Venita Holzman Missing: Las Vegas 1963 Mystery Uncovered

Missing Person: Venita Gale Holzman (née Bowers)

Details from a government source (might be paraphrased):

Venita Holzman was last seen in 1963 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, after working a shift. No vehicle or additional details provided.

Last contact: 1963

NamUs says January 1st of 1963 is when she went missing but "January 1st" is likely just a placeholder date. Her birthdate was July 19th, 1940 and her age at the time of her disappearance was 22. Based on this, presumptively, she was last seen between January 1st, 1963 and July 18th, 1963.

Last location: Las Vegas, Nevada - Flamingo Hotel (modern address is 3555 S. Las Vegas Boulevard)
Age when Venita Holzman disappeared: 22
DOB: July 19th, 1940
Sex: Female
Height in inches: 67
Weight in pounds (lbs): 120
BMI: 18.8 - Healthy weight (calculated to help picture what Venita Holzman might have looked like)
Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Hair color: Red/Auburn
Eye Color: Green
Distinctive Features: None reported
Link to Government Source: NamUs MP143151 (right-click to open)

Discussion page: Websleuths

Unraveling the Mystery: Key Insights and Updates

By: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: August 17th, 2025

Tonight, I had a look at the enigmatic disappearance of Venita Gale Holzman (née Bowers), a 22-year-old White/Caucasian female who vanished from Las Vegas, Nevada, sometime between January 1st and July 18th, 1963. The disappearance occurred after her shift at the Flamingo Hotel. Unfortunately, there were scant details beyond her workplace exit. I did not find a missing persons report about this case in journalism from the 1960s.

The MP was involved in 1957 divorce filings that did not come to fruition until 1959. She (or someone with the same name and city of residence) was in a minor house fire incident in June 1957, which would have happened in the months after her marriage went south. Zel Holzman, who was her husband (may have been Joseph Zel Holman/November 2nd, 1952 Fresno Bee), is someone she sought divorce from for reasons of extreme cruelty.

I think this Zel Holman was involved in another divorce in 1956 from someone named Joyce Marguerite Holzman. Furthermore, this woman, Joyce Marguerite, was involved in an injurious accident that appeared to involve brake failure around the time of her marriage to Zel turning south. Zel, which could be short for Zelick, and Marg were married from 1951 or 1952 to 1956. Joyce Marguerite reportedly alleged cruelty as the reason for divorce as well.

April 2nd, 1955. The Fresno Bee.

I did consider it eyebrow raising that both Marguerite and Venita were involved in potentially life-threatening incidents around the times of their divorce proceedings to Zel, a car accident and a house fire respectively.

Venita's tumultuous marriage could be set aside because it seemed to be finalized in 1959 and she did not go missing until 1963. However, anytime you see the phrase "extreme cruelty" alleged by a woman who goes missing, I think it's only natural to look at the person that she was talking about.

Yet, if that is set aside in the name of trying to look at the whole picture, Venita appears to have disappeared during her work commute. That is what I am taking the reports of her being last seen at work to mean. Commuters are usually in a fairly predictable pattern, which brings a potential stalker into the equation, someone who could have figured out her patterns and planned accordingly.

Modesto Bee, June 17th, 1957

Modesto Bee, August 2nd, 1957

Reno Gazette Journal, July 9th, 1957

Modesto Bee, April 24th, 1959

July 31st, 1956. Reno Gazette Journal.

December 25th, 1956. The Fresno Bee.

Zel Holman did marry again and he seemed to be involved in a divorce again. He remarried in 1959 and sought a divorce in 1966 with one Bernice L. Holzman. This time he was the one citing cruelty according to the newspaper clipping below.

Venita's missing person report at NamUs was not created until May 4th, 2025. That's a 62-year gap between her last-seen time and the NamUs creation date without any documented missing person report that I could find.

Ramona Lynn Fey (Attempt to Match) - Missing Since 1995 After Self-Harm

Details from a government source (might be paraphrased): Ramona Lynn Fey left her sister's residence in Spanaway, WA after she, Ramona, cut her own throat. She was later involved in a single-vehicle car accident at Mount Rainier National Park and had to be towed from a ditch. Her car was later found in Mount Rainier National Park with the door open and the engine running. Witnesses saw her on a trail in the park. An extensive search failed to locate the MP. She may have had brown-wire-rimmed glasses.

Missing Person: Ramona Lynn Fey

Last contact: July 17th, 1995 (Tuesday)

Age when Ramona Lynn Fey disappeared: 39

Sex: Female

Height in Inches: 64-65, which is 5'4" to 5'5"

Weight in pounds (lbs): 115

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Hair color: Brown but graying

Eye Color: Brown

Scar or distinctive characteristic: Scar on the leg. Had cut her own throat.

Birthdate: probably November 30th, 1955.

Link to government source: https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/14348?nav

Ancestry Webpage: Ramona Lynn Fey

Vehicle Information: 1984 Jeep Cherokee. Wagon style. Tan color. 379DCY plates.

Commentary and Research

By: Shane Lambert

Ramona Lynn Fey has not been seen since July 17th, 1995. Her vehicle was found in Mount Rainier National Park, making her a case of "Car found person missing," which is a popular tag on this blog. 

This missing person case is not as clouded in mystery as some other ones. In my opinion, suicide is the most likely reason for her disappearance. However, the whereabouts of her remains is the question at hand.

The journalism on this missing person, by my research, started on July 19th, 1995. A short blurb appeared in The News Tribune out of Tacoma, Washington. She had left her car running in the park's parking lot, which shows some indifference to the vehicle. That may have been a call for help.

This individual was depressed and had a doctor for the matter. A blurb written a day after the one below stated that she had stopped taking her medication. The family described the woman as mentally ill and possibly suicidal.

Has Ramona Lynn Fey been found?

There is a chance that body parts of hers were found on September 13th, 2013. Some human remains were found on that day that have not yet been linked to an individual yet.

The NamUs Unidentified Person is #12200. The authorities are uncertain of the sex or other details of these body parts. However, I will point out that the coordinates given for where Ramona Lynn Fey was last seen and the coordinates of the body parts that were found are extremely close to one another when I pull them up on Google Maps. I'm not sure if this has to do with just a kind of "default" coordinates for the area or not.

The missing person has a webpage at Ancestry. There is a separate picture there of her which I decided to publish here. It may show the glasses that are associated with her case. Also, there appears to be a mole on her chin/cheek. Her date of disappearance is listed as her date of death at Ancestry, suggesting that her family members are satisfied to some extent that she died at the time of her disappearance.

Jon Jonsson -- Missing Poker Player Since February 2019

Author: Shane Lambert

Time of writing: January 7th, 2021

Missing person: Jon Jonsson
Date of disappearance: February 9th, 2019 (Saturday) at 11:15AM
Last-seen: on CCTV -- at the exit of Highfield Hospital, heading towards Collins Avenue in Dublin, Ireland

Jon Jonsson's case is a well-known missing person's case because he was a well-known poker player in Iceland. Furthermore, there is CCTV footage covering his footsteps in the hours before he was reported as missing. That footage has helped make him the subject of some Youtube videos that cover missing person's cases.

Guesses as to what happened to him abound. In October 2020, there were articles on the Internet that he might have been killed by accident in a heated exchange over missing money. Without conclusive evidence, there certainly is room for conjecture within the known facts.

One detail that is important in the case is the fact that Jonsson, when he left his hotel room, did so without taking his wallet, his passport, or his cell phone. In the CCTV footage, he can clearly be seen walking in public areas where there is vehicle traffic.

In the past, people have gone unidentified in hospitals, morgues, and then cemeteries after walking in public without identification. If you walk out in public without any ID on you and, for example, you get into an accident of some kind that requires hospitalization, then you could end up a John Doe because of that.

The case of Joseph Norman Spears is one that could be taken into consideration. In 1973, he was walking in public without identification in Texas City, Texas. He was killed in a motor vehicle accident and was not identified until 2016. That those who knew him best were not in Texas City severely reduced his chances of being identified in the short term.

But a motor vehicle accident need not be involved to produce a John Doe. Any serious medical ailment, such as a heart attack or aneurysm, could lead to someone without ID being admitted into a hospital as a John Doe. If this hospital visit leads to death and then burial, it could produce a missing person's mystery.

That is especially the case because someone entering the health-care system without ID might be treated as a lower-classed individual. Any such presumptions of you being a transient or a homeless person would only work against within a society that's elitist -- as all society's in our times are.

If the lead over the heated exchange doesn't lead to anything, then those interested in finding Jon Jonsson better comb over all hospital admissions in Dublin on the day in question -- and double-check them if that's already been done. All it would take is an assumption of transience and he could slip through the cracks of an investigation.

Maura Murray -- Newspaper Clippings from the Baffling Unsolved Missing Person's Case

Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: Sunday, December 20th, 2020

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Introduction to Maura Murray's Disappearance

Maura Murray is one of this century's most famous cases of missing people. She was last known to have been in New Hampshire, where she was involved in a single-vehicle car accident.

Murray then disappeared before the police arrived to find her vehicle locked. She has not been seen or heard from since.

Case Details

Missing Person: Maura Murray
Last Seen or Contact Date: Shortly after 7pm on Monday, February 9th, 2004
Where Last Seen: In the vicinity of Route 112 in Haverhill, New Hampshire, about a mile from Swift Water Village, about five miles from Wells River, Vermont (across the Connecticut River). She was taking a sharp turn on Wild Ammonoosuc Road between Old Peters Road and Bradley Hill Road (there’s a blue ribbon tied around a tree on Google Maps).

Maura Murray Saturday, February 14th, 2004 – 18 · The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · Newspapers.com

Similar Cases

The case has some similarities to unrelated cases. Many times across America, someone has been involved in a car accident only to disappear in the immediate aftermath.

In 2020, Yvette Slim went missing after an accident. In 2018, Blair Minnifield (NamUs #MP52423) got in a single-vehicle accident, went to the hospital, and then disappeared. Stephan Chan (NamUs #MP50755) disappeared the same year after a single-vehicle accident. In 2016, Brandi Shontay Brown disappeared after hospitalization from an accident.

Psychological Context of Car Accidents

It is interesting to think about a car accident that is followed by the driver's disappearance. We can imagine that an individual who is near a breaking point might cross that point after a car accident, especially if the accident is his/her fault.

Life can be tough and car accidents are no small deal: even if you escape injury, dealing with the bureaucratic procedures after an accident can be very annoying. It follows that someone who is already mentally unwell might see this as the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Maura Murray Monday, February 10th, 2014 – 10 · The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado) · Newspapers.com

Maura’s Background and Possible Motives

But with Maura Murray, I’ve often wondered if the car accident wasn’t so much that straw but maybe she had already decided to disappear herself. The accident might have been the result of indifference to her life or maybe even a last-ditch call for help if she was in a suicidal state.

It was her second car crash in recent days and she was thought to be “distraught” at this time of her life. Months earlier, she faced legal problems for fraudulently using a credit card.

Witness Accounts and Investigation

The individual who spoke to Murray shortly after her accident (Butch Atwood, now deceased) suggested that she may have been intoxicated. Thus, Murray might have been facing a drunk-driving charge if she stuck around the accident scene. Other witnesses said that they saw her roadside and police dogs lost her scent about 100 yards from her car.

Maura Murray Thursday, February 19th, 2004 – Page 20 · The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, Vermont) · Newspapers.com

Theories and Speculation

This is a baffling case, and, like most difficult missing person’s cases, there are a lot of ways your mind can go. The father was always adamant that she met with foul play—so adamant that it is hard to disregard his opinion.

That would make you think that an abductor arrived at the scene of the accident and picked her up as she walked away. However, that in itself would be one Johnny-on-the-spot abductor as he/she would have arrived on the scene in the minutes between the crash and the arrival of the authorities.

That Murray told lies to her school and work in the time frame before she disappeared is interesting. It suggests that her life was not in balance. That she was drinking and driving adds weight to this, in my opinion.

Of course, if she fled the scene for legal reasons and hitched a ride, then why hasn’t she been heard from since? She would not likely flee a drunk-driving charge for years as first-time offenders can expect leniency. If she voluntarily entered a passerby’s vehicle, then why didn’t this driver contact authorities later?

Possibility of an Unknown Witness

In my opinion, the best chance of finding her is simply that she did enter someone’s vehicle and that this person has never confronted the story of her disappearance and doesn’t know he or she has valuable information.

But sometimes people who have valuable information regarding a missing person are unlikely to share it—even when they realize it. For example, in the case of Emma Fillipoff, there was a man who picked her up as a hitchhiker near the time of her disappearance. When he realized that he had information on her whereabouts, he kept it to himself until several years after she disappeared.

His reasoning was that he simply did not want to be cast in a false light (i.e., someone who picked up a hitchhiker who was never seen again would be considered a suspect in the disappearance).

Final Acts of Generosity

One possibility is that Maura, planning to end her life, gave away her possessions in a final act of kindness. There are a lot of instances when someone gives away possessions late in life, knowing that they do not need them anymore.

On Monday, February 9th, 2004, Maura withdrew about $280 from her bank account, nearly all she had, and this money was not found in her car. While her money could have been in her pocket as she left, she also bought alcohol that day, some of which—possibly bottles of Baileys, Kahlúa, or vodka—was missing from her vehicle. That seemed like too much alcohol to drink without going unconscious.

She may have given these items to homeless people, reflecting a generous impulse before her disappearance. While no one reported receiving such gifts, her distraught state suggests she might have felt free to let go of what she no longer needed. Late-life generosity, which certainly is not unheard of, would explain where the missing alcohol went and it would align with a suicidal frame of mind, in my opinion.

Considering Suicide as a Possibility

Maura Murray’s case remains baffling and I gravitate toward suicide as the most likely explanation for her disappearance. It doesn’t matter to me that her father thought this unlikely, as there is often a divide between what parents notice of their children and their mental reality. That she met with foul play is the opinion of the family, even as recently as Friday, February 9th, 2024 when People.com did an update on this case (Nicole Briese).

However, I don’t feel strongly about my opinion. Suicide by facing-the-elements doesn’t sound like a great way to go. There’s no reason to believe that Murray had a gun and it was evening when she went missing in February—a cold time of year in the northern USA. Hiking through the night-time forest for a cliff to jump off doesn’t sound like a great way to go either.

Conclusion

At the end of this case, I feel like we’re left with the facts and details of her case—all of which point to nothing but difficult-to-weigh speculation. Years have passed and we’re still waiting for that moment when things finally make sense.

Maura Murray Saturday, February 14th, 2004 – 18 · The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · Newspapers.com

Maura Murray Sunday, February 15th, 2004 – 29 · The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · Newspapers.com

Maura Murray Tuesday, February 17th, 2004 – 19 · The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · Newspapers.com

Maura Murray Tuesday, March 2nd, 2004 – 17 · The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · Newspapers.com

Maura Murray Thursday, April 4th, 2019 – A9 · The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, Vermont) · Newspapers.com

Identifying Information

NamUs # and Link: #MP54
Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Female
Age at Time of Disappearance: 21 years old
Hair: Light brown or brown
Eye Color: Greenish/bluish
Height and Weight at the Time of Disappearance: 5’7” and 120 pounds
Other: Dimpled cheeks
Scars: Right calf
Clothing: Possibly wearing a dark-colored coat and jeans, carrying a backpack.

Yvette Slim -- NamUs #MP76354

By: Shane Lambert

Original time of writing: December 11th, 2020

The case of Yvette Slim is an interesting one. She is NamUs #MP76354, she went missing on June 21st, 2020, she disappeared from Katy, Texas, and she was 23 years old at the time of her disappearance. For vitals, she was a white female but the skin does look darker than white in her profile picture. She was also 5'2" and 180 pounds. She had brown hair and brown eyes.

For case details, NamUs offered the following at the time of writing: 

"Missing person left her home in the 1800 block of Vanderwilt Lane, Katy, TX on Saturday, 6/20/2020, she was last seen by police on Sunday, June 21, 2020 after being involved in an auto accident, but had not been reported missing at that time. Missing Persons has not been seen since the accident and has not spoken to her family since Saturday."

For me, the car accident is the incident to think about here. I wasn't able to find any online sources on this matter at the time of writing. Nor was I able to find anything in the newspaper database I use. That leaves general case-studies as a perspective to take.

Why might a car accident intuitively be connected to a missing person's case? The thoughtless individual might say "well when someone gets in a car accident" then they might die. However, people that die in car accidents have their remains found. Yvette Slim is not known to be dead -- she is missing person.

I think car accidents and missing people are more likely to be related for another reason. Anyone that gets in a car accident, especially as a driver, is at risk of having his/her life turn south with immediate effect. This is true even if the accident is not that person's fault and it's true even if the accident does not injure the person nor significantly damage the person's property. A minor fender-bender can initiate an annoying legal process that's complete with paperwork and red tape. Of course, many car accidents are not minor -- but even the small ones represent a downturn in someone's life.

A car accident might produce a missing person if an injury causes some kind of disorientation. Hospitals are a good place to look for this person, however, in Slim's case several months have passed at the time of writing, since the accident.

Also, a car accident might produce a missing person if the individual involved in one would prefer to disappear instead of facing the legal matters involved in the car accident. I read the case of an individual who was gone before the authorities arrived and he has not been heard from since. An outstanding warrant might make you flee the scene of an accident as you know that police could be converging on the scene soon. From that perspective, a judicial disappearance should be considered.

Lastly, maybe a car accident -- even one that isn't your fault -- might be a sort of tipping point mentally. Slim's disappearance is a COVID-pandemic-era disappearance during the Trump administration. This remains a stressful time for middle-class Americans. Could a car accident be the proverbial final straw that breaks someone's back? What about affiliated hospital costs for someone who doesn't have insurance? It's fair to say that a car accident, even one that you walk away from relatively intact, could affect a middle-classed individual's economic outlook for many years in the future.

As further food for thought, I looked up missing people where a car accident was mentioned in conjunction with the missing person. This did hit on a semi-famous case and it hit on others that are not that well known.

Blair Minnifield -- NamUs #MP52423: missing since August 18th, 2018, this individual got in a single-vehicle accident and told his mother he injured his face. He went to the hospital and hasn't been seen since.

Stephen Chan -- NamUs #MP50755: missing since April 2, 2018, this man got in a single-vehicle accident, told a tow-truck drive he was taking an Uber, and disappeared.

Brandi Shontay Brown -- NamUs #MP36665: car accident lead to hospitalization and then the individual disappeared upon release.

The search "car accident" actually had a fair amount of hits among NamUs's missing people when I searched the phrase in circumstances. 15 cases came up and described people that disappeared from the hospital after the accident or shortly after the accident itself.

In one case (alluded to earlier), the individual in the accident was gone before the authorities arrived (Seth Adam Muskett -- NamUs #29917). That would raise questions of judicial fleeing but could involve disorientation due to shock or injuries as well.

After reading the cases of missing people where a car accident is mentioned, I have these questions:

1. Was Slim's car accident single-vehicle or multi-vehicle?
2. Did she go to the hospital?
3. Was the accident seemingly her fault?
4. Was she given a breathalyzer and what were the results?

Of course, the famous case of a missing person after a car accident is the still-unsolved case of Maura Murray from 2004. Amidst other troubles, Maura got in a single-vehicle accident and that was the last anyone knew of her.