CA CA - Evelyn McDowell, 21, Woodland, 19 Jan 1984

[Gardener1850]

[h=1]Evelyn Joyce McDowell[/h]

McDowell, circa 1984

• Missing Since 01/19/1984
• Missing From Woodland, California
• Classification Missing
• Date of Birth 09/28/1962 (55)
• Age 21 years old
• Height and Weight 5'5, 115 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A light-colored shirt, blue jeans, dark-colored oxford shoes and possibly a blue jacket.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. McDowell has a blue heart tattooed on one of her shoulders. She may be known by her middle name, Joyce.

[h=3]Details of Disappearance[/h] McDowell was last seen on West Main Street in a commercial/industrial area of Woodland, California on January 19, 1984. She was standing in front of the Yolo County Social Services office at the time of her disappearance. She has never been heard from again.

Winters, California authorities are handling McDowell's case.

http://charleyproject.org/case/evelyn-joyce-mcdowell

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/23787/

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Investigators ask for public’s help in missing person cold case



This year marks the 35th anniversary of the disappearance of Evelyn Joyce McDowell and the Winters Police Department is once again reaching out to the public to see if any new information can be developed which could help identify the whereabouts of McDowell.

On Dec. 12, 1983, McDowell’s sister reported the 22-year-old missing to the Winters Police Department. McDowell was last heard from on Nov. 14, 1983 when she made a phone call to her sister and said she was at a bar in the Napa area and someone was “trying to get her.” Soon after, the phone went dead. Several days later, McDowell’s mother received her daughter’s address book in the mail along with a note saying, “Joyce, you don’t know me but I found this on the beach in Lucerne and thought you might want it. – Dave”

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Joyce - it's now been over 37 years.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I am not sure why some sources list her as going missing in 1983 and others as 1984.
Bumping up for Evelyn/Joyce.

I know it's a decades-old cold case, but what if the friends in the car were reinterviewed now? Maybe someone would remember something helpful.

Her NamUs profile:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Evelyn Joyce McDowell – The Charley Project
From Charley Project:
McDowell was last heard from on November 14, 1983.

She called her sister and said she was at a bar in Napa, California and someone was "trying to get" her. The line went dead. The call was later traced to the Chatter Box Bar in Clear Lake, California.

McDowell never contacted her family again, but her mother got her address book in the mail a few days later. There was a note enclosed, reading, "Joyce, you don’t know me but I found this on the beach in Lucerne and thought you might want it. – Dave".

After receiving the address book, McDowell's family tried to find her. They learned she was been out with friends in Napa when she got out of the car after an argument. She has never been heard from again.

Investigators were later able to track down the man who mailed the address book and he was ruled out as a suspect in McDowell's case. They went to the area where he'd found it, and found a woman's sock, tied at both ends and filled with rocks and sand.

There has been no indication of McDowell's whereabouts since 1983. Her case remains unsolved. Winters, California police are investigating.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/article268880467.html

Thirty-nine years ago, Evelyn Joyce McDowell phoned a friend from a California bar with a chilling message. McDowell, 22, dialed her friend from Chatter Box Bar in Clear Lake near Lucerne to tell them someone was “trying to get her,” according to a Nov. 15 Facebook post from the Winters Police Department.

“Soon after, the phone went dead,” police said. McDowell’s friend reported her missing on Dec. 12, 1983, police said.

Decades later, she’s still missing. With the 39th anniversary of McDowell’s phone call on Nov. 14, 1983, police said they are asking for the public’s help for information about where she may be.

 

[Caring1]

Bump for Evelyn

8 Unidentified Person Exclusions

 

[spartanx]

I have the impression that the guy who supposedly wanted to take her was someone she knew who perhaps became violent or made some sexual advance that she did not approve of... beautiful young woman murdered... and the only suspect has been dead for about 20 years...
whatever the case
rest in peace

 

[dotr]

Nov 16 '24

Still missing, 41 years later: what happened to Evelyn Joyce McDowell?

On Nov. 14, 1983, Evelyn Joyce McDowell called a friend from a bar in the Napa area, claiming there was someone there “trying to get her,” according to official reports from the Winters…

www.dailydemocrat.com

 

[SophieRose]

I am not sure why some sources list her as going missing in 1983 and others as 1984.
Bumping up for Evelyn/Joyce.

I know it's a decades-old cold case, but what if the friends in the car were reinterviewed now? Maybe someone would remember something helpful.

Her NamUs profile:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Evelyn Joyce McDowell – The Charley Project
From Charley Project:
McDowell was last heard from on November 14, 1983.

She called her sister and said she was at a bar in Napa, California and someone was "trying to get" her. The line went dead. The call was later traced to the Chatter Box Bar in Clear Lake, California.

McDowell never contacted her family again, but her mother got her address book in the mail a few days later. There was a note enclosed, reading, "Joyce, you don’t know me but I found this on the beach in Lucerne and thought you might want it. – Dave".

After receiving the address book, McDowell's family tried to find her. They learned she was been out with friends in Napa when she got out of the car after an argument. She has never been heard from again.

Investigators were later able to track down the man who mailed the address book and he was ruled out as a suspect in McDowell's case. They went to the area where he'd found it, and found a woman's sock, tied at both ends and filled with rocks and sand.

There has been no indication of McDowell's whereabouts since 1983. Her case remains unsolved. Winters, California police are investigating.

Lucerne and Clear Lake are not in Napa but in Lake County. Lake is a poor county and has had problems with drugs for a long time.

 

[DD Byrd]

I think we'd need the inflection in her voice during the phone call. I doubt it in this case, but "trying to get me," could be "hitting on me" a la "trying to get me to go home with him." The friend could probably clarify her impression, but barring a recording, it sounds more sinister.

the guy who supposedly wanted to take her was someone she knew

This would lead me to believe she would've said "John Q is trying to get me" rather than "someone." But a good point, since I can't tell from the entries wherever she literally said "someone" or named a specific person and LE has omitted that for investigative purposes.

As for "leaving the car after an argument," this raises red flags on other people in the car, much like anything "after an argument" does for me. But in this scenario it could also be her friends wanted to leave, but possibly Evelyn is (not the first in recorded history) an already tipsy belligerent drinker wants to stay at the bar and gets out. She then does indeed call out of fear of someone trying to get her.

In terms of facts, I'd like to know the timeframe between her getting out of the car, and the call received by the friend. Does it jibe with the drive from where she got out to the location of the friend's phone, or even later but not earlier? And is it a friend who was in the car earlier or a separate friend? I don't know how many friends or passengers we're talking about, but I'd think at least one and possibly bartender or other patrons, are still alive.