WA WA - Anne Marie Burr, 8, Tacoma, 31 Aug 1962

[georgiagirl]

The Doe Network:
Case File 1670DFWA

Burr, circa 1962

Anne - Marie Burr
Missing since August 13, 1962 from Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington
Classification: Endangered Missing



Vital Statistics

• Age at Time of Disappearance: 8 years old
• Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; hazel eyes.
• Clothing: Blue nightgown.
• Dentals: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Burr was last seen in her home in Tacoma, Washington on the night of August 13, 1962.
She shared her bedroom with her three-year-old sister, who had a broken arm at the time. In the middle of the night, Burr brought her sister to their parents' room because she was crying. Their parents told them to go back to bed. Burr has never been heard from again.
Burr's mother got up at 5:30 a.m. The front door had been locked and chained the evening before, but Burr's mother found it open. A small living room window which had been closed the night before was also open, and a bench underneath the window had been overturned. Footprints were found outside the house, but they had been distorted by rainy weather and no one could tell if they were from a man, a woman or a child. There was no sign of Burr anywhere and no sign of a struggle in her bedroom. Her two brothers, who slept in the basement, and her sister had not been disturbed, and the family dog had not barked.
The prime suspect in Anne - Marie's abduction was serial killer Ted Bundy. Bundy lived only blocks from Burr's home at the time of her disappearance, and he knew her (he was the Burr's paperboy). Burr's relatives say he and the child were friendly with each other and he could have convinced her to leave her home with him.



Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Tacoma Police Department
253-798-4721

NCIC Number:
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The Charley Project

Case Added on: April 7, 2005
Return to the Unexplained Disappearances' Index

 

[meggilyweggily]

You know, I really have no idea what the true spelling of this poor girl's name is? I've seen it listed as Anne-Marie, Ann Marie, Anne Marie and Annmarie (sometimes two spellings in the same document!). I have it as Ann Marie on my site but that's really only an educated guess.

I think it really stinks that this girl has been missing so long, has pathetically little exposure on the internet and otherwise, only one not-very-good picture, and nobody even knows how to spell her name.

 

[Richard]

Anne Marie Burr
Missing since August 13, 1961 from Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Age at Time of Disappearance: 8 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'2"; 35 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Blonde hair; hazel eyes. Red marks on her left hand.
Clothing: Blue flowered nightgown.
Jewlery: A religious medal with engraved images of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.
Dentals: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Burr was last seen in her home in Tacoma, Washington on the night of August 13, 1962.

She shared her bedroom with her three-year-old sister, who had a broken arm at the time. In the middle of the night, Burr brought her sister to their parents' room because she was crying. Their parents told them to go back to bed.

Burr's mother got up at 5:30 a.m. The front door had been locked and chained the evening before, but Burr's mother found it open. A small living room window which had been closed the night before was also open, and a bench underneath the window had been overturned. Footprints were found outside the house, but they had been distorted by rainy weather and no one could tell if they were from a man, a woman or a child. There was no sign of Burr anywhere and no sign of a struggle in her bedroom. Her two brothers, who slept in the basement, and her sister had not been disturbed, and the family dog had not barked.

Burr's disappearance was treated as an abduction from the beginning. Authorities theorized that she was possibly taken by someone she knew. They investigated convicted sex offenders living in the neighborhood, but could link no one to her disappearance. The case grew cold and remained so until the serial killer Theodore Robert "Ted" Bundy came into the spotlight in the 1970s.

He was convicted of several murders and is suspected in scores more, including in the disappearances of:
Georgeann Hawkins,
Debra Kent,
Donna Manson,
Denise Oliverson, and
Nancy Wilcox.


He was executed in Florida in 1989. Bundy lived only blocks from Burr's home at the time of her disappearance, and he knew her. Burr's relatives say he and the child were friendly with each other and he could have convinced her to leave her home with him. He was only 14 years old when she disappeared and was not suspected until the other killings came to light over fifteen years later.

It is worth noting that Bundy confessed to many murders he had not been charged with, but always denied involvement in Burr's presumed abduction. Nonetheless, many people believe she was his first victim. Burr was about to begin the third grade at school when she vanished. She is described as an intelligent but shy child.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Tacoma Police Department 253-798-4721

Source Information:
The Charley Project
NewspaperArchive
The Crime Library
CyberSleuths
Crime Web
The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule
The Doe Network: Case File 1670DFWA

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/

 

[2sisters]

I am glad you posted this. I have looked for more on her before but no luck. I think it was a coincidence that Ted Bundy was her neighbor. I don't think he killed her.

http://laurajames.typepad.com/clews/2006/10/ted_bundys_firs.html

 

[meggilyweggily]

I don't think we'll ever know the truth in this -- though I do wish they'd put Ann Marie on the NCMEC, there's no reason not to, they have several cases there already that are older than hers.

The fact is that very few people are capable of the abduction and murder of a small child. Ted Bundy was such person. Ann Marie's kidnapper (and, presumably, killer) was another. With a later multiple murderer living so close by, the temptation to draw a connection is irresistible. I don't doubt that he could have done it. At fifteen I frequently left of my house in the middle of the night and walked for miles. I didn't even make any big secret of it, just walked out the front door. I don't think my parents ever knew.

The whole Ted Bundy/Ann Marie Burr thing reminds me of a funny little coincidence I read about in an article once. The police were able to solve a very old (like 1960s) case in part because of finding the killer's fingerprints on a candy wrapper near the victim's body. Another set of fingerprints was found, those of a person who did not know the victim or the killer and who was was, in any case, only four years old at the time the murder was committed. That four-year-old would later grow up and murder another person and is presently serving a life sentence in prison. How his fingerprints wound up at that other crime scene, no one really knows. Presumably, at some point, perhaps while it was still in the store, he handled the same candy. Weird the way the world works.

 

[itsreenw]

Richard, do you know how we can find out Franklin Floyd's exact release date from the Preston Youth correctional facility in CA? I contacted the CA Dept of Corrections to inquire but didnt get a reply.

Let us not forget about Franklin Floyd being released from jail in August of 1961 for the Sears burglary in Inglewood CA (Los Angeles). I cannot find his exact release date from Preston that month.
Remember, shortly after his release from Preston Youth Authority he disappeared and said he and a fellow ex-con went to either Canada or Alaska on a hunting trip. I don't know if his parole agent ever confirmed his story or just took Floyd's word for it but there were 2 little girls with fairly similar descriptions that were abducted that same month, Anne Burr on 8/13/61 from Tacoma, Washington and Karen Tompkins on 8/18/61 from Torrance,CA (just over the tracks from Los Angeles). WA is about a 12 hr drive from CA.

I believe the 'hunting' trip was fabricated to deter any suspicion of crimes he committed in the vicinity of CA and/or bordering states. If he had absconded to Alaska or Canada, what are the odds of him returning to CA, knowing he had violated parole by leaving?? He had nothing to come back to CA for. No family roots, etc... AND upon returning, telling his parole agent he left the state to go hunting? He knew that was a violation but he also knew it wasn't as serious as being considered in child abductions. Of course he was convicted of parole violation and returned to jail.

As we have learned, Floyd has been known to turn himself into authorities (mental hospitals, etc) after he commits serious crimes. Could be why he went back to see his parole agent. JMO.

After serving his time for violating parole in CA, he returned to Atlanta where he was arrested for the sexual assault of the 4 yr girl old he brazenly abducted from the bowling alley. I can't believe that was his first time committing such a crime because he was so bold about doing it.

 

[2sisters]

I don't think we'll ever know the truth in this -- though I do wish they'd put Ann Marie on the NCMEC, there's no reason not to, they have several cases there already that are older than hers.

The fact is that very few people are capable of the abduction and murder of a small child. Ted Bundy was such person. Ann Marie's kidnapper (and, presumably, killer) was another. With a later multiple murderer living so close by, the temptation to draw a connection is irresistible. I don't doubt that he could have done it. At fifteen I frequently left of my house in the middle of the night and walked for miles. I didn't even make any big secret of it, just walked out the front door. I don't think my parents ever knew.

The whole Ted Bundy/Ann Marie Burr thing reminds me of a funny little coincidence I read about in an article once. The police were able to solve a very old (like 1960s) case in part because of finding the killer's fingerprints on a candy wrapper near the victim's body. Another set of fingerprints was found, those of a person who did not know the victim or the killer and who was was, in any case, only four years old at the time the murder was committed. That four-year-old would later grow up and murder another person and is presently serving a life sentence in prison. How his fingerprints wound up at that other crime scene, no one really knows. Presumably, at some point, perhaps while it was still in the store, he handled the same candy. Weird the way the world works.

Off the subject, but I hope you are enjoying your vacation. I knew you couldn't stay away from us for a month.

 

[Richard]

Richard, do you know how we can find out Franklin Floyd's exact release date from the Preston Youth correctional facility in CA? I contacted the CA Dept of Corrections to inquire but didnt get a reply....

Probably the only place to get an accurate record would be from that facility itself. However, there may be a record of it somewhere in the California prison system or another instititution where he stayed.

Regarding the California Parole system and their records - I doubt there is any such thing. See the thread on Leuschner. He was a child killer who murdered at least one boy in Maryland in 1977 while on parole from a California Prison.

Anything that Franklin Floyd might have said needs to be taken with a lot of salt. If you asked him what time it was, and he told you, you would certainly want to look at your watch to be sure.

 

[itsreenw]

Probably the only place to get an accurate record would be from that facility itself. However, there may be a record of it somewhere in the California prison system or another instititution where he stayed.

Regarding the California Parole system and their records - I doubt there is any such thing. See the thread on Leuschner. He was a child killer who murdered at least one boy in Maryland in 1977 while on parole from a California Prison.

Anything that Franklin Floyd might have said needs to be taken with a lot of salt. If you asked him what time it was, and he told you, you would certainly want to look at your watch to be sure.

Funny how things work. Just checked my email and an old coworker that transferred to Dept of Corrections sent an email. He now works for the Juvenile Offenders-Policy Writing unit. Let me pick his brain.

 

[Richard]

Bumping case up. Here is an updated LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1670dfwa.html

 

[Gina_M]

I've noticed a discrepancy in Anne Marie's listings. The date of her disappearance is usually listed as August 13, 1961 - Charley Project has this date. On Doe Network, in the index, it is listed under 1962...then at the top of her page it says missing since August 13, 1961...but then scroll down to the circumstances of disappearance and it says August 13, 1962. And to top it all off, all the articles I found in the newspaper archives say August 31st (not 13th), 1961.

 

[LisainWV]

I suspect the parents in this one. What parent would tell their kids to just go back to bed when one was crying in the middle of the night? Maybe the story is wrong, but I get that feeling on this one!!

 

[Gina_M]

I'm not sure about the parents. They seem innocent to me. An article I found in the newspaper archives words it this way: "Sometime during the night or early morning, Ann Marie brought Mary downstairs because she was crying. Uncertain of the time and not fully awake, Mrs. Burr sent the children back upstairs. It was the last time she saw Ann Marie."

There was also a possible sighting of her in Canada the following year:

June 2, 1962
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Report missing girl seen

Portage La Prairie (CP) - Police are investigating a report that nine-year-old Ann Marie Burr, kidnapped in Tacoma, Wash. last year, was sighted here Thursday.

The operator of a service station told police he saw the Burr girl in the station's cafe. He said a blonde-haired girl accompanied by two women and a man had breakfast in the restaurant, but he did not recognize the girl at the time.

Hours later, he saw a newspaper picture of the Burr girl and it fitted the description of the girl in the restaurant. He called police. Name of the man or his place of business in the southern Manitoba prairie city was not released.

The Burr girl was kidnapped from the bedroom of her parents Tacoma home last Aug. 31 and has been the object of a search in Canada and the United States ever since. Authorities have offered a $5,000 reward for the return of the girl to her parents and arrest of her abductors.

The garage operator told police the adults spoke a little too sharply to the girl to be her parents.

She walked up to a candy counter at one point and he asked where she was from. The girl said she was from Tacoma.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police have alerted border points to keep watch for the group.

 

[anthrobones]

I wonder if they asked the sister if she heard/saw anything. I know she was only 3, but I just wonder....

 

[itsreenw]

I wonder if they asked the sister if she heard/saw anything. I know she was only 3, but I just wonder....

That's a good question. Elizabeth Smart's younger sister was able to provide a description in Elizabeth's abduction. It's very possible she may have important info.

 

[Gina_M]

I wonder about the little sister too. The news articles imply that Ann Marie and her sister Mary had separate rooms, but both were on the upstairs level of the house. Mary was awake for at least some of the night, crying about the cast on her arm. I wonder if they ever asked the sister if she heard or saw anything...I can't find any mention of it.

 

[Gina_M]

Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA
June 3, 1962

Nationwide Hunt Pressed for Missing Tacoma Girl

Tacoma, Wash. - Mr. and Mrs. Donald Burr tucked their eight-year-old daughter Ann Marie safely into bed on a stormy night last August. They heard her prayers, kissed her goodnight and turned out the light, just as they had in turn for each of their three other children. Mary, 3, was in an adjoining upstairs bedroom. Julie, 7, and Greg, 5, were in the basement bedroom.

Sometime before 5 a.m. Ann Marie carried little Mary to Mr. and Mrs. Burr's downstairs bedroom because Mary was restless and couldn't sleep. Mrs. Burr took both of them back upstairs. By dawn Ann Marie had vanished. She hasn't been seen since.

"When Mary came to our bedroom again, Ann wasn't with her and I took her back to bed. I looked in on Ann and she was gone," Mrs. Burr said.

...

Chief of Detectives R J Drost said the abductor didn't leave "five cents worth of clues" when he or she entered the Burr home through the window, walked directly to Ann Marie's bedroom took her away on the night of August 30-31.

A piece of woolen cloth torn from the kidnaper's clothes and left hanging on a window nail is all police have. Not even a muddy shoe mark or fingerprints.

...

Mrs. Burr said she and her husband sleep with their bedroom door open as do the children. "But we couldn't hear a thing that night. Not a thing."

...

Drost is working on the possibility that a person who was familiar with the Burr home and who may have known the family years ago may be involved.

 

[Gina_M]

Ann Marie's birthday is coming up. She would be turning 55. I created a MySpace for her:
http://www.myspace.com/annmarieburr

Was Ann Marie ever entered into NCMEC? I can't find her in there. I don't see any age progressions for her either.

 

[Mr. E]

If this happened today people would immediately suspect one or both parents. Is there some reason why the parents weren't suspect in this case? I know child abductions from the home by strangers happen, but wouldn't the first assumption be that something happened within the home and covered up? Were the parents ever questioned in such a manner?

 

[Gina_M]

After reading up on the case, I don't think the parents had anything to do with it. Whenever I read a quote from the parents, or hear from someone who has interviewed them, I can just tell that they are grieving the loss of their daughter and looking for answers. An excerpt from a blog that was posted earlier:

Beverly and husband Donald requested and passed their polygraphs. As months unraveled into years, the Burrs would endure unconfirmed sightings, bogus ransom demands, and an imposter claiming to be Ann Marie.
But the true outrage was the unknown fate of their firstborn daughter. “We were always looking or always doing something. We never forgot.” says Beverly. They stayed in their tainted home for six years in case Ann showed up, keeping their old phone number after they moved.


http://laurajames.typepad.com/clews/2006/10/ted_bundys_firs.html

Also the responses are quite interesting. I'm on the fence as to whether I think Ted Bundy was involved - definitely an interesting theory.