CA CA - Dorothy Gale Brown, 11, Torrance, 2 July 1962

[Fede]

"Dorothy Gale Brown (referred also as Dorthy Gale Brown) disappeared on Tuesday evening, July 2, 1962, while riding her bike to a car wash near her home in Torrance, Ca to purchase sodas from a vending machine. About 8:30 pm, her father found her bike parked on its kick stand on 21st Street near Border Avenue, one block from her trailer home, and called police.
The next morning, her white dress was discovered stuffed in a beer can on Tin Can Beach by a 12 year old girl who took it home. Her mother laundered it but turned it in to police when the story was made public.
About noon that day, her body was discovered by 2 skin divers floating in 25 feet of water in a kelp bed about 150 yards off shore, near Corona del Mar. She had been in the water for 6-8 hours. Her pink plastic hair band was found by police also stuffed into a beer can on Tin Can Beach.
Police theorized that Gale had known her abductor and that she may have been taken by boat to the location where she was discovered because the currents in that location would have taken her body toward the shore. She had been drowned.
Though police questioned 2 suspects in her murder, no one was ever charged and her case was never solved."

Some articles on the case: Desert Sun 5 July 1962 — California Digital Newspaper Collection
dorothy gale brown - Newspapers.com

Also, serial killer Mack Ray Edwards is considered a suspect on Dorothy´s murder: Mack Ray Edwards | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
Long-dead killer back in sights of police

Kidnapping, Murder, and Mayhem: Who Murdered the California Schoolgirls?

 

[BrownBear]

Dorthy Gale Brown (1951-1962) - Find a Grave...

 

[Richard]

Convicted serial killer Mack Ray Edwards is suspected of the kidnapping, rape, and murder of a large number of children, including 11-year- old Dorothy Gale Brown.

In the immediate aftermath of Dorothy's murder, police identified one of two "possible suspects" as Owen Broderick, although they declined to release much information about him and he was not charged with her murder.

 

[Richard]

Mack Ray Edwards, serial killer

 

[HopeRains]

In the immediate aftermath of Dorothy's murder, police identified one of two "possible suspects" as Owen Broderick, although they declined to release much information about him and he was not charged with her murder.

Information in newspaper archives indicate he flunked polygraph(s), lived 1/2 way between where she went missing and her body was found, was acting strangely the day of her disappearance and following news closely in the several days after.

 

[HopeRains]

One of the hundreds of articles available discussed a young Torrance boy who a week later reported a man who knew his name, address, and the name of his mother tried to pick him up with the ruse of taking him to his mother who had been admitted into a hospital. The young boy said he wanted to go into the market that was geographically where he was (I believe he was walking) - he did, called his Mom, and of course his Mom said stay there I'm coming to get you. This event was reported to have taken place 1 week after Miss Brown disappeared. The boy (13) lived within a mile of Miss Brown's home.

Significance is unknown, but worthy of mentioning.

 

[Richard]

One of the hundreds of articles available discussed a young Torrance boy who a week later reported a man who knew his name, address, and the name of his mother tried to pick him up with the ruse of taking him to his mother who had been admitted into a hospital. The young boy said he wanted to go into the market that was geographically where he was (I believe he was walking) - he did, called his Mom, and of course his Mom said stay there I'm coming to get you. This event was reported to have taken place 1 week after Miss Brown disappeared. The boy (13) lived within a mile of Miss Brown's home.

Significance is unknown, but worthy of mentioning.

Mack Ray Edwards was a serial killer, pervert, and pedophile. Knowing where he traveled and when might provide leads to other cold cases.

It seems that his favorite victims were young teens, both boys and girls. He buried some victims and tried to take investigators to them. But not all could be located.