TX TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, Nov'80 #3 *NAME NOT RELEASED*

[Victoria Chambers]

I think the similarities are striking. Their noses look almost identical. Even in the quartet frame, Mary Jo is wearing a yellow jumper of her own! Plus, it seems there are no more missing girl reports who fit the time frame except for Mary Jo whose timeline is a bit up in the air. She was not actually reported missing for 7+ years, her Mum then passed away within that year. And her boyfriend certainly seems old enough to possibly have been in prison! X

 

[graycats83]

I'm glad you mention this since I wasn't too sure how it worked in the US. In the UK, the school year begins September, So say I am leaving school in the July to be Class of 2020,. I would of actually began the year and had my picture taken in the Sept of 2019, when the school year began. Is it something similar in the US? I don't know you see X

Yes it is similar in the US. I went to Classmates.com and verified that the yearbook picture would have been taken in the fall of 1980 and included in the 1981 yearbook. So the timeline could still work given that information.

Also she is not included in the 1982 yearbook, which is strange because if the timeline of not disappearing from MN until December of 1981 is correct, she would have still been in MN at Austin High School when yearbook photos were taken.

This is all very interesting as I totally see the same similarities that you do between the two girls.

 

[Ajaxkid]

I think the similarities are striking. Their noses look almost identical. Even in the quartet frame, Mary Jo is wearing a yellow jumper of her own! Plus, it seems there are no more missing girl reports who fit the time frame except for Mary Jo whose timeline is a bit up in the air. She was not actually reported missing for 7+ years, her Mum then passed away within that year. And her boyfriend certainly seems old enough to possibly have been in prison! X

Mary Jo also appears to have something interesting going on with her eyebrow. Hmmm.

Reported dates for the last time someone has been seen have been off before... especially if there is a very long time before they’re even reported.

I wish someone could find the full photo that supposedly shows red shoes.

 

[shadowdancer]

I don't think Mary Jo is WCJD, there are some similarities in looks, but something seems '0ff' to me about the match.

 

[Deleted member 269000]

Every account I’ve read says that Mary Jo left Austin, MN in the spring of 1981 and disappeared from Gardena, CA on February 22, 1982. WCJD was discovered on November 1, 1980. Given the degree of specificity regarding Mary Jo’s date of disappearance, I personally do not see how they could be the same individual

Mary Jo Lee Long – The Charley Project
Mary Jo Lee Long
[URL="http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3148dfca.html"]3148DFCA - Mary Jo Lee Long
[/URL]

 

[Victoria Chambers]

Every account I’ve read says that Mary Jo left Austin, MN in the spring of 1981 and disappeared from Gardena, CA on February 22, 1982. WCJD was discovered on November 1, 1980. Given the degree of specificity regarding Mary Jo’s date of disappearance, I personally do not see how they could be the same individual

Mary Jo Lee Long – The Charley Project
Mary Jo Lee Long
3148DFCA - Mary Jo Lee Long

I read that Mary Jo left Austin at Christmas time. Another version was last seen Jan 81. Next story was Feb 81. Believe it or not there is Dec 81. February 82.. nobody knows for sure the date in time that Mary Jo vanished on. X

 

[Deleted member 269000]

I read that Mary Jo left Austin at Christmas time. Another version was last seen Jan 81. Next story was Feb 81. Believe it or not there is Dec 81. February 82.. nobody knows for sure the date in time that Mary Jo vanished on. X

Can you please post sources for those claims? I haven’t seen anything stating she disappeared as early as January or February 1981. The accounts stating that she disappeared around Christmas 1981 and February 1982 are not mutually exclusive. The three accounts I posted from the Charley Project, RCCMCC, and Doe Network all state she disappeared from Austin, MN in December 1981, around Christmas time. She then turned up in Gardner, CA with her father until she went missing again in February 1982.

However, even if we take the earliest date of disappearance you gave, January 1981, that’s still 3 months after WCJD was discovered.

 

[Victoria Chambers]

Mary Jo also appears to have something interesting going on with her eyebrow. Hmmm.

Reported dates for the last time someone has been seen have been off before... especially if there is a very long time before they’re even reported.

I wish someone could find the full photo that supposedly shows red shoes.

I have searched the internet. I wish I could see the actual shoes that were found because Mary Jo sandals have a different heel to the sandals that are depicted in the composite. If I remember rightly, Mary Jo had on, red block type heels as opposed to that more narrow heel X

 

[Victoria Chambers]

Yes it is similar in the US. I went to Classmates.com and verified that the yearbook picture would have been taken in the fall of 1980 and included in the 1981 yearbook. So the timeline could still work given that information.

Also she is not included in the 1982 yearbook, which is strange because if the timeline of not disappearing from MN until December of 1981 is correct, she would have still been in MN at Austin High School when yearbook photos were taken.

This is all very interesting as I totally see the same similarities that you do between the two girls.

Thank you very much for doing so X

 

[Victoria Chambers]

Can you please post sources for those claims? I haven’t seen anything stating she disappeared as early as January or February 1981. The accounts stating that she disappeared around Christmas 1981 and February 1982 are not mutually exclusive. The three accounts I posted from the Charley Project, RCCMCC, and Doe Network all state she disappeared from Austin, MN in December 1981, around Christmas time. She then turned up in Gardner, CA with her father until she went missing again in February 1982.

However, even if we take the earliest date of disappearance you gave, January 1981, that’s still 3 months after WCJD was discovered.

If you go back 2 pages, I already did post the source. I screenshot them to be fair. But I'm not looking to argue, I'm just saying, Mary Jo vanished from her Father's but nobody reported it. By the time her Mum did report it, she wasn't the last person to have seen her and so couldnt be certain. But if her Father knew the exact date, why are there many versions out there? He clearly didn't know himself X

 

[Deleted member 269000]

If you go back 2 pages, I already did post the source. I screenshot them to be fair. But I'm not looking to argue, I'm just saying, Mary Jo vanished from her Father's but nobody reported it. By the time her Mum did report it, she wasn't the last person to have seen her and so couldnt be certain. But if her Father knew the exact date, why are there many versions out there? He clearly didn't know himself X

I certainly didn’t mean anything I said as a personal attack. I’m just trying to rule out dead ends. I saw that you linked to her poster from the NCMEC, which in back to back paragraphs gave December 27, 1981 and January 27, 1981 as the date of disappearance. Given that these dates were on the same poster and in adjacent paragraphs, I’m willing to assume the second may likely have been a typo. I don’t see a source for your third photo, but it states that she disappeared in February 1982. It’s true that 7 years passed from her disappearance until she was first reported as missing. However, the dates are quite consistent and specific. With the exception of the poster stating January 1981, the dates are universally given as December 27, 1981 and February 22, 1982. Even the official FB group, of which a couple of her sisters are members, states she disappeared “on or about February 22, 1982.”

Regardless, my point is that even if you believe there is a great deal of confusion regarding the date of her disappearance, which I would content there is not, no date given is earlier than the date WCJD’s remains were discovered. That all but makes the identification of WCJD as Mary Jo a factual impossibility, unless the family’s collective memories are all in error.

Lastly, I noticed one of the reasons you initially believed WCJD could be Mary Jo was your statement “1 report has her missing in Austin, Texas.” There is no indication Mary Joe was ever in Texas. Many of the reports, including the three I cited to, state instead that she went missing from Austin, MN, where she initially lived with her mom.

 

[Victoria Chambers]

Another member earlier looked into the Yearbooks and verified that class photographs for a 1981 yearbook are actually taken at the start of a school year, which in this case is 1980. But that can't be so if Mary Jo left and enrolled in Gardena High School in the Spring of 1981.. would she still be in that yearbook?? I don't know! Also, my real reason for looking into Mary Jo as being a possibility was due to other members posting that it seems perhaps WCJD was never reported missing because all the girls fitting her description in the run up to her discovery have been ruled out thus far. Some of the girls ruled out are teenagers who disappeared years before 1980. I just feel if 1 date is wrong, or 2 dates are wrong then they could all be wrong! With regards to Dec 27 and Jan 27 possibly a mistype, there is also Feb 22 1981. And Feb 22 1982 out there. I think to be absolutely certain on any given date there must be a real memory from somebody somewhere about what happened on that day ie, Who last spoke to Mary Jo, where was she going, was she alone?? But there is nothing. I am really hoping that somebody in the know will kindly submitt Mary Jo for rule out please. She has to be worth a try X

 

[Deleted member 269000]

Another member earlier looked into the Yearbooks and verified that class photographs for a 1981 yearbook are actually taken at the start of a school year, which in this case is 1980. But that can't be so if Mary Jo left and enrolled in Gardena High School in the Spring of 1981.. would she still be in that yearbook?? I don't know! Also, my real reason for looking into Mary Jo as being a possibility was due to other members posting that it seems perhaps WCJD was never reported missing because all the girls fitting her description in the run up to her discovery have been ruled out thus far. Some of the girls ruled out are teenagers who disappeared years before 1980. I just feel if 1 date is wrong, or 2 dates are wrong then they could all be wrong! With regards to Dec 27 and Jan 27 possibly a mistype, there is also Feb 22 1981. And Feb 22 1982 out there. I think to be absolutely certain on any given date there must be a real memory from somebody somewhere about what happened on that day ie, Who last spoke to Mary Jo, where was she going, was she alone?? But there is nothing. I am really hoping that somebody in the know will kindly submitt Mary Jo for rule out please. She has to be worth a try X

Even if the picture were taken in 1980, there is no reason that Mary Jo couldn’t have been in Gardena by February 1982. The photo was from an AHS yearbook. Sources are mixed as to when Mary Jo enrolled in GHS. The Charley Project implies she enrolled after leaving her mother on December 27, 1981. The RCCCMCC states that she left her mother in spring 1981 to live with her father in Gardena, returned to visit her mother for Christmas, and subsequently went back to Gardena where she disappeared for good on February 22, 1982. Under either account, she could have sat for an AHS yearbook photo in 1980. We have no way of knowing where the dates December 27, 1981 or February 22, 1982 came from. The principal difference between you and I is that I accept them as valid, while you doubt their accuracy. And to that end, February 22, 1981 has never been offered as a date for her disappearance. I also want to identify WCJD. But the reason Mary Jo hasn’t been excluded is because NamUs doesn’t test Does against persons who went missing after the Doe’s remains were found. Please feel free to respond. At this point, I believe I’ve made my views clear and will not be posting further on the subject unless additional information comes to light.

 

[Victoria Chambers]

With all due respect, with regards to Mary Jo official FB page, Mary Jo lived in an RV with just her father and brother. So her half siblings can only be going with what they were told in the light of learning that Mary Jo had been missing for 7yrs. And it is not that I don't accept the dates, I just would not believe a word that came out the mouth of a Father who failed to report his teenage daughter missing. That's just me. But it's fine, you say these 2 girls are not the same person and there is nothing can be done about it, so I will leave it at that X
Sorry, just to clarify, from Mary Jo WS page.. this is where the Austin Texas / Minnesota confusion stems from X

 

[Deleted member 269000]

@Victoria Chambers I did find this article from the Post Bulletin: Detective renews search for girl missing since 1981 | Post Bulletin. One of the half-sisters spent Christmas 1981 with Mary Jo. That, at least, provides confirmation independent from the father that Mary Jo was alive a year after WCJD was discovered.

 

[Victoria Chambers]

I did find this: 1981 Long, Mary Jo Lee 12-81 I can’t find a cached version of the Post-Bulletin article in the first entry, but the copied text of the article states that one of the half-sisters spent Christmas 1981 with Mary Jo. That, at least, provides confirmation independent from the father that Mary Jo was alive a year after WCJD was discovered.

It's good that you found this,. And now I probably come across as being really awkward and I don't mean to be. But I just see this as another version of what should be 1 story. If the dates are off, I have no hope of having her looked at and so you don't need to waste your time looking up different accounts X

 

[Deleted member 269000]

@Victoria Chambers I understand. I hope there are no hard feelings. We’re all trying to zealously help find those without a voice.

 

[carbuff]

It's good that you found this,. And now I probably come across as being really awkward and I don't mean to be. But I just see this as another version of what should be 1 story. If the dates are off, I have no hope of having her looked at and so you don't need to waste your time looking up different accounts X

It's good to make sure dates are correct, because we have had cases where dates were wrong and that caused matches to not be made. Discrepancies should be investigated and confirmed. For instance, there were the two California girls who disappeared together but wound up with missing dates listed as a year apart, and it was many years later before someone followed up and got it fixed. The girl's DNA had not been compared because she was thought to have gone missing after the deceased remains were found.

So I'm glad you brought it up. Thanks!

 

[Victoria Chambers]

@Victoria Chambers I understand. I hope there are no hard feelings. We’re all trying to zealously help find those without a voice.

Absolutely no hard feelings, I know how you all feel with regards to WCJD, I feel the same for Mary Jo.. let's hope they both get home to where they once belonged. And Thank You for all your input X

 

[Beekarina]

I'm reading wondering how old the half-sister who spent Christmas of 1981 with her was....LOL!

So....don't feel bad. It is absolutely maddening how a young teenager can just "disappear" for decades.