CA CA - Vanessa Smith, 15, Winton, 31 May 1997

[MagnoliaMountain]

Missing Since: May 31, 1997 from Winton, California
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: December 26, 1981
Age: 15
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 130 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Race: White
Gender: Female

Distinguishing Characteristics: Smith has a birthmark
on her right arm which extends from her shoulder to her elbow.

Clothing: Light blue dress with silver buttons, white
sandals and a black head cover.

Case Number: 9715625; NCMC833448
NCIC Number:M-033264093

Details of Disappearance:
Smith was last seen leaving her family's residence on Winton Way in Winton, California at approximately 7:00 p.m. on May 31, 1997. She was planning to take her usual walk through the neighborhood at the time. She was carrying her walking stick. Smith has never been heard from again.

Smith's walking stick was discovered along the side of Mercedes Avenue in Winton shortly after she failed to return home that evening. The location was along Smith's normal route and was approximately 200 yards east of her residence on Winton Way. There was no sign of her at the scene.
Smith left her purse at her residence, which contained her savings, and also left a cherished watch at her home.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Merced County Sheriff's Department
(209) 385-7444
(209) 385-7551


http://www.nampn.org/cases/smith_vanessa.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/smith_vanessa.html

http://missingincalifornia.com/vanessasmith1997.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/VanessaDSmith/

 

[MagnoliaMountain]

From May 2012:
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/05/31/2365846/moms-search-for-daughter-a-labor.html

Despite the passage of 15 years, Smith said she hasn't given up hope that even a gesture as small as a poster on the back of a truck might one day lead to her daughter being brought home. "I believe she's alive with all my heart," she said.

 

[MagnoliaMountain]

Bumping for this beautiful girl.

 

[leilarose68]

Bumping for this beautiful girl.

This case is so sad. There will probably only be a break in the case if there's a total surge in publicity or something. So sad that there is NOTHING to go off of.
I don't know anything about Winton, California, do you? Is it a sleepy town? I wonder if everyone knew everyone. Were there any other disappearances vaguely in the same area at that time? documented predators?

 

[MagnoliaMountain]

I know nothing about Winton and its inhabitants, honestly. I think this case could only be solved if the predator starts talking or if someone that knows something steps forward. This could also be another Jaycee Lee Dugard scenario though. It's clear it was an abduction and she didn't run away, nothing indicates that.

 

[leilarose68]

I know nothing about Winton and its inhabitants, honestly. I think this case could only be solved if the predator starts talking or if someone that knows something steps forward. This could also be another Jaycee Lee Dugard scenario though. It's clear it was an abduction and she didn't run away, nothing indicates that.

Ooo wow. According to wiki: Winton was mentioned by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the early 1970s while reading information from a magazine. It was noted that, at the time, Winton had the highest crime rate for a city its size in the nation.
Currently a crime rate of 47 per 1000 residents. currently mostly hispanic and low income it seems

 

[MagnoliaMountain]

Bumping for Vanessa.

 

[riolove77]

***Bumping for Vanessa*** Reviewing her case at work today and wishing someone would come forward after all these years, especially during the holidays.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

LE asking for tips in the case of Vanessa Dawn Smith.

http://www.mcntvnews.com/law-enforcement-asking-for-tips-on-girl-missing-since-1997-vanessa-dawn-smith/

On May 31, 1997, Vanessa Dawn Smith went for a walk near the family’s Winton home and disappeared, never to be seen again.

Based on evidence, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office believes, the then 15-year-old girl was abducted.

The California governor’s office is also offering a $50,000.00 reward for information leading to Vanessa’s whereabouts or the arrest of her abductor.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Girl missing for 19 years, mother still hopeful

http://kmph-kfre.com/news/local/girl-missing-for-19-years-mother-still-hopeful

In 1997, a Merced County girl went for a walk and never came home. Her family has been searching for her ever since and they are determined to not give up hope that she's still alive.

Since that day her mother has not given up hope that her daughter is still out there. She has even kept her room the way it was when she went missing.

She said, "We do want her home and we feel like she's out there. Everybody feels like she's out there."

 

[dotr]

http://www.mcntvnews.com/2015/11/20...n-girl-missing-since-1997-vanessa-dawn-smith/
Nov. 20 2015

Date Of Birth: December 26, 1981
Age at Time of Disappearance: 15 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5’6″ (168 cm); 130 lbs (59 kg).
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Sandy blonde hair; blue eyes. Light complexion with freckles. Vanessa has Dewayne’s syndrome in her right eye (when the eye drifts toward the inside).
Marks, Scars: Large birthmark, or discoloration, from her shoulder to her elbow on her right arm; scar on her left ear.
Clothing: Light blue denim dress, with an elastic waist and silver buttons. White Hurachi sandals, black organdy head cover. (She is a Mennonite)

Vanessa Dawn Smith age progressed

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Almost 20 years later, missing Winton girl would be 35

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article122942889.html

As Beverly Smith was driving through Delhi earlier this month, the image of her daughter, who has been missing for almost 20 years, appeared on a digital billboard along Highway 99.

“I saw her there and I just screamed in the car,” Smith, 62, said. “I was so shocked.”

Smith had been working to have Vanessa’s image displayed on the billboard but hadn’t expected it to happen so soon, she said. She’s glad that it came ahead of Vanessa’s 35th birthday, which is Monday, Smith said.

Merced County sheriff’s Detective Clinten Landrum said he’s been on the case for more than a year now.

“I think it was somebody she knew,” Landrum said. “There are few abductions where it’s a complete stranger. Typically it would be a familiar face.”

Landrum has reviewed and repackaged every piece of evidence, he said, and described the case as being in “good shape,” but was unable to give many details because they are sensitive to the development of the case.

“There’s some things we’ve done that I can’t disclose, that put the case in a better spot than it’s been in a long, long time,” Landrum said.

 

[Tragic]

Came across this case and sad to see lack of leads. Anyone familiar with this area in CA?

 

[Tragic]

Came across this morning and this girl resembles Abigail Williams so much by her appearance. The Abigail Williams & Liberty German case thread and Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook case thread have been recently (in good reason) so popular as of late but can we take a moment to maybe find anything to help this case and her mother reach justice?

I was the kid that was forgotten. Days went by without food or shelter by the age of six. I excelled in school whenever I had a home to do homework but I made the decision to not stand out after winning academic awards bc there was always two seats empty and the parents whispering, "That's the girl with no parents." I found this forum and want to help find answers for those kids that were like me. Thank you.

 

[dotr]

Vanessa, a strawberry blonde with a freckled face, was 15 years old when she went missing on May 31, 1997. She had been on a walk, which she commonly did. A walking stick was found about 200 yards from her Winton home.

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article122942889.html#storylink=cpy​

Merced County sheriff’s Detective Clinten Landrum said he’s been on the case for more than a year now.
“This case is different than any other case: People call in about the case to ask questions,” he said.

“I think it was somebody she knew,” Landrum said. “There are few abductions where it’s a complete stranger. Typically it would be a familiar face.”

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article122942889.html#storylink=cpy​

Before she disappeared she was learning how to sew and cook, and enjoyed going to school and shopping around Walmart. Smith said Vanessa liked eating food from Taco Bell, Little Caesars Pizza and was a “people person who liked helping others.”

​

“There’s people out there that have been torn between picking up a phone and calling us or not doing it at all,” Landrum said. “And, so far, the not doing it at all has won out. It’s time and it’s overdue.”

rbbm.

​

 

[dotr]

Came across this morning and this girl resembles Abigail Williams so much by her appearance. The Abigail Williams & Liberty German case thread and Elizabeth Collins & Lyric Cook case thread have been recently (in good reason) so popular as of late but can we take a moment to maybe find anything to help this case and her mother reach justice?

I was the kid that was forgotten. Days went by without food or shelter by the age of six. I excelled in school whenever I had a home to do homework but I made the decision to not stand out after winning academic awards bc there was always two seats empty and the parents whispering, "That's the girl with no parents." I found this forum and want to help find answers for those kids that were like me. Thank you.

Sorry that you experienced such difficult times as a youngster, luckily, the combination of compassion and brains may help make wonderful things can happen!

 

[MagnoliaMountain]

Bumping.

 

[SomeLady]

This case is so sad. There will probably only be a break in the case if there's a total surge in publicity or something. So sad that there is NOTHING to go off of.
I don't know anything about Winton, California, do you? Is it a sleepy town? I wonder if everyone knew everyone. Were there any other disappearances vaguely in the same area at that time? documented predators?

Winton is a nasty town that needs to cease to exist. That's where I'm from, unfortunately, and it's humiliating to admit. Everyone knows everyone, and many people are somehow related. Cousins have kids with the same men so that their kids are siblings, uncles of mine don't know how many kids they have, and sometimes you'll come by a kid who is the spitting image of an uncle of yours, having babies for the welfare money is seen as a respectable living (way to be poster children for anti-social assistance people...I'm 100% in favor of social programs, but damn if people in Winton don't make that hard sometimes). When you spend much time there, you learn when to get the hell out of the park because you don't want to get caught in the middle of rival gangs. Just another normal thing in Winton.

My husband thought I was exaggerating until we headed there one day to bail my mother out of trouble. Before we got into town, I told him I was driving because, if anything happened, I knew the backroads out of there. At the first intersection in town, there were two open drug-deals happening on a couple of the corners, and someone high on likely meth was running in traffic and jumping on the hoods of oncoming cars. This were about to get ugly with one driver, so I turned right and bolted the hell out of there. My husband was stunned silent for quite a while

Anyway, there weren't other disappearances at that time. This happened right down the road from my dad's parents' house (both sets of my grandparents lived in Winton at that time, hence the specification). When this happened, my grandparents stopped letting us grandkids go outside after dark by ourselves for a little while. But, all in all, crime was so normal, and is so normal, that it's not like anyone thought much about it.

 

[SomeLady]

In about 2010-ish, my mother married someone named Steve, I think on a trip to Vegas (so a marriage license might be able to be found there), and I can't remember his last name. I never met him, and never cared to. Winton scum. I also no longer have contact with my mother. She's scum as well. She told me that Steve told her he killed Vanessa, and that her body is in an oil drum somewhere in the area. My mother was so nonchalant about it. She does know very bad people there, and didn't think twice about getting mixed up with them. For much of my life, she wasn't into that scene, but after my dad died (gunshot to the head), she dived down that hole. So I don't doubt at all that he told her that. I wish I could remember his last name. I just remember his name is Steve, he had blonde hair in pics that I saw, and he had a cane of some sort. Winton isn't a huge town.

 

[BethAnn777]

In about 2010-ish, my mother married someone named Steve, I think on a trip to Vegas (so a marriage license might be able to be found there), and I can't remember his last name. I never met him, and never cared to. Winton scum. I also no longer have contact with my mother. She's scum as well. She told me that Steve told her he killed Vanessa, and that her body is in an oil drum somewhere in the area. My mother was so nonchalant about it. She does know very bad people there, and didn't think twice about getting mixed up with them. For much of my life, she wasn't into that scene, but after my dad died (gunshot to the head), she dived down that hole. So I don't doubt at all that he told her that. I wish I could remember his last name. I just remember his name is Steve, he had blonde hair in pics that I saw, and he had a cane of some sort. Winton isn't a huge town.

Have you reported this tip? If not, please do! This is how cases get solved. If you can’t make the tip please PM me any info you have and I will do it.