Posted on 04/26/2007 9:56:41 PM PDT by Bartholomew Roberts
Edited on 04/26/2007 10:30:02 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
The Warren County Sheriff's Office says its seeks the public's assistance in locating two elderly women from Warren County.
Mary Ellen Walters, 68, and Ada Wasson, 80, were last seen last Thursday April 19th at Otterbein Retirement Living Community located at State Routes 741 and 63 in Warren County. The two women live in the Patio Homes section, which is an independent living area.
They are believed to be in Mrs. Wasson's’ silver 2000 Chevrolet Impala bearing Ohio registration DG 30 LC. The women were believed to have been traveling to a JC Penney outlet center either in Columbus, Ohio or Carrollton, Ky.
Friends and neighbors alerted sheriff’s detectives Sunday that the women had not returned when expected.
Detectives have not been able to locate any record of their whereabouts after leaving home. There has been no activity on any gas or credit cards belonging to the women.
Foul play is not suspected at this time, but police are concerned for the women’s safety.
Major John Newsom said detectives have exhausted most of their investigative options.
“We just need the public’s help at this point,” he said.
If you can help, call (513) 925-1280 during business hours or (513) 925-2525 after business hours.
###
UPDATE
There will be a search Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 27, 28, 29 - anywhere 50 miles east or west of I-71 from Columbus to Carrollton, KY. Grab a map, some posters and stake out a plot of territory to search. They could truly be anywhere.
Travel the roads less travelled and go down dirt roads and look down long driveways to abandoned homes. It would be great to hang a poster on "No Outlet" signs after driving down dead end roads so as to alert others that the road has already been searched.
Take a couple bottles of water and a snack in case you find them! They'll be thirsty and hungry!
For more information, or to print some posters, go to www.neighborsearch.info
A $5000 reward is being offered by the Warren County Sheriff's Office.
Thank you.
OTTERBEIN RETIREMENT LIVING COMMUNITIES
580 North State Route 741, Tel: (513) 933-5400
________________________________________________________________________ Date: April 26, 2007
Release Date: Immediate
Subject: Community Concerned
For more information call:
Bob Benson, President
Otterbein Lebanon Retirement Living Community
513 933-5498
or Rosemary Cicak, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations,
Otterbein Homes
513 933-5448.
_______________________________________________________________________
Otterbein Community Concerned – Your Help Needed
Otterbein Retirement Living Communities and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office are seeking the public’s assistance in locating two neighbors, who live in the patio home area of the Otterbein Lebanon community. Ada Wasson, 80 and Mary Ellen Walters, 68, a retired United Methodist Pastor, were last seen on Thursday April 19th on the Otterbein Lebanon Retirement Community campus located at Routes 741 and 63 in Warren County. The women were believed to have been traveling to a JC Penny outlet center either in Columbus, Ohio or Carrolton, Kentucky.
The two were traveling in Mrs. Walters’ 2000 Chevrolet Impala, silver in color bearing Ohio registration DG 30 LC
Detectives have not been able to locate any record of their whereabouts after leaving home. Foul play is not suspected at this time.
Otterbein is diligently working with both the families and the authorities to do everything possible to help locate both individuals. We ask that the public join us in praying for the families.
If you have any information that may help, please contact the Warren County Sheriff’s Office at 513 695-1280.
# # #
I read that Mary Walters lived in northwest Ohio until three years ago. Could she have decided to show Ada Wasson a favorite shopping mall outlet there?
PEACE VI....
No, they have lived in Cincinnati area as long Ive know them...unless she had a methodist church contact up there.
You are right, and (again) h.c. is wrong. They lived in Frazeysburg in north central Ohio as well as Xenia and Milford Center. Timing is a little off as they last lived in Milford Center for three years before Otterbein.
I doubt she would go to Frazeysburg however because that wasn’t her favorite place of all that she lived in. Except for a basket factory, not much to see there. Also, if it were truly an afternoon trip, that would be much too far.
Although they had a full tank, I doubt they were planning too far as they left mid afternoon. Hard to go far, shop, eat and return before dark. Probably not anything that would keep them out after dark.
Prayers UP from Delaware.
There is a chance they made it to the mall and were followed outside. With packages in their hands, they probably weren’t aware of their environment. Do they have a favorite store they like to visit? Or perhaps they stopped at an ice cream place in the mall and someone overheard their conversation, and decided they were easy marks? Could you check videos?
I see so many elderly people shopping by themselves and can only imagine how easy it would be for someone to hurt them. Creeps pray on the very young and old.
I didn’t know they left mid-afternoon. How long would it take to drive to Carrollton, Kentucky (80 miles?) by country roads? Two to three hours?
Mary Ellen was a shopper. She often took day trips with friends. Apparently no one knew their plans specifically, though someone said they asked her to go to Carrollton that morning. That is a bit suspect though because they tried to go to Carrollton two days before and got lost. Lady was unsure exactly that it was Thursday that she was asked.
Unusual that they left in mid afternoon to go to Carrollton as it is an 80 mile trip each way and they would be home after dark. On the previous Tuesday, they left in the early morning. They also only took side roads. Also, the dog. Mary Ellen wouldn’t leave her dog unattended for an overnight without asking someone to take care of it.
Mary Ellen had a visit by one son on Tuesday before the disappearance and a call from daughter on Wed. Daughter made plans to have dinner on Sunday. Husband was in FL with 93 y.o. mother. On Sunday, daughter shows up and no Mary Ellen. Dog is going crazy. Neighbors said she hadn’t been seen since Thursday. God knows why they didn’t call anyone.
It wasn’t terribly unusual that Mary Ellen didn’t answer phone calls as she was infirm and could not get out of chairs to get to the phone. Several calls had gone unanswered from various relatives Thurs thru Sun.
Again, no credit cards have been used and no confirmed sightings. Strongest lead was in Carrollton but that was a bust. Clerk remembered a silver Ohio plated car w/handicap placard but wrong make and model. No purchase seen on video and the only matching purchase zip code data proved to be unrelated people.
Leads are coming in from all over but there is usually some flaw. Either dates don’t coincide or out of character...i.e. someone saw them buying outdoor furniture cushions at a yard sale in central Indiana last weekend!
We’ve checked all the videos of locations that we thought they’d been. Nothing.
The fact that credit cards have not been tried might lead one to think a car accident. They didn’t have a whole lot of money on them and the car was not that well prized by car jackers, but anything could have happened.
Also, car jackers are a bit sparse in the areas most likely for them to have gone.
I have reservations about the car jacker/thief idea. If criminal, it could have been a lot closer to home-Otterbien. It could have been something else as well.
Didn't these relatives think to have a neighbor’s phone number so they could run over and check when calls went unanswered? I didn't know she was infirmed.
Just wondering...are you a relation to either of these ladies? Keeping them in my thoughts and prayers.
I believe that they had the numbers but she’s only 68 and is an independent minded person. She has bad knees and weighs far too much but is mentally sound. If we called the neighbors every time she didn’t answer they’d have moved in with them by now!
Yes, I’m the son-in-law.
I hope we are wrong about something happening close by , but thats where Ive been looking for clues........
I’m sorry your family is going through this. I hope they will come home safely soon.
This must be a difficult day for all of Mary Ellen and Ada’s loved ones. Still praying for them and for all of you working to locate them.
I commend you, Brad, for how hard you have worked in this search. I am praying for your strength.
jm
Have not seen anything in the news......any new info on these two ladies?
Do you know the usual route they take? What areas have been search already? My fellow class mates and I have been following the case and would like to offer our help. We are student Private Investigators out of Columbus.
A rumour has been going around town that Ada Wasson had been hospitalized after trying to commit suicide in March. Is this true???
If so, when was she released from the hospital? Did Mary Ellen know? Is this why that other resident did not go with them? Could this be why they disappeared?
If Ada was trying to commit suicide again, she would have been accerating when she left the road. The car could be farther off the road than expected.
wlwt.com did a story on it this evening. It is also on their website.
This is the story from their website...
TURTLECREEK TOWNSHIP, Ohio — One month after two Warren County women disappeared during a shopping trip, family members have not yet given up searching for the pair. They have searched 8,000 square miles from Columbus to Carrollton, scanning a wide path on both sides of Interstate 71 by air and by land, and still nothing.
Ada Wasson, 80, and Mary Ellen Walters, 68, left Otterbein Retirement Community last month to go shopping at an outlet mall and haven’t been seen or heard from since.
Walters’ son-in-law and others are mapping a new strategy this weekend
They now believe the pair may have left at 4 p.m. instead of 1:30 p.m.
“If that were true, then they would be closer to home,” said Brad Nixon.
They’re restarting the search by exploring a ring around Otterbein, and searchers will each travel 45 miles in different directions.
Family said Wasson never drove at night and always traveled on the side roads.
Searchers will try to peel back the brush on every road, and they will also go onto and into the water.
“(We’ll search) with sonar, with boats (and) with dogs if we can get them, whatever we can take to search all the bodies of water nearby,” Nixon said.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.