The Doe Network:
Case File 55DFIA

1 

Jane Ellen Wakefield
Missing since September 5, 1975 from Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

  • Date Of Birth: November 19, 1948
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 26 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2; 112 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; green eyes. Wakefield wore eyeglasses at the time of her disappearance.
  • Dentals: Missing tooth #14

    Circumstances of Disappearance
    Wakefield was last seen on September 5, 1975 by friends in the north section of Iowa City on a bicycle. Some reports list she was last seen at her mobile home at the Bon-Aire Mobile Home Lodge, in Iowa City, Iowa.

    She was reported missing on September 8, 1975, by the Penn school principal, where she was a teacher. A police check of her trailer revealed her bicycle at its usual place beside the trailer and clothing in a location suggesting she had recently taken a shower. The trailer was orderly and nothing was missing or out of place.

    At the time, a series of lie detector tests narrowed the list of suspects. However, one major suspect had refused to take such a test questioning the validity of such tests. On September 10, 1975, Iowa City police drained two city lagoons near the victim's trailer court, but no evidence pertaining to the case was uncovered.

    In January of 1976, police armed with search warrants went to an Iowa City tavern where Wakefield had worked, an Iowa City apartment house and a billiard parlor, both managed by her estranged husband. Ashes sifted from an incinerator at the apartment in question were sent to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation Laboratory in Des Moines: Lab analysis of bone fragments found in the incinerator were found to be inconclusive. Subsequently, a stretch of 1-80 north-of Iowa City was also searched by some 20 officers. No official explanation for the search has ever been released. Jane has never been seen again.

    Investigators
    If you have any information on Wakefield's whereabouts, please contact:

    Iowa City Police Department
    Lt. Sid Jackson
    319-356-5276
    Email
    OR
    Iowa Missing Persons' Clearinghouse
    800-346-5507
    Email

    All information may be submitted on an anonymous basis.

    NCIC Number: M-703329643
    Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

    Source Information:
    Iowa Missing Persons' Clearinghouse
    Gazette Online
    Iowa City Missing Persons
    Gazette

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