CA CA - Debra Kidwell, 26, & 3-year-old twins (Joshua & Jackson), Ventura, 4 May 1979

[Lavender Moon]

I would really like to know what happened to Debra and her twins. I'm going to look on Charley Project to find out if the twins have been added yet. This is so sad.

 

[Two for the road]

I would really like to know what happened to Debra and her twins. I'm going to look on Charley Project to find out if the twins have been added yet. This is so sad.

They have been added.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Thank you, Two for the road.

 

[Cathie315]

With the help of Debra's niece the podcast about this case starts Tuesday, June 11 @ Haunting History Podcast, and we can use as many eyes and hears as possible to help us get as far as we can on what happened to Debra, Joshua and Jackson.

 

[Richard]

Name: Debra Lynn Kidwell
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: May 4, 1979
Location Last Seen: Ventura, Ventura County, California

Physical Description
Date of Birth: May 27, 1952
Age: 26 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair Color: Blond/Strawberry
Eye Color: Hazel
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Scar on her abdomen. She has a nervous condition.

Identifiers
Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance
Debra Lynn Kidwell, also known as Debra Lynn Cronan, was last seen on May 4, 1979 in Ventura, California.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Ventura County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Detective Ray Dominguez
Agency Phone Number: (805)384-4726
Agency Case Number: 79-07911
NCIC Case Number: M047303919
NamUs Case Number: 24298

Information Source(s)
Namus
CADOJ
870DFCA - Debra Lynn Kidwell

 

[markrifal]

Hi! I know I am late to the discussion, just found the podcast! Just wondering if there have been updates since the podcast aired? Any DNA hits? Did the Rocco's ever reach out? I saw that Frank has passed away but hoping he reached out after the podcast. It seems like on the podcast they were unsure if Debra maybe worked at a restaurant owned by the Rocco's. I did find on a Facebook post that they owned Rocco's Pizzaria (or Rocco's in the Canyon) in Topanga, CA and sold it to new owners around 2005. I feel that the diary references to "went to Rocco's" was in reference to the restaurant. So she did talk about work in a sense. I hope someday this mystery is solved.

 

[Richard]

Debra Lynn Kidwell​

LINK:

Debra Lynn Kidwell

oag.ca.gov

 

[ekardh]

Apparently, Debra's husband, John, reported to the police that Debra called him out of the blue and said she needed to fly to Pennsylvania for a family emergency. John drove Debra and the twins to the airport, gave her $400 and a blank check, and left them queuing for tickets because he was double-parked. He called Debra's parents a couple days later only to be told that she hadn't arrived. There were no records of Debra boarding a flight that day. John took a polygraph that same year and passed.

John is now deceased. He committed suicide in 2008. He was a former heroin user and had contracted Hepatitis B. John's brother attributes his deteriorating health to his reason for killing himself. The last line of his suicide note read: “If my boys ever show up, please tell them I’m not who Debbie said I was.”

The details of Debra's disappearance all stem from her husband, and husbands are often the first line of enquiry when a married woman goes missing. There was apparently nothing on the surface to point to an unhappy marriage. Debra's diary never hinted at any marital problems or dissatisfaction. However, none of us can say for certain, and that ominous line in John's suicide note may suggest a different story.

If John was telling the truth, what happened? Did Debra have a change of plans and take off with someone else? Was the family emergency a cover story for her to runaway and start a new life?

 

[Richard]

Debra Lynn Kidwell, age 26​

Debra Lynn Kidwell went missing 4 May 1979, along with her two twin sons Jackson and Joshua.

LINK:

Debra Lynn Kidwell – The Charley Project

Debra was last seen on May 4, 1979 in Ventura, California. She has never been heard from again. At the time of her disappearance, she was accompanied by her three-year-old twin sons, Jackson and Joshua. The twins are missing along with their mother.

Debra and her sons were reported missing by her husband, John Needham Kidwell. He was considered a suspect at the time and it's unclear whether police ever cleared him. He died in 2008. Debra's family is still looking for her and the twins, however. Their cases remain unsolved.

Investigating Agency​

• Ventura County Sheriff's Department 805-654-2324

Source Information​

• California Attorney General's Office
• NamUs
• Facebook Page for Debra, Jackson and Joshua Kidwell

Jackson Kidwell, age 3​

LINK:

Jackson Kidwell – The Charley Project

Joshua Kidwell, age 3​

LINK:

Joshua Kidwell – The Charley Project

 

[Pennysmom1]

Finding Debra Lynn Kidwell & Sons

Finding Debra Lynn Kidwell & Sons. 1,010 likes. Searching for answers about the May 4, 1979 disappearance of Debora Lynn (Cronan) Kidwell and her two twin boys Joshua and Jackson Kidwell. They were...

www.facebook.com

 

[Cathie315]

Hi! I know I am late to the discussion, just found the podcast! Just wondering if there have been updates since the podcast aired? Any DNA hits? Did the Rocco's ever reach out? I saw that Frank has passed away but hoping he reached out after the podcast. It seems like on the podcast they were unsure if Debra maybe worked at a restaurant owned by the Rocco's. I did find on a Facebook post that they owned Rocco's Pizzaria (or Rocco's in the Canyon) in Topanga, CA and sold it to new owners around 2005. I feel that the diary references to "went to Rocco's" was in reference to the restaurant. So she did talk about work in a sense. I hope someday this mystery is solved.

Hi, the podcast episodes on Debra Lynn have been moved to a new podcast called Last Known Location (it wasn't being heard by true-true crime listeners on a podcast about hauntings or history, so we made the determination to move all the cold cases to the new podcast) we will be having new episodes about what's happened and changed over the last several years and a update coming soon........

 

[Cathie315]

what were the circumstances? did her relatives/ friends believe it was her choice?

Listen to the whole story about the case on Last Known Location podcast, updates and information coming soon

 

[Caring1]

One of Debra’s twin sons (Jackson) has been added to NamUs or recently made public. No exclusions listed.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[Caring1]

Joshua has now been added to NamUs as well.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[ChatteringBirds]

What a sad case. It sounds like maybe something horrible happened to three innocents, two of them children, back in 1979.

RSBM:

The last line of his suicide note read: “If my boys ever show up, please tell them I’m not who Debbie said I was.”

I wonder what the rest of the note reveals. Because this sounds like a confession and the point is, he was bitter toward her. My speculation only.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

"Deputies seeking N.P. woman missing nearly two weeks," Thousand Oaks Star, 15 May 1979, 3.

Conejo sheriff's deputies are looking for a 27-year-old Newbury Park woman who has apparently been missing since May 4.

Debra Lynn Kidwell of 607 Paseo Esmeralda was last seen when she was taken to Los Angeles International Airport with her children to board a plane to Chicago to visit her mother, according to Detective Robert Brooks.

John Mitchell, "The case of the missing housewife," Thousand Oaks Star, 17 April 1983, 19.

"They had been gone a week before [John] Kidwell reported them missing," [Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Gary] Backman said.

"He assumed his wife and the children were back East visiting her mother. But when he called he found out they weren't there and the mother wasn't expecting them."

Backman said he believes Debra is a runaway housewife.

"The reason we believe she is a 'probable runaway,'" Backman said, "is because she called Kidwell at work that day to tell him her mother was seriously sick and that she wanted to go to her.

"He said 'fine,' and that night drove her to the airport and dropped her off in front of a terminal.

"The mother back in Pennsylvania said she's (Debra) not there, that she hadn't heard from her and that she (mother) was not sick.

"The airport officials eliminated her from any of the flights to Pennsylvania that night. But she could have boarded for somewhere else.

[...]

The detective said the Kidwells had been married almost 10 years, and a look at Debra's diary did not indicate she was an unhappy housewife. A check of past telephone bills revealed nothing as to her possible destination, he said.

When Debra and her children were dropped at the airport, they had one suitcase.

"She had a couple of hundred dollars, no credit cards and one blank check with her," Beckman said.

 

[dulcinea]

I am going to assume the blank check was never cashed since no mention of it is made.

 

[ekardh]

I am going to assume the blank check was never cashed since no mention of it is made.

The problem is that we only have her husband John's word that she was carrying a blank check.

I would also like to know if anyone else corroborated Debra's call to John from work to tell him that she wanted to visit her sick mother.

 

[dulcinea]

The problem is that we only have her husband John's word that she was carrying a blank check.

I would also like to know if anyone else corroborated Debra's call to John from work to tell him that she wanted to visit her sick mother.

I agree with you that we only have his word. To me that points in a direction that I don't want to imply too much because we have no proof...IYKWIM.

 

[Diavola]

Wife and children go missing allegedly dropped off at the airport according to the husband.
No mention of unhappiness in the marriage according to her diary. Possibly she didn't write anything like that because he was reading her diary? I wonder if she mentioned any troubles to a friend.
I am really curious about the husbands suicude note. It seems to imply Debra talked badly about him to the boys and that they're alive. Maybe he killed Debra and gave the boys away to someone? But it wouldn't be the first time a guy offed his entire family and lied to the grave about it.
I'm also wondering if he ever remarried/had a girlfriend and had more kids. They could tell us more about his character.