for Myra

 

[scriptgirl]

Does that apartment building still exist?

 

[Trackergd]

Yesterday Philadelphia Police arrested a man connected to DNA for two murders of women in 1989. He is not cooperating with Police. I am wondering if there were more as yet unknown or not connected to him.

 

[scriptgirl]

Did they say the names of the two murdered women?

 

[EVLizzel]

I wish there was more about her and her story online.

 

[scriptgirl]

Me too. What was the layout of the pool? Were there doors from the pool that led to the outside?

 

[Moonwalker9]

Myra Manley – The Charley Project
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Myra Manley

• 
• 
• 

Manley, circa 1983

• Missing Since09/02/1983
• Missing FromPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
• ClassificationMissing
• Date of Birth04/26/1964 (54)
• Age19 years old
• Height and Weight5'5, 100 - 110 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry DescriptionA tiger- or leopard-print off-the-shoulder top, brown or purple terrycloth shorts, brown canvas shoes, and two rings, one of which is silver.
• Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair, green/hazel eyes. Manley has a mole on her right breast and a prominent scar on her right hand near her palm. All four of her wisdom teeth have been extracted and she has had extensive dental work, including previous orthodontic braces. One of her upper front teeth has been chipped and was repaired. Manley's hair may be dyed blonde.

Details of Disappearance
Manley was last seen at approximately 3:30 p.m. on September 2, 1983, at her father's residence in the vicinity of the 3900 block of Conshohocken Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She told a family member she was going to the apartment complex pool and was last seen taking a bag of garbage to the dumpster. She has never been heard from again. Few details are available in her case.

 

[sluethermac]

just another day in Philly!

 

[CastlesBurning]

An apartment complex in 1983 wouldn't likely have had any cameras, would it? I'm thinking probably not, but as I was a toddler at the time I am not entirely sure when precisely they became commonplace.

 

[summergirl1]

It's interesting that someone who went to school and worked very nearby around that time had never heard of this case. Today it would obviously get a lot more publicity, which may have led to it being solved. I googled those apartments and they still exist. I couldn't find with just basic research what exact pool- if it exists today- she might have been on her way to. I imagine they investigated her former boyfriend. He would perhaps have known where she was, after all. There may have been a lack of evidence, even if he wasn't completely cleared.

It could have been someone at those apartments too as well as a random stranger driving through the area near the pool or dumpster. I would think they investigated people at the apartments unless they concentrated more on the former boyfriend. I can't find enough information online to really know. There probably weren't any security cameras or if there were they must not have been in the right areas or provided any concrete evidence or perhaps were not reviewed on time?

This happened on the friday of Labor Day weekend that year, as I found out from googling the date. That might have impacted the response to this or perhaps not. I doubt very much that her body has ever been found, or at least it doesn't sound like it. Were there any construction projects nearby these apartments at that time? That might be an answer, especially if someone at those apartments was responsible.

I came across this case reading the thread of Publicker Jane Doe who was recently identified. I think this case could be solved, too, but back then an apparent lack of publicity may have impacted whether it got solved or not.

 

[summergirl1]

The apartments she disappeared at where renovated quite a bit a little while back. Apparently they were rundown by 2012- this article mentions the closed up pool area, which I'm guessing is the area Myra was on her way to- so how they look today would be (it seems far) different than in 1983. But up until 2012-2016 or so, apparently they weren't that much different than in 1983- just rundown. It says they hadn't changed much since they were built in the early 1950s. https://www.bizjournals.com/philade...residential-post-brothers-apartment-100m.html

 

[summergirl1]

Her friend who named the drug recovery place after her sadly died of cancer back in 2019. Obituary of Barri Layne Pepe-Neff | McCausland Garrity Marchesani Funeral Home