Missing Person: Leslie Jo Grissom (appeared as "Leslie Joe Grissom" in newspaper archives)
Details from a government source (might be paraphrased):
Leslie Jo Grissom was last seen on Sunday, July 8th, 2007, at a residence in Kittrell, North Carolina, after walking away from the residence.
Last contact: Sunday, July 8th, 2007 at about 1:30AM Last location: Kittrell, North Carolina - Residence in Vance County; I think the last-seen location might have been 3985 Weldon Mill Road, Lot 15, Henderson (maybe spelled "Weldons"). That address is mentioned as one she shared with someone. However, the town of Kittrell is listed as her last-known location in some sources.
The Daily Dispatch/July 12th, 2007
Age when Leslie Jo Grissom disappeared: 19 DOB: Between July 9th, 1987 and July 8th, 1988; one source said November 20th, 1987. Sex: Female Height in inches: 61 Weight in pounds (lbs): 105 BMI: 19.8 - Healthy weight (calculated to help picture what Leslie Jo Grissom might have looked like) Ethnicity: White/Caucasian Hair color: Blond/Strawberry Eye Color: Blue Distinctive Features: No information entered Link to Government Source: NamUs MP147344 (right-click to open) Unraveling the Mystery: Key Insights and Updates
By: Shane Lambert Original time of writing: Sunday, August 17th, 2025
Leslie Jo Grissom has been missing since July 8th, 2007. She reportedly went missing after an argument with her live-in boyfriend. This boyfriend, Jake Holden Gilliam, is the individual who reported her missing on the afternoon of July 9th, 2007.
I reviewed the early journalism with this case. The first article I found that mentioned her disappearance was on July 12th, 2007 in a newspaper known as The Daily Dispatch. The wooded areas around her home were searched and dogs were used.
There was the suggestion that she was in northern Franklin County. In fact, at one point this missing person case seemed to be resolved as per the article below.
July 13th, 2007/The Daily Dispatch
A strange detail in this case is that the missing person had a twin, one that I presumed to be identical. It's this twin who may have been spotted in the days after Leslie was last seen in a case of mistaken identity.
I will note that in my searching through newspaper databases, her name was spelled with "Joe" as the middle name. In online sources, she is called "Jo." I think the latter is more in line with the feminine usage of the name.
Details from a government source (might be paraphrased): On May 2nd, 1981, Verna Bjerky was seen for the last time hitchhiking from Hope to Kamloops, British Columbia. She carried roller skates over her shoulder and was seen getting into a vehicle with a lone occupant. Verna has not been seen or heard from since.
Last contact: A local boy saw her on May 2nd, 1981 (Saturday) at about 4 PM. Presumably, this was the person who saw her enter a vehicle. A friend of Verna's had seen her at about 1 PM in nearby Hope, BC.
Last location: Yale, BC is often listed as her last-known location, however, most of the early journalism suggested she was seen closer to Hope, BC, on the edge of town near the Trans Canada Highway.
Age when Verna Susan Bjerky disappeared: 16 (near her 17th birthday but she was 16 when last seen)
DOB: May 10th, 1981
Sex: Female
Height in Inches: 61-62
Weight in pounds (lbs): 110 - 115
Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Hair color: Long blonde hair with short bangs
Eye Color: Hazel
Scar or distinctive characteristic: Gap between front teeth, scar on her left rib cage
Mother: Clare Chrane
Clothing and articles: $7 (there were no loonies or twoonies at that time in Canadian history), a handbag, a leather coat, blue denim pants, a red shirt with white flowers, a grey cotton sweatshirt, canvas brown "North Star" shoes, a blue and red cotton vest, and she carried rollerskates (these skates had her name on them "Verna Bjerky"). She may have had a knife as a friend claimed she gave her one the day she disappeared.
August 14th, 1997. The Vancouver Sun.
Her rollerskates and purse appear to have been found in or near the Freaser River near Highway 7. I think that the date they were found was October 19th, 1981.
Link to Government Source (Canada's Missing): 2014001314 (right click to open)
BMI means body mass index. It is meant to describe someone's healthy body weight relative to their height. It is only food for thought because it does not account for all body types.
Verna Susan Bjerky had a BMI of 20.78. She was at a healthy weight by BMI standards at the time of her disappearance.
Commentary and Research
By: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: February 5th, 2025
Has Verna Susan Bjerky been found?
Verna Susan Bjerky has been missing since Saturday, May 2nd, 1981. She's among the missing people in North America who were last seen hitchhiking. Verna's missing person case had a lot of journalism, both back in the 1980s and even journalism coverage from 2024. I will review the details of her case as per the journalism that covered it.
The first newspaper clipping that I found that pertained to this case was a classified advertisement. Someone placed an ad in the Vancouver Sun on May 20th, 1981. This would have been eighteen days after Verna was last seen. If I am not mistaken, someone who cared about her wanted to find a clue to what happened to her by locating the roller skates that she had with her. The classified ad below appeared in the "Lost" column.
The first instance of journalism I found appeared on May 27th, 1981 in The Hope Standard. The town of Hope is located a couple of hours east of Vancouver. According to this article, the last person to see her was a local boy who saw her leaving Hope and walking toward the Trans Canada Highway. Based on this, you would think she would have been last seen within a couple kilometers of these coordinates: 49.39163243453994, -121.46069332795696.
There was a bus strike wtih Greyhound that made the young woman reliant on hitchhiking for transportation. She was planning on going to Kamloops for one day to visit her boyfriend.
Her chosen route might strike some as strange. Most people who travel from Hope to Kamloops might take the No. 5 highway, known as the Coquihalla Highway. However, this highway was not completed until later in the 1980s. If you are looking at modern maps, then picture the highways without the No. 5 route.
In the journalism from 1981, Verna's case was often mentioned in conjunction with numerous other missing children (whether younger or teenagers).
In journalism after 1981, the name "Clifford Olson" is often mentioned in conjunction with Verna Susan Bjerky. Olson, who died in 2011, was a Canadian serial killer who focused on killing children. Verna disappeared during a small time frame when Olson was on a rampage in the region.
A friend of Verna's claimed that she and Verna had hitched a ride together in late April 1981 and that Clifford Olson was the driver. There was the suggestion that Olson tried to poison or drug each of them but failed (the friend, Cathy Lamberton, felt like peanuts they were gifted might have been tampered with). They were dropped off in Kamloops, BC safe and sound. Based on this, if Verna's path crossed with Olson's on May 2nd, she might have accepted a ride from him, with some comfort, based on her safe passage in an earlier trip.
Commentary and Opinion
That Verna's friend claimed that they had survived an encounter with Clifford Olson in the days before the disappearance probably is not a coincidence. I think she likely did meet up with him again while hitchhiking and that it cost her her life.
As for finding her, I think it might be futile if her body was dumped into the Fraser River. Her belongings were found near this river and it is the longest river in British Columbia. With the force of the river and flooding, something as small as a human body can end up anywhere in the region. Furthermore, the shifting of sediment could bury a body such that only a change geological event would reveal it.
If she ended up somewhere else, then the gap in her teeth is a clue. This can be cross-referenced to any Jane Doe descriptions.
The last thing I wanted to mention with this case is just how the strike involving Greyhound bus lines played a role. It's enough to suggest that bus line transportation in Canada should be considered an essential service as it's infinitely safer to be a bus than hitchhiking.
Paraphrased details from government source**: On the morning of May 18th, 1993, Christine Harron stayed home from school as she was not feeling well. Around lunchtime, Christine and her mother argued about Christine returning to school for the afternoon. Her mother heard Christine leave the house at about 1:30 pm. Christine did not attend school that afternoon and has not been seen since. The investigation revealed that Christine left the house without her purse, money, or knapsack. Subsequent investigations led to the arrest and conviction of a male regarding the disappearance of Christine Harron, however, she remains missing.
Missing Person: Christine Marianne Harron
Last-contact date: May 18th, 1993 (Tuesday) The area where the MP was last seen: Hanover, Ontario; it sounded like she disappeared between her residence and John Diefenbaker High School. Link to government source: Canada's Missing 2010001799
VITAL DETAILS
Ethnicity: White or Caucasian Sex: Female Age at time of disappearance: 15 years old Birthdate: Christine Marianne Harron was born between May 19th, 1977, and May 18th, 1978 based on her reported age at the last date of reported contact. Hair: Brown, long Eyes: Blue Scar: None known Height/weight: 5'3" and 110 pounds BMI*: Christine Marianne Harron was in the normal range for BMI. Tattoos: Christine Marianne Harron had no tattoos associated with her profile.
Christine Marianne Harron was last heard from on May 18th, 1993 when she was 15 years of age.
This individual has now been missing for about 32 years as of early 2025. However, her disappearance is not as clouded in mystery as many other disappearances.
A man named Anthony Edward Ringel pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Harron's case. According to a National Post article from October 2016, he abducted, raped, and murdered the teenage girl before leaving her dead near the Saugeen River. When this river flooded in what I think was 1994 (as communicated by the NP article), the resulting currents and water flow may have moved her body.
Taking everything at face value, this isn't a case that amateurs will be able to help with much. People who go missing in water are often missing until a chance event of a geological nature or even real-estate developmental reveals them. Missing people in flooded areas are often buried underneath a lot of sediment.
I would say that amateurs probably will not find a clue in this case. However, a news report in the area of human remains being found in association with the Saugeen River or even Lake Huron would be interesting. That said, people who are absolutely known to have fallen into a river often stay missing for decades and decades.
Christine's clothing could be cross-referenced against any Jane Does in the area. She may have had the following articles when she disappeared: a light-blue denim jacket, blue denim pants, black running shoes, and plastic glasses that were brown and had tape.
One interesting takeaway from this case is that the teen disappeared after an argument with her mother. Perhaps, that fueled the idea that Christine had been a runaway. But based on the conviction, it's clear that she met up with a clandestine individual.
There were many alleged sightings of Christine, all of which would be false if the words of Ringel were to be trusted. Given that he received a lengthy sentence for his admissions, it doesn't make sense that he's lying. But that many people reported seeing her even though she is conclusively dead is a point that can be taken away from this case. Unfortunately, sightings of missing people can be pretty frivolous.
That does bring to mind a lot of cases involving missing people, like Paula Jean Welden. Sightings of missing people that are ambiguous should be taken with a big grain of salt in my view, but never discounted.
Thank you for reading. If have any information about this case, consider contacting the authorities.
Author:Shane Lambert (Vancouver, Canada)
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
Shane Lambert (Vancouver, Canada) is not a Private Investigator, however, he is currently studying to be one as of April 2021.
If you like this blog, then you can join the affiliated Facebook group: MPC Facebook Group
Website hashtag: #MPCSL
*For BMI values, I use the UPPER or HIGHER ranges that are given for height and weight. **Might not be the exact meaning that NamUs or Canada's Missing conveys. I improve upon their descriptions with my research. Disclaimer: Non-opinionated information at this site generally comes from government sources or police reports. Other sources may be used.
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Author: Shane Lambert Original Time of Writing: December 20th, 2020, updated December 27th, 2020.
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
Missing Person: Paula Jean Welden Last seen or contact date: December 1st, 1946
At about 245pm Lou Knapp, a man who picked her up, claimed he dropped her off near Route 9 and she headed in the direction of the Long Trail.
About an hour later there's a report that someone named Ernie Whitman met her in an area called Woodford Hollow and directed her toward the Long Trail still.
Other residents of Woodford Hollow claimed they saw her at a place called Fay Fuller camp, a shelter on the Long Trail.
An eighty-year-old named Walter Mould claimed he saw her thumbing a ride but there's an indication that she was seen after this by those on the Long Trail (see clipping below picture).
Paula Jean Welden Sun, Feb 4, 2018 – C5 · The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, Vermont) · Newspapers.com
The case of Paula Jean Welden has a similarity to an old story that we have all heard: Little Red Riding Hood. Welden, an 18-year old college student, went into the forest on December 1st, 1946 wearing a red parka. She met an unclear fate and what resulted has been a vexing missing person's case for decades. However, I think the balance of the reasonable conjecture would support the opinion that she simply got lost in the forest, perished there, and remains there to be found.
She left the Bennington College campus on the afternoon of December 1st, 1946, which was a Sunday. She told her roommate, Elizabeth Johnson, that she was going for a hike and several other hikers claimed that they did see her on the Long Trail. She has not been seen since.
Where last seen: Long Trail near Glastenbury Mountain in Vermont.
Age at time of disappearance: 18 years old Hair: Strawberry blonde ("worn in a long bob"/The Journal, Page 7, Jan 17 1947) Eye color: Blue Height and weight at the time of her disappearance: 5'5" and 122 pounds Other: "a slightly turned up nose and a cleft in her chin" and an athletic body (The Journal, Page 7, Jan 17 1947) Scars: left knee, left eyebrow, vaccination mark on right thigh
Did Welden meet up with the Big Bad Wolf? That question could be taken almost literally.
Whenever someone goes missing on a forest excursion, there is a chance that it's because of a deathly encounter with wildlife. If you take the question metaphorically, then perhaps the Big Bad Wolf is an unknown rapist, murderer, and/or abductor.
Besides an animal encounter or an abduction, there's the chance of an accident. One could slip down a cliff while hiking or one could fall in a crevice. That depends on how adventurous you get. But, perhaps the Big Bad Wolf, in this case, is just the cold December night.
Hypothesis: Paula Jean Welden Died of Hypothermia
Some people get lost on hikes and succumb to the elements. There's probably a much greater-than-average chance that this happened to Welden.
I have a hiking website as my other blogging passion, and I live in a location of similar northern latitude to Vermont. Take it from me, if it's 4pm in December and you haven't found your trailhead yet, then it's just time to turn around. The night falls fast in December for those that live well north of the equator and it doesn't yield to the sunlight for some 14 hours. That's important to note in this case.
Paula Jean Welden Was LOST From the Start: The Long Trail Mystery of 1946
According to some newspaper reports, Paula Jean Welden had not located the trail that she wanted to hike as of 4pm. That's when a man named Ernie Whitman gave her directions to the trail.
Think about that: as of 4pm, at a time of year when it's dark by 5pm and pitch black by about 530pm, she's still looking for the trail she wants to hike. That's nothing less than a mistake resulting from hiking inexperience. People who hike at night go in groups, with lots of supplies and clothing, and they sometimes have helmet lights.
I didn't find the sunset time for December 1st, 1946, in newspapers from the area. However, I found the next best thing: the sunset time for December 2nd of that year. It would probably only change by minutes or even seconds from one day to the next.
On December 2nd, the sunset time was 413pm at a time of year when it gets a little darker day-by-day. On December 1st, I bet the sunset time was about the same time and that forces an insightful premise: about 13 minutes before sunset she was still getting directions to the trail.
Mon, Dec 2, 1946 – 1 · The Bennington Evening Banner (Bennington, Vermont) · Newspapers.com
This 18-year old, who by some other reports was not dressed warm, was also lacking in experience when it came to trail-hiking. People that hike trails in the evening have warm clothes, they have flashlights if not helmets with lights on them, and they know where the trailhead is. I've left long trails at dusk and questioned experienced hikers still going up on these matters.
Read the snipping of an article below. I think there's your clue as to what might have happened with this girl.
Wed, Dec 4, 1946 – 1 · The Bennington Evening Banner (Bennington, Vermont) · Newspapers.com
If you are still getting directions to a trail at "about 4:00 o'clock" in December, it's just time to turn around and go home as the darkness of a winter evening should be anticipated. Given the time of year and the northern location, if she was hellbent on visiting the Long Trail at 4pm, then it's possible that she would still have been in a forested setting well after darkness set. She was poorly dressed for the conditions, she could have got lost, and she might have frozen to death in some strange spot.
Do you think that a girl smart enough to be in college wouldn't get lost? I would suggest thinking again and I will use my own hiking experience -- which I submit is much superior to that of Welden's -- to make my point. I have been lost in the forest for short periods.
Hiking trails can curve ever-so-slightly so that you are at first heading in one direction but, over time, you end up going in another. It's very possible to think that you are heading north or south or east or west only to have a slight-degree change hold up for a certain length of time, a change that gradually causes you to be heading in a direction that you didn't think you were going.
Of course, place markers help keep you oriented. When I have been lost, it has always been in the light of day. Paula Jean Welden was going into the forest as night-time loomed. Furthermore, when it comes to getting lost in the forest, one factor is that out-and-back trails (as opposed to trails that make a loop route) aren't always as straightforward as you might think.
When you take a trail out and then double back, things can look a little different in reverse. If you don't make a point to memorize forks, then you might head the wrong way on your return.
That's especially a risk if you head one way at dusk and don't recognize the forks in the trails after twilight. All trails that I've hiked in the forest have had diversions, even ones that are not on the trail maps.
The elephant in the room with Paula Jean Welden is that she did not know where she was to begin with. I think this is the point that has been missed in all other publications that cover this missing person.
Her reliance on other people to simply find the trail in the first place is clear. That speaks to a complete lack of familiarity with the area and I repeat -- she's heading into this unfamiliar area as wintertime evening darkness looms.
Paula Jean Welden's Hiking Tips Wouldn't Make it in a Safety Guide
Nothing about her hiking plan would be included in a safe-hiking guide. She's going out alone to somewhere she isn't familiar with as a snowstorm looms (see below) without proper clothing as evening sets in. I challenge anyone to make a stronger case against the opinion that she simply went missing in the forest. Such a person, I submit, would only be the non-hiking type because any experienced hiker will tell you that what Paul Jean Welden was doing was dangerous.
Paula Jean Welden Tue, Dec 3, 1946 – 1 · The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) · Newspapers.com
So where did Paula go? If she remains in the forest why wasn't she found? Forests are notorious for gobbling up evidence.
On that matter, I could digress, however, I won't. I'll simply state that many times when a person goes missing and a search ensues the person still gets found not far from where they went missing at some time well after the original search. Phrases like "the area was scoured" and "no rock was left unturned" don't mean what they say. Searches fail -- plain and simple.
The scene I'm depicting is exactly what can be taken out of the journalism from the time. The witnesses who saw her last say she was still heading toward the trail to Glastenbury Mountain as night-time fell. Night-time doesn't fall instantly -- there's a period where the shadows start to creep in that can be deceiving. I see the half-light of dusk as a period where Paula kept hiking. A return might be different.
If she gets too deep into the trail and gets lost in the darkness of night, then anything can happen to her. As she loses her vision from darkness, so does she lose her ability to spot place markers, like high points in the horizon.
If she goes in the wrong direction at any time, how long might she stay going in that direction with nothing visible to help her chart a correct course home?
She was 18 years old and described as athletic. As a 43-year-old male, I can still hike in the forest for 6-8 hours. An 18-year-old female with do-or-die adrenaline could walk at least that long if not much longer.
But if she's walking the whole time in the wrong direction, then what happens? At some point, she has to realize that she has gone the wrong way and that she needs to survive the elements of the freezing mountain night.
That means finding a place where the wind doesn't stab, getting into a fetal position, and hoping she lives until help arrives. If she doesn't have water, matters get worse because she'll need to eat snow as a substitute source. That's not going to help her body temperature at all and the balance of everything starts to point to death.
No foul play is required to create this death. She's like a pilot that crashed a perfectly good plane.
Reason vs Rumor in the Forest
I once shared a ride with a woman who spent many nights in the forest. We met using a ridesharing app and she spoke about how she never paid for accommodation while traveling. She claimed that as evening set in she just went into the forest, pitched a tent, and went to sleep. When I asked about concerns over someone coming across her, she made a memorable response.
"You have to understand that once you get 20 yards off of a trail or highway, you are somewhere that no one ever goes."
If Paula Jean got lost she could might have trudged miles and miles into the forest, in an unknown direction, before she realized that she had to surrender for the night. She could have located a wind-free spot 10 to 30 yards off of any trail in a large area in the vicinity of Glastenbury Mountain. That is where I think she will still be found and it's only that the original search area didn't realize just how much territory they had to cover.
An 18-year-old girl on adrenaline that the partly imaginary horrors of the forest at night would create could have walked a very long way before she realized that she had to sleep in the forest. If she gets hypothermia, then she's on her way to death. Then she's buried under the snow that's coming. Then, wearing a red jacket doesn't matter anymore as it doesn't stand out as visible while underneath the snow.
It didn't help at all that the frivolous journalists of the time were selling newspapers claiming that she ran off to Canada and that the run-about police followed those leads. It didn't help at all that every blue-eyed blonde that was spotted in public that was close to the age of 18 was being treated as a Paula Jean Welden sighting. She went missing on her own but make no mistake: she stayed missing in a society where media sensationalism rules and often in place of reasonable conjecture.
I think the sightings of this young woman that were reported that were not on the Long Trail were all entirely fluff. Furthermore, I think the sensationalists that designated the area to be like the Bermuda Triangle did much more harm than good. If everyone that looked for her attested to logic-based conjecture instead of "Bennington Triangle" crap, then only one of two scenarios seems plausible: lost in the forest and one other.
There is, after all, still the Big Bad Wolf to think about in the form of the man that preys on women. In my opinion, that Welden was a beautiful college student that was hiking alone and not afraid to hitch a ride does point toward abduction. That she has not been found in the area, even the greater area, that she was last seen in for what is, at the time of writing, 74 years since her disappearance does weaken the plausibility of the guess that she suffered a hiking mishap that comes when one faces nature.
Welden disappeared but her missing person's case is not one that simply disappeared in the media as many missing-person cases do. Her name was mentioned as recently as June 5th, 2020 in the Los Angeles Times (Page E2). A modern writer drew inspiration from the case.
But the journalism from close to the time of the disappearance is less from the inspired and more from the baffled. In one article, a taxi driver in Quebec claimed he saw her during the week of December 3rd to December 10th.
Paula Jean Welden Wed, Jan 22, 1947 – 1 · St. Albans Daily Messenger (St. Albans, Vermont) · Newspapers.com
Another taxi driver that was local to the disappearance claimed he might have driven her as well. He wasn't certain but he remembered driving a college student at about the time of the disappearance. Of course, if what he says was true then that suggests that her hiking excursion was a front for a voluntary disappearance. Yet, it doesn't explain why she was actually seen hiking by others.
To this day, the case remains unsolved. But I think she froze to death or she's one of the never-to-be-seen-again hitchhikers of North America. Honestly, between the two I would lean to the former by a margin of 85% to 15% in this case. This girl didn't exercise good judgment on December 1st, 1946 and it produced one of the great missing-person's mysteries of the last century. My prediction is that she will be found someday through a random event, like an off-trail hike, or through spreading real-estate development.
Clothing: Red parka jacket with a fur-trimmed hood, blue jeans, and white sneakers with heavy-soled Top-Sider (size 6 1/2 or 7). She was also wearing a small, gold Elgin ladies wristwatch with a narrow black band. Importantly, this watched have specific engravings or scratches: "13050 HD" on the inside of the back case.
Paula Jean Welden Disappearance: The Ongoing Legacy
There has not been a development in Paula Jean Welden's missing person case in quite a number of years, if not decades. Her story is part of culture and history more than investigation.
She appeared in an episode The Infographics Show in 2024, as shown below. Furthermore, a couple of websites, including the A.V. Club, mentioned her in fresh articles in 2024. However, these are often the kind of websites that makes lists for "Top Ten" fans.
May 5th, 2024 update: The Infographics Show
Paula Jean Welden's likeness as depicted by The Infographics Show.
Paula Jean Welden was featured in an episode on The Infographics Show on YouTube on May 4th, 2024. The video below starts at about the 9:10 mark. I would say the early timeline is not complete for those who saw her on the day she disappeared. Also, I would say their focus on "The Bennington Triangle" is just to appeal to the teenagers out there that fall for this kind of crap.
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