CA CA - Dixie Arensen, 20, Los Angeles, 25 Aug 1968

[katydid23]

No one saw her arrive. She left the house at 7:30am and the church is only 10 min away. There is a side door that goes directly into the office where she was starting to work. The typewriter was on as well as duplicator machine, but she hadn't started typing.
Granada Hills at that time in that particular area was not built up much with homes. There were horse stables and lots of open area around the church building. In those days,it would have been easy and not noticed if someone approached the church, especially from the back parking lot to the side door where she sat with her back to the door. I can also understand why she might not lock herself in that morning. Soon the church would have members coming to tech Sunday school, set things up etc.

In answer to your question about Dixie's husband, yes he remained a person of interest and was actually fired from his position at the church. There remains no evidence that he had anything to do with her disappearance.

As for the Manson family, they were in and around that area at the time. There has been rumor that one of his girls bragged about taking a girl from a church.. but it has never been proven.

I just looked it up and you are right about Manson family being nearby in August of 1968 :

"After Wilson’s manager evicted the family in August 1968, they decamped to Spahn Ranch, [Chatsworth] where some members had been living on and off since the spring. Until the family’s arrival, the ranch had enjoyed relative anonymity because, as the Los Angeles Times put it, the “hard rock and rugged terrain on the rim of a fertile valley left the area virtually useless.”

Spahn Ranch became Manson’s kingdom. Here he indoctrinated his followers through a series of acid trips, mandatory orgies, and hypnotic, repetitive lectures outlining “Helter Skelter,” the race war he was determined to start. In the scenario Manson imagined, during “Helter Skelter,” which he named after a song on the Beatles’s White Album, the black population would fight the white population.

The abandoned movie ranch where Manson launched Helter Skelter

At Spahn Ranch, Manson indoctrinated his followers.

la.curbed.com

So in early August of 68, the entire Manson Tribe moved to Spahn Ranch, in Santa Susanna Pass Rd, which is only about 7 miles down the highway from Granada Hills. But some of the members had already been living there, since the prior spring. So this rumour is beginning to hold some water.

I can see the possibility that some of the tribe began scouting the surrounding areas for places to burglarise and places to recruit new followers.
Also during this time the tribe was doing a lot of LSD and meth and pot, and anything could have got their twisted attention.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Exactly.. Dixie's father said in an article that he counted 300 cars go by the next Sunday morning. At a church like that, with a door to the office on Shoshone, (side street) I don't believe a couple of women would have caught the attention of cars that were going by. IMO. The typewriter was on but nothing had been typed, so this happened early. I have wondered if Dixie threw her glasses down on the floor to send a msg??? Whoever took her, wanted her purse too. Dixie was very smart person. Not sure if any of us could think that fast but it's an interesting thot.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Dixie's case file can't be located

Her original file is lost but there is a newer one from 2012. They are currently looking for it.

 

[Nancyrowina]

I just looked it up and you are right about Manson family being nearby in August of 1968 :

"After Wilson’s manager evicted the family in August 1968, they decamped to Spahn Ranch, [Chatsworth] where some members had been living on and off since the spring. Until the family’s arrival, the ranch had enjoyed relative anonymity because, as the Los Angeles Times put it, the “hard rock and rugged terrain on the rim of a fertile valley left the area virtually useless.”

Spahn Ranch became Manson’s kingdom. Here he indoctrinated his followers through a series of acid trips, mandatory orgies, and hypnotic, repetitive lectures outlining “Helter Skelter,” the race war he was determined to start. In the scenario Manson imagined, during “Helter Skelter,” which he named after a song on the Beatles’s White Album, the black population would fight the white population.

The abandoned movie ranch where Manson launched Helter Skelter

At Spahn Ranch, Manson indoctrinated his followers.

la.curbed.com

So in early August of 68, the entire Manson Tribe moved to Spahn Ranch, in Santa Susanna Pass Rd, which is only about 7 miles down the highway from Granada Hills. But some of the members had already been living there, since the prior spring. So this rumour is beginning to hold some water.

I can see the possibility that some of the tribe began scouting the surrounding areas for places to burglarise and places to recruit new followers.
Also during this time the tribe was doing a lot of LSD and meth and pot, and anything could have got their twisted attention.

There is a rape report from Spahn Ranch where Charlie apparently sent the girls out to find him a new girl, and he raped her basically. so the girls did go out and abduct girls for him, I'll attach the PDF of the file.
Also the fact there's no publicly available files yet may suggest this is another case talked about on "Tex Tapes", the tapes Manson Family murderer Charles Watson recorded with his lawyer before his arrest. LAPD still refuse to release them saying they contain information about still unsolved cases that can't be released. Many of the crimes often attributed to The Family have many files available, so it always gets my attention when there is one they are secretive about.
I have to say though, this really doesn't sound like something they would do, in these type of incidents they lured young hippy girls they met on the streets in, they wouldn't bust into a church and abduct a lady while she was typing.
The Manson Family do have connections to evangelical Christianity through the preacher Dean Moorehouse who they met up with several times along the way, including at Dennis Wilson's house. And there are many tales of there being more girls who didn't live at the ranch but lived in houses nearby and just visited. But they'd be party chicks who liked taking drugs etc, this lady doesn't sound the type.

 

[katydid23]

There is a rape report from Spahn Ranch where Charlie apparently sent the girls out to find him a new girl, and he raped her basically. so the girls did go out and abduct girls for him, I'll attach the PDF of the file.
Also the fact there's no publicly available files yet may suggest this is another case talked about on "Tex Tapes", the tapes Manson Family murderer Charles Watson recorded with his lawyer before his arrest. LAPD still refuse to release them saying they contain information about still unsolved cases that can't be released. Many of the crimes often attributed to The Family have many files available, so it always gets my attention when there is one they are secretive about.
I have to say though, this really doesn't sound like something they would do, in these type of incidents they lured young hippy girls they met on the streets in, they wouldn't bust into a church and abduct a lady while she was typing.
The Manson Family do have connections to evangelical Christianity through the preacher Dean Moorehouse who they met up with several times along the way, including at Dennis Wilson's house. And there are many tales of there being more girls who didn't live at the ranch but lived in houses nearby and just visited. But they'd be party chicks who liked taking drugs etc, this lady doesn't sound the type.

Thank you.

I do agree that they usually lured young hippy girls away. But there were also bodies thrown into Laurel Canyon, thought to be victims of the tribe.

Are the Murders of Marina Habe and Reet Jurvetson Connected? Re-examining the "Manson Family&qu

New Year's Day 1969 the body of Marina Habe was found. 11 months later, the body of Jane Doe #59 was found and later identified as Reet

www.missingleads.com

New Year’s Day 1969, the body of Marina Elizabeth Habe, 17, was found in the bottom of a ravine, along Mulholland Drive, in Hollywood, Calif. She had been tossed down a ravine like a piece of garbage and found the following day by the property owner’s dog.



In a 1988, Los Angeles Magazine (LA Mag) article, “The Charlie Conspiracy,” writer Michael Bendrix reported, when police arrived, the dog’s owner told them he wanted his name in the paper. A bizarre request.

 

[Nancyrowina]

Thank you.

I do agree that they usually lured young hippy girls away. But there were also bodies thrown into Laurel Canyon, thought to be victims of the tribe.

Are the Murders of Marina Habe and Reet Jurvetson Connected? Re-examining the "Manson Family&qu

New Year's Day 1969 the body of Marina Habe was found. 11 months later, the body of Jane Doe #59 was found and later identified as Reet

www.missingleads.com

New Year’s Day 1969, the body of Marina Elizabeth Habe, 17, was found in the bottom of a ravine, along Mulholland Drive, in Hollywood, Calif. She had been tossed down a ravine like a piece of garbage and found the following day by the property owner’s dog.



In a 1988, Los Angeles Magazine (LA Mag) article, “The Charlie Conspiracy,” writer Michael Bendrix reported, when police arrived, the dog’s owner told them he wanted his name in the paper. A bizarre request.

I want to cover this girls death too, as she's another one often attributed to the Manson Family. The thing about the Manson Family is, if you actually look at the real motives for their major crimes, and the pattern of them, they don't appear to actually become violent until July 2nd 69, when Bernard Crow is shot by Charlie, and they think they have killed him (he actually lived). Then their drug abuse escalates and they seem to get really paranoid there is going to be a retaliation from The Black Panthers, the Spahn Ranch was also used by couple of biker gangs, and transient people came and went we'll probably never know about. The other thing people really need to know about the Manson case is there was huge cover up of the true motive, as it was actually all linked to drugs, and drug deals that went wrong. Voytek Frykowski and Jay Sebring (victims at Cielo Drive) were both drug dealers who had got themselves into a lot of trouble according to the Hollywood grape vine, and if you read the Police report for Cielo drive, the Police were well aware Frykowski was smuggling and selling MDA. Plus there's an FBI report showing they intercepted a shipment of dangerous drugs from Roma Polanski to Voytek Frykowski, at cielo drive.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Typewriter on, purse missing, and car parked. looks like someone called on the door and told her to come out.

But her glasses were found on the floor in the office.

 

[Rush4087]

The scene certainly could have been staged. How do we know she was ever at the church?

Jmo

 

[Cyndesleuth]

The information shown indicates that Dixie Lee Arensen was last seen at the church. As her husband had last seen her at home, by whom was she seen at the church? As August 25th was a Sunday, you would tend to think at that hour there would probably have been others there at that time. Who? And did they hear anything (sounds of a struggle, etc.) or see anything (another car besides hers, etc.)?

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Her husband now lives in Kenya. He left NY recently with his wife to live out his days with Parkinson's at his sisters.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

There is a bit of a distraction in the records caused by a Dixie Lee Barnes who was born about 1950 and married Gregory Schaefer in 1968 and divorced in 1976. However, she remarried to Gerald O'Brien in about 1985 and ancestry has no divorce record for this marriage. This suggests to me that she cannot be the Dixie Lee Schaefer noted as living in Indiana in previous posts since this one was still using Schaefer in 1993 (based on an Ancestry directory record) and still (today) has a valid nurses license in the name of Dixie Lee Schaefer.

So that leaves the question as to whether the Indiana DL Schaefer is our girl. The Dixie Lee who went missing was born in India to a missionary (I assume the occupation; the birthplace is in Ancestry ship passenger list records). I can find no record of a Dixie Lee Schaefer born in the USA except one in 1982. Similarly, apart from the case noted above I can find no record of a Dixie Lee marrying a Schaefer. However, if the birth was in India Ancestry would not show a birth record.

All this says to me that I cannot explain the Indiana Dixie Lee Schaefer from Ancestry records of birth or marriage, which leaves the possibility that she was born overseas and could be our girl. One last coincidence. The nurses licence for Dixie Lee Schaefer in Indiana was first issued in 1969 - Dixie Lee Schaefer - Licensed Practical Nurse (Indiana) - License Direct.

Worth a closer look? Can anyone think of a next step?

This is not the same person. I have first hand info.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Her original police file is missing unfortunately. There is family DNA but unfortunately the "Ravine Girl" has no DNA. Her remains were cremated back before DNA.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Her original police file is missing unfortunately. There is family DNA but unfortunately the "Ravine Girl" has no DNA. Her remains were cremated back before DNA. They made a new one in the middle 1980's due to new info that turned out to be bogus.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Her original police file is missing unfortunately. There is family DNA but unfortunately the "Ravine Girl" has no DNA. Her remains were cremated back before DNA. They made a new one in the middle 1980's due to new info that turned out to be bogus.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

I'm sorry for all those repeat posts. Don't know how to delete

 

[Rush4087]

Who saw her, in person, at the church?

 

[Tricia]

Dear Websleuths Members and Guests,

Websleuths will go dark if we don't raise the money for the server.

We have raised a little over 400 dollars.

We need another $1,300.00 to have enough to pay for the server.
Below are the ways you can donate.
PayPal Pay Websleuths.com, LLC using PayPal.Me
Venmo name Tricia-Griffith-14
OR
Cash App $tgrif14
Zelle use [email protected]

Be sure and put "server" in the memo.

The advertising has been awful this year. I am so sorry that I have to ask.

Please, only donate if you can afford to do so. DO NOT DONATE ONE PENNY UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU CAN.

I will post when we have reached our goal.

Please do not discuss on this thread. CLICK HERE to post any questions.

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate your help.
Take Care,
Tricia Griffith
Owner/Websleuths.com

 

[Cyndesleuth]

As my post attempts to point out, there is some unreported information here. It's possible she went to the church to complete the bulletin or perhaps correct an error in it. From the description of her clothing, it appears she was planning on attending a service there later that morning.

Yes she was. Supposedly it was reported that she had been in Santa Barbara at a wedding and needed to complete the bulletin Sunday morning.

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Who saw her, in person, at the church?

No one

 

[Cyndesleuth]

Thank you.

I do agree that they usually lured young hippy girls away. But there were also bodies thrown into Laurel Canyon, thought to be victims of the tribe.

Are the Murders of Marina Habe and Reet Jurvetson Connected? Re-examining the "Manson Family&qu

New Year's Day 1969 the body of Marina Habe was found. 11 months later, the body of Jane Doe #59 was found and later identified as Reet

www.missingleads.com

New Year’s Day 1969, the body of Marina Elizabeth Habe, 17, was found in the bottom of a ravine, along Mulholland Drive, in Hollywood, Calif. She had been tossed down a ravine like a piece of garbage and found the following day by the property owner’s dog.



In a 1988, Los Angeles Magazine (LA Mag) article, “The Charlie Conspiracy,” writer Michael Bendrix reported, when police arrived, the dog’s owner told them he wanted his name in the paper. A bizarre request.

I've been thinking of the MO of serial killers and seeing several bodies found thrown down ravines.. not raped and purses found. Could I be on to something??