VT VT - Lynne Kathryn Schulze, 18, Middlebury, 10 Dec 1971

[Mysteries1974]

I searched Paula Jean Welden, and noticed that there was cold weather in VT when she vanished many years before Lynne did. The commonality is the cold weather & I imagine Lynne may have been feeling cold outside at the bus stop in the winter in VT. Would a warm car with a friendly face offering warmth be irresistible when the temps drop really cold as they do in VT.

Most likely

 

[Pettibon Junction]

Her case reminds me of Paula Jean welden. It’s possible that Lynne was a common runaway.

Paula Jean Welden was most likely murdered by a local creep named Fred Gadette.

 

[Pettibon Junction]

I searched Paula Jean Welden, and noticed that there was cold weather in VT when she vanished many years before Lynne did. The commonality is the cold weather & I imagine Lynne may have been feeling cold outside at the bus stop in the winter in VT. Would a warm car with a friendly face offering warmth be irresistible when the temps drop really cold as they do in VT.

This is exactly what I think happened. I believe Lynne missed the bus and someone (most likely Durst, who was splitting his time between Middlebury and Manhattan at the time) offered her a ride. Whatever her initial intentions, whatever her destination, all that went out the window. Just my opinion.

 

[carbuff]

It's certainly a plausible theory. A local thief is plausible. I just don't think that's what happened.

No evidence, just my best guess.

 

[Mysteries1974]

Paula Jean Welden was most likely murdered by a local creep named Fred Gadette.

Who is this individual?

 

[Pettibon Junction]

Who is this individual?

A man who lived along the Long Trail. He was interviewed first as a witness but when his story started shifting, he became a suspect. Eventually, he copped to angrily driving up and down the Trail in his truck the day of Welden's disappearance and even seeing her following a domestic dispute with his commonlaw wife. He remained on police radar until his death, at one point drunkenly bragging that he knew within a hundred yards where Paula was buried. However, that evidence was hearsay and no one ever found a trace of Paula Welden so charges were never brought.

 

[Mysteries1974]

A man who lived along the Long Trail. He was interviewed first as a witness but when his story started shifting, he became a suspect. Eventually, he copped to angrily driving up and down the Trail in his truck the day of Welden's disappearance and even seeing her following a domestic dispute with his commonlaw wife. He remained on police radar until his death, at one point drunkenly bragging that he knew within a hundred yards where Paula was buried. However, that evidence was hearsay and no one ever found a trace of Paula Welden so charges were never brought.

Oh wow I never knew about this!

 

[Zephyranth]

Hello georgiagirl,

Firstly, thank you so very much for this thread, and for helping to ensure Lynne's case remains open!

Lynne was born on February 9th, 1954, making her 17 years old the day of her disappearance, December 10, 1971.

For some reason her age had been listed as 18 on numerous sites; little by little that is being corrected (Doe Network and Charley Project now reflect the correct age).

I'm not sure if it's even possible to correct a thread title here, but thought I'd check with you and see.

Thank you again for your precious work here,

Z

 

[Zephyranth]

Interesting - I'd missed this: Bowdish was assigned the case in 2012, and it was in July 2012 that she received the tip about Durst allegedly owning All Good Things.

 

[Mysteries1974]

Interesting - I'd missed this: Bowdish was assigned the case in 2012, and it was in July 2012 that she received the tip about Durst allegedly owning All Good Things.

There are two main theories in Lynne’s case right now:

1. She was killed by Robert Durst

2. She ran away and started a new life

 

[Satch]

Do you think Lynne really went back to her dorm to get a pen? Or did she just make that up as an excuse to vanish? Whether Durst had anything to do with this, or somebody elese sadly if she was killed, this might remain unknown forever. Unless we get a Deathbed Confession and evidence that substantiates that. Or we won't get anything if Lynne ran away.

Satch

 

[Mysteries1974]

Lynne’s case is so similar to Paula Jean weldens case.

 

[Zephyranth]

For what it's worth, the chief investigators have never limited their theories to Lynne's running away vs. being killed by Robert Durst (or any specific individual).

Vermont police have had the All Good Things tip since 2012, and have found nothing since then to cause them to name Durst as a suspect; they will not even officially name him a person of interest.

Focus instead has shifted to a property on Robbins Crossroad (sometimes listed as Robins Cross Rd) in Ripton, VT, which would seem to indicate either a new witness report about Lynne having been there, new forensic evidence discovered on the property, or both. The Vilners, who owned the Ripton property in 1971, say they knew Durst, and that he never lived there.

Yet Vermont police remain focused on that property, going so far as to bring Lynne's family out to it in 2015 for something approaching closure, apologizing to them that the property was not properly searched in 1971.

A.I. said he lived in Ripton, and that when he moved out, "Durst moved in." It is unclear whether he meant Robbins Crossroad specifically, or Ripton in general. However, in 2014 detective Bowdish questioned A.I. as to whether he had known Lynne Schulze.

Sometime in 2014-2015, an individual came to the town of Ripton saying they had "visited the Charlie Miller camp as a child" and wanted to see it again. The visitor was directed to what is now the Robbins Cross property. Shortly after that visit, the town was inundated with calls asking whether Robert Durst had lived at that property. The town could find no record of Durst being in Ripton, nor anyone in the town of 500 who remembered him, including the owners of the property in question.

If Durst didn't live there, why did someone begin anonymously alleging that he had lived there? Why did Bowdish question Israel, during that time, as to whether he'd known Lynne? Very important questions, I think.

To me it seems possible that a former resident of Ripton may have been feeling uncomfortable at being questioned by police, and then went to the press with a story that a serial killer had lived in the same town as himself in 1971. Under scrutiny, however, the only individual proven to have lived there is the person who was fingering the serial killer.

To name a specific property, from which you are trying to distance yourself, is a very risky move; the only reason to make it would be if not making it were riskier.

The first question for me, then, has to be "Why 2014?" What happened in 2014 that caused Bowdish to question former Ripton resident Israel, followed by a flurry of anonymous activity blaming Robert Durst for living in Ripton? An impending property sale, with the potential for new digging on the grounds, has always come to mind.

 

[Mysteries1974]

It’s definitely possible that she ran away and is still alive. Sandra breed ran away and started a new life. She managed to stay away for 54 years. She was found alive in early 2018.

 

[Alleykins]

It’s definitely possible that she ran away and is still alive. Sandra breed ran away and started a new life. She managed to stay away for 54 years. She was found alive in early 2018.

Anita Drake did the same thing. Ran away @ 15 from OH, ended up in TX and died of natural causes 39 years later. Her daughter discovered Anita wasn't who she said she was and started digging around. Come to find out, Anita's little sister knew the whole time she was alive, yet let the rest of her family believe Anita had been murdered. The only reason the the sister fessed up was for her niece's sake. That's why when I hear of a teenager going missing, I don't automatically assume they're a victim of foul play.

 

[Mysteries1974]

We should start looking through records to see if Lynne is alive.

 

[Zephyranth]

Do you think Lynne really went back to her dorm to get a pen? Or did she just make that up as an excuse to vanish? Whether Durst had anything to do with this, or somebody elese sadly if she was killed, this might remain unknown forever. Unless we get a Deathbed Confession and evidence that substantiates that. Or we won't get anything if Lynne ran away.

Satch

I would add that there are several more people worth considering, to include the property owner (who claims Durst was never there) as well as the person who has tried to connect Durst to Ripton--both knew Robert, and they all played poker together along with some Middlebury professors, according to the property owner. The property owner also owned All Good Things (then OM) before allegedly selling it to Durst. He says Durst only owned it for 8 months. Despite my scrutiny of A.I.'s puzzling involvement, D.V. is staring to nag at me, given his subsequent activity as a self-styled youth outreach worker: he drove a truck to sites where kids hung out and counseled (his words) 12-18 year olds on sex, drugs, and alcohol. He said, "The youngest ones are the most interested." Could be the world's greatest guy; youth work always carries the risk of being misunderstood. But he owned that Ripton property, and police are now very focused on that property. Worth a very, very close look.

 

[Zephyranth]

Never noticed this before - the December 9, 1971 edition of the school paper had an article about an abortion clinic in New York. Page 5 (right next to an advertisement for Wild Mountain Thyme).

https://ia600800.us.archive.org/1/items/middleburyNewspapers_1971-12-09/13933_text.pdf

That would explain so, so much, including Lynne's alleged talk the next day of a trip to New York, her distracted state of mind, her seeming indecision about her activities, the school's desire to list her as 18 and not 17, and the delay in presuming her missing.

Unfortunately, it would also provide potential motive for the father to harm her, perhaps especially if the father were not a student, but an adult. An adult would have additional motive and means to cause her to disappear if, for example, he was someone who was married, well or even prestigiously employed, had a vehicle, exerted greater influence over her than a student might, etc.

Consider A.I.'s now-less-mysterious statement: "If there are people that disappeared to make Durst's life a little smoother, a little softer to navigate, I'm not surprised."

That fact would apply to anyone who was the father, of course. The FBI contacted D.V. at least twice in 2014 or 2015, and according to his own statement, never asked about Durst; they asked whether D.V. himself remembered seeing Lynne in the store. Keep in mind that the store belonged to D.V. until at least the fall of 1971, in other words, weeks before Lynne's disappearance.

Rumors of Durst owning the store and the Ripton property are as-yet unproven by documentation, whereas D.V. is actually on-record, with zero doubt, as having owned both. The FBI questions D.V., and suddenly someone floats the (yet unproven) idea to the media that "a serial killer lived at 301 Robbins Crossroad."

D.V. claims Durst did not live there; A.I. claims Durst did.

Interesting.

 

[Zephyranth]

We must in fact accept at least a small possibility that Lynne HAS been found, and the family does not want it disclosed that she was pregnant. That would explain the police's bringing the family to the property for closure, and their behaving as if the missing person case, at least, is closed, while the homicide investigation (into the identity of the father?) remains open.

 

[carbuff]

I know somebody who ran away from an abusive home in the 70's. Now and again I hear that her family is still looking for her. She's changed her name twice to get away from them.

So yeah, some teens really are runaways, and some of them had good reason to stay away.