1724) Ann Gotlib

Ann Gotlib (1971 – disappeared in 1983). Soviet Jewish immigrant to the United States who disappeared at the age of 12 from the premises of a Louisville, Kentucky mall. The case to find her abductor was covered heavily by the Louisville news media and stretched for the next twenty-five years until a person of interest was eventually identified.

Ann was last seen on June 1, 1983, between 5:30 and 6:00 PM. She was visiting Bashford Manor Mall, across the street from the apartment complex where she lived with her family. Her bike was later found outside the Bacon's Department Store at the mall.

Due to the startling way in which Gotlib had vanished in broad daylight without any trace, it was a key case that led the United States Congress to create the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984 to coordinate departments involved in missing-persons cases. The center credits the Gotlib case with increasing national awareness of missing and abducted children and revolutionizing how missing-child cases are handled. One new technique that came out of the investigation was the use of billboards and other tactics to generate widespread awareness of a missing person, which was considered futile according to conventional wisdom at the time.

- "At the time that Ann disappeared, she was 12 years old and was described as having red hair and gray eyes." https://www.lmpd.gov/305/Ann-Gotlib

1722) Helen Brach

Helen Marie Brach (née Voorhees; 1911 – disappeared 1977). American multimillionaire widow whose wealth had come from marrying into the E. J. Brach & Sons Candy Company fortune; she endowed the Helen V. Brach Foundation to promote animal welfare in 1974. Brach disappeared on February 17, 1977, and in May 1984 she was declared legally dead, as of the date of her disappearance. An investigation into the case uncovered serious criminal activity associated with Chicago horse stable owners, including Silas Jayne and Richard Bailey. More than a decade later Bailey was charged with, but not convicted of, conspiring to murder Brach; he eventually received a sentence of 30 years after being convicted of defrauding her.

- "Frank took his fortune and retired with his third wife, Helen Brach, a red-haired Appalachian hat-check girl he'd met at a Miami Beach country club." https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2022/11/disappearance-of-candy-lady-helen-brach-unwrapped.html

- "The red-haired beauty was already divorced by age twenty-one, blaming herself for the failure of her marriage to a philandering playboy." https://troytaylorbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-disappearance-of-helen-brach.html

1715) Marjorie West

Marjorie West (1933 - ?). American child who went missing from McKean County, Pennsylvania on May 8, 1938. Her disappearance was heavily covered by both local and national media, but her whereabouts have never been ascertained.

On May 8, 1938, Marjorie, along with her parents, 7-year-old brother Allan and 11-year-old sister Dorothea, attended a church in Bradford, Pennsylvania. After they attended the church, they went to Marshburg, Pennsylvania for a picnic to celebrate Mother's Day. Dorothea left Marjorie alone while she spoke to her mother. When Dorothea went back to Marjorie, she had disappeared and was never seen again. Her parents called the police, but the police found no evidence of Marjorie's whereabouts. 

In 2010, a local publisher, Harold Thomas Beck, claimed to have solved the mystery by identifying Marjorie with Sylvia Waldrop London. She eventually admitted that her mother confessed on her deathbed to her husband having stolen her from a park, and that she had remembered the names Dorothea and Allan from childhood. 

- "Dorothea and Marjorie, a red-haired girl who was dressed like Shirley Temple (in the style of the time), picked violets together."  https://carenlissner.medium.com/the-still-unsolved-mystery-of-a-little-girl-who-vanished-in-1938-7f9d6edeee04

- "... another day had passed without finding the little red-haired four-year-old, Marjorie West. [...]  Police began circulating a poster describing Marjorie’s “curley” red hair, freckles, red Shirley Temple hat and patent leather shoes." https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/26/missing-marjorie-west 

409) Amelia Earhart

Amelia Mary Earhart (1897 – ?). American aviator and aviation pioneer.

In 1928, she was the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic by airplane. In 1932, she became the first woman to make a nonstop solo transatlantic flight, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for her achievement. She was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and helped found the Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.

On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world.

 

- "Featured here is a memo written by Central High School librarian, Laurie C. Johnson, describing Amelia as “an attractive, friendly, red-haired teenager-not at all unlike her friends”. http://discussions.mnhs.org/…/amelia-earhart-found-in-st-p…/