CA CA - Johanna Brighton, 38, Los Angeles, 25 Feb 1981

[Bit of hope]

In the movie she seems to say goodbye, at the Andalusia apartments (could of course also have been used for the film) situated at 1471–1475 Havenhurst Dr., Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Andalusia (Los Angeles, California) - Wikipedia

It seems to me a prestige and expensive place to stay. Is there a local who knows more about it, how it was in those days?

 

[Bit of hope]

Sorry, double post...deleted by me.

 

[Bit of hope]

And also something is off with the content of the Charley file. If Johanna was born in 1943, she would have been 38 when missing in 1981, not 30 yrs. Although she doesn't look like around 38 in the video footage, to me. Others having an opinion on this?
Maybe I should send Meaghan an Email, about the stats.

 

[Laughing]

In the movie she seems to say goodbye, at the Andalusia apartments (could of course also have been used for the film) situated at 1471–1475 Havenhurst Dr., Hollywood, Los Angeles.

Andalusia (Los Angeles, California) - Wikipedia

It seems to me a prestige and expensive place to stay. Is there a local who knows more about it, how it was in those days?

@charminglane , I know that LA is a sprawling place. Can you tell us more about this area in the early '80's, or bring in someone who can?

Thanks, Laughing

 

[Bit of hope]

And there was this brooch she's wearing in the film in different shots...

 

[Bit of hope]

And also something is off with the content of the Charley file. If Johanna was born in 1943, she would have been 38 when missing in 1981, not 30 yrs. Although she doesn't look like around 38 in the video footage, to me. Others having an opinion on this?
Maybe I should send Meaghan an Email, about the stats.

I reached out to Meaghan.

 

[alb1on]

A small piece of new information. In 1968 she was a party in a legal case in Arkansas (Docket Report Results - Not an Official Document). I cannot find any details of, or even the nature of, this case. If we have anyone local to Arkansas or familiar with court records it would be interesting to know more about this case. It is certainly irrelevant to her disappearance but may fill some background on her life and lifestyle.
Update; there are further court records in Arkansas which indicate it is a domestic relations case of some sort.

 

[Bit of hope]

Someone reacted on son's post/video about the first "love in Eastern party" griffith park, 1967, Les Blank, I was searching for your parents.....it was our era....

 

[Bit of hope]

A small piece of new information. In 1968 she was a party in a legal case in Arkansas (Docket Report Results - Not an Official Document). I cannot find any details of, or even the nature of, this case. If we have anyone local to Arkansas or familiar with court records it would be interesting to know more about this case. It is certainly irrelevant to her disappearance but may fill some background on her life and lifestyle.
Update; there are further court records in Arkansas which indicate it is a domestic relations case of some sort.

Very interesting....who is the father of her son....?

 

[alb1on]

Very interesting....who is the father of her son....?

I do not think the Arkansas cases have a link to her son. I am fairly sure he was born in 1971 in San Francisco. If I am right I know his name but it would be wrong of me to post it without his permission.

 

[Bit of hope]

I do not think the Arkansas cases have a link to her son. I am fairly sure he was born in 1971 in San Francisco. If I am right I know his name but it would be wrong of me to post it without his permission.

I agree. Privacy should be respected. It's not that I want to sleuth her son...asking the question about the son's dad was mainly because I wondered if he was still part of her live when she went missing and maybe he could add more information about her live. Same for the son, btw.

Sometimes it's like walking on eggshells to look into a case, dig up all kinds of information and be considered and have empathy for loved ones at the same time.

 

[alb1on]

I agree. Privacy should be respected. It's not that I want to sleuth her son...asking the question about the son's dad was mainly because I wondered if he was still part of her live when she went missing and maybe he could add more information about her live. Same for the son, btw.

Sometimes it's like walking on eggshells to look into a case, dig up all kinds of information and be considered and have empathy for loved ones at the same time.

The son has been quite active posting online and I only think it best to let him disclose as much as he wants. He has used his full name in one post but I suspect this was an oversight (although it can be found from birth records). He has not mentioned his father and I have the impression he does not see him as relevant to the case. It would be good to have more information from the last 5 years before she disappeared. All the current information (apart from the film) seems to date back at least 10 years before the event.

 

[Bit of hope]

The son has been quite active posting online and I only think it best to let him disclose as much as he wants. He has used his full name in one post but I suspect this was an oversight (although it can be found from birth records). He has not mentioned his father and I have the impression he does not see him as relevant to the case. It would be good to have more information from the last 5 years before she disappeared. All the current information (apart from the film) seems to date back at least 10 years before the event.

I think I found the son. He says in the subscript of the video they were driving from Wellington, Kansas to LA in the summer of 1978 . What was there in Kansas, did they live there, was she working there or just visited family, friends? What is the link between Kansas and Johanna?

 

[alb1on]

I think I know what she was doing in Wellington. On Ancestry there is a family tree for Oliver G Crawford (1913-1963) and Meta Louise Crawford (1917-2007, nee Botkin). The tree says they had a daughter, Linda Crawford, born in 1943 and died 1981. The Crawfords previously lived in Little Rock, Arkansas. All this seems too much to be a coincidence, even though I am always sceptical about relying on an online family tree. It should be noted that Meta's obituary does not mention Linda and I cannot find a birth record (but Arkansas birth records are scarce on Ancestry).

Update: having checked the source for the tree I found, the information came from another tree owned by Linda/Johanna's son - so I think we can say the information is solid. Interestingly, his tree has Linda born in Ohio. The Crawfords did move around (they were in Texas in 1940), so this is entirely plausible.

The sons tree names his father as Bernard Saldana (1945-1992) and lists him as her spouse, but with no marriage record. It seems probable that Bernardo was involved in the Laurel Canyon music scene when he met Johanna, judging by a reference to him (I assume it is him) at Laurel Canyon. He seems to have been quite a player in that scene (try googling Bernardo and GTOs - they were a girl band). Given the drug culture in Laurel Canyon in the late 60s/early 70s I wonder if Johanna had any drug problems from that time?

Sorry it took so long to find this information. Because she is in Ancestry as just Linda Crawford, this name (and the poor Arkansas records and possibly misleading birthplace) made the tree difficult to find.

 

[Bit of hope]

@alb1on Thanks for the family tree info...must have been difficult to find. I searched also in Familysearch with a lot of variations of the name, but didn't come up with anything.

Yesterday I was reading everything I could find about the father, hoping to find more info about Johanna and her whereabouts. He was BTO Bernardo, a kind of glamm rocker and befriended/had a relationship with both Miss Mercy (Mercy Fontenot, aka Judith Edra Peters) and Miss Lucy from the GTO's. He is mentioned in a couple of books written about the scene in those days. From another source I came to the believe that Bernardo left the country not long after the son was born ('71) I even found pictures of the father with Miss Mercy, but I'm not sure I can post them here.

I'm With the Band: confessions of a groupie
https://books.google.nl/books?id=hZJRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT118&dq=BTO+Bernardo&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrtqntrMLoAhWKM-wKHSf1CJQQ6AEIMjAB#v=onepage&q=BTO Bernardo&f=false

GTO's: Girls Together Outrageously biography | Last.fm

I guess she was declared dead when she stayed missing. Did you find anything about that? In Familysearch there are only 3 sons listed, Johanna is not mentioned as a child/daughter. No birth record. Not in her mother's obituary as preceded in death....why does it feel she was swept under the rug and if so why?

 

[alb1on]

I think the absence of a birth record is just due to the incomplete nature of such records online. I am not sure about Bernardo leaving as I recall seeing his son comment that he grew up 'on the streets of Hollywood'. This is unlikely to have been in the care of his mother's family who were elsewhere so I guess it was either with his father or his father's family (although there are other possibilities). How close Johanna was to her family is difficult to judge. On the one hand she was obviously visiting in Kansas. But her mother had remarried several times after Johanna's father and at least some of her siblings are half-siblings. But, whatever the detail one thing stands out;

Why is there so little out there (apart from her son) about the disappearance of a very striking lady who still has a large family alive and who had a very interesting background (to say the least)?

You almost wonder if some people know what happened and have chosen to keep it quiet. This does not necessarily mean foul play. It could be something like an overdose. If nothing is known you have to wonder how both her family and friends (who come from very different circles) can both have kept so quiet. I cannot think of such an interesting missing person who has attracted so little attention.

 

[Bit of hope]

From another source I came to the believe that Bernardo left the country not long after the son was born ('71) I even found pictures of the father with Miss Mercy, but I'm not sure I can post them here.

I'm afraid I made a terrible mistake...ignore the above.

 

[kemo]

If The Bernardo was her child’s father, it makes for an interesting footnote to the mystery of her disappearance but it probably offers no insight. The Laurel Canyon Rock scene was all pretty interesting and perhaps Johanna was part of that. It all happened in the late 1960’s however; long before she vanished.

The answer to this mystery probably lies with what she was up to, who her associates were, how did she support herself and what scene was she part of (if any) in 1981. There must have been some sort of an investigation by LAPD but she may not have had any friends or relatives actively advocating for her and evidently the media did not take an interest in her disappearance. I think there might be a good story here and possibly even a resolution to her case but all records may be gone.

 

[alb1on]

If The Bernardo was her child’s father, it makes for an interesting footnote to the mystery of her disappearance but it probably offers no insight. The Laurel Canyon Rock scene was all pretty interesting and perhaps Johanna was part of that. It all happened in the late 1960’s however; long before she vanished.

The answer to this mystery probably lies with what she was up to, who her associates were, how did she support herself and what scene was she part of (if any) in 1981. There must have been some sort of an investigation by LAPD but she may not have had any friends or relatives actively advocating for her and evidently the media did not take an interest in her disappearance. I think there might be a good story here and possibly even a resolution to her case but all records may be gone.

I agree with all you say, except for the dating of the Laurel Canyon scene. It continued well into the mid-70s, albeit with varying personnel and practices. Perhaps the only relevant point is that she almost certainly was there given the dob of her son (1971) and the identity of his father. Given some of the activity in that scene I would like to know if she had some of the problems common to that group.

I have seen pictures of both the son and Bernardo from Laurel Canyon and there is no doubt he is the father. I have rarely seen a father and son so alike. My questions about whether she had any issues hanging over from that time are also increased by a reference (in an old article by Miss Mercy of the GTOs) to Bernardo having been hospitalised with hepatitis. That may have a bearing on her friends and activities in later life.

 

[Bit of hope]

I agree with all you say, except for the dating of the Laurel Canyon scene. It continued well into the mid-70s, albeit with varying personnel and practices. Perhaps the only relevant point is that she almost certainly was there given the dob of her son (1971) and the identity of his father. Given some of the activity in that scene I would like to know if she had some of the problems common to that group.

I have seen pictures of both the son and Bernardo from Laurel Canyon and there is no doubt he is the father. I have rarely seen a father and son so alike. My questions about whether she had any issues hanging over from that time are also increased by a reference (in an old article by Miss Mercy of the GTOs) to Bernardo having been hospitalised with hepatitis. That may have a bearing on her friends and activities in later life.

We can't get the pictures over and can't quote because it's a personal site. On the sons Facebook site there are pictures of him with Johanna and Bernardo. Most of them are send by friends/associates who knew Bernardo in the late 60's. There is no doubt that he was the father. There are very few pictures of Johanna. Although she is mentioned, the comments about her are scars IMO. I would think, people who knew her would have send pictures of her as a model, by now.

I agree with both of you. We should look into the events closer to her missing. The timeline we have seems to pause somewhere between '71 and the summer of '78. What kind of events happened in between and after '78? Did she study, (there is mentioning of the University of Arizona) or work, who took care of the son?