MS MS - Mary Jacqueline Levitz, 62, Furniture Heiress Disappears, Vicksburg, 18 Nov 1995

[Deleted member 199554]

NamUS #MP12791

Name: Mary Jacqueline Levitz
Missing Age: 62
Date of Birth: 2/11/1933
Sex: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde/Strawberry
Eye Color: Hazel
Race: White
Date of Last Contact: November 18, 1995
Location: Vicksburg, Mississippi
County: Warren County

Circumstances of Disappearance

Mary Jacqueline Levitz was last seen on November 18, 1995, when she went to the store to purchase wallpaper. A relative visited her home two days later, on November 20, 1995, to see why she hadn't been answering calls and discovered her front door open. Inside, blood that matched her type was found on the bedroom carpet and mattress, which had been flipped over to conceal the stains. There were signs of a struggle, and torn-off fingernail tips were found. Expensive valuables were left; only her purse and makeup bag were missing.

Mrs. Levitz was declared legally deceased on November 18, 2000. Foul play is suspected, and police believe her body may have been disposed of in the Mississippi River.

Investigating Agencies

Vicksburg Police Department: (601) 636-2511
Agency Case Number: 95-90002167

News Articles:

Socialite's Death Remains Unsolved 20 Years Later

An Armchair Mystery

Authorities Call in FBI, Doubtful Heiress Still Alive

Case of the Missing Heiress: Who Killed Jacqueline Levitz?

Southern Mystery: A Pool of Blood, a Missing Heiress: Probe: After Nearly Two Weeks, Fate of Furniture Millionaire Jacqueline Levitz Still Baffles Police

 

[bearfossils]

What confounded him from the start continues to confound him now: Why did the perpetrators remove her from the house? Kidnappers would have appealed for ransom. But why would murderers remove a body?

“I’ve worked a lot of cases,” he said, “and in every one, if they murdered somebody or robbed, raped and killed them, you’ve got a body there.”

Bumping for Jacqueline. What a horrifying murder. The above quote (taken from the Los Angeles Times article) was from an investigator on the case. I find it strange that the perpetrator took the body as well. From what I can tell, the most popular theories are that she was either targeted by someone she knew from her time spent living in Florida or Southern California, or by one of the many workers helping to renovate the house she recently moved into. Only her purse and make-up bag were taken, and expensive furs and jewelry were left behind in plain sight. The detective on the case stated that he believed Jacqueline’s killer entered the home while she was out shopping for wallpaper swatches, hid in the closet, and waited for her to settle into her room later that night before attacking her. He also speculates that her throat was slit because of the amount of blood soaked into her mattress (which had been flipped), and that her killer(s?) was an amateur.

Jacqueline seemed like such a sweet woman. Her friend in the LA Times article talks about how she regularly donated to charities for children and abused women, and how she brought donuts and drinks for the men working on her home. I think the crime was more one of opportunity — a small, older woman, living alone in opulent, large home — than someone from her past specifically targeting Jacqueline. I doubt a hitman or hired killer would bother removing the body from the home. Perhaps someone working on her home at the time thought she was an easy target? It’s so frustrating that this case still isn’t solved, all these years later. Jacqueline deserves justice.

 

[Deleted member 199554]

I doubt a hitman or hired killer would bother removing the body from the home. Perhaps someone working on her home at the time thought she was an easy target? It’s so frustrating that this case still isn’t solved, all these years later. Jacqueline deserves justice.

At one point, Levitz's family offered a $200K reward -- a life-changing amount of money -- for information on the case but no bites. This combined with what was apparently hand-to-hand combat in the bedroom (i.e., the scattered artificial nails) leads me to believe this attack was probably sexually motivated and that there was only one person involved. As you said @bearfossils, a hitman is unlikely to remove the body and I don't see the point in doing so since there was a five-year waiting period for her to be declared deceased.

Since Levitz's nails were torn off, she likely managed to "dig into" her assailant and probably left scarring. This was a few days before Thanksgiving 1995 so maybe someone remembers a male family member at a gathering who had bandages.

 

[PatLaurel]

I just bumped into Levitz's case by coincidence. The first question that came to mind was, how did LE know there were two purses missing from her home? According to the family she had been living alone... Who was that close to Levitz that could tell what purses were missing? She owned two other houses in different states, CA and FL... The purses could be anywhere. MOO JMO

Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

 

[PatLaurel]

"I think the (murderer) was someone she knew and let in the house."

"Levitz was last seen on Saturday afternoon at a lumber store near her home, Barrett said."

"The couple had one son, Phillip, who lives in Coral Gables and doesn't work in the family business. His father's will placed him next in line after Jacqueline Levitz to inherit the family fortune, which exceeded $15 million in 1985."

Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

 

[PatLaurel]

"Furniture heiress Jacqueline Levitz is missing and feared slain three weeks after moving from Florida to this historic Mississippi River town near her southern roots."

Three weeks after moving from a different state and someone knew exactly what purses Levitz had at home??? MOO JMO
Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

 

[blackbeary]

W

"Furniture heiress Jacqueline Levitz is missing and feared slain three weeks after moving from Florida to this historic Mississippi River town near her southern roots."

Three weeks after moving from a different state and someone knew exactly what purses Levitz had at home??? MOO JMO
Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

View attachment 390248

WoW

 

[PatLaurel]

"Levitz's sister, Tiki Shivers of Tallulah, La., currently managing Levitz's $4 million estate, scoffed at allegations Norcross and Shaw made in a petition filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. "She keeps referring to a murder," Shivers said Friday. "As far as the FBI and the law enforcement agencies in Mississippi are concerned, this is a missing persons case. No one has produced any evidence that she is deceased."

Interesting... So, the "blood-soaked mattress and blood-smeared bathroom" Tiki's husband found, when he entered Levitz's home, were just signs of a minor paper cut??? MOO JMO

Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

 

[Deleted member 199554]

Action News 5 Investigates: The Case of the Missing Heiress (2008)​

James Burnett, the owner a store in Vicksburg that used to sell wallpaper, said he and his wife and daughter last saw [Jacqueline] Levitz at 4:30 in the afternoon the day before she was reported missing.

They had all been looking at wallpaper samples, but Burnett remembers something else - something his employees saw a week before Levitz' disappearance.

She had come into the store with a man in a pickup, "and bought a barbecue grill and paid for it with cash," Burnett said.

Nobody seemed to know the man.

 

[PatLaurel]

Action News 5 Investigates: The Case of the Missing Heiress (2008)​

James Burnett, the owner a store in Vicksburg that used to sell wallpaper, said he and his wife and daughter last saw [Jacqueline] Levitz at 4:30 in the afternoon the day before she was reported missing.

They had all been looking at wallpaper samples, but Burnett remembers something else - something his employees saw a week before Levitz' disappearance.

She had come into the store with a man in a pickup, "and bought a barbecue grill and paid for it with cash," Burnett said.

Nobody seemed to know the man.

Do you think "they still meet once a month" to discuss the case? It's been 27 years since Jacqueline went "missing".

 

[PatLaurel]

"I think the (murderer) was someone she knew and let in the house."

"Levitz was last seen on Saturday afternoon at a lumber store near her home, Barrett said."

"The couple had one son, Phillip, who lives in Coral Gables and doesn't work in the family business. His father's will placed him next in line after Jacqueline Levitz to inherit the family fortune, which exceeded $15 million in 1985."

Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

View attachment 390244


View attachment 390246

Replying to my post to get the facts straight. Philip was not the son of the couple, as stated in the article. Philip was the son of Ralph with his first wife.
Jacqueline also had a son, from her first marriage, Walter Wildee Bolton.

Jacquline Broadway Levitz (1933-1995) - Find a...
Ralph Levitz (1912-1995) - Find a Grave Memorial

Jacqueline Levitz- Walter Wilder Bolton - Newspapers.com

 

[PatLaurel]

Millions of dollars and, sadly, no one wanted to spare 200K to keep the reward going. MOO JMO
Jacqueline Levitz - Newspapers.com

 

[Pennysmom1]

Jan 16, 2023

Nearly 28 years later: What really happened to Jacqueline Levitz?

Listen to this article It’s been nearly three decades since heiress Jacqueline Levitz went missing and the case remains unsolved. Jacqueline Levitz The 62-year-old Oak Grove, Louisiana native had recently […]

vicksburgnews.com

Mary Jacqueline Levitz – The Charley Project

• 
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Mary, circa 1995

• Missing Since 11/18/1995
• Missing From Vicksburg, Mississippi
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 02/11/1933 (90)
• Age 62 years old
• Height and Weight 5'6, 125 pounds
• 
  
• Associated Vehicle(s) Cream-colored Jaguar (accounted for)
• 
  
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Graying blonde hair, hazel eyes. Mary is addressed by her middle name, Jacqueline, and many accounts refer to her by that name. She may go by the nickname Jacquie. Her ears are pierced.

Details of Disappearance​

Jacqueline was last seen on November 18, 1995, by a store clerk at a business in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She bought wallpaper for her new house, then left the store and has never been heard from again. Two days later, on November 20, her disappearance was discovered when a relative went to her home to find out why she hadn't been answering the phone.

Jacqueline's front door was found open. Her bedroom carpet and mattress were soaked in a blood; someone had turned the mattress over to conceal the stains. The blood was Jacqueline's type.

Signs of a fierce struggle, including torn-off fingernails, were scattered on the floor. Some valuable fur coats were left behind in Jacqueline's closet, a pair of diamond earrings was undisturbed on the windowsill, and more jewelry was in a safe.

A glass with some water in it was found on the windowsill near the earrings. Jacqueline's loved ones say it would be uncharacteristic of her to leave the glass sitting out. Only Jacqueline's purse and makeup bag were missing from her home; her cream-colored Jaguar was parked in the driveway.

Jacqueline has been married three times; her last marriage was to Ralph Levitz, co-founder of the Levitz Furniture empire. Ralph died in March 1995 and Jacqueline inherited his estate, its worth is estimated between five and fifteen million dollars.

She had resided in Palm Beach, Florida but moved to Vicksburg five weeks before she disappeared to be nearer to her family. Jacqueline's house in Vicksburg was undergoing extensive remodeling in November 1995, but she was still living in it. There was almost no furniture in the house, only her mattress, some plastic lawn chairs, and a refrigerator.

Jacqueline's loved ones and the police believe she met with foul play. Her lawyer speculates that she was the victim of a botched kidnapping, probably at the hands of someone from outside the Vicksburg area.

Police believe her body may have been disposed of in the Mississippi River, which runs near Jacqueline's home. There is speculation that her case may be related to the disappearance of

Irene Silverman, a wealthy elderly woman who disappeared from Manhattan, New York in 1998. Kenneth Kimes Jr. and his mother, Sante Kimes, were convicted of her murder in May 2000, but her body was never found.

The Kimeses are considered possible suspects in Jacqueline's case as well due to the similarities between her disappearance and Silverman's, but they have never been charged in connection with Jacqueline's assumed abduction. Sante died in prison in 2014; Kenneth is still incarcerated.

Jacqueline was born in Louisiana. She was declared dead in 2000, but her presumed murderer(s) remain uncaught.

Investigating Agency​

• Vicksburg Police Department 601-636-2511
• Federal Bureau of Investigation 601-948-5000
• Warren County Sheriff's Office 601-636-1761

Source Information​

• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Court TV
• The Doe Network
• The Times Herald-Record
• The New York Times
• The Washington Post
• WMC 5

Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated December 13, 2018; picture added.

 

[Pennysmom1]

Signs of a fierce struggle, including torn-off fingernails, were scattered on the floor. Some valuable fur coats were left behind in Jacqueline's closet, a pair of diamond earrings was undisturbed on the windowsill, and more jewelry was in a safe.

Surely the torn-off fingernails were tested for DNA by now?

 

[Pennysmom1]

Sept 24, 2021 updated article- good write up about Jacqueline

SHERIFF, TOO, FINDS LEVITZ VANISHING A STRANGE MYSTERY

In this southern city full of Civil War landmarks, the case of missing furniture millionairess Jacqueline Levitz clashes with the scenery. This Mississippi River town, with antebellum-style buildin…

www.sun-sentinel.com

 

[dotr]

Noting, fwiw from this possibly associated thread.. rbbm

Deceased/Not Found Post in thread 'NY - Irene Silverman, 82, Manhattan, 5 July 1998 *S. & K. Kimes guilty*'

May 1, 2017

I found this with a lot more info on Irene
and looks really pretty too
https://missingirenesilverman.wordpress.com/

Kenneth confessed to killing Silverman in November 2000, a move that surprised his attorneys. He claimed he did not remember the exact location of her burial site. Kenneth said that he wrapped Silverman’s body in black plastic garbage bags and dumped her remains in a ditch at a construction site in New Jersey, 35 to 40 minutes from the Holland Tunnel.

Authorities were conducting searches with Kenneth’s input until his extradiction to California; the...

• madamx

• 

''Sante and Kenneth were also considered possible suspects in the 1995 Mississippi disappearance of*Mary Jacqueline Levitz, the heiress to a multi-million dollar estate. Levitz vanished from her home and is presumed murdered, but her body has never been recovered. While there are similarities between her case and Silverman’s disappearance, no link between the two cases has been established.''
Jan 31 2025

Mother and Son Became a Deadly Duo: How Sante and Kenny Kimes Left a Trail of Lies, Fraud and Murder

The notorious crimes of Sante Kimes and her son Kenny are featured on NBC's 'Dateline: The Devil Wore White.'

people.com

'Dateline’s “The Devil Wore White” airs on Friday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m./8 p.m.'

 

[spartanx]

I think if it wasn't money they wanted from this woman, I suppose it was something personal or sexual... Perhaps someone followed her after meeting her or seeing her in public, or it was someone connected with the ongoing renovation, like a hired worker...
And I don't think she has any connection to Irene Silverman... just that both were wealthy elderly women...
Whatever the case,
Rest in peace.