Here's one of the very earliest articles - I couldn't find a text version of it, so thought it might be useful to type and add to this thread. Still trying to find the author's name - a scan is
here.
Burlington Free Press
January 21, 1972
Missing Coed’s Parents Ask Aid
MIDDLEBURY – A Middlebury College freshman girl has not been heard from since Friday afternoon, Dec. 10. Miss Lynne Schulze, 17, was last seen walking (or hitchhiking) on U.S. 7 a short distance south of Middlebury village. She vanished without a word of explanation to her parents, college, authorities, friends or close associates in Battell dormitory where she lived. Lynne, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Otto A. Schulze of Simsbury, Conn., left behind all her clothing except what she was wearing, her hiking backpack, ID card and checkbook reported Mrs. Erica Wonnacott, dean of students.
Little concern was felt at first over the absence of the dark blonde, 5-foot-3, 113-pound freshman, who was described by Mrs. Wonnacott as “an independent girl.” Her 18th birthday will be Feb. 9. Many students leave college to go home or to visit friends over the weekends, explained Mrs. Wonnacott on Thursday as she disclosed details of Lynne’s mysterious disappearance at the author’s request in the hope some clues would turn up.
Alarm is now being felt by the girl’s parents for her safety, although there is no evidence of foul play – only the continued silence. Lynne’s disappearance came just before exam time at Middlebury, but the college attaches no particular significance to this fact. While she may not have been living quite up to the promises contained in her Simsbury High scholastic record, like so many first-year college students, said Mrs. Wonnacott, Lynne was “far from failing.” When she failed to show up for her English exam on the following Tuesday, an exam for which “she had studied,” according to her dorm associates, her absence became disturbing.
Middlebury College authorities called her parents in Simsbury to find out if Lynne was home. When Mr. and Mrs. Schulze expressed surprise and concern, Middlebury village and state police were notified and a description given of the girl. At the time of her disappearance, police were told Lynne was wearing blue jeans, brown nylon ski parka, navy blue pullover sweater and hiking boots.
At the parents request of no publicity for fear of frightening their daughter, there has been no public announcement to this puzzling case. A quiet search began, aided by Lynne’s college associates who “went everywhere in running down possible leas,” related Mrs. Wonnacott.
On the latest of a number of trips Schulze has made to Middlebury since mid-December, the father authorized removal of the secrecy lid he clamped on his daughter’s disappearance and appealed to the public for help in locating Lynne. He has also notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but expects little help from this quarter unless it can be shown interstate movement is involved. To date, state police, who issued a general missing person’s broadcast when first notified, have uncovered no new leads, reported the Middlebury station. Middlebury College authorities reported they have no evidence of any mental depression or of boyfriends in the case.
Lynne has two sisters, one a University of Wisconsin student and the other in high school, and two brothers, ages 14 and 12. Her father is a business executive [sic], and her mother teaches.
Recalls Paula Weldon
MIDDLEBURY – The mysterious disappearance of 17-year-old Lynne Schulze, Middlebury College freshman, recalls the much publicized vanishing of Paul Weldon from Bennington College 25 years ago.
Paula was never found. Her parents lived in Stamford, Conn.
On Dec 1, 1946, Paula, 18, donned sneakers, dungarees and a red parka, and went for a walk. She left the Bennington College campus and was last seen headed up the Long Trail toward rugged Glastonbury Mountain. That was the last anyone ever saw of her. She was a quiet girl, deeply interested in botany – with a good record in her studies and no known worries.
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