Lillian Rochelle Holmes -- Missing From Pasadena Since 1984

Details from NamUs** (the time in the description below is disputed): 

"21-year-old Lillian Rochelle Holmes went missing in Pasadena California on 3/22/1984. Lillian was last seen by her father when she left her Pasadena home at approximately 6:30 am on her way to start a new job demonstrating products at Robinsons in the Santa Anita Mall located in Arcadia, CA. Lillian was last seen boarding an RTD bus in Pasadena carrying a blue dress over her shoulder. Lillian was never seen or heard from again. It is believed that Lillian never made it to the new job at the mall but it is unknown where exactly she vanished along her journey between her home and the mall."

Missing Person: Lillian Rochelle Holmes
Last-contact date: March 22nd, 1984 (Thursday) -- NamUs says she was seen at 630AM, another source says noon to 1pm
The area where the MP was last seen: Pasadena, California at Lake Avenue and Rio Grande Street
Link to government source: NamUs MP14475

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: Black (described as a light-skinned mulatto)
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 21 years old
Birthdate: January 23rd, 1963
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Scar: None indicated
Height/weight: 5'2" to 5'5" and 105 to 120 pounds
BMI*: Lillian Rochelle Holmes was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Lillian Rochelle Holmes did not have any tattoos associated with her profiles. If you know that the missing person did have tattoos, then please post a remark at the end of this blog post on the matter.

By: Shane Lambert

Original time of writing: March 22nd, 2021

Lillian Rochelle Holmes was last heard from on March 22nd, 1984 when she was 21 years of age. This individual disappeared during her commute on what was her first day of a new job according to the NamUs description. She has been missing for about 42 years as of 2026.

What stands out with this case to me was the fact that it was her first day at a new job. I considered the possibility that she was not entirely familiar with her commute. When I research modern routes, the trip between Pasadena and the mall should not have been complicated for Lillian. Evidently, things did not go as planned.

I found her in high school yearbooks from Pasadena in what would have been earlier times of her life. It's clear that she lived in the area for at least seven years prior to disappearing. She is in the 1978 Pasadena High School yearbook as a freshman. That picture is below but the one at the top of this article is from closer to the time she disappeared.

A search for journalism regarding this case failed when I used my membership at Newspapers.com. However, she was definitely covered somewhere as NamUs included an uncredited newspaper article in their profile. Apparently, this newspaper article wasn't in the newspapers that are included in the Newspaper.com database at the time of this article's research.

In reading below, you will note that the missing person had a blue dress in her possession that she had just gotten from the laundromat. The location of this laundromat would be interesting to learn. Also, the journalism indicates that she was last seen later in the day than what the NamUs description states.

I would like to credit this article to the source. If you know where it appeared, then please comment at the end of this blog post.

NamUs says she was last seen at 630AM by her father, whose name was Kenneth Holmes. However, the newspaper article clipped above says she was last seen between noon and 1pm by a bus passenger. There is a contradiction here to try and make sense of.

I think her day likely involved leaving home at 630AM, going to the cleaners, perhaps going for lunch, and then taking the bus from the laundromat to the mall where she was to start her job. That scenario is how I've made sense of the contradicting information in this case.

The following clippings are advertisements from the Robinson's store that she was going to work at. One of them may even have been the job that Lillian applied to as the timing is about right.

Sun, Feb 5, 1984 – 660 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com

Sun, Mar 4, 1984 – 613 · The Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, California) · Newspapers.com

I think trying to trace her exact commute would be useful. What laundromat she used is one question in this case. Where she might have gone to lunch would be a point to note too, however, that seems difficult to figure out after all these years. 

I'm picturing an abduction in this case because of how attractive Lillian was and the fact that I think she was showing up for work eager to make a good first impression in the type of job where looks mattered to the employer. Sales Associate or Product Display positions in department stores usually feature well-dressed and attractive women. That would also attract a lot of attention her way during her commute.

Abduction on a city bus is hard to do with a grown adult like Lillian. A commotion would create witnesses. The same could be said inside the mall. In my opinion, the part of her commute where she was most vulnerable would be the mall parking lot. That is my presumptive area of interest for where she might have been abducted but there doesn't seem to be much to go on.

Along these lines, a similar case would be that of Cindy Lee Mellin. She was a department store employee that was practically known to have been abducted in the parking lot of the mall where she worked. In Mellin's case, it happened during her commute as well but after her shift. Mellin's disappearance was 14 years earlier in 1970 and about 80 miles away in Ventura. Mellin was 19 and she a female. That's pretty close to the same demographics as Holmes. 

These cases may be unrelated but, if you agree that the mall parking lot was the most dangerous part of Lillian's commute, then they do have some interesting similarities. If either missing person is to be found then certainly a lot of work remains to be done. As researched with the time I had, Holmes is a true vanishing: there's no significant clue as to what happened to her.

Author: Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on Websleuths) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of March 2021.

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Website hashtag: #MPCSL

*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing persons case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.

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Cindy Lee Mellin -- Missing During Tire Change in January 1970

Case Overview: Cindy Lee Mellin’s Disappearance

Details from NamUs**:

"Mellin was employed by the Broadway Department Store in the Buenaventura Shopping Center. She left work shortly after closing on the night of January 20, 1970. She was last seen standing next to her car in the shopping center parking lot while an unidentified male changed her tire. When she failed to return home that night, her father (Leonard Alfred Mellin) went to the shopping center looking for her and found her car still up on a jack with the flat tire still attached"

   

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Key Information About Cindy Lee Mellin

Missing Person: Cindy Lee Mellin (may go by Cynthia in some databases of records)
Last-contact date: January 20th, 1970 at about 9:45pm
The area where the MP was last seen: Ventura, California in the parking lot of Buenaventura Shopping Center which was probably close to 34.26974109569808, -119.24888050781114 on Google Maps
Link to government source: NamUs MP#6849 

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Vital Details of Cindy Lee Mellin

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 19 years old

Birthdate: December 3rd, 1950
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Scar: None listed at NamUs
Height/weight: 5-foot-6 and 105 pounds
BMI*: In this case, the missing person was underweight by BMI at the time of the disappearance.

• BMI is body mass index. It relates to an individual's height and weight. I include it believing it can help picture a missing person or describe one.

Tattoos: Cindy Lee Mellin did not have any tattoos associated with her profiles. If you know that the missing person did have tattoos, then please post a remark at the end of this blog post on the matter.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Cindy Lee Mellin, a missing person, was last heard from on January 20th, 1970 when she was 19 years old. This individual has now been missing for 51 years as of the original publication date of this blog post. Her ancestry page lists her date of death as the date of her disappearance which suggests that family members consider her dead.

What stands out with this case is that she may have been a victim of the so-called "Good Samaritan's Ruse." This is when someone offers help to an individual but actually has sinister intentions.

Someone using this modus operandi may cause damage to an individual's vehicle and then show up pretending to be of help for the problem when the vehicle operator discovers the damage. The phony Good Samaritan then earns the trust of the victim and disappears her.

There are many cases where this ruse is known to have happened and probably more where it should be part of the debate. I covered many cases of missing people and car troubles in another blog post a few years back in an article called "Women With Car Troubles Go Missing."

Cindy Lee Mellin's tire had been punctured. There was someone on the scene to assist her, this much was witnessed. It's possible that whoever punctured the tire was this same individual that attempted to help her change the tire. After all, the evidence suggests that she did disappear during the tire change.

Historical Newspaper Clippings

Tue, Jun 30, 1970 – 2 · The Napa Valley Register (Napa, California) · Newspapers.com

Location and Workplace Details

Cindy worked at the Broadway Department Store. I think the mall has changed names since the time of her employment there. I did go into the newspaper database to find the following plans that dated from the time of construction. It could help pinpoint the scene of the abduction if you are interested in that. If you can't read the legend then the store she worked at is marked with a "1." I'm guessing that she likely parked near there.

Fri, Apr 5, 1963 – 17 · Ventura County Star-Free Press (Ventura, California) · Newspapers.com

Clothing and Identification Tips

Finding Cindy Lee Mellin could involve searching the Jane Doe databases for unidentified women found in relation to clothing that Mellin had. She was thought to have had the following articles when she disappeared: a navy blue dress (might be size 9) with red buttons, a brown corduroy coat (she was a size 10), size-7 blue shoes (medium heels) with gold buckles, and a gold ring with a single pearl. If you find a Jane Doe with one or more of these items, then cross-reference the other particulars between the missing person and the Jane Doe, especially the timeline.

The man seen in Mellin's company was thought to be 30-40 years old, tall, and slim.

Fri, Jan 23, 1970 – 2 · Valley Times (North Hollywood, California) · Newspapers.com

Call to Action: Share Cindy’s Story

Please share this article to social media using hashtags that are related to where the missing person went missing from, which is Ventura, California.

Notes and Disclaimer

*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight.
**Text might be paraphrased. If taken verbatim, then grammar or spelling errors are not necessarily corrected from original sources.
Disclaimer: Whenever possible, government sources are preferred for getting the details of a missing person's case. However, any source that the article writer deems reputable may be used.