Winifred Corrine Long (NamUs MP#54111) - Missing from California Since 1962

Paraphrased details from government source**: Winifred Long, the mother of two small boys, was last seen on June 10th, 1962, at the Greyhound Bus Station in Marysville, California. She was at the Greyhound Station after an argument with her estranged husband.

Missing Person: Winifred Corrine Long
Last-contact date: June 10th, 1962 (Sunday)
The area where the MP was last seen: Not necessarily the Greyhound Bus Station as NamUs indicates. She was last seen in Marysville, California at the ranch of her estranged husband near Beale Air Force Base
Link to government source: NamUs MP#54111

Family members: Alvin Long (b. in or about 1928; her husband; may go by Alfred L. Long Jr), Raymon Connett (her father), Lorin or Loring (b. about 1961; her son) and Keith (b. about 1959; her son).

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 30 years old according to NamUs, 29 years old according to the newspaper journalism at the time of her disappearance
Birthdate: Winifred Corrine Long was born between June 11th, 1931, and June 10th, 1932 based on her reported age at the last date of reported contact.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel, also called blue/grey
Scar: none known
Height/weight: 68 inches and 140 pounds
BMI*: Winifred Corrine Long was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Winifred Corrine Long did not have any tattoos associated with her profiles.

Clothing: Capri-styled pants with red, blue, and green checks; she was wearing a white blouse and white shoes

Glasses: Yes, according to pictures I found (see below) but she had resorted to contact lenses.

23 Jun 1962, Sat The Fresno Bee (Fresno, California) Newspapers.com

Winifred Corrine Long has not been seen since June 10th, 1962 when she was 30 years old. This individual has now been missing for about 59 years as of the original publication date of this blog post.

The early journalism on this case stated that her husband, Alvin Long, claimed that he took her to the bus station. He claimed that this happened on Monday, which would have been June 11th (The Fresno Bee/June 23rd, 1962/Page 2-A). Other sources claim the date of the trip to the bus station was Sunday evening. He claimed that the transmission on Winifred's car had broken down. In one news article I read, the husband is described as "estranged." Another source said that Winifred was suing for a divorce (Daily Independent Journal/June 22nd, 1962/Page 4).

13 Nov 1962, Tue Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, California) Newspapers.com

The ranch that Alvin owned was the target of an intensive search. This was considered to be an area where there were plenty of hiding spots. It was described as 320 acres in size.

02 Jul 1962, Mon Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, California) Newspapers.com

The husband, in this case, took a lie-detector test. This was reported as inconclusive in the June 27th, 1962 issue of The Press Democrat. He was a double amputee from a grenade blast in the Korean War. Despite this serious injury, he was not an invalid. The sheriff described him as "immensely strong" as he built the acreage "without assistance, despite his handicap" (Oakland Tribune/June 24th, 1962/Page 18).

Winifred, reportedly, was anxious about going to her estranged husband's home. The clerks at the Greyhound Station claimed that they did not sell a ticket on the day in question to Mill Valley, the place where Winifred lived and worked.

Thank you for reading. If have any information about this case, consider contacting the authorities.

Author: S.K. Lambert (Blogger Hobbyist and Freelance Writer)

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

S.K. Lambert (Blogger Hobbyist and Freelance Writer) is not a Private Investigator.

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: To determine whether a person is missing or not, this site relies heavily on government sources. If you are described as missing when you are not, I recommend simply having your missing person report updated or removed. When that happens, updates at this site can follow.

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Rahway County Jane Doe (Attempt to Match) - Was Her Name Annie Primroe?

By: Shane Lambert

Original Time of Writing: December 19th, 2021

I researched the case of the Rahway County Jane Doe almost five years ago, as of the original time of writing this article. If you are not familiar with the case, then, in a nutshell, in March 1887, a woman was found murdered in the town of Rahway, New Jersey. The details of her case became a bit of a media circus. Perhaps this is just like more modern murder mysteries, like the case of JonBenet Ramsey.

The Rahway County Jane Doe was thought to have been a passenger who had recently alighted a train before being murdered. That she was supposed to be a traveler made the case difficult to solve back in the late 1800s because it suggested that the woman was not a local. Accordingly, missing persons from anywhere in the world were -- and still are -- actually in play with this case.

Searching the Classifieds to Research the Case

Back in February 2017, I attempted to find a classified advertisement where someone was looking for a missing woman who was last seen in 1887. It used to be that if you lost touch with someone, then you might take to the newspaper classifieds to find the person.

Newspaper classifieds have been featured in other missing person cases that I have worked on. The case of Beverly Sharpman, last seen in Philadelphia, comes to mind as does the case of The Lady in the Well who was discovered in Saskatoon in modern times but thought to have been dead since the 1920s.

When I originally looked for someone back in early 2017 who might have been searching for the Rahway County Jane Doe, I failed in that effort. It could have been that the exact newspaper I needed was not in the databases I used at the time. I made a second attempt in December 2021, one that was successful in finding a lead that I can only call tenuous at this time.

Please read the classified advertisement below, which appeared in a Buffalo-area publication in 1902.

20 Jun 1902, Fri Buffalo Evening News (Buffalo, New York) Newspapers.com

Could Annie Primroe be the Rahway County Jane Doe?

Is Annie Primroe the Rahway County Jane Doe? This is something I want to prove or disprove.

Firstly, the year of disappearance matches up to the year that the Rahway County Jane Doe was murdered. The person who placed the classified advertisement, one "J.J.T.", says Annie had been "missing since 1887."

Secondly, there is a question as to whether Annie Primroe may have changed locations: in the final statement, J.J.T. seems to acknowledge that Annie may no longer be in the Buffalo area, the city where this classified advertisement was placed.

Furthermore, I do know that the train line that served Rahway, New Jersey, served New York state. I read a story in The Morning Call newspaper from February 26th, 1886, that attested to this (Page 8). The first clues, in this case, are very tenuous, but there's nothing to contradict a match between Annie Primroe and the Rahway County Jane Doe.

To better understand the potential connection, the following table cross-references key details between Annie Primroe and the Rahway County Jane Doe:

Attribute	Annie Primroe	Rahway County Jane Doe	Notes/Observations
Year of Disappearance	Missing since 1887 (per 1902 classified ad by J.J.T.)	Murdered in March 1887	Timelines match exactly, supporting a potential connection.
Location Connection	From Buffalo, New York; last known location per ad.	Found in Rahway, New Jersey; believed to be a traveler, possibly via train.	Train lines connected Buffalo and Rahway in 1887, making travel between them plausible.
Marital Status	Likely unmarried in 1887 (ad suggests her name might have changed later, possibly due to marriage).	Presumed unmarried; autopsy indicated she was a virgin, ruling out prostitution.	Both appear to be unmarried in 1887, a point of corroboration.
Travel Context	J.J.T. acknowledges Annie may have left Buffalo, suggesting she traveled.	Believed to have alighted a train shortly before her murder.	Both cases involve potential travel, aligning with the transient nature of the Jane Doe.

The family tree information can't be discounted. Annie is the cousin of J.J.T., she is the sister of Hattie Lesher, and, very importantly, Primroe appears to be a maiden name. This is actually a small clue that corroborates with the Rahway County Jane Doe.

J.J.T., in the classified advertisement, says "Her name was...Annie Primroe," in 1887, but the statement tacitly acknowledges that her name may have changed in the 15 years after that time. The most likely reason for a woman's name to change is through marriage. Thus, we can assume that Annie Primroe was not married at the time of her last contact with J.J.T. in 1887. The Rahway County Jane Doe, coincidentally enough, was actually thought to not be married.

On that matter, there was some discussion in a newspaper article I read that the Jane Doe, in some circles of gossip, was thought to have been a prostitute. However, during her post-mortem, I inferred they inspected her vagina and concluded that the Rahway County Jane Doe was a virgin. This discounted the notion that the Rahway County Jane Doe was a prostitute, and it strongly implies that she was not married. There seems to be some corroboration with Annie Primroe that is, admittedly, tenuous, but I felt intrigued enough to look at this lead deeper.

Research Angles and Challenges - Find a Record for Annie Primroe

For me, this is a work in progress that I invite others to look at. If you are interested in researching whether Annie Primroe might have been the Rahway County Jane Doe, then remember one important point: the primary goal is to try and disprove it. If you can't do that, then you can look at proving it.

One way to disprove that Annie Primroe was the Rahway County Jane Doe is to find her death record that proves she lived past 1887. She can't be declared dead in absentia or anything like that: in fact, dead in absentia might mean she was the Jane Doe. However, if you can prove that Annie Primroe lived past 1887, then it would mean she wasn't the Rahway County Jane Doe.

I have done some introductory work on this subject with Ancestry records. However, the name Primroe is not very common. I've wondered if it is meant to be "Primrose," however, as soon as you start working on angles like that, you are often going on futile tangents.

But finding Annie Primroe in Ancestry would be a great first step. The challenge is that her first name is the kind that has a lot of derivations, like Anne, Ann, or Anna. If you find someone who might be her, then keep in mind the family tree connections in trying to identify her. She has a sister named Hattie Lesher, with Lesher probably being a married name. "Hattie" can stand alone or it can mean Henrietta or Harriette. Hattie Lesher should be dead by June 18th, 1902. Also, Annie should have a cousin with the initials "J.J.T" who should be alive as of June 18th, 1902.

Any connections to Buffalo and Rahway County, New Jersey, would be very interesting, of course. If you build off of this article, please just be sure to properly cite me and link back.

Summary: Annie Primroe vs Rahway County Jane Doe

• Annie Primroe went missing 1887, the year that the Rahway County Jane Doe was found deceased.
• Primroe was from Buffalo, which has train connections to Rahway
• Primroe was not married and the Rahway County Jane Doe was not married, presumptively, because she was a virgin

Doreen Pickard's Murder, Susan Laferte's Assault - What Happened After the "Unsolved Mysteries" Episode

By: Shane Lambert

On May 18th, 1988, "Unsolved Mysteries" aired an original episode. One of the mysteries ("Rhode Island Amnesia") included the murder of Doreen Picard and the assault of Susan Laferte. Laferte, as a surviving witness to the murder, unfortunately, went into a coma from her injuries and could not remember the attack when she came out of it.

03 Apr 1998, Fri The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) Newspapers.com

More modern versions of the "Unsolved Mysteries" episode indicate that one Raymond Tempest was convicted of the crimes, was sentenced to 85 years in prison, but has since been released. Naturally, that should raise some questions for fans of the television series: why was he convicted, and if his sentence was for so many decades, how is it that he could be released already?

The episode was the 7th "Special Edition" of "Unsolved Mysteries." This was a time period in the show's history when they appeared to be feeling out the ratings. The following preview of the show appeared in the News-Press out of Fort Myers, Florida on May 18th, 1988.

18 May 1988, Wed News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida) Newspapers.com
With the newspaper databases I used, Raymond Tempest's name starts to enter journalism related to the crime in June of 1991. The following article is the earliest journalism I found that associated Raymond Tempest with the case.

09 Jun 1991, Sun The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

Later journalism suggested that Raymond Tempest benefited from having family ties involved in law enforcement in the community that Picard was murdered in:

 

21 Apr 1992, Tue Record-Journal (Meriden, Connecticut) Newspapers.com

The conviction came in what would have been late June of 1992.

05 Jul 1992, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

The conviction was vacated in July of 2015:

 

14 Jul 2015, Tue The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

After the vacation of the conviction in July 2015, I did not find any more newspaper coverage. However, there are online news articles as this saga appears to be ongoing even in very modern times.

Dottie Caylor's Disappearance - What Happened After the "Unsolved Mysteries" Episode

By: Shane Lambert

03 Apr 1998, Fri The News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware) Newspapers.com

Dottie Caylor's disappearance was featured in one of the opening episodes of the "Unsolved Mysteries" television program. According to a Youtube video I watched, it was in the pilot episode. From Wikipedia, it was a special program that was aired before the series became the series that fans grew to love. According to a newspaper article I consulted (The Leaf-Chronicle out of Clarksville, Tennessee), the show aired on November 29th, 1987. If you watched the "Unsolved Mysteries" program and wondered what happened with this case, then this article is for you.

29 Nov 1987, Sun The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville, Tennessee) Newspapers.com

Firstly, this individual, as of the time of writing (December 17th, 2021), still has an active missing person's profile with NamUs, America's national database of missing people. Dorothy May Caylor is case number #MP14589. Her profile says that her last date of contact was June 12th, 1985 in Concord, California, which is information that is available in the "Unsolved Mysteries" episode.

I found an article in The Salt Lake Tribune from March 31st, 2004 that Kristen Stewart wrote. The article indicated that Jule Caylor, Dottie's husband, faced some problems when he attempted a career in politics. Ultimately, Jule Caylor withdrew his candidacy for the Utah Legislature (The Salt Lake Tribune/Page 24/April 18th, 2004).

One interesting piece of information in this article is that Jule had "an engagement to another woman six months before Dottie went missing." This wasn't covered in the "Unsolved Mysteries" episode, perhaps because it wasn't known when they made the episode. Furthermore, the Stewart article in the Tribune mentioned an interest in a concrete slab, possibly as a place to look underneath for Caylor. I think the following article is good reading for anyone looking for follow-up information on this case after watching the "Unsolved Mysteries" episode. You can click the article to enlarge it.

31 Mar 2004, Wed The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah) Newspapers.com

 I didn't find any journalism after 2004 with the sources I use. However, based on the fact that Dottie still has a missing person profile with NamUs, it's clear that she is yet to be found.

Christi Jo Nichols, Mark Nichols - What Happened After the "Unsolved Mysteries" Episode

By: Shane Lambert

The missing person case of Christi Jo Nichols was profiled in the hit television show "Unsolved Mysteries" back in 1988. Christi Jo Nichols, as presented in the show, was a mother who disappeared from Gothenburg, Nebraska while contemplating a divorce from her physically abusive husband.

If you watched the episode online and are wondering what happened with the case, then this article is for you. 

In the episode of "Unsolved Mysteries," the husband, Mark Nichols, claimed that he awoke one morning and saw that Christi wasn't beside him in bed. His side of the story is not presented as particularly credible in the episode.

This was Season 1 of the series and Episode 6 of that season, according to my research on the show. It originally aired on November 16th, 1988. The episode had the following synopsis in the November 16th, 1988 edition of The Evening Sun in Baltimore Maryland:

Unsolved Mysteries. Season 1. Episode 6. 16 Nov 1988, Wed The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland) Newspapers.com

Christi Jo Nichols went missing on December 10th, 1987. She was 22 years old at the time. The first instance of journalism I found on the case was dated February 8th, 1988 in the Lincoln Star Journal (page 9). Much of this article is based on information from that newspaper source.

Mark Nichols is cited in the article.

08 Feb 1988, Mon Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) Newspapers.com

According to the journalism that I reviewed, this case was not solved as of October 29th, 2006. I found an article in the Lincoln Journal Star for that date where she was included among the cold cases for the state of Nebraska.

29 Oct 2006, Sun Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) Newspapers.com

Here are some interesting details that weren't covered in the Unsolved Mysteries episode, probably because they weren't known at the time. Firstly, Christi's "blood was found in the trunk of her husband's car and on the floor of their bedroom" (Lincoln Journal Star/Page 1/August 24th, 2003). However, there wasn't enough blood to build a murder case. Mark Nichols said that a drop of blood found in the bedroom was menstrual blood, however, "tests proved" that it was not.

There was also some lye stolen from a local farm at about the time of her disappearance. Lye is a substance that can be used to destroy human remains (Lincoln Journal Star/Page 1/August 24th, 2003). Whether this theft should be connected to the case is not clear. Also, Mark Nichols divorced Christi Jo Nichols in April 1990, claiming that he and the three children were abandoned.

24 Aug 2003, Sun Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska) Newspapers.com

The "Unsolved Mysteries" episode covered the discovery of Christi's luggage. The luggage and other items were found "at a rest stop near Maxwell in March 1988." Furthermore, if Christi left on her own volition, then there is a question as to why she didn't take her paycheque, her tips from her job, or his driver's license.

There is journalism that suggests that there may have been another man in Christi's life. However, this man was ruled out as a suspect.

The babysitter that is in the "Unsolved Mysteries" episode claimed in the 2003 Lincoln Star Journal article that she had not been questioned in the case since 1988.

At the time of writing (December 17th, 2021), this missing person case was still unsolved. Christi Jo Nichols has an active profile at NamUs, where she is #MP4677. You can click the link to exit to her NamUs profile if you want further updates. If the profile is still active, it would strongly suggest that the case has not been solved.

Francis Wayne Alexander Identification Announced

By: Shane Lambert

Another one of the victims of John Wayne Gacy has been identified. In an article dated October 25th, 2021, the DNA Doe Project announced that the John Doe previously known as Gacy Victim Five was Francis Wayne Alexander. That means that the John Doe page for this previously unknown person should be removed from NAMUS soon.

One detail, as per the NAMUS profile, that was associated with this Doe prior to his naming was that a key fob was found near his buried body. The name on the key fob is interesting, I think because it doesn't match the name of the victim that it was associated with. Perhaps it served as a red herring at some points in the investigation.

Gacy buried many of his victims in a crawlspace beneath his home. According to the DNA Doe Project, Francis Alexander's "date of death was most likely between December 1976 and March 15, 1977 based on the location of the remains between two other victims who have since been identified."

The name on the key fob that was associated with Francis Alexander was "Gary." Since Francis Wayne Alexander was buried in a grave with many others, you have to wonder if the fob belonged to a different victim. Accordingly, any missing person named "Gary" that was last contacted near the date range of December 1976 to March 1977 might be an unidentified person in Gacy's notorious crawlspace.

Some individuals that were named Gary that are missing from about the same time are as follows:

• Gary Mullinax (NAMUS #MP8386); last contact on May 9th, 1976
• Gary Locklear (NAMUS #MP6306); last contact on September 6th, 1974
• Gary Boutilier (NAMUS #MP75707); last contact on June 17th, 1978

3 Decades Old Cold Cases That Perplex Me

By: Shane Lambert
Original time of writing: August 30th, 2021

While working on this website, I have generally gravitated toward cases that are forty years old or less believing that they are the ones that are still most likely to be solved. However, from time to time I have not been able to help but look at older and colder cases. These are three old and cold cases that stand out in my memory.

Paula Jean Welden Missing for Nearly 80 Years

Something happened to Paula Jean Welden on December 1st, 1946 that, at the time of writing, has not yet been traced. The then 18-year old student at Bennington College in Vermont left her home after telling her roommate, a young woman named Elizabeth Johnson, that she was going to hike a trail known as The Long Trail. Many others besides Elizabeth would see Welden that day but no one has seen her since December 1st, 1946. At the original time of writing, the 75th anniversary of her disappearance was on the horizon. As of January 2025, she has now been missing closer to 80 years.

My guess on what happened to Paul Jean Welden is that got lost while hiking. A plausible enough competing guess might hold that she was abducted. After all, she was known to have been hitchhiking that day, although she was spotted after exiting her driver's vehicle. There is a question as to whether she hitchhiked on her return route.

But Paula Jean Welden, according to my research, was lost from the get-go. According to witnesses that saw her on December 1st, 1946, she was reliant on directions just to find the trail that was interested in. 

When I examined this case in 2020, I found that she was still receiving directions to The Long Trail even as dusk quickly approached. My thoughts on her disappearance are that she got lost and in the resulting panic that night, she only went further and further into the forest due to disorientation. I think she would have tried to find a spot that felt safe, even off-trail, and that she then perished in the cold December night in what would have been a little bit of a hiding spot from the cold wind. It's this, her desire to escape the cold (which may have resulted in going off trail) and the fact that it snowed soon after she went missing, that made her hard to find after she died, in my opinion.

Beverly Sharpman Missing for More Than 85 Years

Beverly Sharpman's case is one that has grabbed my attention on plenty of nights. This high school student disappeared and was last seen in Philadelphia on September 11th, 1947. The 74th anniversary of her disappearance, at the original time of writing, was nearing.

Sharpman's case details included a telegram that was sent from a train station. It read "Got married. Leaving town. Will not be back." If you don't question the authenticity of that telegram, then it seems like she meant business with the last sentence.

Questions with this case are aplenty. Firstly, why did Beverly Sharpman register for her senior year of high school the morning of September 11th, 1947 if she was running away that night? My suggestion is that she didn't want anything to seem amiss but that's just speculation.

Another question is what did she want to tell her mother the evening before she disappeared? Beverly appeared to have something to say to her mother, perhaps something difficult, but Beverly decided to keep quiet about what she had to say. You would think that would have to do with pregnancy or maybe just a relationship with someone who might be inappropriate from her mother's perspective.

The question of the ages with this case is one that could crack it wide open. The telegram said she "Got married." Assuming she was telling the truth, then where is Beverly Sharpman's marriage certificate? I know I've spent hours combing through the records that you find at Ancestry looking for it but it has been to no avail.

My efforts lead me to believe that it was not straightforward for a 17-year old (ie. a minor) to get married in Pennsylvania in 1947. I remember seeing other married records involving minors where parental consent was required.

This, in itself, brings a lot of questions into play. What options were there for a 17-year old to get married in 1947 without parental consent? How easy was it to assume a false identity? Did she not really get married?

With Sharpman's case, I've always thought that she really did leave town on her own volition. I think she married into a new name and was then able to live a life under a different identity. Under this new identity, no one ever connected her to the Beverly Sharpman missing person case precisely because she married into a new name -- somehow. There were a lot of classified ads placed by the mother asking for information on where Beverly Sharpman was but no one in her new circles would know her maiden name, from this perspective.

The Rahway County Jane Doe Unnamed Since 1887

Picture this scenario. Late one evening in March 1887, a young woman alights a train in Rahway, New Jersey. A short time later, she is murdered, a dog nearby in the darkness of night seems to be aware of the drama, and then four brothers find her the next morning. The resulting 'whodunit' and "Who is she?" stories are a coast-to-coast media hit and the details of the Rahway County Jane Doe story gets plenty of coverage. However, to this day she remains unnamed.

I looked at this case back in 2017. One angle I took that I hoped would lead to her identity was to search newspaper classifieds for someone that was looking for a missing person. Newspapers used to have a section where you could post information on someone you were trying to reconnect with. In fact, Beverly Sharpman's mother used such classfieds. 

What I hoped with the Rahway County Jane Doe was to find a classified advertisement where someone was looking for their friend, daughter, or wife who was last known to be traveling via train to New Jersey in March 1887 and has not been heard from since. I failed at that but this is a process that could be done over and over again as time goes by. That's because newspaper databases are constantly expanding.

I've always felt that the best chance for this case to be solved is just for a television network to take an interest in her case for nothing more than TV ratings. It would be a captivating hour-long television program to name a Jane Doe from the late 1800s using modern forensics, I think.