Michelle Lise Wedge -- Missing Since July 1975 From Moncton

Paraphrased details from Canada's Missing: 

On July 2nd, 1975, at approximately 8:30 pm, Michelle returned to her residence and left shortly after. Her bicycle was later located near her home at the intersection of John and Dominion Street, Moncton.

Missing Person: Michelle Lise Wedge
Last-contact date: July 2nd, 1975 (Wednesday)
The area where the MP was last seen: Moncton, New Brunswick
Link to government source: MP @ Canada's Missing 

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 7 years old
Birthdate: December 1st, 1967
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Brown
Scar: No scars known
Height/weight: 4'0"

Michelle Lise Wedge was last heard from on July 2nd, 1975 when she was 7 years of age. As of July 2025, this person will have been missing for 50 years.

What stands out with this case is that one witness reported seeing a young girl get in a vehicle on the evening of Michelle's disappearance. This happened at the intersection where Michelle is thought to have disappeared.

Furthermore, some witnesses provided a description of a man they saw speaking to the missing child. Please read the snipped newspaper article below. The man was thought to be in his last 30s, dark complexion, black hair, a scar on the right side of his face, and he had a "strange voice."

04 Jul 1975, Fri The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com

The missing person was wearing shorts, stockings, sandals (size 3), and a red-and-white checkered shirt. These articles of clothing may be associated with a Jane Doe either now or in the future. If you come across a Jane Doe with these particulars, then be sure to cross-reference the case details.

I did not find a ton of media coverage of this case, however, there was a little. For instance, there was a CBC article on the topic online in 2019.

However, this article didn't mention the description of the suspect. There was a picture of the bicycle that she had with her the night she disappeared.

Furthermore, police involved with the investigation stated that they were looking at the case as a criminal case. They have details that they are not making public.

Some of the details of this case remind me of the case of Michael Dunahee, who went missing in Victoria, BC in 1991. While there are stark differences in both cases there is a suggestion that the missing child was lured into a vehicle. Also, in both cases the witnesses to the potential abduction were children.

Tags that I've associated with this blog post are below. It's interesting to see what can connect unrelated cases. Click one of the tags to go to an article that is related to this one in some way, shape, or form.

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 March 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.
**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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Frank Arthur Cerimele -- Missing Since July 1969 All Over Again

Author: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: January 7th, 2021
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Missing person: Frank Arthur Cerimele
Last-seen date: July 14th, 1969
Last-seen location: Youngstown, Ohio
Link to Government Source: NamUs #MP76180
Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Male
Age at time of disappearance: 21 years old
Hair: Brown    
Eye color: Hazel
Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'10" and 150 pounds

Clothing: Blue or white button-down shirt; white bermuda shorts (not really meant for swimming, go down to your knee); something called "tongs" which might be taken to mean "thongs" which are flip-flop sandals

Vehicle: 1968 Pontiac Grand Prix

Frank's disappearance has an oddity in it. According to the case details at CharleyProject, this was once a closed case. However, it was reopened after just over 50 years.

Cerimele's car was found with the following details:

• it was recovered at the International Bar at 1710 Poland Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio
• the doors were open and unlocked

A missing person with a vehicle found that is not just unsecured but with doors left open might be taken to mean that something amiss happened at his vehicle. That seems to be the point that people have tried to make with this case: "Cerimele's loved ones stated he cherished his car and wouldn't have left it overnight in an unfamiliar place" (CharleyProject).

However, I don't see that as a major clue pointing to abduction because I think that a suicidal person might be indifferent to the state of his vehicle too. Furthermore, leaving a vehicle with doors open might be a call-for-help, something that suicidal people are known to do. I've looked at another missing person's case involving a located vehicle with doors open and argued that the open doors have something to do with a suicidal state of mind. It could be an attempt to call attention to oneself.

In Cerimele's case, I think the big clue is his footwear. They are described as "tongs" at NamUs but I am thinking they meant "thongs" which is another word for flip-flops/sandals. This kind of footwear would match his other clothing articles, which appeared to be relaxed in nature. 

I don't picture someone using that kind of footwear to find a spot for suicide. If you were wearing flip-flops, you would not be planning on going too far. I think that if Cerimele was planning to commit suicide, then he would have been found near his vehicle. 

His pictures look like mugshots, especially the side view. I wonder if he's someone in the wrong crowd with maybe that playing a role in an abduction.

Derrick Vincent Kucera Missing Since 1986 -- Hillsboro, Alabama

Author: Shane Lambert

Original Time of Writing: December 25th, 2020

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

Missing Person: Derrick Vincent Kucera

Last seen or contact date: October 29th, 1986 (Wednesday) according to NamUs -- may have been November 4th, 1986

Where last seen: Hillsboro, Alabama in the passenger seat of a car on Ivy Hollow Road, which might be route 374 on modern maps.

NamUs # and Link: #MP7351

According to NamUs and Charley Project, Derrick Kucera was last seen on October 29th, 1986 in a vehicle on Ivy Hollow Road that was being driven by a male driver. He has not been seen since. According to a newspaper article I found, the date of disappearance might actually have been November 4th, 1986, however, I think this is poor journalism. The balance of everything I read on this case would support the October 29th, 1986 last-seen date.

NamUs #MP7351 Wed, Mar 25, 1987 – 11 · The Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery, Alabama) · Newspapers.com

Derrick Kucera Sat, Apr 4, 1987 – 21 · Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, Florida) · Newspapers.com

The photo of Derrick, included at the start of this article, is one that was taken from a high-school yearbook. The year of that yearbook is 1978, meaning that Derrick would have been about 15 years old at the time of the photo and perhaps in Grade 10.

The above photo looks like that of an adult, however, from the source I could not find an age. It was posted on Ancestry.ca by one Lisa Lentz. She seemed to have an interest in helping with this case so I snipped the photo for publication here in allegiance with that. I could not find information regarding the date of the photo but we can agree this would be a better photo than the juvenile one that is often used in this case.

Ethnicity/Race: White

Sex: Male

Age at time of disappearance: 23 years old

Ivy Hollow Road, where he was last seen, is difficult to pinpoint using modern maps. It seems to be a street name that those "in the know" refer to. From what I found, it is near Bates Mountain in the county of Lawrence and might be route 374 (Google Maps 34.593745058286245, -87.20254119383081). One user on Ancestry.com said this: "CR374 is Ivy Hollow Road, & I don't think CR465 off of it ever had another name - it was a road to the George Collins homeplaces from Ivy Hollow Rd. Ivy Hollow Rd now ends at private land, but it once continued over the mountain" (Lesley Hodges Whitley on March 1st, 2013).

Derrick looks like the difficult-to-abduct type. At nearly 6'0" and 220 pounds, he's not the kind of person that you just grab, especially at the age of 23. Furthermore, the description of his last-seen moments doesn't ever mention any kind of urgency in the situation. It seems like Derrick is in the car voluntarily. Perhaps he was traveling with someone he trusted.

The mother, deceased as of 2015, hired a private investigator but the case seems to be cold.

Hair: Brown/dark blonde

Eye color: Green

Height and weight at the time of disappearance: 5'10" to 6'0" and 210 to 220 pounds

Other: a pierced ear, not sure if left or right; scar near the left eye; scar on the abdomen; clean shaven at time of disappearance but known to wear a beard.

Clothing: Black t-shirt, blue jeans; high-top tennis shoes (one black/one red); necklace with silver cross

The above newspaper article is a website snip, not an embed. I'm not sure of the original source but think that the picture has some value. I found it at Ancestry.ca.

Women With Car Troubles Go Missing: The Cases of Robin Graham, Kelly Dae Wilson, Cindy Lee Mellin, and More

By: Shane Lambert

Robin Graham disappeared in the early hours of the morning on November 14th, 1970. She was driving home from her place of employment, Pier 1 at 5711 Hollywood Boulevard, when something went wrong with her vehicle (employment address as per a landing page for her at Ancestry.com). For those interested in tracing her route, I think she was traveling to 2227 Lemoyne Street in Los Angeles. 

Her disappearance is noteworthy for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it caused the LAPD to enact a policy change. A police officer saw her in the minutes before she disappeared, but he left her alone. After her disappearance, police officers were required to stay with stranded female motorists.

Secondly, her disappearance and probable murder can be compared to other disappearances of women where some kind of vehicle mishap is part of the chain of events surrounding the disappearance.

Robin Graham

Robin Ann Graham's details:

Last seen: About 2:30am on November 14th, 1970
Born: June 22nd, 1952 (18 years old at the time of disappearance)
Physical: white female, 66" (5'6") and 125 pounds, brown eyes and hair
Clothing/accessories: red blouse, blue jeans, dark-blue corduroy jacket, red-clog shoes, and leather purse

NamUs' description of the event (paraphrased):

A California Highway Patrol officer was the last person to see Robin Graham on November 14th, 1970. She had been driving her boyfriend's vehicle when she apparently ran out of gas and stalled on U.S. Highway 101 southbound near the Santa Monica Boulevard offramp at about 2:00 am.

The officer stopped to see if she needed help, but Ms. Graham said that help was already coming. She had just called her parents to inform them of her situation.

Later, the officer noticed a white male, 25-26 years of age, 5'8" with dark hair, wearing bell-bottom trousers and a white turtle neck top talking to her. A 1958-1960 light blue Corvette hardtop was observed parked behind her vehicle at this time. The officer later assumed the man in the Corvette was the help she had called for. The next day, her parents searched for Robin and found her car, locked up and abandoned on the side of the freeway where she was last seen. She hasn't been heard from since. 

Inconsistency regarding man's description

The description of the man may or may not be entirely accurate with NamUS. The following (left margin below) is excerpted from the Nov. 19th, 1970 Valley News (Van Nuys, California) regarding the patrolman's description. It describes a "blond-haired man" instead of a dark-haired one. The range of dates for the Corvette is also a little off between the two sources (ie. NamUs is 1958 to 1960 while the article says '57 to '59). I found a 1960 light-blue Corvette convertible picture and posted it below. When it comes to contradictions between NamUs and media sources, there's no way to know who to show a preference for. Certainly, both the media and NamUs can be error-riddled.

1960 Chevrolet Corvette Fuelie
 (Creative Commons/Rex Gray on Flickr) - Not a car expert;
If you can suggest a better photo, then it's welcome.

NamUs wrong about the time of parents discovering vehicle

The penultimate statement in the NamUs description above may be incorrect or confusing. According to the newspaper articles I read from 1970 her parents did not discover her car "The next day" but rather they discovered it at 2:30am, a half-hour after she was last seen. See the snipping below from The Capital Journal (December 12th, 1970/page 11).

The same article discusses the change in police procedures when it came to stranded female motorists. 

The Robin Graham case may not simply be a case of a criminal taking advantage of an opportunity where he finds a young woman vulnerable. Women who meet an abductor after car trouble may actually have had their car tampered with by the actual abductor. Graham ran out of gas and it's possible that the gas may have been siphoned by the abductor himself as part of a modus operandi. Consider the following cases below where car trouble is central to the abduction of a woman. Note, in many of the cases below the car trouble was caused by the man that harmed the woman.

Kathleen Johns

Kathleen Johns was driving at night in a rural location when she was summoned to pull over in March of 1970 by a fellow driver, a male. He advised her that she had a problem with her tire. The man then 'helped' her by loosening the tire and when Johns drove away the tire fell off. The 'helpful' man then offered to drive Johns and her child to a service station.

Of course, this man may have been The Zodiac Killer. However, the point to be aware of is that the 'Good Samaritan' that shows up to help a distressed female motorist might be her mortal enemy. Whether by loosening a tire or some other sabotage, he may have caused the problem with the vehicle himself in hopes of putting the woman into a vulnerable situation.

Julia Ashe

Sedrick Cobb lurked in mall parking lots. According to writer David Krajicek, Cobb "used a valve stem remover to deflate a tire on the car of likely victims, then offered to change the flats when they returned from shopping" (Dec. 31 2013 article/Daily News). Cobb, employing this tactic, earned the trust of a woman before he raped and murdered her. That woman's name was Julia Ashe and the year was 1989. The blurb below from the September 13th, 1991 issue of The Hartford Courant accounts of some of the details:

The point to take away from the Ashe rape and murder, once again, is that the man that shows up to 'help' a woman with car trouble may have caused the car trouble himself.

Rose Tashman

Rose Tashman's unsolved murder has been mentioned in conjunction with the Robin Graham disappearance for decades. William J. Drummond, a writer, made comparisons between Graham and Tashman in The Los Angeles Times on November 18th, 1970.

In this case, it's not clear that Tashman's flat tire was caused by someone that wanted to help her. But that car trouble can precede the disappearance or murder of a young woman can't be overlooked. The criminals may simply be opportunists as opposed to carrying out a modus operandi involving vehicle sabotage. However, more examples could still be looked at.

Cindy Lee Mellin

Cindy Lee Mellin, also often mentioned in conjunction with Graham, was last seen in a mall parking lot in 1970 in Ventura, California. According to NamUs (#6849) "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 went to the shopping center looking for her and found her car still up on a jack with the flat tire still attached." That description certainly leaves much to the imagination. But it's not a stretcher to assume that the man that pretended to want to help her actually had more sinister motives in mind.

Kelly Dae Wilson

Kelly Dae Wilson is yet another example of a missing woman who had car trouble at around the time of her disappearance. Wilson went missing in Upshur County, Texas in 1993 after completing a shift at a video store. She is NamUs MP #6816. On the night that she went missing one of the tires of her vehicle was slashed. The following timeline of events, in this case, was published as per the details below (click to enlargen):

Note that Michael Biby, who went to high school with Wilson, served jail time for slashing her tire. If he did not disappear Wilson then it's very possible that the slashed tire made her vulnerable to an opportunist.

Conclusion

It's certainly soul-destroying to learn that someone who seems like a Good Samaritan is actually in the midst of committing a heinous crime. But the lessons of the missing-person's cases or murders mentioned above can't be ignored.

For the women readers, if you are facing car trouble and a man arrives to help you then you have to be skeptical: Mr. Johnny-on-the-spot with the perfect tool handy to fix your car might be the reincarnation of Jack the Ripper. That statement might wreak of paranoia to some, but minimally I would argue that you shouldn't stop driving if your vehicle is operational, even if someone is trying to flag you down. Get to a well-viewed area with lots of people around. Additionally, I would recommend not going to a secondary site with a Good Samaritan, whether that be in his car or yours.