CA CA - Connie Minchaca, 17, Napa, 9 June 1978

[theshadow45]

Bumping, today is Connie’s birthday.

 

[Sweetluv]

Bumping!

 

[Sweetluv]

June 9, 1978....Connie is still missing!

 

[theshadow45]

June 9, 1978....Connie is still missing!

46 years today.

 

[theshadow45]

Today is Connie’s birthday.

 

[snooptroop88]

So this is Connie:

I'm struck by a resemblance to this image from SK Rodney Alcala's gallery of victims, this is image # 38 of 225 in the NYPost listing of possible victims:

So the hair's dark, but the hair in Connie's pictures also looks dark, it does not photograph as "strawberry blonde." The girl in the Alcala image, too, the hair may be wet, making it look darker. She has the same smattering of freckles on her cheeks and around her nose as Connie, and her facial structure seems similar to Connie's and the nose particularly. I think the eyebrows are similar. The girl in the image is thin but not terribly so, which would seem to align with Connie. In the Alcala image, I'm guessing those are palm trees poking out over the girl's shoulder. The place they're staying has the same look of motor lodges in Palm Springs, and I'm guessing across that area. The girl in the image looks quite young and is a smoker. If Connie ran with the wilder crowd, she may indeed have been a smoker. Did the parents ever meet the boyfriend? There is another case I'm wondering about where I believe Alcala may have been at one point "a boyfriend" of a much younger girl. He'd have been 35 at the time Connie disappeared but might well have been able to pass for 25. Connie disappeared in early June 1978. Alcala already had multiple victims by that time, and less than three weeks after Connie's disappearance, he murdered Charlotte Lamb and her body was found in El Segundo. While that is 6 hours from Napa, Alcala traveled extensively, moved back and forth from NY & NH back to CA. They found one victim in Wyoming, she'd been missing since she went on a trip to Montana to pan for gold in 1977. The images we're viewing of his are from a storage locker he used in Seattle, WA. LE has looked into Alcala in connection with Seattle murders.

That mullet haircut-- imo you never see that all that often, even when it was at the peak of its popularity in this timeframe, not with younger girls. It has a Florence Henderson/Brady Bunch vibe to it, so I'd view that as a somewhat unusual hairdo for a younger woman, even in this timeframe.

 

[wdmcmahan]

Connie’s freckles on her nose seem darker, BUT I do see that both pictures have larger freckles in the same spots. Are there other pictures of Connie that show her face with a similar angle as the UID photo?

 

[snooptroop88]

Looked pretty hard for other images of Connie online, I can't find anything else. I think the glare of the sun in the Alcala image might have made them look less pronounced. In the b/w image of Connie, you'd hardly see the freckles. I mean, I have no idea if it's Connie in that Alcala image, but I see a resemblance there. I'd like to have other images of Connie as well because in the two color images available, she looks a little sunburned and the freckles might have been intensified for that reason.

 

[snooptroop88]

I see another image in Alcala's collection that may be the same woman from the oirignal image posted. This is #56 NYPost listing of possible victims:

This has to be the same swimsuit and same woman. At first when I saw this second image, I thought the woman looked too old, and the hair's looking dryer and it's too dark. BUT then I blew up the face on this image, and I'm still kind of wondering. But I think the wrinkles on the neck and around the eyes-- this is likely an older woman, although Connie has the same very thin upper lip when she smiles.

 

[snooptroop88]

Very prominent freckle and/or raised area under Connie's left eye here/zoom:

And you kind of see it in the second Alcala image too:

 

[wdmcmahan]

I see another image in Alcala's collection that may be the same woman from the oirignal image posted. This is #56 NYPost listing of possible victims:

View attachment 546690
This has to be the same swimsuit and same woman. At first when I saw this second image, I thought the woman looked too old, and the hair's looking dryer and it's too dark. BUT then I blew up the face on this image, and I'm still kind of wondering. But I think the wrinkles on the neck and around the eyes-- this is likely an older woman, although Connie has the same very thin upper lip when she smiles.
View attachment 546691

That hair could definitely be dyed dark. I wish we knew what Connie’s ears looked like.

 

[DD Byrd]

I don't see this as a match. I think the Alcala woman has naturally black hair. And although we only see the front of Connie's teeth, I imagine her side to first molars are also very white, and shaped/sized differently than the ones we see on the Alcala picture. Also, I think Connie's jaw is longer from ear to chin.

 

[spartanx]

interestingly there is no information on whether or not Connie Gail Minchaca’s mother recognized the voices on the described calls… it is interesting that those calls happened… if the people talking were not recognizable how could anyone have found Minchaca’s mother’s contact information? since those calls happened weeks after her disappearance maybe they had time to do research like in phone books or they are not related to the case and are making prank calls… it seems like the last few times Minchaca ran away she came home pretty quickly… when her mother says she left all her belongings behind i wonder what that means… did Minchaca usually take a noticeable amount of belongings with her before she ran away? did she take everyday items with her but nothing to sustain her long term or really nothing at all? when she was last seen was she supposed to go to that party with her friends and then come home right away? If that was the case or if she was going to go to that party soon, it is reasonable to think that she would have something prepared to take with her, like a bag for a casual outing... but this one apparently went wrong, it was the last one...
whatever it was
rest in peace

 

[snooptroop88]

interestingly there is no information on whether or not Connie Gail Minchaca’s mother recognized the voices on the described calls… it is interesting that those calls happened… if the people talking were not recognizable how could anyone have found Minchaca’s mother’s contact information? since those calls happened weeks after her disappearance maybe they had time to do research like in phone books or they are not related to the case and are making prank calls… it seems like the last few times Minchaca ran away she came home pretty quickly… when her mother says she left all her belongings behind i wonder what that means… did Minchaca usually take a noticeable amount of belongings with her before she ran away? did she take everyday items with her but nothing to sustain her long term or really nothing at all? when she was last seen was she supposed to go to that party with her friends and then come home right away? If that was the case or if she was going to go to that party soon, it is reasonable to think that she would have something prepared to take with her, like a bag for a casual outing... but this one apparently went wrong, it was the last one...
whatever it was
rest in peace

Agreed, this whole "calls" thing sounds like it's going nowhere and may be purely bogus.

 

[theshadow45]

Connie has been missing for 47 years today.