Disappearance of Robin Graham

Robin Graham
High school graduation photograph
Born Robin Ann Graham
(1952-06-22)June 22, 1952
Los Angeles, California
Disappeared November 15, 1970 (aged 18)
Los Angeles, California
Status Missing for 47 years, 10 months and 27 days

Robin Ann Graham (June 22, 1952 – disappeared November 15, 1970) was an American college student who disappeared from a Los Angeles freeway in the early hours of November 15, 1970 after her car had broken down. She has not been heard from since, nor are there any clues as to her whereabouts or subsequent fate. Graham's case is often included in television programs focusing on missing persons.

California Highway Patrol officers had earlier noted Robin Graham stranded beside her vehicle and had actually stopped several times and conversed with her, but did not stop one final time when they observed her talking with a young man likely involved in her abduction. The fact that these CHP officers had, at the time, been acting in accordance with existing policy;[1] as a result of Robin Graham's disappearance, CHP policy was officially changed to ensure the safety of all stranded female motorists.[2]

Background

Robin Graham was the daughter of Marvin and Beverly Graham. She grew up on Lemoyne Street, in the Silverlake-Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, and had graduated from John Marshall High School in June, 1970. She was attending Pierce College, in Woodland Hills and working part-time at Pier 1 Imports, in Hollywood.

Disappearance

Robin Graham was last seen by California Highway Patrol officers at approximately 2:00 a.m. on November 15, 1970, beside her car on the shoulder of the southbound Hollywood Freeway near the Santa Monica offramp; she was in the presence of a dark-haired white male estimated to be in his mid-twenties and who drove a late 1950s model Chevrolet Corvette C1, pale blue or green with primer. Graham used a call box to ask that a CHP emergency operator let her parents know she had run out of gas. Graham's younger sister took the call and relayed the information to her parents upon their return home at approximately 2:30 a.m. They went immediately to the location where they found Robin's car, but she was not there.[3] There was no note found on her locked car. The CHP officers had stopped several times earlier and spoke with Graham but did not stop again when they saw her talking with the young man; the patrolmen assumed he was family, the help for which she'd called. The CHP officers were acting in accordance with policy;[1] as a result of this case CHP policy was changed to ensure the safety of stranded female motorists.[2]

Graham had been out Saturday night with friends. After dropping off a girlfriend, Graham was dropped off at her car in the Pier 1 Imports parking lot, at approximately 1:45 a.m. The initial report had Graham leaving voluntarily in the Corvette, but the CHP officer who made that report was requisitioned and said he saw her in the presence of the young man but did not see them leave together.

The case was handled by detectives at the Rampart Division of the LAPD who thought Graham's disappearance was possibly linked to three other similar cases involving young women over the previous two years,[4] including Rose Tashman, an Israeli-born student at San Fernando Valley State College who disappeared in 1969. She had a flat tire on the Hollywood Freeway, a few miles from the location of Graham's car. Months before Graham's disappearance, on January 20, 1970, another young woman, Cindy Lee Mellin, had also disappeared; her car was found with a flat tire, she likewise has never been found. None of the other cases were solved and all the other victims were found dead in the Hollywood Hills. In 1975, a similar disappearance took place from the San Bernardino Freeway, in El Monte. The skeletal remains of Mona Jean Gallegos were found nearly six months later in a Riverside ravine. At the time of her disappearance Graham had long brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin and was 5'6 in height.

Further activity

Seventeen years later, an ad appeared in the Los Angeles Times classifieds which caught the attention of the Graham family as well as KFI disc jockey Geoff Edwards, who read it on the air: "DEAREST ROBIN You ran out of gas on the Hollywood Frwy. A man in a Corvette pulled over to help. You've not been seen of since. It's been 17 years, but it's always just yesterday. Still looking for you (signed) THE ECHO PARK DUCKS." It turned out that Al Medrano, a friend still living in the neighborhood, simply wanted to express that Graham had not been forgotten.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Drummond, William J. (November 19. 1970), "CHP, POLICE REGULATIONS EXPLAINED:Why Missing Coed Was Left on Freeway", Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif. p. a1 (2 pp.)(Full text via Newspapers.com. (subscription required).)
  2. 1 2 "WILL INCREASE AID TO WOMEN:CHP Alters Freeway Policy After Disappearance of Girl", Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif.:Dec 12, 1970. p. a1 (2 pp.)(Full text via Newspapers.com. (subscription required).)
  3. ↑ Drummond, William J. (November 18, 1970), "Girl Sighted Talking to Man on Freeway Before She Vanished:Homicide Detectives Say Patrolmen Directed Pierce Coed to Call Box, Later Saw Corvette Parked Near Her Car", Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif. p. a3 (2 pp.)(Full text via Newspapers.com. (subscription required).)
  4. ↑ Jones, Jack (June 8, 1977), "Postscript: Parents Won't Give Up on Girl Who Disappeared 6 Years Ago", Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File). Los Angeles, Calif. p. oc1 (1 pp.)
  5. ↑ Harvey, Steve. (December 15, 1987), "Postscript: 'I just wanted to show she wasn't forgotten.'" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif. metro2, p. 3(Full text via Newspapers.com. (subscription required).)
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