CA CA - Mary Stuart, 32, & Fannie, 23 mo., & Jessie, 2, Honeydew, 10 Dec 1977

[AguaFlorida2001]

Possible matches for Mary...

Lake County Jane Doe
Placer County Jane Doe
Palm Desert Jane Doe

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Photos of Mary Danckert from De Anza High School's 1960 & 1962 yearbooks

 

[Pennysmom1]

Mary Elizabeth Stuart – The Charley Project

• 

Mary, circa 1977

• Missing Since 12/10/1977
• Missing From Honeydew, California
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 04/25/1945 (78)
• Age 32 years old
• Height and Weight 5'5, 135 pounds
• 
  
• Associated Vehicle(s) Red Opel station wagon with the license plate number 456-AII (accounted for)
• 
  
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes. Mary may use the last name Danckert.

Details of Disappearance​

Mary and her two daughters, Fannie and Jessie, were last seen in Honeydew, California on December 10, 1977. They left home at 10:00 a.m. in Mary's red Opel station wagon with the license plates number 456-AII.
They were going to go to the grocery store, to a television repair shop in Eureka or Fairfield, California and may have also planned to see an optometrist. Mary had $200 with her for expenses. They were supposed to return by dark, but never did.
Three days later, one of Mary's friends reported her missing. A subsequent check of optometrists and television repair shops turned up no one who had seen the Stuarts visiting those places.
On January 19, 1978, Mary's vehicle was found abandoned on an old logging road a few miles from home. The road was not on Mary's usual driving route, but it would have eventually taken her to her home.
The car's gas line was broken and there were groceries and laundry in the back, as well as the television set. The TV set had been repaired, which was considered strange since no one at local repair shops had claimed to have seen Mary or the girls. There were no indications of foul play or a struggle. There has been no sign of Mary or the children since 1977.
Byron McGray Stuart, who was Mary's husband and Fannie and Jessie's father, has long been considered the prime suspect in their disappearances. He had a bad temper and a violent history, but authorities never had enough evidence to charge him.
After his family disappeared, Byron was behaving strangely, abusing drugs, and said his wife and children had been abducted by aliens. He was an alcoholic and a drug addict who went into recovery after he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1991. He never remarried or had any other children. He died in 1996, age 48.
The investigation into the Stuarts' disappearances was reopened in 2009 and investigators hope to recover Mary, Fannie and Jessie's remains. Their cases remain unsolved.

Investigating Agency​

• Humboldt County District Attorney's Office 707-445-7251

Source Information​

• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• The Eureka Times-Standard
• Unsolved in the News
• The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat
• The Redwood Times
• The North Coast Journal
• The Redheaded Blackbelt

Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated December 12, 2022; details of disappearance updated.

 

[Pennysmom1]

Nov 14, 2022

If Only the Trees Could Talk: The Cold Case of a Missing Honeydew Woman and Her Children

Forty-five years later the trio have yet to be found. Do the rural hills hold more than the details of their disappearance? Do they also hold their bodies?

kymkemp.com

 

[ChatteringBirds]

It sounds like the Byron (the husband/father) was going through a mental break with reality, so if he took their lives, I just wonder how he managed to hide them. But it's very possible. Not reporting them missing is also suspicious, despite the possible mental break. IMO.

I hope she left with the kids. Tried to take some money, clothing, food, and the T.V. for them. Car broke down, so she had to get a ride somehow. Hopefully the ride was a safe person and she started a new life quietly far away, with some help. That's my hope.

This is a tough one, though. The car was only a few miles from home. He could have found them, or she could have decided to go home, and he became enraged. It's such a tragedy, if they didn't make it out to start a new life.

ETA: Reviewing this article

If Only the Trees Could Talk: The Cold Case of a Missing Honeydew Woman and Her Children

Forty-five years later the trio have yet to be found. Do the rural hills hold more than the details of their disappearance? Do they also hold their bodies?

kymkemp.com

It claims the cash was found in the car. I find that odd -- neither she, nor Byron, if he knew where the car was, took the cash? Then I find it a bit less likely she left willingly. She would have needed that remaining money. It also says in a correction at the bottom of the article, he may have reported her missing.