I thank you,too, and admire you so much for taking this journey in search of justice for Joan. It must be such a heavy burden to know that the family you were part of would be capable of considering Joan expendable.I pray that you will be blessed for taking this on, and, please, stay safe.
I want to introduce you to Joan Webster.
Joan was my sister-in-law. Her loss was devastating.
Joan was a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was in her 2nd year of a three year program with a bright future ahead of her. Joan was loved and valued by her classmates and peers. At 25, she had her whole life ahead of her.
On Saturday, November 28, 1981, Joan boarded Eastern flight 916 from Newark to Logan Airport in Boston. She returned early from a Thanksgiving break at the home of her parents in NJ. Joan arrived at Logan around 10:30 pm and was reportedly last seen at the luggage carousel. She planned to take a cab to her room at Perkins Hall. She never arrived.
A classmate notified the family on December 1, 1981, that Joan had not returned to class. Family members filed two missing person reports, one in Massachusetts, and one in New Jersey. On December 2, 1981, a clam digger found her purse and wallet in a marshy area that spanned on both sides of a split roadway, Route 107 also known as the Lynn Marsh Road.
An extensive search ensued and the media reported the story. According to contemporary news accounts, authorities allegedly recovered her suitcase at the Park Square Greyhound Bus Station in Boston, and held a major media event around the 1st week of February 1982.
Joan also carried a tote bag. The bag and contents, according to media accounts, were never recovered. The mysterious disappearance baffled everyone who knew her.
Joan's parents made themselves available to the media. They taped an appeal for information broadcast throughout New England on Christmas Day 1981. On January 19, 1982, they offered a $10,000 reward. The reward was increased up to $50,000 in October 1982.
On April 18, 1990, a veterinarian walking her dogs in Hamilton, MA discovered a human skull. The location was more than 30 miles north of the airport in a remote and heavily wooded area. Weather conditions in an area sometimes flooded caused the skull to come to the surface. After an extensive search of the area for the next week, searchers discovered the gravesite. Most of the remains were recovered.
The condition of Joan's remains, information I did not learn until 2009, were horrific. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. She sustained a 2" x 4" hole on the right side of the skull. The blow, inflicted with tremendous force, took out the entire right side of her head. Joan was stripped of all clothing. No clothing or personal belongs were found in the area except a gold neck chain and a gold amethyst ring both found on the skeleton. Joan Webster was disposed in a black plastic trash bag and discarded in a basin often covered with water. The gravesite was covered with cut logs in the area. At some point, later in time, a second layer of logs was piled on the site. Joan was positively identified through dental records.
All the while Joan remained a missing person, this case received high visibility and sensational coverage. More than three decades later, the case is still the subject of a lot of speculation and public representations of the case. Personal experiences and factors learned many years later created an urgency to know what happened to Joan. The explanations did not add up and the case remains an open investigation today.
In 2006, I began to dig into the case. I did not have any idea what I would find and did not know what to expect. This has been a painful journey, but the answers are there. For those of you who have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one, you understand the suspended grief, the questions, and the need for answers to heal. For a long time, it was two steps forward and ten steps back. Trying to find information was trial and error until I gained better skills of researching a cold case.
This case is important on many levels. I will be posting here as often as I am able. I welcome all input as long as it is respectful. I have recovered thousands of pages of relevant documents in the case and have a clear understanding of the obstacles to justice. I have actual documents that I will post and explain the significance.
What I will say is the case is solvable. It took peeling back many layers. It is an ongoing process and it is up to those in positions of responsibility whether Joan will receive justice or not. All crimes have an answer. The answers are not always easy to find. The answers are always painful in such a loss. It has taken many sleepless nights and aof tears to get to this point.
Please say a prayer for Joan, all of the victims impacted by this case, and others in pain after traumatic loss senselessly altered lives forever.
I want to introduce you to Joan Webster.
Joan was my sister-in-law. Her loss was devastating.
Joan was a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She was in her 2nd year of a three year program with a bright future ahead of her. Joan was loved and valued by her classmates and peers. At 25, she had her whole life ahead of her.
On Saturday, November 28, 1981, Joan boarded Eastern flight 916 from Newark to Logan Airport in Boston. She returned early from a Thanksgiving break at the home of her parents in NJ. Joan arrived at Logan around 10:30 pm and was reportedly last seen at the luggage carousel. She planned to take a cab to her room at Perkins Hall. She never arrived.
A classmate notified the family on December 1, 1981, that Joan had not returned to class. Family members filed two missing person reports, one in Massachusetts, and one in New Jersey. On December 2, 1981, a clam digger found her purse and wallet in a marshy area that spanned on both sides of a split roadway, Route 107 also known as the Lynn Marsh Road.
An extensive search ensued and the media reported the story. According to contemporary news accounts, authorities allegedly recovered her suitcase at the Park Square Greyhound Bus Station in Boston, and held a major media event around the 1st week of February 1982.
Joan also carried a tote bag. The bag and contents, according to media accounts, were never recovered. The mysterious disappearance baffled everyone who knew her.
Joan's parents made themselves available to the media. They taped an appeal for information broadcast throughout New England on Christmas Day 1981. On January 19, 1982, they offered a $10,000 reward. The reward was increased up to $50,000 in October 1982.
On April 18, 1990, a veterinarian walking her dogs in Hamilton, MA discovered a human skull. The location was more than 30 miles north of the airport in a remote and heavily wooded area. Weather conditions in an area sometimes flooded caused the skull to come to the surface. After an extensive search of the area for the next week, searchers discovered the gravesite. Most of the remains were recovered.
The condition of Joan's remains, information I did not learn until 2009, were horrific. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. She sustained a 2" x 4" hole on the right side of the skull. The blow, inflicted with tremendous force, took out the entire right side of her head. Joan was stripped of all clothing. No clothing or personal belongs were found in the area except a gold neck chain and a gold amethyst ring both found on the skeleton. Joan Webster was disposed in a black plastic trash bag and discarded in a basin often covered with water. The gravesite was covered with cut logs in the area. At some point, later in time, a second layer of logs was piled on the site. Joan was positively identified through dental records.
All the while Joan remained a missing person, this case received high visibility and sensational coverage. More than three decades later, the case is still the subject of a lot of speculation and public representations of the case. Personal experiences and factors learned many years later created an urgency to know what happened to Joan. The explanations did not add up and the case remains an open investigation today.
In 2006, I began to dig into the case. I did not have any idea what I would find and did not know what to expect. This has been a painful journey, but the answers are there. For those of you who have suffered the tragic loss of a loved one, you understand the suspended grief, the questions, and the need for answers to heal. For a long time, it was two steps forward and ten steps back. Trying to find information was trial and error until I gained better skills of researching a cold case.
This case is important on many levels. I will be posting here as often as I am able. I welcome all input as long as it is respectful. I have recovered thousands of pages of relevant documents in the case and have a clear understanding of the obstacles to justice. I have actual documents that I will post and explain the significance.
What I will say is the case is solvable. It took peeling back many layers. It is an ongoing process and it is up to those in positions of responsibility whether Joan will receive justice or not. All crimes have an answer. The answers are not always easy to find. The answers are always painful in such a loss. It has taken many sleepless nights and a
Please say a prayer for Joan, all of the victims impacted by this case, and others in pain after traumatic loss senselessly altered lives forever.
