CA CA - Gail D. Skelton, 26, Galt/Stockton, 26 September 1980

[Gardener1850]

They are the same ones who wrote me back and asked if I knew anything about it, after I asked them if she was still considered a missing person. I want to know who was using Gail's info and renting a house between 1995-2004 in Stockton if she is still "missing"?

When you say someone was renting a house do you mean where she is listed in public address records or do you have evidence of someone using her social security number to rent the house?

I have studied a number of missing persons cases and also am an avid genealogist. There are sometimes explanations for a missing or deceased person's name inadvertently being attached to an address in public records of the past few decades (since the time that everything has become computerized). Sometimes is it because a former roommate/fiance or family member lived there. A missing person's name can be transferred to an address they never lived at in public records if their mail (or the mail of someone who is closely associated with them at a previous address) is forwarded to a new address. This can also happen if she had any bank accounts left open and her family maintained them by keeping her address current or if she had a joint bank account with someone else that could not be closed without her signature. Check the address records for the names of people who lived there previously to see if any of them have a close connection to Gail (like one of her siblings, parents, former husbands or even her fiance and his family).

ETA: This does not give complete names but I believe this is the address she is associated with in Stockon: https://www.spokeo.com/CA/Stockton/1114-Carlton-Ave

We are not allowed to name other people here not listed in MSM about the case, but for your own personal investigation J Rubio, maybe you can take a look and see if any of the surnames are familiar (there are 3 pages of names at that one address).

 

[Gardener1850]

Shadowdancer- No, Norma passed away several years back in 2013. On another note, when Gail's sister died in 2004 her obit said she was survived by her siblings which included Gail. Interesting huh?

I have seen this before in obituaries for other cases. I think sometimes to admit that the missing person may be deceased in the obituary of another family member is like doubling the grief for the family. Every family and situation is different. Given what was in the news article above, perhaps her family kept hoping that she had gone into hiding for some unknown reason? JMO.

 

[Gardener1850]

<Snipped for focus>


Gail’s passion was the Delta. She and Malone, who lived together on a houseboat, “were on that water all the time,” Mrs. Skelton recalls.

Malone and Gail, ardent foes of the Peripheral Canal, were involved in the development of a project known as “Irish Isles,” in the Stockton Deep Water Channel, described by Mrs. Skelton as a tourist attraction of sorts.

Malone’s pride in his Irish heritage became a part of the couple’s wedding plans--- they were to be married on St. Patrick’s Day of this year. “Their future was really going to be fantastic,” says Mrs. Skelton.

Bolded by me-- do we know what happened to the houseboat Gail lived on with her fiance? Did she own it/have her name on the registration? One thing about living on a house boat is that you need somewhere to receive mail. Perhaps the house in Stockton is where a friend lived that let her use their address to pick up mail? (The dates would just be a carry-over from a previous time and not indicative she was still picking up mail there in the 90's and 2000's) Or another possible explanation is that if Gail's name was on the boat-- the address may be associated with a new owner of the boat. IDK, just throwing out some possible theories.

 

[sunnynz]

When you say someone was renting a house do you mean where she is listed in public address records or do you have evidence of someone using her social security number to rent the house?

I'm also interested to know more about the house someone in her name may have rented please.

Thanks for all the additional info on this case, it's really intriguing! I'm trying to get my head around what the possible dynamics were in regards to the death of Gail's fiance and how that may or may not have related to her and her other prior or current relationships.

The fact that her car is missing too suggests to me that she either left of her own accord or that she is deceased somewhere with her car (likely in water).

 

[Alleykins]

Welcome, J Rubio, thank you for joining us here.

Do we know what color hair and eyes Gail had?

I think with a long term missing person with a missing car it is most likely they ended up in a body of water.

I'll reach out to the Charley Project and see if Gail can't be added there, too.

 

[carbuff]

What about this UID, found in 1986 outside of Reno, where she was living homeless: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...tFem-362UFNV-25-30-found-nude-in-cave-Sept-86 (Click to enlarge if necessary)



I know her mother doesn't think she would have just left, but people leave all the time...

 

[rats]

Emailed Dustin Driscoll to see about getting her added to NamUs.

 

[Alleykins]

What about this UID, found in 1986 outside of Reno, where she was living homeless: https://www.websleuths.com/forums/s...tFem-362UFNV-25-30-found-nude-in-cave-Sept-86 (Click to enlarge if necessary)

I know her mother doesn't think she would have just left, but people leave all the time...

Especially if she were grieving. Grief does strange things to people, impulsiveness one of them. Add alcohol to the mix, and it exacerbates things. That's just my observation, anyway.

 

[carbuff]

Especially if she were grieving. Grief does strange things to people, impulsiveness one of them. Add alcohol to the mix, and it exacerbates things. That's just my observation, anyway.

Yeah, there are other cases in here that seem to follow a similar pattern. Grief or heavy stress, a night of partying, and an impulsive decision to leave, leading to a bad result

In this particular case, I think her mother is most likely right that she went into the water somewhere. But other explanations seem possible.

 

[churchmouse]

Interesting that her car hasn't been found, either. Any possibility I wonder if she had an accident.

Has anyone worked to contact like Charley Project to get her listed? Has there been research done of the Jane Does within a particular radius that might match?

Interesting case, indeed! Thanks so much for getting this thread going!

 

[J Rubio]

That is the address I found too. No, none of the names are related that I know of. I have notified the cold case division in San Joaquin County (Sheriff's Dept) about this as well as asking them to look into her case again, and I am waiting for a call back.

 

[J Rubio]

I'm also interested to know more about the house someone in her name may have rented please.

Thanks for all the additional info on this case, it's really intriguing! I'm trying to get my head around what the possible dynamics were in regards to the death of Gail's fiance and how that may or may not have related to her and her other prior or current relationships.

The fact that her car is missing too suggests to me that she either left of her own accord or that she is deceased somewhere with her car (likely in water).

I will be posting a blog with all the details surrounding his death and her disappearance soon. There really is too much to cover in one forum post, but I found his death suspicious to say the least. I have several theories about what happened but I will get into that in my blog.

 

[J Rubio]

Interesting that her car hasn't been found, either. Any possibility I wonder if she had an accident.

Has anyone worked to contact like Charley Project to get her listed? Has there been research done of the Jane Does within a particular radius that might match?

Interesting case, indeed! Thanks so much for getting this thread going!

I cannot say that it is impossible. Lots of people crash their cars into the Delta and are never heard from again. With the same token many times their cars are found with their bodies inside, too. So it is very possible she ran her car off the road and sunk to the bottom. She was seen arguing with a guy the night she disappeared too. I have a composite sketch of the man.

 

[J Rubio]

I went through my news clippings and realized that only two of them (which are two parts of one larger one) are about Gail. The rest are about her fiance' "P"- I have accumulated a lot and didn't realize I had less on Gail than I originally thought. I went into the research initially looking into her fiance's death and then stumbled upon the information in the paper that she disappeared a few months later. I am sorry I do not have a description of her weight, height, eye or hair color but hopefully the San Joaquin Sherrif's dept will get back to me and maybe they can pull her missing person's case.

 

[J Rubio]

When you say someone was renting a house do you mean where she is listed in public address records or do you have evidence of someone using her social security number to rent the house?

I have studied a number of missing persons cases and also am an avid genealogist. There are sometimes explanations for a missing or deceased person's name inadvertently being attached to an address in public records of the past few decades (since the time that everything has become computerized). Sometimes is it because a former roommate/fiance or family member lived there. A missing person's name can be transferred to an address they never lived at in public records if their mail (or the mail of someone who is closely associated with them at a previous address) is forwarded to a new address. This can also happen if she had any bank accounts left open and her family maintained them by keeping her address current or if she had a joint bank account with someone else that could not be closed without her signature. Check the address records for the names of people who lived there previously to see if any of them have a close connection to Gail (like one of her siblings, parents, former husbands or even her fiance and his family).

ETA: This does not give complete names but I believe this is the address she is associated with in Stockon: https://www.spokeo.com/CA/Stockton/1114-Carlton-Ave

We are not allowed to name other people here not listed in MSM about the case, but for your own personal investigation J Rubio, maybe you can take a look and see if any of the surnames are familiar (there are 3 pages of names at that one address).

I am also a genealogist and have been for over 10 years. I use my genealogy in every story I research. Most of the stories I have worked on are much older than this. I usually stick to very old cases, and stay away from the newer ones, but I really want to find out what happened to Gail. Whomever was listed at that address was using her date of birth. It is possible that someone was using her identity since it appears she was never "declared dead" legally, but I find it highly unlikely that after 15 years of being missing that she was getting mail there because of a relative or a forwarded address. All of those points you mentioned about bank accounts or even trusts are possible though, but I still find it odd that 15-24 years later her name was still being listed. This is something I brought up to the Sheriff's dept.

 

[rats]

Interesting that her car hasn't been found, either. Any possibility I wonder if she had an accident.

Has anyone worked to contact like Charley Project to get her listed? Has there been research done of the Jane Does within a particular radius that might match?

Interesting case, indeed! Thanks so much for getting this thread going!

Welcome, churchmouse!

Meaghan from the Charley Project would probably be interested in this case, but I think we need to get confirmation from police first that she is still missing, because Meaghan pretty much only adds cases when she knows they are fully reported missing (and while we have proof via the newspaper article I'm sure she'd like the backup).

 

[rats]

I went through my news clippings and realized that only two of them (which are two parts of one larger one) are about Gail. The rest are about her fiance' "P"- I have accumulated a lot and didn't realize I had less on Gail than I originally thought. I went into the research initially looking into her fiance's death and then stumbled upon the information in the paper that she disappeared a few months later. I am sorry I do not have a description of her weight, height, eye or hair color but hopefully the San Joaquin Sherrif's dept will get back to me and maybe they can pull her missing person's case.

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm waiting on the blog post with baited breath - I would LOVE to hear more about P and how he and Gail fit in together, and everything else. This case intrigues me a lot.

 

[J Rubio]

Bolded by me-- do we know what happened to the houseboat Gail lived on with her fiance? Did she own it/have her name on the registration? One thing about living on a house boat is that you need somewhere to receive mail. Perhaps the house in Stockton is where a friend lived that let her use their address to pick up mail? (The dates would just be a carry-over from a previous time and not indicative she was still picking up mail there in the 90's and 2000's) Or another possible explanation is that if Gail's name was on the boat-- the address may be associated with a new owner of the boat. IDK, just throwing out some possible theories.

The boat was found near Hog Slough in the Delta. I am assuming his family took the boat since they were in the process of opening a marina resort there in the Stockton Channel at the time. It was something "P" and his parents were doing as a joint business together. It never opened though. Reasons unknown.

 

[Gardener1850]

I am also a genealogist and have been for over 10 years. I use my genealogy in every story I research. Most of the stories I have worked on are much older than this. I usually stick to very old cases, and stay away from the newer ones, but I really want to find out what happened to Gail. Whomever was listed at that address was using her date of birth. It is possible that someone was using her identity since it appears she was never "declared dead" legally, but I find it highly unlikely that after 15 years of being missing that she was getting mail there because of a relative or a forwarded address. All of those points you mentioned about bank accounts or even trusts are possible though, but I still find it odd that 15-24 years later her name was still being listed. This is something I brought up to the Sheriff's dept.

It should definitely be looked into and I'm glad you told the Sheriff about it. It is odd she is listed at that address if there is no possible explantion. I just wanted you to know there are sometimes errors in the compiled "public records" where things can be messed up. I'm so glad Gail has someone like you looking into her disappearance, J Rubio. Your blog sounds like it will be interesting to read.

 

[Roselvr]

I am also a genealogist and have been for over 10 years. I use my genealogy in every story I research. Most of the stories I have worked on are much older than this. I usually stick to very old cases, and stay away from the newer ones, but I really want to find out what happened to Gail. Whomever was listed at that address was using her date of birth. It is possible that someone was using her identity since it appears she was never "declared dead" legally, but I find it highly unlikely that after 15 years of being missing that she was getting mail there because of a relative or a forwarded address. All of those points you mentioned about bank accounts or even trusts are possible though, but I still find it odd that 15-24 years later her name was still being listed. This is something I brought up to the Sheriff's dept.

Welcome to WS

Keep us posted. Right now NamUs is read only so she can't be entered anyway. Hopefully you'll have an answer by the time the upgrade comes online.

Where are you going to be blogging? There are blogs attached to our profiles. I really may not have time to read it, hopefully someone can bring the important stuff to the thread.

NOTICE TO USERS:

NamUs will be READ ONLY from Wednesday, May 16, 2018 through Sunday, May 20, 2018 in order to transition to the new NamUs 2.0 database application. NamUs 2.0 includes significant upgrades, including streamlined user registration, enhanced searching and case mapping, updated case matching algorithms, enhanced user experience, and increased system performance while maintaining the highest level of security by moving the system to the Office of Justice Program’s SecureCloud.

On Monday, May 21, 2018, users can access the new NamUs 2.0 system from www.NamUs.gov using their existing login credentials, or new users may register for the first time.

If you require any assistance during this transition period, please contact your Regional System Administrator/Program Specialist or call NamUs toll-free at 1-855-626-7600.