Identified! OH - North Bend, 'Pearl Lady' 606UFOH, 55-75, Nov'06 - Barbara Precht

[Magnum P.E.]

There are some weird things about this case. If they were leaving to escape the mob, maybe someone finally caught up with them. Or just her. Finding the husband could put him in a bad spot, this is a rare occasion where I would say leave that part of it alone. He is not listed as missing anywhere that I know of.
I can't think of any good reason for her to return to the area except to be near family. They say they knew nothing. One wonders.........

 

[FiveFelines]

This is not at all the back story I had imagined for Pearl Lady! Glad she has her name back. Hopefully we'll see all these questions answered someday.

 

[Roselvr]

What gets me the most is they cremated her without knowing how she died.
I read the news article; have no clue how they figured out her name from finger prints when she used a fake name. Makes no sense.

 

[shadowdancer]

They cremated her!!!???

They should NEVER cremate a UID, they never know whether they may need to examine the remains again.

I can understand it when the UID died in the 70s or something, before we had all the tests we have today, but for a UID who only died in 2006! Crazy!

 

[Roselvr]

A mystery mother's identity revealed

But nobody in the whole country reported anyone missing who matched "Pearl Lady's" description. That was in 2006. She was cremated in 2010. Now, fingerprints submitted to the FBI give her a name.

They ended up leading a vagabond life in California until Barbara Hess was arrested for shoplifting food; including chocolate chip cookies, Pringles, pasta and Colby cheese. This was why the FBI database had Barbara's fingerprints. Not long after that, Barbara and her husband dropped the girls off at an orphanage.

 

[Roselvr]

Okay, I met with detectives and here is what I found.....the only reason that they had trouble identifying her via fingerprints is because when she was caught shoplifting, she didn't give her real name....she gave the name Barbara Pratt as opposed to Barbara Precht!

The real mystery is where is the husband and how could they not leave a paper trail for over 20 years? They had to be living under an different name.

Why did she return to Cincinnati?

The relatives that lived here hadn't heard from her since she/they left in the middle of the night...AND here's the kicker......with NOTHING but a few clothes!
They lived in the most exclusive neighborhood in Cincinnati and left EVERYTHING....WHY?

If the husband is alive....he is the key to EVERYTHING! They need to find him!

He shouldn't be too hard to find. ajc748 found what appears to be him.

Also found a Lydia C Franco who married a James Precht, living in Covina CA.

Entry #15 http://www.ussearch.com/search/people/james/~/Precht
Entry #8 http://www.intelius.com/results.php?ReportType=1&searchform=name&qf=Lydia&qn=franco
http://www.intelius.com/results.php...ame&qf=Lydia&qmi=&qn=precht&qcs=&focusfirst=1

So they have run her prints before with no match. What am I missing?

The River Lady May 21, 2013

Schweinefus notified law enforcement agencies in the area as well as NCIC—the National Crime Information Center, a database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Information. Her fingerprints went into IAFIS—the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Information System—but there was no match. Whatever the River Lady had done in life, it hadn’t caused her to be entered into that electronic warehouse of miscreants.

The coroner’s office stored her DNA, a forensic dentist charted her teeth and dental work, and Woolum began her own investigation, sharing information with Schweinefus. There were two local leads that seemed like real possibilities, but both women were found alive. “That makes it good for the families,” says Woolum. But it didn’t help the River Lady. The two investigators puzzled over the scant clues they had, trying to construct a window into the woman’s life. With the black clothes and the comfy shoes, Woolum thought she might be a waitress; Schweinefus speculated she was an office worker who put on Easy Spirits to walk to lunch. But if either of those things were the case, wouldn’t her boss have looked around and said, “Hey, where’s…?” That simply didn’t happen.

 

[Tssiemer]

Did she give the wrong name or did they just spell it wrong?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CarlK90245]

If LE misspelled her surname after the shoplifting arrest, they must have also had her address. Couldn't they have figured out who lived at the address at the time?

If she lied about her name, then did she also lie about her address?

I dunno. It doesn't seem to make sense that LE wouldn't verify these things.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I am surprised this story's so slow. I'd have thought people that knew her (regardless of which name and address she used) would have clarified what she'd been doing for the last 30 years. Really odd!

 

[ann7189]

I didn't know anything about this case until the other night when it was aired on WKRC and it has really caught my interest. I dabble in genealogy research. I decided to see what I could find through my resources. Paper trails say a lot about individuals. What I found was really odd.

James Precht showed up with addresses in California from 1993 to 2000. This information was from postal records and phone number records. In my research I found he and his oldest daughter Lydia Charlotte living together in La Mesa, CA in 1993 and their other addresses are in the same cities and not that far apart. The last showed both living in San Diego area in 2008.

James also showed in Cincinnati from 1991 to 1995, 1995 to 1998 and year 2000 with 2 different PO boxes. Why the post office boxes and who was picking up the contents? I checked the property records on both addresses shown as residence address on the postal info and both are in the Indian Hill area and he was not the owner of 1 home but it is questionable on the other. It's property record shows a year of 1984 and the owner info is blank. The other address has had the same owner since 1983. Could they be friends of the Precht's....maybe.

James and Lydia are both very visible all through the 90's and until late 2000's. What I found extremely curious are no records for Barbara other than a birth certificate, marriage license and the children's birth certificates. Everything that shows for James and the daughter are a blank where Barbara is concerned. It's like she disappeared.

The youngest daughter doesn't show up until the late 90's in northern California. She attended college and worked in that area. She is an author who currently lives and works in England. There is no mention or association with any of her family. It is like she broke ties with the others.

Again more questions where Barbara is concerned. My feeling is she may have baled and returned to the Cincy/Northern KY area. That might account for the PO boxes. She may have lived and worked under an assumed name. She was dressed like many women who work and live in the downtown area. When I worked downtown I would change out of heels into sneakers and socks for walking to and from the bus. If this is the case she wouldn't have needed a vehicle. I would check in eviction notices in 2006 for an apartment or small house that was abandoned. Surely the police have checked the social security and tax records for both the Precht's?

 

[ann7189]

The police must have been in contact with the daughter to get the orphanage information. I wonder if the shoplifting was because James disappeared for a while and orphanage when they both disappeared for 10 yrs. I would think there had to be records for putting the daughters in an orphanage. I question this information too.

 

[ann7189]

Police updated this case at noon. The news reported her husband was found living on University Ave. in Cincinnati. They took him into custody before he got his full name out his attorney said. No word yet on why he didn't report her missing.

 

[ann7189]

WLWT News is going to give more information on their 5PM broadcast. The first report stated, CINCINNATI —The husband of a woman recently identified as the person found dead in the Ohio River almost eight years ago has been arrested. According to an affidavit, Cincinnati police arrested James Precht on Thursday when he gave detectives a false name.

Watch this story

Detectives were attempting to talk to Precht, 79, about the death of his wife, Barbara, court documents state.

Barbara Precht was recently identified by the Hamilton County Coroner's Office as the woman who was found dead in the Ohio River on Nov. 30, 2006 off Three Rivers Parkway near Consolidated Grain.

She became known as the "Pearl Lady" because of a pearl necklace found on her body when it was recovered. But she remained unidentified for nearly eight years.

James Precht was ordered held on $15,000 bond on charges of falsification and obstructing official business.

WLWT News 5's Brian Hamrick will have more on this story later today.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Interesting, wonder if he bumped her off, keep us posted!

 

[mikkismom]

Husband of woman found dead in river 8 years ago named person of interest

http://www.wlwt.com/news/husband-of...8-years-ago-named-person-of-interest/29727934

 

[Still_Seek_Answers]

http://m.fox19.com/fox19/db_330522/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=e4fLU7dj

Husband arrested and charged with Lying about her death.

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - The husband of a woman whose body was found in the Ohio River eight years ago but whose identity eluded authorities until earlier this month is accused of lying to police investigating her death.

"They fingerprinted her and tried to identify her through fingerprints. For a number of years they tried various different methods to try to identify her and were unsuccessful in that," said Hamilton County Sheriff's Detective Brian Williams.

After running the fingerprints through an FBI database Hamilton County Sheriff's Detective Williams says they finally found out who the woman was.

"It surfaced that there was an arrest from Covina, California for a Barbara Hess Precht," said Detective Williams.

Back in the 1980's Barbara Precht, 69, was arrested for shoplifting and her husband James, who was located last night through an anonymous tip, tells detectives the family was going through tough times to the point of having to leave their two daughters at an orphanage.


Fox19 had messaged Never Forget ME earlier today and asked for the photo's we have of her. I wish people would get the facts straight about her shoplifting arrest, this article says she was identified by the fingerprints because she had used her own name during that arrest. So why did her finger prints not match when they first ran them?

James Precht, 79, is held at the Hamilton County jail on charges of falsification and obstructing official business. His bond was set at $15,000.

According to court records, Precht refused to give detectives his name when they tried to talk to him at his Corryville residence Thursday.

Officials say that Precht is talking to investigators, but he's been elusive about what happened to his wife.

 

[Tulessa]

Wow, this sure has taken an interesting turn. :waitasec:

 

[Still_Seek_Answers]

This article also has a photo of james Precht.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/11/14/husband-of-pearl-lady-arrested/19014933/

 

[sayd]

I'm glad they finally identified her.

 

[ann7189]

They said in one of the news reports Mr. Precht stated that he nor his wife have had any contact with their children since leaving them with the orphanage. He isn't telling the truth. Postal records have him and his oldest daughter living in the same residence in 1993-1995 in LaMesa CA. In the Cincinnati.com article it states they moved back and forth between Cincy and San Diego. Well..the oldest daughter has lived and currently lives in the San Diego area. I think I would be having some serious chats with the daughter. Have a feeling she can answer many questions

The police have a hard task ahead of them deciphering what is fact and what is fiction based on any information given by Mr. Precht.