is the story of Julia Stoddard‘s 1983 disappearance, and more to the point her life prior to her disappearance, just incredibly sad?
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
The Charley Project Blog 
Did Mrs.Stoddard disappear in 1983 or 1987. Her DoD is listed as the former but the casefile states she disappeared on the latter.
1983, my bad. Will fix
I thought the same thing, Meaghan. Sounds like a sad, lonely life. I hope she’s found someday soon.
I know this is an old posting, but I was fascinated by this case…. From the Council Grove Republican (newspaper): “Whatever happened to
Stoddard, whether she succumbed
to the elements or was murdered by
a drug gang, she lives on in death
as a reminder of the free spirit of
the plains. The Dog Lady may not
have lived a life many would envy,
but she lived the life she chose,
surrounded by her many dogs, alone on the prairie.” This made me smile. She may have been happier than we thought. You never know about people.
I posted a write-up to reddit based on your post and another article: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/ej1txa/the_disappearance_of_julia_stoddard_the_dog_lady/
I couldn’t NOT talk about this case to someone.
Good Reddit profile! I’m actually on Reddit but don’t usually look in the crime sections. I post history and humor stuff.
There was some more stuff about Julia Stoddard’s background that I saw in articles on Newspapers.com but didn’t include:
1. She started hoarding dogs during her marriage and her husband divorced her because of it.
2. Her previous residence in another town had been condemned. Probably it was in the same condition as the one she disappeared from.
3. She REALLY didn’t want anyone on her property and had allegedly run off social workers with a shotgun, presumably the one later found in her basement. So I think the authorities did try to help her and she wouldn’t let them.
I have a relative who got in a situation where she had waaaaay too many animals, like hundreds, at her home. People don’t plan to end up with hundreds of animals; it just kind of gets out of control. People were deliberately dumping unwanted dogs near Julia’s home because they knew she’d take them. I’m sure at least part of the reason she didn’t want to accept any help and didn’t want anyone to go on her property is she was ashamed of how bad the situation had become.
Meaghan, my great aunt became a hoarder after her second husband died. Her son moved in with her and I don’t even know what happened. She was never a great housekeeper but her home was livable. She got to where she wouldn’t even open the door a crack because she didn’t want anyone to see inside. No one in our family knows how bad it is, although she’s in a nursing home and he’s still out there.
Also, quick question for you Meaghan. I browse the Updates a lot and notice a number of pages can’t be found. What determines if you remove the case from the website vs. posting a resolution? I’m just curious, thanks!
I usually remove a case if they disappear from the source websites and it looks like they were probably found but I don’t know 100%. I also remove a case if family or the cops ask me to.
http://charleyproject.org/case/clifton-billings
Clifton Billings’ date of disappearance is listed as September 1, 1999 instead of September 1, 2018, just so you know. Love your work on the site – it is very informative and helpful.
I came across a podcast, that seems to indicate that someone checking Google Earth, had come across the car that Randy Leach was using the night he disappeared. I was wondering if anyone else knows more about this report. Supposedly, it is on private property.
We could send in a SEAL Team and they could do a sneak and peek, and verify the vehicle information. It might be cheaper to send in a drone.
I don’t see how they could know from Google Earth that they found THAT particular car. I mean, maybe they might be able to tell the make and model but that’s all.
After more than thirty years’ exposure to the elements-especially given the severity of Kansas winters and considering that its body was very likely damaged in an accident the night of the disappearance, which would accelerate its rusting-the chance that there’d be enough left of that car to be remotely identified today would seem to me to be either slim or none and I wouldn’t bet the rent on slim.
My best guess as to what happened to poor young Randy tends away from the popular Satanic cult/drug deal/grassy knoll fantasies and more toward the prosaic solution that so often proves true when a car goes missing with someone in it-namely that the aforementioned someone, with some chemical help,perhaps, let the car’s wheels get out from underneath them at a very inopportune moment and then coudn’t get back on top of them in time to avoid going off the road and into a body of water too deep or fast-moving for the remains and wreckage to be readily found soon afterward.
Care to identify that podcast, Mr. Kerrigan? I would like to see what they have and consider their take on it notwithstanding.
And let me agree with everyone else that the Stoddard case is one of the saddest I’ve heard of.
Leon, the podcast was from another missing persons website, that is maintained by a woman who worked in federal law enforcement. I did not listen to all of it, so don’t know any of the details.
I agree with you that he most likely ended up in a body of water. I am keeping a file on newspaper stories of missing persons and their vehicles that have been found in bodies of water.
In October 2019, two divers found a Ford Ranger with Washington plates on it in the Columbia River. It contained the remains of a farm hand who had been missing for 26 years.
I also included the one from Florida where they spotted the car in that man made lake a few months ago. That one was spotted on Google Earth.
It was reported that Georgia Jane Doe, has been identified. She has been identified with the help of a former friend who knew that Shirlene Cheryl Hammack, had been missing from a travelling fair sometime in 1981. Well, the authorities did some DNA checking and confirmed it was her.
The guy who killed her George Newsome, was convicted of her murder. He also died in prison in 1988, without telling authorities her name. That was nice of him.
An extraordinary 38 people with the surname Allen are listed on Charley Project.
It’s a pretty common surname. I looked it up and it’s 27th most common.
What is the most common surname on Charley Project? Probably Jones or Smith.
128 Smiths on Charley Project.
68 Joneses.
I like that authorities in DuPage County, identified Bruce Lindahl, as the offender in the murder of Pamela Maurer in the 1970’s. However, Mr. Lindahl, died in the process of stabbing an 18 year old man to death in his girlfriend’s apartment.
He is also connected to the disappearance of another teenager from Downers Grove. Also he was a suspect in the abduction and rape of another 26 year old woman. The charges were dropped after she disappeared. Her remains were found several years later.
Most likely he will be connected to the murder and disappearances of other victims. His DNA profile was developed in the last decade. However, DNA genealogy assisted in identifying him. Hopefully, they will be recover the remains of his other victims.
I wonder what his supposed girlfriend knew about his other activities.
Also, that 14 year old boy Harley missing in Ohio, has been found. His remains were found in a chimney of an unoccupied summer home being fixed up. It appears when authorities checked the home they found his jacket and some other property in the home. I assume he figured out the way to access the home. What a shame, that we did not have a better outcome.
However, I think it should become a basic requirement of law enforcement or other agencies to conduct routine checks of abandoned properties in their jurisdictions. It might prevent them being used to dump bodies that might never be found. In Hammond, Indiana, authorities arrested a individual for the murder of a young woman in a local motel. He led them to a number of abandoned homes in Gary, Indiana where he dumped the bodies of other women he had murdered.
Yes, what an awfully sad story. It’s troubling to think her husband couldn’t, or wouldn’t, find it in his heart to work with her on this – especially considering that HER heart was in the right place by trying to assist these dogs in the brutal climate of Kansas.
She needed someone around, which isn’t a bad thing: even though she’d probably never want to admit to that.
I became interested in this case when I was a Council Grove Kansas police officer.
It’s an interesting case and to their credit, the officers I spoke with indicated that they gave it a more of an effort than many other small town offices would have. They apparently drained the Airbase’s ponds and walked a great deal of the land surrounding the properties.
I did have a couple of questions that never got answered on why they never had this case entered into Namus/Charley Project or had this listed as a outstanding case but that was less the fault of current officers and more the flaw of time itself.
It seems over the last couple of years someone has picked this back up.
I don’t believe it was exposure or walked up on a drug deal at the wrong time but probably, considering Delavan’s location to Council Grove and it’s proximity to Major roadways, probably a trucker/serial killer got her one night.