CA CA - Robin Graham, 18, Los Angeles, 14 Nov 1970

[Mysteries1974]

MISSING PERSON
Robin Ann Graham

MISSING SINCE:
11/14/1970
SEX:
Female
DOB:
06/22/1952
RACE:
White
HEIGHT:
5' 6"
EYES:
Brown
WEIGHT:
125 lbs.
HAIR:
Brown
CLOTHING:
Red blouse, blue jeans, red clog shoes, dark blue corduroy jacket.
DENTAL X-RAYS AVAILABLE:
Yes
Robin was last seen on November 14, 1970 in Los Angeles, CA.
Contact
AGENCY:
Los Angeles Police Department
PHONE NUMBER:
(213) 996-1800
CASE NUMBER:
DR70687411

 

[UncoolNegated]

This a real old case that still holds some interest. If it is true that she had called a family member and was waiting for them to arrive, then she should not have gotten in a car with anyone else; even someone she knew. It is possible that she had given up waiting and accepted a ride out of desperation. It is also possible that the “known facts” on the case are incorrect.

I agree with your last sentence. I read that the parents hurried to get her. But then I've thought that if they did that then why would she leave the car? To me, she would only do that is she was tired of waiting for them to arrive -- and maybe they were not as quick as they said and only said that in the aftermath of her disappearing. It's also possible that they thought they were quick but it was late and they were sleeping and dozed for what they thought was 2 minutes when it was actually 20 or something like that. There are contradictions between the NamUs profile and the original news reporting at the time of the disappearance, this I remember well when I researched this case.

 

[Beekarina]

That's a good point Uncool.

It also occurred to me that they all seem like nice people, concerned maybe initially about reputations as well. It's a different era. There could be some fibbing to protect parents or Robin in reports.

That's kind of where I was going on asking what sort of partying. She could have had reasons for wanting the police to go away. We're all thinking "Yikes! Broken down on the highway at 2am" but could she have been thinking "Oh, crap! The cops!"

I'm thinking back to myself and my friends at that age, a few decades later. We were not "Bad Girls" by any stretch , but we did some really dumb things. And it wasn't Cali in the 60s.

If you think like a 19 year-old, especially one who might have been impaired, or recently doing things she might have felt guilty of excited or both about, there are lots of reasons she might decide to leave after calling her parents. Coffee to sober up before she saw her parents? I'll take the ____ and we can hide it at my place, it's groovy, and right over there?

Maybe she placed TWO calls from that highway phone box? I would assume they checked records, but who knows?

 

[dogperson]

My understanding is that she left her friends at around 1:45 am. She used a highway patrol box to ask LE to call her parents and have them pick her up. Her parents were also out for the evening and didn't return home until 2:30 am, at which time her sister relayed the message to them. So a fair amount of time was going by while she waited for her parents. I don't know whether she knew they had planned to be out for the evening, but if she was used to them not returning til the wee hours of the morning she might have gotten tired of waiting.

While it doesn't seem likely she'd get in a car with a stranger, it could have been a guy she'd seen around school. A fellow student might have seemed safe even if she didn't personally know him. It could have even been a guy who was in the same bar earlier where she was with her friends. And as someone else pointed out, maybe she didn't want to have much contact with the police because she might have been feeling a little bit tipsy and was afraid the officer might realize she'd been operating her vehicle after having had a drink or drinks. I believe the drinking age then was 18, wasn't it? So it wasn't illegal to drink but if he'd smelled any alcohol on her he might have given her a hard time, and in the 70s it was kind of typical for young people not to want involvement with LE at any time really, so it makes sense she would turn down his offer of help. Taking a ride with someone she may have seen somewhere before could have seemed like a better option to her. Leaving the scene would have prevented the officer from continuing to make contact with her.

 

[kemo]

Interesting. If she didn’t know her parents were out, she would have expected them pretty quickly. After an hour or so perhaps she gave up.

LA was and is a really big city. The odds of someone you knew seeing you broken down on the freeway is very low. If she accepted a ride, it was probably a stranger.

The drinking age in California was definitely 21 at the time.

 

[Beekarina]

Thank you for clarifying the boxes directly called LE. I remember them being on some roads in the NE when I first started driving, but I never used one, or paid much attention.

 

[SAMS]

Just coming across this case and wondering if we know what the weather was like that night? Understanding it is LA but November can be chilly anywhere in the US. Could have been something as simple as her being asked if she’d like to wait in his vehicle for her parents and then taken. These predators were common on the freeways back in the hitchhiking days/the days of Bundy...he always seems to be the go to from this era but I’m sure there were many more that we may never know of...

 

[CCJD]

Thank you for clarifying the boxes directly called LE. I remember them being on some roads in the NE when I first started driving, but I never used one, or paid much attention.

I did actually have to use one on Route 95 in either Warwick or Cranston, RI. As I recall (it was 40 years ago), when you opened the box, there were 3 or 4 buttons for specific services; police, fire, ambulance, tow truck, something like that. Anyway, you'd push the button you want and an operator would come on and you'd tell him/her your problem and the number of the call box you were on so they could locate you.

 

[Markybug]

Hard to imagine getting in a strangers car at that time , but with police passing regularly, young clean looking guy maybe , cool car etc ? And as mentioned maybe initially just for warmth.

 

[Markybug]

Having had a read at numerous sites mentioning Robin , some state the policeman observed the poi getting robins car started ? and then she willingly got in his and left ??

 

[dotr]

This may have been previously posted, just came across it so thought i would post, fwiw. rbbm.
Could Robin be found down the same ravine as the other women? speculation, imo.
valley news: connection between RJ, MH, robin graham (disappeared), rose tashman - Newspapers.com



Could Canadian's brutal 1969 stabbing death be connected to another L.A. cold case? | CBC News
"The spot where Habe was dumped was also less than a kilometre from where the nude body of 19-year-old Rose Tashman was found on May 19, 1969.

She had been raped before being strangled with a piece of wire and dumped in a ravine near Mulholland Drive, according to media reports quoting the detectives at the time.

The San Fernando Valley State College student's car was found with a flat tire on the inbound lane of the Hollywood Freeway, near the Highland Ave. offramp.

Connection suspected
Eighteen months later, on Nov. 15, 1970, 18-year-old Robin Graham disappeared after being seen by the California Highway Patrol with her vehicle on the shoulder of the southbound Hollywood Freeway near the Santa Monica offramp. She has not been heard from since.

Her abandoned car, which had run out of gas, was found just a few kilometres south of where Tashman's body was found.

According to media reports, police at the time suspected there might be a connection among the cases."

 

[Beekarina]

Whoa......I think Marina Elizabeth Habe resembles this woman found in the Alcala photos.....

Dark Haired Woman/beige shirt

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112311598/marina-elizabeth-habe

 

[Beekarina]

Also, I just realized Robin worked at Pier 1 Imports. So it's possible that the guy she was seen talking with was a customer from the store. He might not have been a complete stranger, even if no one in her family or group of friends knew of anyone with a car fitting the description.

 

[Markybug]

Also, I just realized Robin worked at Pier 1 Imports. So it's possible that the guy she was seen talking with was a customer from the store. He might not have been a complete stranger, even if no one in her family or group of friends knew of anyone with a car fitting the description.

Thats a good call , could have interacted with her there.

 

[Markybug]

This may have been previously posted, just came across it so thought i would post, fwiw. rbbm.
Could Robin be found down the same ravine as the other women? speculation, imo.
valley news: connection between RJ, MH, robin graham (disappeared), rose tashman - Newspapers.com



Could Canadian's brutal 1969 stabbing death be connected to another L.A. cold case? | CBC News
"The spot where Habe was dumped was also less than a kilometre from where the nude body of 19-year-old Rose Tashman was found on May 19, 1969.

She had been raped before being strangled with a piece of wire and dumped in a ravine near Mulholland Drive, according to media reports quoting the detectives at the time.

The San Fernando Valley State College student's car was found with a flat tire on the inbound lane of the Hollywood Freeway, near the Highland Ave. offramp.

Connection suspected
Eighteen months later, on Nov. 15, 1970, 18-year-old Robin Graham disappeared after being seen by the California Highway Patrol with her vehicle on the shoulder of the southbound Hollywood Freeway near the Santa Monica offramp. She has not been heard from since.

Her abandoned car, which had run out of gas, was found just a few kilometres south of where Tashman's body was found.

According to media reports, police at the time suspected there might be a connection among the cases."

Ah , so she was NOT observed getting into the poi corvette! So assuming he was at the front of the car checking it.

That makes better sense , couldn’t understand robin would go willingly with a stranger, when her parents were going to come (also assuming she would be aware of other missing women around that time and general area?)

So to recap :

After work and a night out , she is dropped of at her car (ex black and white police car)

After 15 minutes runs out of petrol on the freeway ramp.

Phones home via phone box and returns to car.

Police speak to her several times and pass her twice? Later observing the corvette and poi standing beside her car. But not her leaving or in the corvette

Parents arrive at car , locked and robin gone. No note or signs of abduction/ struggle.

Police were unable to provide prints ( surely would have had if poi had looked at car or leant on ) as her dad either washed it or garden sprinkler sprayed it. Cant find info on this.

 

[Lavender Moon]

Bumping

 

[SAMS]

Ah , so she was NOT observed getting into the poi corvette! So assuming he was at the front of the car checking it.

That makes better sense , couldn’t understand robin would go willingly with a stranger, when her parents were going to come (also assuming she would be aware of other missing women around that time and general area?)

So to recap :

After work and a night out , she is dropped of at her car (ex black and white police car)

After 15 minutes runs out of petrol on the freeway ramp.

Phones home via phone box and returns to car.

Police speak to her several times and pass her twice? Later observing the corvette and poi standing beside her car. But not her leaving or in the corvette

Parents arrive at car , locked and robin gone. No note or signs of abduction/ struggle.

Police were unable to provide prints ( surely would have had if poi had looked at car or leant on ) as her dad either washed it or garden sprinkler sprayed it. Cant find info on this.

Ahh, her car was found locked. Makes me lean toward her leaving with the POI voluntarily vs a struggle/abduction. What perp is going to take the time (or even care) to lock up her car? Unless he was attempting to throw off LE.... JMO

 

[Lavender Moon]

This may have been previously posted, just came across it so thought i would post, fwiw. rbbm.
Could Robin be found down the same ravine as the other women? speculation, imo.
valley news: connection between RJ, MH, robin graham (disappeared), rose tashman - Newspapers.com



Could Canadian's brutal 1969 stabbing death be connected to another L.A. cold case? | CBC News
"The spot where Habe was dumped was also less than a kilometre from where the nude body of 19-year-old Rose Tashman was found on May 19, 1969.

She had been raped before being strangled with a piece of wire and dumped in a ravine near Mulholland Drive, according to media reports quoting the detectives at the time.

The San Fernando Valley State College student's car was found with a flat tire on the inbound lane of the Hollywood Freeway, near the Highland Ave. offramp.

Connection suspected
Eighteen months later, on Nov. 15, 1970, 18-year-old Robin Graham disappeared after being seen by the California Highway Patrol with her vehicle on the shoulder of the southbound Hollywood Freeway near the Santa Monica offramp. She has not been heard from since.

Her abandoned car, which had run out of gas, was found just a few kilometres south of where Tashman's body was found.

According to media reports, police at the time suspected there might be a connection among the cases."

Thanks for posting this, dotr. I don't see how these cases could not be related. It's just sickening; attacking and destroying innocent women who gave so much to give to the world.

 

[Lavender Moon]

To be honest, I would have to refresh my memories on these details. I'll shutup now.

UncoolNegated, I hope you never "shutup". Your insight is an asset to Robin's thread.

 

[UncoolNegated]

UncoolNegated, I hope you never "shutup". Your insight is an asset to Robin's thread.

But I think I got sloppy for a moment and said things that might have been wrong.