Mary Anne Wesolowski Missing Since 1971
Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing:
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
Wesolowski might also have run away. She left a note for her mother saying "I'm leaving. I might miss you." That's present tense in the first sentence and future tense in the second, the latter indicating a look to an uncertain future. It's an interesting note in that the second sentence communicates mixed emotions for her mother. That certainly hints at problems at home for this child, something that has been communicated at various sources about this case, like at Charley Project.
That site offers a lengthy description of Mary's disappearance. One excerpt states "Some agencies give Mary's name 'Mary Ann' or 'Maryanne.' Interestingly enough I found a woman in northern New York who died in the late 1970's with a name match, regardless of the spacing between Mary and Ann or not. It may be worth a look despite a one-year difference in age.
Missing Person: Mary Wesolowski, aka Mary Anne or Maryann
Last seen or contact date: August 18th, 1971
Where last seen: Glen Falls, New York
Let's assume that Mary ran away. For me, that's a difficult assumption because I have trouble picturing a 13-year old surviving as a runaway. However, people have survived worse so it can't be thrown to the wind. If we assume that she ran away, I think it's safe to assume that she made it a little way out of Glen Falls, New York. Chances are if she stayed put she would have been found. How far could she make it with whatever means she had? Probably not too far. Maybe getting out of New York would have been hard.
Take a look at the following two articles. They both describe the same person and event despite different name spellings and different ages:
Name matches to missing person but Mary Ann Wesolowski but the age is one year off. Tue, Nov 21, 1978 – Page 14 · Poughkeepsie Journal (Poughkeepsie, New York) · Newspapers.com
The problem with the articles is that one describes a "Mary Ann Wesolowski, 21" and the other describes a "Maryann Wesoloswki, 22." Note the difference in spelling of both the first and last names but Wesolowski spelled correctly for Billy. Also, note the different ages. Furthermore, note all the other similarities because they practically eliminate the chance of these two people, "Mary Ann Wesolowski, 21" and "Maryann Wesoloswki, 22" actually being different people. Clearly, the two news articles cover the same event.
Lastly, and importantly, note that our Mary Wesolowski, NamUs #MP2876, was neither 21 nor 22 on November 21st, 1978. She would only have been 20. But it's funny how she was referred to as Maryann and Mary Ann and that's how different agencies described her as well. That the age doesn't match is important -- in fact, in some cases that's a rule out. In this case, I can't ignore the journalism that didn't care to get her age right or name spelled right. Maybe they were working with shoddy sources themselves.
The Mary described in the news articles was likely white. One photo had a picture of the dying Billy, Mary's child, and he was white. It's not a slam dunk to have the same color of skin as one of your parents but the tendencies are real. Our Mary, the missing person, was also white.
For me, this all means that this "Maryann Wesoloswki, 22" or "Mary Ann Wesolowski, 21" should be looked at as a rule-out for Mary Wesolowski, #MP2876. A good idea would be if websleuths or amateurs took to the databases they have memberships for and looked for the Mary that died in this house fire. We're interested in someone with a different birthdate, a different photo, or something that rules her out because the crummy journalism doesn't do that for me.
On the matter, I did look at ancestry.com for the deceased two-year-old Jennifer Wesolowski. I found someone by that name in the Buffalo area that was born in 1976, someone that had an address in N. Tonawanda, New York, USA. I wondered if that was the Jennifer mentioned in the article because the age would match. I'm thinking that this address might be a clue in this case.
If Mary from the housefire is our missing person, then be aware that she did die from the injuries sustained from the fire. This would be about closure and not a reunion.
NamUs # and Link: #MP2876
Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 13 years old
Hair: Brown to light brown
Eye color: blue
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 4'6" and 85 pounds
Other: scars -- abdomen and chest; teeth -- crooked in 1971
Clothing: black leather belt, a white t-shirt, and red-and-white shorts
Shane, my number is 8455324975, if you want to call me, thanks, Paul Wesolowski
ReplyDeleteThanks. Feel free to contact me at websleuths using the private-message system if you like. I posted the link to this article in Mary's case forum there. Interested to know if you think this article has any substance, if there's anything to add to it, or especially if the guess can be demonstrated to be certainly false.
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