Missing Person Case: Jeannetta Ruth LaBelle (Presumed Drowned)

Missing Person Case: Jeannetta Ruth LaBelle

Jeannetta Ruth LaBelle, a 39-year-old White/Caucasian woman, went missing on January 25, 1969, in Ojai, Ventura County, California. She was swept downstream during a creek flood, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs #MP138874). According to limited newspaper coverage that I found, she was in her home at the time of the flash flood.

At the time of her disappearance, Jeannetta stood at 5'5" and weighed 170 lbs, with red/auburn hair, green eyes, and a distinctive horizontal scar on her leg. However, if her remains are discovered, the scar would not be an indicator at this point as only skeletal remains can be expected.

The blurb below spells the first name differently but only slightly. Due to everything else matching, it appears to be the same case. This blurb appeared the day after Jeannetta disappeared in a newspaper local to where she lived.

January 26th, 1969. Ventura County Star.

Case Form F:

(1) Subject known and seen to be swept into flood waters.
(2) Subject not seen again.

This is a generalized form of a kind of missing person that I use at this site. It fits because the newspaper article confirms that she was "swept away" into raging waters that appear to be what we would call a flash flood today. She remains missing as of October 1st, 2025.

Missing Person Case: Jeannetta Ruth LaBelle
NamUs Case Number	MP138874
Name	Jeannetta Ruth LaBelle
Date of Last Contact	January 25, 1969
Missing From	Ojai, Ventura County, California
Missing Age	39 Years
Current Age	96 Years
Biological Sex	Female
Race / Ethnicity	White / Caucasian
Height	5'5" (65 Inches)
Weight	170 lbs
Hair Color	Red/Auburn
Eye Color	Green
Distinctive Physical Features	Horizontal scar on leg
Circumstances of Disappearance	Swept downstream during a creek flood in Ojai, CA on January 25, 1969
NamUs Case Created	February 19, 2025

Commentary

By: Shane Lambert

People who disappear into rivers or flood waters can stay missing for ages. That is the case even when they are known to have been swept away, which is different than someone who was only presumed to be swept away (ie. no witness).

Jeanetta might have ended up buried under a lot of sediment and there is potential for dismemberment en route. Accordingly, it probably won't be amateur researchers that shed any light on this case. 

If she is found, then it will likely be due to a chance event, like excavation, or a nature lover encountering her remains somehow (ie. luck). My recommendation for amateur researchers is not to work on this case as people who are known to be swept away and presumably drowned are not the kind of missing people that surface with 'new lives' at some other point.

However, a Jane Doe found in the area could be cross examined. On that matter, people who are lost in rivers or flood waters are likely to show up in so-called "depositional zones." These are places alone the water's route where something slows the flow of the water, like a bend. A beach in this area is more likely than other spots to contain buried human remains of people lost to the waters.

The San Antonio Creek flows into the Ventura River which flows toward the Pacific Ocean. Jane Does found in this drainage system could be cross referenced to Jeannetta's case but it's hard to picture one intact skeleton after all these decades.