WA WA - Lorelee Sue Lhotka, 19, Seattle, 1975

sasha17

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  • #1
Lorelee was last seen in Seattle, Washington on some unspecified date in 1975, when she left home to go to a doctor's appointment. She was supposed to take the bus, but she may have hitchhiked instead. She never arrived at the doctor's office and has never been heard from again. In 1978, her wallet was found in the Wenatchee National Forest.

She is 5'3", 120 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes. Her first name may be spelled "Loralee" and she may use the last name "Spamola".

Original


NamUs #MP14228 - The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Loralee Sue Lhotka – The Charley Project
 
  • #2
I find it odd that Namus has her disappearing after a doctor's appointment on New Years Day. It looks as though nobody remembers the last day they saw her. So sad.
 
  • #3
Bump.

I am wondering if Lhotka was her married name and if the birthdate is wrong. This is because there are several records on Ancestry showing the marriage of Stephen Dewey Lhotka to Lorelee Sue Davis in Okanogan, Washington on 2 February 1974. There is also a divorce record from 1977 (which would fit with her going missing). The only problem is that her birthdate is given as 27 June 1957 - but how many cases of a Lorelee Sue marrying a Lhotka in Washington state can there be? If this is the right person she was born in Kamloops in British Columbia. On the marriage licence her parent/guardian is listed as Sophie Davis (giving consent for a minor marriage).

Not sure this adds anything other than filling in some details.
 
  • #4
The last name is unique alb1on I believe the odds of this being the same person is highly favorable.
 
  • #5
  • #6
I wonder if the finding of her wallet was a clue that she was in that forest. I wonder if it seemed it could have been with her but moved away by nature... Who found it, how, and exactly where. How did it come to the attention of law enforcement?
Does the date of January 1 as her missing date indicate the original files have been lost, and if so, who knows what details about the case have been lost.

I can't find her in the Doe Network :(
 
  • #7
  • #8
14 Rule Out's (UP10799 listed twice)
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  • #9
she left home to go to a doctor's appointment

I'm wondering about the nature of the doctor's appointment...was it just a checkup, or did she have some sort of medical issues/concerns? If it was the latter, perhaps it affected her thinking, e.g. caused her to become confused.
 
  • #10
NAMUS was updated today..no additional info
 
  • #11
Lorelee has been missing for about 49 years this year.
 
  • #12
BUMP
 
  • #13
Bumping, Lorelee’s birthday is this month.
 
  • #14
Bump. I think about her case every once in a while, especially when I am traveling near where her ID was found. Who reported it? Was it in the woods or left on a bench or sign?
 
  • #15
Lorelee has been missing for about 50 years this year.
 
  • #16
Here is everything I could find regarding Lorelee Sue Lhotka across databases (NamUs, Charley Project, Doe Network, Washington State Missing Persons, Justice for Native People), as well as through Ancestry and Newspapers. Much of this has already been stated in this thread, but I thought it may help to put absolutely everything I could find together:

Lorelee Sue Lhotka was last seen in Seattle, Washington in 1975. Both the Charley Project and some other secondary sources state that the specific date of Lorelee’s disappearance is unspecified, while all other databases give her date of last contact as January 1, 1975. Lorelee was reportedly last seen leaving home to go to a doctor’s appointment. While she was supposed to take the bus to the appointment, she was also known to hitchhike in order to get around, and may have hitchhiked instead of taking the bus. According to the Charley Project, Lorelee never arrived at the doctor’s office and has never been heard from again.

Lorelee’s wallet was found at Blewitt Pass in the Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state in 1978. The circumstances of this discovery are not given beyond that, and there are no newspaper reports whatsoever regarding Lorelee, her wallet, or her disappearance. Few details are available in her case.

Lorelee was anywhere between 17 and 20 years old when she disappeared. According to the DOB listed on Doe Network and Charley Project, as well as the age given on most databases, Lorelee was 19 years old when she disappeared on January 1, 1975. However, according to some databases, it is uncertain when in 1975 Lorelee was last seen, leading said sources to list her age at time of disappearance as 19-20 years old. All sources on Ancestry, however, indicate that Lorelee was born two years (and five days) later than the DOB given on DN and Charley Project. If this is true — which I am inclined to believe, as it is consistent across all Ancestry sources — then Lorelee was 17 years old on January 1, 1975, and was going to turn 18 on June 27th of that year.

Lorelee was 5’3 and 120 lb with brown hair and brown eyes. From the photo provided on all databases, her hair was styled in a middle part and reached to just below her shoulders. It is not known what she was wearing on the day of her disappearance. According to the Washington State Missing Persons database, Lorelee does have some sort of scar(s), mark(s), and/or tattoo(s), though further detail is not given; for further information, interested parties are to contact the submitting agency (King County Sheriff’s Office).

A couple databases state that Lorelee’s race was uncertain and/or American Indian/Alaska Native, while others simply state that she was Native American. It is certain that she was, at the very least, Indigenous. However, because she was born in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, it is possible that Lorelee would be considered First Nations instead of Native American. Which tribe/nation Lorelee was affiliated with is unknown. She was not missing from, nor was her primary residence on, tribal land.

The Washington State Missing Persons database lists Lorelee as “Missing – Endangered,” while Doe Network and Charley Project classify her as Missing and Endangered Missing, respectively. Lorelee’s NamUs page was created on March 19, 2012. Her Charley Project page was last updated on September 10, 2019, and her Doe Network page was added (and last updated) on December 15, 2023.

The King County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Lorelee’s disappearance. Anyone with information should contact Janet Gregory of the KCSO at 206-205-3432 (according to Charley Project) or (206) 296-4155 (all other databases). Lorelee’s agency case number is 05-232769.

NamUs states that Lorelee has fourteen UID exclusions; however, one of these is a repeat, so she actually has 13 exclusions, including one each from Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, two from Washington state, and eight from Virginia. Lorelee’s DNA is available for comparison, but it is unknown if her dentals or fingerprints are as well.

Doe Network and Charley Project list Lorelee’s DOB as June 22, 1955, which seems to have been a misinterpretation of records. The following information has been gathered from Ancestry.

Lorelee was born Lorelee Sue Davis in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, on June 27 1957. Her mother, Sophie Davis, was born December 15 1929, making her 17 when Lorelee was born. On January 2, 1974, when she was 16 years old, Lorelee applied for a marriage license with Stephen Dewey Lhotka (b March 29 1955 in Seattle, WA) in Okanogan County, WA. At the time, Stephen was an 18-year-old cook living at 11125 53rd St in Seattle. As she was still a minor at the time, Lorelee had to have consent given by her mother, Sophie, whom she lived with in Tonasket, WA. The marriage license was issued January 5 or 6, 1974.

On February 2, 1974, Lorelee and Stephen were officially married in King County, WA, with Francis and Katrina Lhotka — possibly Stephen’s parents — serving as witnesses. At some point after this, Lorelee lived at 9265 57th Ave S in Seattle, WA. Furthermore, Lorelee and Stephen had one child together at some point.

According to the May 26, 1976 edition of The Olympian, a "Petition for dissolution ha[d] been filed in the Mason County Clerk's Office in the marriage of” Stephen and Lorelee.

A divorce record for the couple from December 22, 1977 in Mason County, WA exists. Stephen was the one to file for divorce, and his attorney filled out the information in the record for the two of them. At the time of filing, Stephen’s address was written as PO Box 900, Shelton, Mason County, WA. He did not live inside city limits. Lorelee’s address was listed as 235 SW 97th Place, White Center, King County, WA, and she lived inside city limits. However, under the “County” subheading — which was the second piece of information requested for her address after State — “unknown” was originally typed, but then crossed out in pen with “King” written above it. Stephen’s attorney also listed Lorelee’s DOB as unknown, and her place of birth as Canada. At the time of filing, Lorelee and Stephen had had one child together. Announcement of the decree of marriage dissolution was posted in the December 29, 1977 edition of The Olympian.

Very little else could be found. According to The Columbian, on September 23, 1979, 24-year-old Stephen Dewey Lhotka — who lived at 3005 O St in Vancouver, WA at the time — was arrested in Clark County, WA, “for investigation of forgery, [and] held in lieu of $2,000 bail.” On December 10 of the same year he pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery. By 1993, Lorelee’s mother Sophie Davis was still living in Tonasket, WA. This is all I could find about Sophie or Stephen.

Lorelee’s first name is occasionally spelled “Loralee”, and on at least one official record was originally spelled “Lorilee” before being corrected. Her maiden name is Davis. According to official databases, she may use the last name Spamola.
 
  • #17
I'm wondering about the nature of the doctor's appointment...was it just a checkup, or did she have some sort of medical issues/concerns? If it was the latter, perhaps it affected her thinking, e.g. caused her to become confused.

According to Loralee's Find A Grave

<<She was last seen in Seattle sometime in 1975 when she left home to go to a routine doctor's appointment after having recently given birth to her daughter. Said daughter was born in either mid/late December 1974 or sometime in January 1975, and Lorelee reportedly disappeared "just a couple weeks" after the birth; from this it can be gleaned that Lorelee went missing in either January or possibly even early February 1975.>>
 
  • #18
  • #19
According to Loralee's Find A Grave

<<She was last seen in Seattle sometime in 1975 when she left home to go to a routine doctor's appointment after having recently given birth to her daughter. Said daughter was born in either mid/late December 1974 or sometime in January 1975, and Lorelee reportedly disappeared "just a couple weeks" after the birth; from this it can be gleaned that Lorelee went missing in either January or possibly even early February 1975.>>
just so others know, i am the creator of Lorelee's FindAGrave memorial. all of the information included there is a shorter version of my longer write-up that i posted a little bit further up the thread. just in case anyone is wondering about where i got this information from

Lorelee's daughter seems to have been born on December 20, 1974 according to Ancestry. if the comments on the Charley Project Blog are credible, then that means Lorelee went missing on about Friday, January 3, 1975 while on her way to a postpartum checkup
 
  • #20
i've found confirmation regarding Lorelee's ethnicity (beyond the confusion across databases + a comment from someone who may be her daughter)

Lorelee Lhotka was from the Adams Lake Indian Band of the Secwépemc (Shuswap) Nation in British Columbia, Canada. Both of her parents are Shuswap, though I could not find a specific band for her father, unlike with her mother. Lorelee had two older sisters. The three girls used several different surnames throughout their lives: Jules (their mother's maiden name), Spamola (their biological father's surname), and Davis (their step-father's surname). In 1964, Lorelee's mother Sophie married Mr Davis, a white man. This marriage caused Sophie and her three daughters, including Lorelee, to become "enfranchised," meaning that they were stripped of their "Indian Status" and all their rights as Indigenous people -- including treaty rights and the right to live on a reserve -- and were instead deemed full Canadian citizens

EDIT While not 100% certain, I've found some more information to support the idea that Lorelee's biological father was also part of the Adams Lake Band
 
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