Sandra Lee Hopler - Missing from Scranton Since September 1973

Paraphrased details from government source**: Sandra was last seen on September 29th, 1973. She was a student at Keystone Junior College in La Plume, PA, and was last seen at Martz Trailways Bus Station in Scranton, Pennsylvania, or at the pick-up point.


Missing Person: Sandra Lee Hopler
May use the following alias(es): Sandy
Last-contact date: September 29th, 1973 (Saturday)
The area where the MP was last seen: Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the LaPlume area possibly at the Martz Trailway Bus Station or at a pick-up point. Possibly, she would have been near Lackawanna and Jefferson Avenue since that's where Martz Trailways offices were located in 1973 according to the following classified advertisement but the pick-up point could have been somewhere else. The zip code 18440 is given as her place of disappearance, which would be near Lackawanna Trail in La Plume.

23 May 1973, Wed The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

Link to government source
: NamUs MP#8897

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: White or Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 18 years old
Birthdate: June 8th, 1955
Hair: Brown or light brown
Eyes: Hazel
Scar: a small scar on one eyebrow
Height/weight: 5-foot-4 and 125 pounds
BMI*: Sandra Lee Hopler was in the normal range for BMI.
Tattoos: Sandra Lee Hopler did not have any tattoos associated with her profiles.
Clothing and accessories: Burgundy blazer, dark blouse, Seiko watch with a gold face, and a tan shoulder purse
Distinctive: A mole on the back of the hand between the thumb and index webbing, a small mole near lip (left side), pierced ears, and she may have glasses, however, these aren't pictured in the two pictures I found of her. 
Family: Lyle Joseph Hopler Jr. (father, d. in 2002), Patricia Lee Snyder (mother, d. in 2017), and she had siblings.

28 Feb 2002, Thu The Courier-News (Bridgewater, New Jersey) Newspapers.com

Sandra Lee Hopler was last heard from on September 29th, 1973 when she was 18 years of age. This individual has now been missing for about 48 years as of the original publication date of this blog post. 

The journalism coverage I found for this missing person case was either modern or written years after her disappearance. She has been mentioned in cold case articles for the region she lived in, however, these articles did little but mention the broadly known details of this case. The oldest article using the databases I searched was from 2010.

I did find a second picture of her using Ancestry. She had a photograph in the 1973 yearbook for James Caldwell High School. Her hair was parted in the middle and she had a wavy characteristic to it that is consistent with the photo of her from her missing person profile. Sometimes the place of hair parting can be discerned from Jane Does so this is one point of comparison if you are looking at descriptions of unidentified remains.


Online sources say that Sandra Hopler was going to New York, that she told her plans to a roommate, and that she was last seen at a bus station or pick-up point for Martz Trailways. The details of this case could be opened up by someone in the family or the roommate (if surviving), people who may know more publishable details, or have some publishable information on the investigation.

I tried to find information on the bus schedule since these are sometimes in newspapers. However, I found only an article from 1962 when the original service between Scranton and New York was announced from Martz Trailways. This article may or may not contain information about where she was dropped off.

25 Jun 1962, Mon The Tribune (Scranton, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

One major point with this case is simply if she got on the bus or not. From what I gathered, she was seen waiting for the bus. Sometimes an attractive young woman waiting for a bus attracts the attention of someone offering a rideshare. But if she did get on the bus, then New York becomes the focal point. 

This individual has a landing page in a family tree with Ancestry. There was little information there but it could be updated in the future.

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

Author: Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer)
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
Shane Lambert, (Freelance Writer) 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.

['missing and murdered', 'Missing and murdered indigenous women', 'Shane Lambert Forsa', 'Shane Lambert Facebook', 'Missing person Facebook Group', "Canada's Missing", 'CharleyProject.org Sandra Lee Hopler', 'DoeNetwork Sandra Lee Hopler', 'Sandra Lee Hopler missing person', 'what happened to Sandra Lee Hopler', 'missing Scranton person', 'missing Pennsylvania person', 'missing Scranton woman', 'missing Pennsylvania woman', 'missing Scranton women', 'missing Pennsylvania women', 'missing woman Scranton', 'missing woman Pennsylvania', 'missing from Scranton', 'missing from Pennsylvania', 'Scranton missing persons', 'Pennsylvania missing persons', 'Sandra Lee Hopler missing from Pennsylvania', 'disappearance of Sandra Lee Hopler', 'foul play', 'missing since', 'has not been seen', 'whereabouts of', 'missing person', 'missing persons database', 'theories', 'what happened to Sandra Lee Hopler']

Phyllis Marie Corbin -- Missing Since November 1963

Paraphrased details from government source**: Phyllis was placed at the House of Good Shepherd. This was located at 3800 Gravois Ave., St. Louis, Missouri. While she was there at the beginning of November of 1963, she met another young lady and they ran away together. She was given a ride to the bus station where reportedly they were heading to New Orleans. The home supposedly reported her missing but Phyllis' family hasn't been able to confirm that. It was originally believed the other girl may have returned three weeks later but that too is not proven.

The photo shows the missing person at the age of 14.

Missing Person: Phyllis Marie Corbin
Last-contact date: November 1963
The area where the MP was last seen: St. Louis, Missouri. There was a Greyhound Bus Station at 709 North Broadway in 1963 but perhaps there was more than one.
Link to government source: NamUs MP#50556 

VITAL DETAILS

Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 16 years old
Birthdate: Phyllis Marie Corbin was born between November 2nd, 1946, and November 1st, 1947 based on her reported age at the last date of reported contact. I found a Phyllis Marie Corbin that was born in Missouri on September 6th, 1947 at Ancestry. 
Hair: Reddish-brown, short and wavy
Eyes: blue
Scar: none reported
Height/weight: 65 to 68 inches and 100 to 155 pounds
BMI*: Phyllis Marie Corbin was in the normal range for BMI if you use the upper values.
Tattoos: Phyllis Marie Corbin did not have any tattoos associated with her profiles.

Phyllis Marie Corbin was last heard from in November of 1963 when she was 16 years of age. This individual has now been missing for about 58 years as of the original publication date of this blog post.

There is little to go on with the case, except for the NamUs description. I did not find any media coverage with this individual. Furthermore, this individual was not in the files of Ancestry very much. However, I think I found her birthdate of September 6th, 1947.  Ancestry updates their files regularly, so one thing you could do is look in that database for this individual and see if she shows up anywhere after his last-seen date of November 1963.



When I looked at Google Maps for the address of the House of Good Shepherd, I thought that the building currently standing might have been the same one in 1963. However, Google Maps only went back to 2007 for the area.

Some research I did on the House of Good Shepherd suggested to me that these were kind-of halfway houses for at-risk youth. It seemed that this was a place that someone would want to "escape" from. The following article pertains to the House of Good Shepherd from 1967. It's clear from the article that this isn't a place that anyone would want to be. It suggests that Phyllis was an at-risk youth in a problematic environment. Perhaps she sought to escape the House of Good Shepherd at all costs.

07 May 1967, Sun St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) Newspapers.com

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

Author: @UncoolNegated on Twitter
All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.
@UncoolNegated on Twitter 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.

['missing and murdered', 'Missing and murdered indigenous women', 'Shane Lambert Forsa', 'Shane Lambert Facebook', 'Missing person Facebook Group', "Canada's Missing", 'CharleyProject.org Phyllis Marie Corbin', 'DoeNetwork Phyllis Marie Corbin', 'Phyllis Marie Corbin missing person', 'what happened to Phyllis Marie Corbin', 'missing St. Louis person', 'missing Missouri person', 'missing St. Louis woman', 'missing Missouri woman', 'missing St. Louis women', 'missing Missouri women', 'missing woman St. Louis', 'missing woman Missouri', 'missing from St. Louis', 'missing from Missouri', 'St. Louis missing persons', 'Missouri missing persons', 'Phyllis Marie Corbin missing from Missouri', 'disappearance of Phyllis Marie Corbin', 'foul play', 'missing since', 'has not been seen', 'whereabouts of', 'missing person', 'missing persons database', 'theories', 'what happened to Phyllis Marie Corbin']

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.

['missing and murdered', 'Missing and murdered indigenous women', 'Shane Lambert Forsa', 'Shane Lambert Facebook', 'Missing person Facebook Group', "Canada's Missing", 'CharleyProject.org Winifred Corrine Long', 'DoeNetwork Winifred Corrine Long', 'Winifred Corrine Long missing person', 'what happened to Winifred Corrine Long', 'missing Marysville person', 'missing California person', 'missing Marysville woman', 'missing California woman', 'missing Marysville women', 'missing California women', 'missing woman Marysville', 'missing woman California', 'missing from Marysville', 'missing from California', 'Marysville missing persons', 'California missing persons', 'Winifred Corrine Long missing from California', 'disappearance of Winifred Corrine Long', 'foul play', 'missing since', 'has not been seen', 'whereabouts of', 'missing person', 'missing persons database', 'theories', 'what happened to Winifred Corrine Long']

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:

AttributeAnnie PrimroeRahway County Jane DoeNotes/Observations
Year of DisappearanceMissing since 1887 (per 1902 classified ad by J.J.T.)Murdered in March 1887Timelines match exactly, supporting a potential connection.
Location ConnectionFrom 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 StatusLikely 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 ContextJ.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.
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.

Featured Post

Carbon Jane Doe - Funeral Home Theory

Author : Shane Lambert Original Time of Writing : August 23, 2025 All articles are subject to editing after the original posting. Could F...

Best of MPC (as selected by the site's author)