CA CA - Paula Pope, 18, Fresh Pond, 3 Sept. 1972

[burblestein]

Random observation from clips: Paula was tiny...4 feet 11 and 85 pounds.

Has anyone tried to trace the names given in the clip in post #39?

 

[sunnynz]

Has anyone tried to trace the names given in the clip in post #39?

I've only just started researching and will do more soon. But I'm finding a TL with an AKA last name Mills from Squaw Valley which is close to Fresh Pond and Sacramento so could be the right guy.

 

[Mountain Mama]

That’s new news for me. I’ve been going off this summary, which to me sounds like bs: “She and her husband and their friends were camping at the Cripple Creek Campground near Fresh Pond, in El Dorado County. It was Labor Day weekend in 1972. She had an argument with her husband. She wanted to go to a rock concert in Carson City. Steve couldn't go because he was on parole and he couldn't leave the state. Paula stormed out of the camper. Her friend April went after her, but came back in to get her coat. It was raining. When she went out again, she couldn't find Paula. No one has seen her since.”

So your article implies that after she stormed off into the rain, she hitched to the concert and then got a ride back that same night? Confused.

I hear you, sunnynz. I was pretty confused at first too since there are only bits and pieces of the story in various articles.

My interpretation (with a bit of guessing) goes something like:

Paula was camping with friends but was also jonesing really hard for the music that was happening in Carson City. She was young, and the concert was calling her name. She and her husband couldn't both go. After fighting about it she ended up taking off in the rain since she wanted to go anyway. She would just hitch some rides there.

The campground where she & her friends were staying was off in the boondocks, but once Paula got a ride to the main road, (Interstate Hwy 50) it would have only took her another 1 1/2 hours to reach Carson City by car (not counting standing around and waiting for a car).

Apparently she got to the concert, and afterwards was traveling/hitching back west into CA with the folks from Sacramento that are mentioned in the article in post #39. The travelers allegedly attempted to convince Paula to come back to Sacramento with them, but she decided to head to the campsite, I guess to finish out the holiday weekend. The two travelers apparently saw her talking to motorcycle types, but the facts are very few. *This is where the trail goes cold, imo.

It seems like a very odd decision to try to hitch by oneself to a very remote forest service camp site versus traveling with the other two back home. That is IMO only. We have to remember that just about everyone hitched in those days. It was only starting to be warned about.

 

[sunnynz]

Interesting that someone has had her declared legally dead at some point I guess? So no thoughts from her family that she left of her own accord.

And I am guessing this is the right marriage record, in which case she had only been married a very short time when she disappeared. Not saying that's relevant, just one more piece of info to note. Presume the 'alias' listed on Namus of Judith Paula Ann Pile is her birth name.

 

[sunnynz]

Interesting that someone has had her declared legally dead at some point I guess? So no thoughts from her family that she left of her own accord.

And I am guessing this is the right marriage record, in which case she had only been married a very short time when she disappeared. Not saying that's relevant, just one more piece of info to note. Presume the 'alias' listed on Namus of Judith Paula Ann Pile is her birth name.

By the way I clearly still haven't figured out how to insert an attachment image into the corresponding text on this new website....

 

[Mountain Mama]

I keep looking at the photos of Paula and wondering she got on the back of a motorcycle of someone she didn't know and disappeared up into the national forest. To me she conveys the image of a fearless young women growing up in the laid back 1970s.

 

[Starlite11]

I often wonder about my friend Paula, and how she just vanished. I have always been suspicious of her disappearance, too. I hope something turns up about her one of these days.

 

[theshadow45]

I often wonder about my friend Paula, and how she just vanished. I have always been suspicious of her disappearance, too. I hope something turns up about her one of these days.

Welcome to Websleuths, Starlite11! We're sorry for your loss but glad to have you here.

 

[Starlite11]

Welcome to Websleuths, Starlite11! We're sorry for your loss but glad to have you here.

Thank you! I am glad I found Websleuths.

 

[theshadow45]

I often wonder about my friend Paula, and how she just vanished. I have always been suspicious of her disappearance, too. I hope something turns up about her one of these days.

What do you think happened to Paula?

 

[Starlite11]

I don't know, I wish I did. I don't think she just took off, and I do think there was some sort of foul play. Whether Steve had anything to do with it, I've always wondered, and the whole thing just seems suspicious to me. That she has never been located is very bothersome.
Steve got a divorce in 1981, I saw, so I guess she was declared deceased sometime after that. I was a bridesmaid in their wedding just a few months prior to her disappearance.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Bumping for Paula. Where are you, Miss Lady???

 

[theshadow45]

Paula has been missing for 46 years today.

 

[theshadow45]

Bumping for Paula, today is her birthday.

 

[Starlite11]

A rather bizarre thing happened to me recently...I get emails from Our Time dating site with my supposed matches, and one I got the other day had Steve Pope's (her husband) picture right there...it was freaky...I thought maybe I was imagining it, but nope, it was him. Kinda crazy.

 

[Fede]

Almost sure this is a coincidence but I found this Paula Ann Pope, who in 2003 was 50 years old (almost the same age than the Paula we are looking for).
Check the link: Four More Charged In Death Of Man Found In SUV; Seventh Suspect Sought :: WRAL.com

 

[Lavender Moon]

A rather bizarre thing happened to me recently...I get emails from Our Time dating site with my supposed matches, and one I got the other day had Steve Pope's (her husband) picture right there...it was freaky...I thought maybe I was imagining it, but nope, it was him. Kinda crazy.

A rather bizarre thing happened to me recently...I get emails from Our Time dating site with my supposed matches, and one I got the other day had Steve Pope's (her husband) picture right there...it was freaky...I thought maybe I was imagining it, but nope, it was him. Kinda crazy.

 

[Lavender Moon]

That is wierd.

 

[Starlite11]

Not her

Almost sure this is a coincidence but I found this Paula Ann Pope, who in 2003 was 50 years old (almost the same age than the Paula we are looking for).
Check the link: Four More Charged In Death Of Man Found In SUV; Seventh Suspect Sought :: WRAL.com

 

[Mountain Mama]

Bumping for Paula.