Once in awhile it happens that I’m writing up a case and discover that, lo, it’s connected to another one. Sometimes the MPs are relatives; sometimes they have some other shared feature, like how Mary Margaret Cook and Peggy Wynell Byars-Baisden both lived on the same street, although there’s no indication those two cases are connected. Most often, though, the connection is through a third party, usually a suspect in the case.
Today I added two of those: Valarie Sloan and Janis Sanders. Both of these women had been mentioned on the site already in the casefiles of others — Stacey Morrison and Janeice Langs respectively — but I didn’t have any photos or anything for them to have their own files. The same suspect, a serial killer named Joseph Miller, has confessed to killing Valarie and Stacey but hasn’t faced charges and probably never will. In the case of the Two Jans, the same guy, Gerald Libertowski, was actually charged with the murders of his ex-girlfriends Janeice Langs and Janis Sanders, but he got off both times. I tried to find out what he got up to after that, whether he’s still alive, but couldn’t find anything on him.
Possibly the most unusual connection noted on Charley is that of Robert Black, Richard Davison and Patricia Laxer. Those three, plus a woman named Goldie Swanger, all disappeared going either to or from an appointment with the same doctor. Goldie turned up in 2004, but I have no info as to the circumstances. There seems to be no indication of foul play in the Case of the Disappearing Patients, but the whole thing is very Twilight Zone. I only wish I knew more about those cases, though I suspect that at closer look they would turn out to be disappointingly much less mysterious.
The Charley Project Blog 
Interesting. I wonder how thoroughly that doctor & his staff were checked out by investigators. And if an insurance check was ever done on those patients. I have a feeling someone was taking out large policies on elderly people around that time & area. And if they were never caught, and are still alive, they may still be doing it somewhere else.
It would be great for an episode of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
I believe I read that the missing patients were all Jewish as well. Not 100% sure on that though.
Goldie’s granddaughter solved her being missing. It’s a long story and it just may be that there is more to the story. I (HER BIOLOGICAL SON) found out her married?? name of Swanger. Her previous married name was Holman (to William Holman in Colorado) and her maiden name was Kramer. To get more info on Goldie you may want to contact Andria(McNames) Cooper (granddaughter to Goldie) e-mail: andriac00@hotmail.com as she has a lot of info on Goldie missing and as to the related missing elderly people at the time of her “missing”. Anyway, Andria and another granddaughter of Goldie’s, and myself went to Los Angeles about 2001 or 2002 and did a little investigation, got medical records from a doctor that Goldie was seeing before she became missing. That doctor told me that she saw him about once a month and then just never showed up and that he wondered what became of her! We found out where she was last at, alive, during her being “missing”. I believe it was a nursing home or something to that effect. I believe the government department that we today call the SRS had something to hide as they threw roadblocks in our search of Goldie. It seems strange that as soon as my wife and I determined that her last name was Swanger and informed the SRS we knew her last name, the “SRS” had one hissy fit, and we determined that Goldie was still alive! But when we got to California she had passed away! Now that is strange! We found out where she lived previous to this facility and saw the place (apartment) and met and talked with a person who knew Goldie (an apartment neighbor). The administrator of the facility she was last at clammed up when we started to question the circumstance as to why Goldie was at this facility. Andria talked with a person who worked in that facility and knew Goldie as a patient(?). Andria has the info on this place. Goldie’s biological family believe that what we discovered may possibly be something to do with medicare fraud. The other missing persons in that area may just have been admitted to that same facility. We don’t know. We couldn’t find out. It needs to be checked out. Even today when elderly people go missing the powers that be don’t take much of an interest in actually locating them. Makes it ripe for medical fraud in my opinion. 04-01-20014 L.L.McNames
I’ve always wondered if there is a connection between Lillian Estrada and Amanda Rivera. Both disappeared six days apart from each other and they lived about three miles from each other.
This is also the same vicinity from which Amber Dubois disappeared. I wonder if John Gardner was around there in 1990
Just realized – Gardner was only 31 in 2010, which would have made him about 11 in 1990. Very unlikely.
Unfortunately, I have nothing on either Amanda or Lillian, so I can’t speculate.
Your Gabriel Johnson write-up doesn’t mention Jane Puckett’s his great-aunt. But in all fairness it has nothing to do with the case.
Had Jane actually been listed on Charley at the time, I probably would have brought it up.