GA GA - Gloria Baird, 23, Atlanta, Dec 1969

[TSL7584]

52½ years missing

 

[sevins42]

52½ years missing

Yeah.

 

[Bit of hope]

Could the missing date be off. To me it's possible she went missing before Christmas. She was close to her dad and didn't show up at Christmas as she had planned. No phone call, nothing to say she couldn't make it. Was it like her doing things like this? She left her daughter, so maybe she didn't care that much for keeping her family in the loop. Is it on record when her permitted leave started exactly? Maybe it's in here somewhere...sorry if it is.

Just saying she might be a Jane Doe found before December 31, 1969.

 

[sevins42]

Could the missing date be off. To me it's possible she went missing before Christmas. She was close to her dad and didn't show up at Christmas as she had planned. No phone call, nothing to say she couldn't make it. Was it like her doing things like this? She left her daughter, so maybe she didn't care that much for keeping her family in the loop. Is it on record when her permitted leave started exactly? Maybe it's in here somewhere...sorry if it is.

Just saying she might be a Jane Doe found before December 31, 1969.

Yes. Over the years I've come to that conclusion. I thought I had posted that somewhere. I originally posted the date I was told by her parents and sister and then as I learned more, it changed. I'm thinking my grandparents were expecting to see her in December and after she never showed up that month for Christmas, that was the date they came up with. The 'last seen at a party' came from them too, but I think that refers to when Gloria went to her ex-husband's (not my dad) mother's place at some point and the mother yelled at her for showing up at the house. The mother, as I understand it, liked to drink and was possibly having a party at the time. Not sure about the date of the party but it would have had to have been between March and December 1969.

 

[Bit of hope]

Yes. Over the years I've come to that conclusion. I thought I had posted that somewhere. I originally posted the date I was told by her parents and sister and then as I learned more, it changed. I'm thinking my grandparents were expecting to see her in December and after she never showed up that month for Christmas, that was the date they came up with. The 'last seen at a party' came from them too, but I think that refers to when Gloria went to her ex-husband's (not my dad) mother's place at some point and the mother yelled at her for showing up at the house. The mother, as I understand it, liked to drink and was possibly having a party at the time. Not sure about the date of the party but it would have had to have been between March and December 1969.

I wonder what her ex-husband had to say about the narrative.

Not sure about the date of the party but it would have had to have been between March and December 1969.

I read that her army records got lost so it's not known when she was officially on leave. Isn't there some other way to narrow down the time-line, based on birthdays, major events, f.i. that she visited?

 

[Bit of hope]

My understanding is that because this was treated as an AWOL case local PD dropped the ball and never treated it as an endangered missing person's case or worse. Very convenient to let the Army and FBI solve it, but they were only interested in their own procedures. I keep reading about a party and that Gloria left with three man. We still not know when this alleged party was, who gave it, what was the occasion, where it was or who were there. If you remember (J.G. and Gloria's sister) she left with three man after a party, don't you remember who this three men are? I can't imagine these persons were complete strangers, were they? They must have been associated somehow with somebody at the party. Above is a list of people Gloria was acquainted with. Also on this list three brothers A. (post # 5) Could this have been the three men she was leaving with? Maybe the party isn't even relevant, but something people remember as the last time they saw her.

Not sure about the date of the party but it would have had to have been between March and December 1969.

Gloria signed the divorce papers at April, 1, 1969, so she must have gone missing somewhere after that. If the party was before that, it doesn't seem to be relevant in her missing.

 

[Richard]

Gloria Jean Baird, age 23​

Missing since 1969 from Atlanta, GA

LINK:

Gloria Jean Baird – The Charley Project

 

[sevins42]

Gloria's NamUs profile was modified on 4/29/22
The Henry County Jane Doe was ruled out as being Gloria.
Currently she has 11 rule outs listed
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
UP2189 11/10/1973 Henry GA
UP8493 12/06/1993 Fairfax VA
UP6629 02/03/1991 Frederick VA
UP6642 08/07/1986 Chesterfield VA
UP10929 08/19/1971 Josephine OR
UP12683 06/06/2014 Newport News VA
UP942210/26/2011 Spartanburg SC
UP8821 10/11/1991 Hartford CT
UP819103/29/1999 Hamilton TN
UP8427 07/17/1982 Washoe NV
UP5203 01/12/2004 Marion OR

Hi! Thank you so much for listing the rule-outs! I had not noticed this list before and just realized that I had to create an account with NamUs to see the list. I had not looked at NamUs in a while and noticed that I can track the case too. That's probably been an option for a while....

 

[chaddylex]

Hi! Thank you so much for listing the rule-outs! I had not noticed this list before and just realized that I had to create an account with NamUs to see the list. I had not looked at NamUs in a while and noticed that I can track the case too. That's probably been an option for a while....

Hi yes, create an account so you can see all of the comparisons/rule outs. I just looked and they haven't added any more rule outs since I posted in 2022.

 

[sevins42]

Hi yes, create an account so you can see all of the comparisons/rule outs. I just looked and they haven't added any more rule outs since I posted in 2022.

I am 57 today. She has been missing for so long now.

 

[sevins42]

Gloria would have first gone through about 8 to 12 weeks of Army "boot camp" which is the basic military training that all new recruits go through. That is where they learn military history, courtesy, traditions, orders, marching, and such. Upon graduation from boot camp, soldiers are sent on for specific schools or training in the Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) that they will be assigned to. This would have been the Clerical Typing and Procedures Classes that she attended.

As to WHERE her boot camp was and where her Clerical school was, that would be in her record, both in the orders section, and probably in other places. The Army had several large boot camps in 1969, but probably only one for women recruits. I will look into it and see if I can find out where that was.

Soldiers enlist for a specific time frame. Back in 1969, I believe that it was a three year enlistment for Army, while other branches usually had four year enlistments. There was a war in Viet Nam, and the draft (for men) was at its peak about that time. The date of her enlistment would have determined when her EAOS (end of obligated service) was.

When a service member goes AWOL or UA, the time that they are missing does not count as "good time" toward that enlistment. So the letter that you refer to means that she "lost" 956 days of her enlistment time by being absent or missing. Because they decided to give her a discharge and take her off the books in 1983, they had to account for the time between her EAOS date and the date of discharge. Thus the extra "3,903 days" that she didn't serve.

It would seem that she was one day short of 10 weeks of active service when she disappeared.

In 1976, while Gerald Ford was still President, he initiated a pardon procedure for Vietnam War Draft Dodgers and Deserters to return to the United States and turn them selves in. Jimmy Carter, upon entering office, made the program much broader, pardoning all Draft Dodgers and Deserters. Still there was some sort of a time limit and it was probably after that limit expired that the Army/FBI decided to "clear the books" of all outstanding AWOL/Desertion cases. Thus the letter and the subsequent discharge.

The Army and the FBI have put you in the classic position of "Catch 22". They have assumed that Gloria intentionally deserted the army and intentionally refused to return when given the chance (their letter to your grandparents).

Now the burden of proof is on YOU to show that she is dead before they will even talk to you!? How convenient for them. When neither the Army nor the great and powerful FBI can find their own butts with both hands, they insist that Gloria's daughter do their work for them. Who's on First?

What can you do about this? Several things.

First, you could go to court and request that your mother be legally declared dead, based on the circumstances and her long absence. Also, get the court to recognize you as her closest living heir and relative. This would remove any legal barriers thrown up by the Army or the FBI regarding the Privacy Act (which is what they probably cited in their refusal to release her records to you).

Second, petition the Military Court of Appeals on her behalf to remove/reverse
her Dishonorable Discharge. She cannot be tried in abstentia, and a Dishonorable Discharge can only be awarded by a Military Court Martial.

If her discharge was not actually a Dishonorable Discharge, then it might have been one of the administrative types of discharge, like a General Discharge under Honorable Conditions, or an "Undesirable Discharge" (now called a discharge under conditions "Other than Honorable"). If this is the case, there is an administrative procedure to appeal the discharge, but you might still need to go through the Army Judge Advocate General system.

Third, as already mentioned, get your DNA into the missing person data base. As her daughter, your Mitocondrial DNA is identical to hers. Your specific DNA will also be a match with hers. This will provide a way of matching any potential Jane Does to Gloria.

Richard, I want to thank you so very much for your detailed response to this over 20 years ago. Researching her disappearance took a lot of out of me for several years. I am almost 60. She was younger than my eldest niece. If you are still around, I wanted to thank you and everyone else who has shown an interest in her case. It was a roller-coaster ride, and still is to some degree. Realizing how young she was and thinking back to myself at her age, it's hard not to become spiritually minded and to believe that her spirit is out there somewhere reaching out to me in some way.

 

[sevins42]

The thing I don't understand about this case, is the inferrence is made that she went with Goodman, it says they were both AWOL. Why is there no information as to what happened with him, was he reprimanded ? Was he found shortly afterwards or never ? Was he questioned about her disappearance ? It would be interesting also to know where exactly her car was found and if there was any evidence or clues therein.

I believe he was found in December 1969 by authorities and charged with desertion or something similar, along with other things at that time.

 

[sevins42]

Was Gloria ever in the beauty pageant circuit?

Hello - Not that I am aware of.