Found Deceased CA - Judy Gifford, 11, San Francisco, 1 Jan 1974

[Richard]

Judy's identification illustrates that it is possible to resolve old cases - even when separated by extreme distances and time. Hopefully the family will find some peace in knowing.

The case has now become a more focussed homicide investigation "cold case". Perhaps even this part of the mystery can also be solved.

 

[Kudzuu]

Late to the party, but came over after seeing an article on CNN.

W1ll if you are still reading here, my sincerest condolences to you and your family and thank you for putting in the time and effort to officially report Judy missing which led to her getting her name back. Also thank you for taking the time to share Judy's story. Speaking only for myself, I am always comforted to know that a john/jane doe was loved and missed.

To fellow websleuthers, I hope everyone on here can be respectful of this family and not apply the common sense of today to the 1970s - there are many reasons why people were not reported missing back then and in many instances we find out someone did talk to police, but were brushed off or a report was lost, etc.

I am glad to hear that W1ll's interactions with SFPD were positive and that the right people are looking for justice for Judy.

I remember two young women from my hometown gone missing, assumed they had runaway. They had. One was half Japanese the sister of my best friend, her mother was devastated. Mary returned 3 years later in the middle of the night. I was there sleeping over with my friend in the apt. above the garage. A car pulled up and woke us up (summer in the country) Mary got out and we yelled to know who it was.

The second was a classmate of my older brother. Loretta I think was her name, up and disappeared and like Mary the community knew she was gone but not why, not where. One afternoon tending our family store at an intersection near or house in the boonies my brother and I watched as a Greyhound pulled up. Loretta got off the bus. My brother said "Is that Loretta?". And she walked the store and called her family to come and get her.


back then if you ran off and you were 18 it just was.....we all were taught to defend with a gun. Mary was a black belt judo. Mostly family was happy they came home. The late sixties and seventies was a very different time. No stranger danger. Strangers stopped in our store hitch hiking broke, we made them a sandwich and gave them a coke.

 

[cvaldez1975]

Thank you, everybody, for your kind and warm posts. I have released a trilogy in memory of Judy Gifford. The videos are, from what I think to be, Judy telling us her story.

• The first video is her telling us how she wanted to reconnect with her biological father, Mike Shin, but the reality of seeing a dysfunctional family would squash that dream.
• The second video is of her settling into the Gifford house. It was perfect for her to be part of a stable family, and perfect for the Gifford family as they had always wanted a daughter.
• The final video is of what I can imagine may have been going on in her heart in her final days. Based on what I remember at age 6 of Judy sobbing on the phone and pleading to return back to the Gifford house, I wanted to visualize what may have been her final thoughts: remembering her happy years at the Gifford house.

Warmly, and in memory of Judy Gifford,

Will

absolutely beautiful, ugly crying over here. You didnt get long enough, angel.

 

[Seratonin]

 

[Betty P]

Thank you, everybody, for your kind and warm posts. I have released a trilogy in memory of Judy Gifford. The videos are, from what I think to be, Judy telling us her story.

• The first video is her telling us how she wanted to reconnect with her biological father, Mike Shin, but the reality of seeing a dysfunctional family would squash that dream.
• The second video is of her settling into the Gifford house. It was perfect for her to be part of a stable family, and perfect for the Gifford family as they had always wanted a daughter.
• The final video is of what I can imagine may have been going on in her heart in her final days. Based on what I remember at age 6 of Judy sobbing on the phone and pleading to return back to the Gifford house, I wanted to visualize what may have been her final thoughts: remembering her happy years at the Gifford house.

Warmly, and in memory of Judy Gifford,

Will

Such a lovely and loving tribute, @Wi11. Very beautiful and so kind of you. Judy was such a lovely young woman who deserves justice. I hope LE is able to figure out who her killer was. Unfortunately, the 1970's were such dangerous years for innocent, unsuspecting young women. So many evil people back then.

Condolences to you and your family. Give our best to your dad and especially Aunt Ogee, who was such a devoted, loving "parent" to Judy. Her dedication is amazing.

 

[Betty P]

I was just looking at info about Parkmerced, near San Francisco. Its an area full of apartment buildings, many people living there. It's possible someone was stalking teen girls living there, perhaps another resident.

Here's the Wiki for Parkmerced and a Google Maps link:

Parkmerced, San Francisco - Wikipedia

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

Judy, feeling homesick and frustrated, probably took walks around the very large neighborhood. She probably felt safe. Maybe she even liked to take walks down to Lake Merced, it was only a few blocks away.

The perp probably saw her, maybe on previous occasions and decided to attack her. I wonder if other women in the Parkmerced neighborhood were attacked around that time?

Note Parkmerced is right next to the San Francisco State University Campus, definitely a lure for creeps in the 70's (attended college myself in the early/mid 70's, can confirm).

 

[Diane Redfern]

First of all, I want to offer my condolences to Shin and Gifford families. I can't imagine the pain you are going through.

It would be great to have more details about the previous days of the vanishing. May her friends at high school (from N.ew Jersey and San Francisco) provide new information? Judy was a teenager and friends are everything during that phase; maybe she confided something to a friend, if she planned to run away, how or where...

 

[Richard]

Bumping this case up. It is now over 50 years old and although Judy has been identified, her murder remains unsolved.

 

[Wi11s]

My Aunt Ogee finally was able to dig up 4 old photos of Judy's mother. Unfortunately, nobody in the family remembers her name. Aunt Ogee is now 92yo, and her memory is fading. And my dad passed away in Feb 2020.

We are hoping Judy's biological mother (if she is still living) and that side of the family will be informed about Judy's tragic passing.

My dad and Judy's biological mom.

Infant Judy with her biological mom.

Judy's 100th birthday celebration with my dad and her biological mom.

From Left to Right: Judy's biological mom, Judy, Aunt Ogee, and Aunt Ogee's oldest son John.

 

[Wi11s]

A Korean social media Youtuber name Cecile Lim released a story about Judy for the Korean-speaking community. Hopefully this will also help to reach out to Judy's biological mother's side of the family.

 

[Wi11s]

Another YouTuber also covered the story a couple of years earlier: