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| Price, Ramona September 2, 1961; Santa Barbara, CA | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 16 2011, 07:25 AM (914 Views) | |
| Nut44x4 | Jun 16 2011, 07:25 AM Post #1 |
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Police search for Calif. girl who vanished in 1961 By THOMAS WATKINS The Associated Press SANTA BARBARA Authorities in Santa Barbara County have begun searching for the remains of a schoolgirl who disappeared nearly 50 years ago. Using dogs specially trained to detect old human remains, a crew of handlers on Wednesday scoured embankments on either side of U.S. Highway 101 west of Santa Barbara. Seven-year-old Ramona Price vanished in 1961 and authorities now believe she was yet another victim of serial killer Mack Ray Edwards, who worked on the construction of a bridge over the highway. Edwards, who claimed he killed more than 20 children, committed suicide in San Quentin while on death row in 1971. The renewed investigation was spawned by an author's research into the case. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. On Sept. 2, 1961, 7-year-old Ramona Price watched as her father packed the family's belongings into a truck to move to a house in Santa Barbara. Excited, the schoolgirl decided to go on ahead to the new home, a couple miles away. She was never seen again. Despite an extensive investigation, the little girl's abductor was never found. Fifty years later, police on Wednesday plan to use cadaver-sniffing dogs to search a highway overpass as it is torn down. They believe serial killer Mack Ray Edwards, who worked on the overpass as a heavy machine operator, dumped the little girl's body there. The case went cold, but throughout the years detectives got periodic leads, police Lt. D. Paul McCaffrey said. About four years ago, detectives received information that Ramona was buried under the overpass and Edwards may have been responsible for her death. They waited until now, as the overpass is being demolished, to announce their suspicions. The so-called Winchester Overcrossing lies to the west of Santa Barbara, an affluent seaside city about 100 miles west of Los Angeles. The city of about 88,000 usually has about three homicides annually, and McCaffrey said Ramona's disappearance reverberated in the community for years. At the time, two brothers who were sex offenders were questioned in the case. They admitted to talking to a girl as she passed them but denied ever touching her. No charges were filed. snipped http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_Gi...s_578442C.shtml |
| and Justice for all .... | |
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| Ell | Jun 18 2011, 07:18 AM Post #2 |
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Heart of Gold
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The Santa Barbara Police Department will hold a press conference Wednesday morning to discuss developments in the case of a missing girl fifty years ago. Ramona Price was reportedly seven years old when she went missing back in 1961. Police said she was a student at Adams School and disappeared from the area of Modoc Road in Santa Barbara. The case remained unsolved, and her whereabouts or the location of her body was never determined. About four years ago, investigators received information that made them believe Price's body may be buried beneath the Winchester Overcrossing. The overcrossing was built at the same time period as Price's disappearance. Due to new construction, investigators will have the opportunity to search the area. The press conference Wednesday morning will provide details about a possible suspect who was linked to the Winchester overcrossing project. http://www.ksby.com/news/police-to-hold-pr...e-50-years-ago/ |
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Ell Only after the last tree has been cut down; Only after the last fish has been caught; Only after the last river has been poisoned; Only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten. | |
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| luvmycat | Jun 19 2011, 06:11 PM Post #3 |
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Sneezy!
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This is interesting! |
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Albert Einstein: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it. ![]() http://icaremissingpersonscoldcases.yuku.com/ | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:09 PM Post #4 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18322386?nclick_check=1 inShare0 ReprintPrint Email Font Resize Calif. police begin digging for missing girl The Associated Press Posted: 06/21/2011 09:32:35 AM PDT Updated: 06/21/2011 05:47:59 PM PDT SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Authorities seeking the body of a 7-year-old girl who vanished nearly 50 years ago began excavating a patch of earth Tuesday at a site where a confessed child serial killer helped build an overpass along U.S. Highway 101. Investigators scraped away dirt after dogs trained to detect decayed human remains recently signaled it was an area of interest, police Lt. Paul McCaffrey said. The overpass west of Santa Barbara was completed shortly after Ramon Price went missing in 1961. Investigators excavated about three feet of dirt over an area half the size of a tennis court on the north side of the highway, McCaffrey said. The excavation could take several days and an anthropologist was standing by in case any bones were uncovered. Ramona vanished as her family was packing to change homes in Santa Barbara. The little girl told her father she would walk to the new home a few miles away but she never arrived. Police now suspect Ramona was a victim of Mack Ray Edwards, who turned himself in to authorities in 1970 after kidnapping three girls from the Sylmar area of Los Angeles. Edwards eventually claimed to have killed more than 20 children. He hanged himself while on death row in his San Quentin prison cell in 1971. Edwards, who drove backhoes and other machinery during the Southern California freeway boom, told fellow prisoners that he had buried victims in the dirt under the roads. Police began checking the overpass site after Weston DeWalt, an author and investigator, pointed out that Ramona's disappearance was similar to other killings by Edwards. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:11 PM Post #5 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightUSA/...0&#entry9830335 |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:14 PM Post #6 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-ramo...0,3173842.story Searchers Begin Digging Near Freeway For Remains of Missing 7-year old Police say her disappearance may be linked to notorious child killer Mack Ray Edwards VIDEO: Watch Chip Yost's Report Ramona Price disappeared on September 2, 1961 Ramona Price disappeared on September 2, 1961 (Family Photo) KTLA News 1:38 p.m. PDT, June 21, 2011 SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KTLA) -- Police have begun excavating an area near a freeway bridge, linked to the disappearance of a 7-year-old girl who vanished 50-years ago. Last week, 3 specially trained cadaver dogs alerted on an area near the base of an overpass on Highway 101 at Winchester Canyon Road. Ramona Price disappeared from the same area about the time the bridge was being constructed in 1961. Sign up for KTLA 5 Breaking News Email Alerts One of the heavy-equipment operators on the job was Mack Ray Edwards, who later confessed to murdering six children and burying their bodies near freeways. McCaffrey said members of Ramona Price's family have been notified about the excavation but do not plan to be present. Ramona Price vanished on Sept. 2, 1961, while walking from her current house to the family's new home several miles away. The case has remained unsolved, but police now suspect her disappearance may be linked to serial killer Mack Ray Edwards. Family members say Ramona told her father she planned to walk to the new house around 11:00 a.m. that Saturday morning. Her dad thought she was joking. A short time later, the family, who had been busy packing, noticed she was gone. Bloodhounds tracked Ramona nearly 2 miles down Modoc Road, near the Winchester Overpass off the 101 Freeway, which was under construction at the time. Now, police believe Ramona may have crossed paths with Edwards, a convicted child killer who died on death row in 1971. Edwards, a heavy-equipment operator, told Los Angeles police in 1970 that he had killed six boys and girls over a 15-year period. He later told a Los Angeles County jailer that the real number of victims was closer to 18, making him the most notorious serial killer of children in California history. Police believe he buried the children near the freeway construction sites where he worked during California's freeway-building boom of the 1950s and '60s. On Wednesday, police plan to bring in cadaver dogs to search the area which is once again under construction. "The tearing down of the Winchester overcrossing for new construction allows a rare opportunity to search the area with cadaver dogs trained to detect human bodies, even after being buried for many years," a police spokesman said Tuesday. In a similar case in 2008, authorities in Moorpark excavated an area near the Tierra Rejada Road off ramp on the 23 Freeway looking for another long missing child. Investigators were looking for 16-year old Roger Dale Madison who was believed killed by Edwards in 1968. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:16 PM Post #7 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.independent.com/news/2011/jun/1...-area-interest/ Body-Sniffing Dogs Find ‘Area of Interest’ in Search for Missing Girl Efforts to Locate Ramona Price’s Remains Halted Until Chief and Caltrans Coordinate Further Thursday, June 16, 2011 By Rebecca Robbins Fifty years after the disappearance of 7-year-old Ramona Price, Santa Barbara police brought out cadaver dogs to search for Price’s remains at the Winchester Canyon overpass on Wednesday. The volunteer team of handlers and four detection dogs — which had been trained by the Santa Clara Search and Rescue Team to exclusively search for deceased human remains — worked “an area of interest” near the overpass, police spokesperson Lt. Paul McCaffrey said in a written statement. Although no digging was done on Wednesday, the “area of interest” will be excavated pending a decision by Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez and Caltrans authorities, McCaffrey added. Ramona Price Click to enlarge photo Ramona Price Police are “pretty certain” that convicted child-killer Mack Ray Edwards — who confessed to murdering at least six children over a 17-year span — kidnapped and killed Price after she walked away from her home near Modoc Road on September 2, 1961, Sanchez said. Edwards, a former heavy equipment operator who worked on freeways, told police that he buried the bodies of several of his victims in freeway construction sites. He worked on one of the construction teams that built the overpass — which was completed several weeks after Price went missing — and also spent time visiting a friend who lived in a residential development adjacent to the overpass. And before committing suicide in his San Quentin prison cell in 1971, Edwards told a fellow prisoner that he had killed up to 18 children. Photo Gallery Search for Ramona Price Pasadena author Weston DeWalt — who has extensively researched Edwards’s killings — approached the Santa Barbara Police Department with these and other clues linking Edwards to Price’s death. With this new information, police began to suspect that Edwards had buried Price’s remains near the overpass. The conclusion marked a significant change of course in the department’s ongoing attempt to solve the cold case. Also in 2007, Lt. Mark Vierra told the Pasadena Star-News that Edwards “would not be a person of primary interest to us” in the investigation. But DeWalt’s tips made the police “a lot more confident” that Edwards was Price’s killer, according to Santa Barbara police investigator Jaycee Hunter. The search for Price’s remains was put on hold Wednesday to allow police to further investigate the tips and coordinate the timing of the search with Caltrans. Sanchez said he hoped the search for Price’s remains would ease the pain of Price’s elder sister, who told the police she is “still very devastated” about the disappearance of her sister half-a-century ago. Sanchez emphasized that the police department is fully committed to solving cold cases in order to bring closure to the families of the victims. “We will continue this investigation even if we find nothing today, tomorrow, or even a year from now,” he said. “We’re going to turn every stone — literally and figuratively — to solve this case.” Goleta resident Charlie Meraviglia — who was 11 years old at the time of Price’s disappearance — was collecting bottle caps with his friends on Modoc Road when police approached the boys to ask if they had seen Price. When the boys said they had not seen her, the police instructed them to go home so they would be safe, Meraviglia said. “We were all scared,” Meraviglia recalled on Wednesday. “Things that like don’t happen in Santa Barbara.” |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:18 PM Post #8 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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he Search for Ramona Price Police Think 7-Year-Old, Missing Since 1961, May Be Entombed in Winchester Overpass Tuesday, June 14, 2011 By Barney Brantingham Santa Barbara police plan to release cadaver dogs at the Winchester Overpass construction site on Wednesday, in hopes of finding traces of the long-missing Ramona Price. Price was just 7, with dark hair cut pixie-style, when she walked from her Oak Avenue home on Santa Barbara’s Westside home on Saturday, September 2, 1961. She was heading for the Price family’s new home, but never got there. Her body has never been found. Now, the name of a possible suspect has emerged, a serial killer of children in another county with a connection to the Winchester Overpass that was being built at about the time of Price’s disappearance, according to police. Police aren’t saying more, pending a press conference Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. at the overpass. They aren’t releasing the suspect’s name, other than saying that he died in prison many years ago. They concede that it’s a long shot that Price will be found. In my 1992 book, Around Santa Barbara County with Barney, I wrote that Gerald Lowery, then a patrolman and later police chief, recalled that a highway construction worker was arrested in the San Diego area. He was accused of murdering children around the state and disposing of their bodies in fresh freeway cement. But he was never charged in Price’s case and does not appear to be the suspect police have in mind now. Back on that fateful day in 1961, the Price family was excited, preparing to move to a new home in Goleta. Without telling anyone, Ramona decided to walk to her new home at about 11 a.m., not realizing that it was miles away. Just before noon, the family, busy packing, missed her. But she was gone. Bloodhounds traced her 1.9 miles down Modoc Road. Then, nothing. Two brothers, 44 and 55, came under heavy suspicion after they told of speaking to Price when she walked past their parked car as they drank wine. Price, they said, was walking purposefully. “Where do you think you’re going?” one brother said he asked her. “I’ve got to go somewhere,” she replied and kept on walking. They were investigated and freed. Her apparent abduction took place just two-tenths of a mile farther down Modoc Road, police came to believe. A mystery witness told police of seeing a child climb into a faded blue 1953 or 1954 Plymouth sedan at the point where the bloodhounds lost her scent. Perhaps the weary girl decided to accept a ride from a friendly stranger, although her parents had warned her against it. Over the years I’ve talked to retired officers who worked on possible leads, never giving up hope. Her parents moved out of state later in the 1960s. http://www.independent.com/news/2011/jun/1...h-ramona-price/ |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:25 PM Post #9 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/15/lo...-price-20110615 Girl who went missing in 1961 may be victim of serial killer Mack Ray Edwards After Ramona Price, 7, vanished from the Santa Barbara area, her body was never found and the case went cold. Now, investigators believe Edwards may have buried her at a 101 Freeway construction site. * Mack Ray Edwards' booking photo from the Los Angeles Police Department. In 1970 he turned himself in and confessed to the slayings of three children; he is believed to have killed as many as 20. Mack Ray Edwards' booking photo from the Los Angeles Police Department.… June 15, 2011|By Andrew Blankstein and Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times Nearly 50 years ago, a 7-year-old girl named Ramona Price took a Saturday morning stroll down a quiet lane on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. She never returned — and now police think she may have encountered Mack Ray Edwards, a heavy-equipment operator who is believed to have killed as many as 20 children before he confessed to six murders and hanged himself in his San Quentin prison cell in 1972. On Wednesday, cadaver dogs will scour the area around a bridge spanning the 101 Freeway at Winchester Canyon Road. Edwards — who was described by his Sylmar neighbors as a "quiet, very nice guy" — worked on that bridge around the time Ramona vanished in 1961. Photos: 2008 search for another victim Edwards' monstrous legacy is still unfolding. Three years ago, authorities excavated an exit ramp off the 23 Freeway in Ventura County, seeking the bones of 16-year-old Roger Dale Madison of Sylmar. Edwards, a neighbor and friend of the Madison family, had admitted stabbing the boy near the freeway when it was under construction in 1968. He worked on that project too, and authorities believe the boy's body may be buried beneath the roadway. After five days of digging, police called off the search. At a news conference Wednesday morning, Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez is expected to identify Edwards as a possible suspect in Ramona's death. Officials caution that it's only a possibility — but one bolstered by Edwards' work on the bridge and the fact that he temporarily lived with a friend just a quarter-mile away. The bridge is being reconstructed now, which makes it an ideal time to investigate the site, officials said. "The big thing is for us not to miss this opportunity," said Santa Barbara police cold case investigator Jaycee D. Hunter. "We would be stupid not to do it." Police in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Torrance and other areas where children went missing while Edwards was at large have been trying to nail down his trail for years. "We can't give up finding these kids, we just can't," said Los Angeles police Det. Vivian Flores. "These children represent your kids and my kids. Would you ever want detectives to stop looking if your child was missing?" For decades, there were no clues in Ramona Price's disappearance. But four years ago, Pasadena author Weston DeWalt, who is writing a book on the Edwards murders, asked Santa Barbara authorities for permission to review their files. Last year, he showed Santa Barbara investigators records he'd unearthed indicating that Edwards was employed by a highway contractor that did work in Santa Barbara. He found the friend Edwards had roomed with and, at the request of police, contacted Caltrans officials about the possibility of excavating a site where Edwards had worked. DeWalt was out of the country Tuesday, looking for shipwrecks off Poland. If cadaver dogs detect the presence of remains, police said excavation could begin next week. "We have to make some battlefield decisions on some things," Hunter said. Edwards exhibited a strange blend of solicitude and cruelty. In 1970, he and a 15-year-old accomplice botched an attempt to kidnap three young sisters in Sylmar. When Edwards turned himself in to the police, he gave a startled sergeant his gun and cautioned him to be careful because it was loaded. When he pleaded guilty to three of the murders, he was disappointed that relatives would have to sit in court and hear the agonizing details of their loved ones' deaths. Ads by Google But his crimes were extraordinarily brutal. In 1953, he kidnapped 8-year-old Stella Darlene Nolan, molested her, strangled her and threw her off a remote bridge. When he returned the next day to find the Norwalk girl was still alive and had crawled 100 yards, he stabbed her and buried her in an embankment that became part of the Santa Ana Freeway. That was his first known killing. He pointed police to her body in 1970. When Ramona Price disappeared in Santa Barbara on Sept. 2, 1961, authorities quickly focused on a pair of brothers who had been convicted of sex crimes. The brothers were given lie-detector tests and "truth serum," but there was not enough evidence to prosecute them. Edwards pleaded guilty to the murders of Stella Nolan, 13-year-old Donald Allen Todd Jr. of Pacoima, and 16-year-old Gary Rocha of Granada Hills. He mentioned to inmates and a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy that he had killed others, though his numbers varied. Before investigators could get to the bottom of his claims, he strangled himself with a TV cord. He had said he was eager to face the death penalty and tried to commit suicide in custody twice before. The motives for his lengthy rampage remain murky. He molested some — but not all — of his victims. In court, he expressed no sympathy for them despite his concern for their families. Asked by an investigator why he did it, Edwards was enigmatic. "Why does anyone do it?" he said. Photos: 2008 search for another victim andrew.blankstein@latimes.com steve.chawkins@latimes.com Ads by Google |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:29 PM Post #10 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jun/16/lo...-price-20110616 Search for Santa Barbara girl missing since 1961 narrows Specially trained dogs find an 'area of interest' near a bridge spanning U.S. 101 in the search for the remains of 7-year-old Ramona Price. * A specially trained dog helps in the search for the remains of 7-year-old Ramona Price, who disappeared in 1961. A specially trained dog helps in the search for the remains of 7-year-old… (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times) June 16, 2011|By Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times Reporting from Goleta, Calif. -- The search for Ramona Price began nearly 50 years ago, but only now do police feel they may be getting close. The 7-year-old girl vanished on Sept. 2, 1961. Santa Barbara authorities disclosed this week that she may have encountered Mack Ray Edwards, a serial killer who worked in the area and confessed to killing six Southern California children. On Wednesday, four specially trained dogs found what police are calling "an area of interest" near a bridge spanning U.S. 101 in Goleta. "It's about as strong a reaction as we could have expected to receive," said Lt. Donald Paul McCaffrey, a police spokesman. Ramona lived on the outskirts of Santa Barbara, several miles down the 101 from the Winchester Canyon Road bridge. Edwards was a heavy-equipment operator who helped build the bridge, which opened just a few weeks after Ramona went missing. He sometimes bunked with a friend in a mobile home on a ridge top within view of the construction site. The bridge is soon to be torn down, replaced by a new one nearby — which makes this a particularly good time to search, police said. "When he was in San Quentin [State Prison], he told other inmates he had victims no one would ever find," said Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez. "He said no one would ever tear up the freeways." Sanchez spoke to reporters as the dogs and their handlers methodically paced the bare dirt at the bridge's base and scrambled through brush on its embankments. The Australian shepherd, chocolate Lab, border collie and golden retriever worked independently — and all four alerted in the same area. "We're hoping and praying that some great things come out of this," said Sanchez, a former Los Angeles Police Department homicide detective. "Everyone deserves some kind of closure, whatever that might mean to them." Sanchez said police would have to further analyze the canine team's findings before deciding whether to excavate at the site — a process that could take weeks. A similar effort to find another of Edwards' presumed victims failed in 2008 after crews conducted digs near the 23 Freeway in Ventura County. The four dogs and their handlers were from the Canine Specialized Search Team, a volunteer group affiliated with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. Finding remains half a century old is not an impossible task, said Lynne Englebert, one of the group's directors. She said the dogs have located buried remains around the world, including some at an archaeological site in Czechoslovakia that probably were more than 1,500 years old. Recently, the dogs located some 300 unmarked burial sites in the old eastern Sierra mining town of Bodie near the California-Nevada border. Ramona disappeared as her parents were packing up for a move to another home in the Santa Barbara area. A witness saw her talking to a man who had stopped his 1950s-vintage Plymouth on the road where she was walking. Ramona got in the car. She was never seen again. Edwards had a 1950s Plymouth, Sanchez said. A sketch made at the time was "pretty darn close" to Edwards' 1970 booking photo at the Los Angeles County jail. He turned himself in — and confessed to six murders — after an aborted kidnapping of three young sisters in the San Fernando Valley. Edwards bragged about committing as many as 20 murders but is not known to have mentioned any in Santa Barbara. In 1972, before investigators could check out his claims, he hanged himself with a TV cord in his San Quentin cell. Santa Barbara police did not focus on him until about four years ago, when Weston DeWalt, a Pasadena writer, alerted them to his research. It was DeWalt who discovered Edwards' work on the bridge. Ramona's parents are dead, but an older sister survives. Police would not release her name. But Sanchez said the 60-year-old woman remains devastated by the loss of her sister. On Wednesday, a few Santa Barbara residents gathered at the bridge to watch the dogs work. They talked about the search for Ramona in 1961, a massive community effort that involved Boy Scouts, military helicopters and police officers from all over the region. Shirley Robles, 76, lived in a house just behind the one to which Ramona was about to move. Robles, whose two children were young at the time, remembered police searching her home, hoping that Ramona might simply be playing hide-and-seek. "It was a very frightening time," she said. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:31 PM Post #11 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.contracostatimes.com/california...?nclick_check=1 Police officers resume search alongside freeway as they look for girl missing since 1961 Staff and Wire Reports Posted: 06/15/2011 06:20:30 PM PDT Updated: 06/15/2011 08:46:21 PM PDT SANTA BARBARA - On Sept. 2, 1961, Ramona Price watched excitedly as her father helped movers pack the family's belongings. The 7-year-old schoolgirl said she would run on ahead to their new home, a few miles away. Sure, honey, the distracted dad had said, not thinking his daughter was serious. A short while later, he realized she'd gone. He called police, who launched a huge search. But the little girl with curly brown pigtails had vanished. Fifty years later, police on Wednesday began the painstaking task of looking for Ramona's remains along the side of a picturesque freeway, believing that she was yet another victim of Sylmar serial killer Mack Ray Edwards. Edwards confessed to killing more than 20 children before he committed suicide on Death Row in San Quentin in 1971. Edwards, a former Army heavy equipment operator from Arkansas, settled in Sylmar in 1954 and drove backhoes and other machinery during the Southern California freeway boom. He told fellow prisoners at San Quentin that he'd buried victims in the dirt under the roads. "He really joked about it, who would ever tear down a freeway, no one would ever find them," Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez said. The search is not the first time authorities have attempted to find remains alongside roads Edwards worked on. In 2008, workers dug up earth by a Ventura County freeway offramp in an attempt to find a Sylmar boy that Edwards Advertisement confessed to killing and burying. Authorities said Edwards helped build a freeway overpass on U.S. Highway 101 just west of Santa Barbara. The bridge was completed soon after Ramona went missing. Using dogs specially trained to pick up the scent of old human remains, a crew of handlers worked the graded areas on each side of the overpass, which is in the process of being demolished and replaced. The crews methodically worked up and down the bare soil at the scene, though nothing was immediately detected. Detective Jaycee Hunter, who provided the account of Ramona's last exchange with her father, said Edwards had an "eclectic way of killing," and would sexually assault his victims before killing them by strangling, stabbing or shooting them. Edwards turned himself in to authorities in 1970 after kidnapping and killing five children in the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys. Edwards, who hung himself at age 53 with a television cord, confessed in 1970 that Roger Dale Madison, a 16-year-old Sylmar boy, was one of his victims. In December 1968, Edwards tricked Madison into playing a game for money. The trusting teen let Edwards tie him up in an orange grove. Edwards then stabbed him to death and later dumped his body in a compaction hole he had made at a Moorpark worksite. In 1965, Edwards gave 13-year-old Don Baker $7 to take Brenda Howell - the 11-year-old sister of his wife - into Bouquet Canyon in Santa Clarita. He met them there, separated them, and beat the boy unconscious with a rock. As Baker regained consciousness, Edwards slit his throat. Then he killed Brenda as she approached the body. In 1968, Edwards fatally shot Gary Rochet, a 16-year-old from Granada Hills, after going to his home hoping to molest the teen's sister. He also fatally shot Donald Allen Todd, 13, of Pacoima, in 1969 after trying to molest him. Edwards was convicted of the murders of Rochet, Todd and an 8-year-old Compton girl, Stella Darlene Nolan, who vanished in 1953. She was his first victim. Stella's remains were found under the 5 Freeway in Downey, buried eight feet under the ground. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:32 PM Post #12 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011...for-the-re.html Dogs find 'area of interest' in search for Ramona Price remains June 15, 2011 | 3:20 pm A volunteer with a dog helps Santa Barbara police search an area at Calle Real and the 101 Freeway in Santa Barbara County for the body of a 7-year-old girl, Ramona Price, who disappeared in 1961. Santa Barbara police on Wednesday said specially trained cadaver dogs had found "an area of interest" in searching for the remains of 7-year-old Ramona Price, who disappeared in 1961 and possibly fell victim to serial killer Mack Ray Edwards. Officials must analyze the findings further before deciding whether to excavate near a bridge spanning the 101 Freeway at Winchester Canyon Road, a police spokesman said. Ramona vanished as she took a walk near her home on Sept. 2, 1961. At the time, Edwards, a heavy-equipment operator, was working on the bridge for a highway contractor and sometimes roomed with a friend in a mobile home about a quarter-mile from the construction site. The bridge opened within weeks of Ramona's disappearance. It is about to be demolished and be replaced by a bridge that has been built several yards down the 101. So now is a perfect time to dig in the area. About 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, three of four specially trained cadaver dogs owned by members of Santa Clara County Search and Rescue were led on long leashes across the bridge. For the next several hours, they methodically paced on bare dirt and scrambled through brush. Santa Barbara police watched and waited. Edwards took his own life in a San Quentin State Prison cell in 1972 after being convicted of the murders of three children and claiming to inmates that he'd killed as many as 20 in all. Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez said Edwards joked in prison about his string of murders and said most of them would never be discovered because no one would tear up a freeway. Ramona's parents are now dead, he said. An older sister, who is 60, no longer lives in the area and is "still devastated," he said. Everyone is hoping for closure. "A cold case does not mean a forgotten case," Sanchez said. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:37 PM Post #13 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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Girl who went missing in 1961 may be victim of serial killer Mack Ray Edwards After Ramona Price, 7, vanished from the Santa Barbara area, her body was never found and the case went cold. Now, investigators believe Edwards may have buried her at a 101 Freeway construction site. Serial killer Mack Ray Edwards Mack Ray Edwards' booking photo from the Los Angeles Police Department. In 1970 he turned himself in and confessed to the slayings of three children; he is believed to have killed as many as 20. By Andrew Blankstein and Steve Chawkins, Los Angeles Times June 15, 2011 Nearly 50 years ago, a 7-year-old girl named Ramona Price took a Saturday morning stroll down a quiet lane on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. She never returned — and now police think she may have encountered Mack Ray Edwards, a heavy-equipment operator who is believed to have killed as many as 20 children before he confessed to six murders and hanged himself in his San Quentin prison cell in 1972. On Wednesday, cadaver dogs will scour the area around a bridge spanning the 101 Freeway at Winchester Canyon Road. Edwards — who was described by his Sylmar neighbors as a "quiet, very nice guy" — worked on that bridge around the time Ramona vanished in 1961. Photos: 2008 search for another victim Edwards' monstrous legacy is still unfolding. Three years ago, authorities excavated an exit ramp off the 23 Freeway in Ventura County, seeking the bones of 16-year-old Roger Dale Madison of Sylmar. Edwards, a neighbor and friend of the Madison family, had admitted stabbing the boy near the freeway when it was under construction in 1968. He worked on that project too, and authorities believe the boy's body may be buried beneath the roadway. After five days of digging, police called off the search. At a news conference Wednesday morning, Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez is expected to identify Edwards as a possible suspect in Ramona's death. Officials caution that it's only a possibility — but one bolstered by Edwards' work on the bridge and the fact that he temporarily lived with a friend just a quarter-mile away. The bridge is being reconstructed now, which makes it an ideal time to investigate the site, officials said. "The big thing is for us not to miss this opportunity," said Santa Barbara police cold case investigator Jaycee D. Hunter. "We would be stupid not to do it." Police in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Torrance and other areas where children went missing while Edwards was at large have been trying to nail down his trail for years. "We can't give up finding these kids, we just can't," said Los Angeles police Det. Vivian Flores. "These children represent your kids and my kids. Would you ever want detectives to stop looking if your child was missing?" For decades, there were no clues in Ramona Price's disappearance. But four years ago, Pasadena author Weston DeWalt, who is writing a book on the Edwards murders, asked Santa Barbara authorities for permission to review their files. Last year, he showed Santa Barbara investigators records he'd unearthed indicating that Edwards was employed by a highway contractor that did work in Santa Barbara. He found the friend Edwards had roomed with and, at the request of police, contacted Caltrans officials about the possibility of excavating a site where Edwards had worked. DeWalt was out of the country Tuesday, looking for shipwrecks off Poland. If cadaver dogs detect the presence of remains, police said excavation could begin next week. "We have to make some battlefield decisions on some things," Hunter said. Edwards exhibited a strange blend of solicitude and cruelty. In 1970, he and a 15-year-old accomplice botched an attempt to kidnap three young sisters in Sylmar. When Edwards turned himself in to the police, he gave a startled sergeant his gun and cautioned him to be careful because it was loaded. When he pleaded guilty to three of the murders, he was disappointed that relatives would have to sit in court and hear the agonizing details of their loved ones' deaths. But his crimes were extraordinarily brutal. In 1953, he kidnapped 8-year-old Stella Darlene Nolan, molested her, strangled her and threw her off a remote bridge. When he returned the next day to find the Norwalk girl was still alive and had crawled 100 yards, he stabbed her and buried her in an embankment that became part of the Santa Ana Freeway. That was his first known killing. He pointed police to her body in 1970. When Ramona Price disappeared in Santa Barbara on Sept. 2, 1961, authorities quickly focused on a pair of brothers who had been convicted of sex crimes. The brothers were given lie-detector tests and "truth serum," but there was not enough evidence to prosecute them. Edwards pleaded guilty to the murders of Stella Nolan, 13-year-old Donald Allen Todd Jr. of Pacoima, and 16-year-old Gary Rocha of Granada Hills. He mentioned to inmates and a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy that he had killed others, though his numbers varied. Before investigators could get to the bottom of his claims, he strangled himself with a TV cord. He had said he was eager to face the death penalty and tried to commit suicide in custody twice before. The motives for his lengthy rampage remain murky. He molested some — but not all — of his victims. In court, he expressed no sympathy for them despite his concern for their families. Asked by an investigator why he did it, Edwards was enigmatic. "Why does anyone do it?" he said. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ra...0,2258068.story |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:38 PM Post #14 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://www.thedailysound.com/061511--DOGS-...MISSING-REMAINS COLD CASE MYSTERY: Dogs to search for human remains in case of 7-year-old girl who went missing in 1961 By DAILY SOUND STAFF -- JUNE 15, 2011 Ramona Price was a 7-year-old Adams Elementary School student when she went missing 50 years ago. Now the Santa Barbara Police Department believes it might know what happened to her. And they are looking to cadaver search dogs to help them solve a case tangled in mystery since 1961. Authorities believe Ramona’s body may have been buried beneath the Winchester Canyon Road over-crossing in Goleta, which was built about the same time as Ramona disappeared. Police plan to release cadaver search dogs and hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. today to discuss the cold case. Ramona went missing on a walk near her Modoc Road home. Her body was never discovered. But four years ago, authorities uncovered information that suggested that she may have been buried in the Winchester overcrossing. CalTrans is currently reconfiguring the overpass, which allows search crews an opportunity to look through the area for human remains. Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez will make an announcement at the press conference and possibly release details about the suspect. The Highway 101 Southbound onramp at Winchester Canyon will be closed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., while cadaver dogs search the area. |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| monkalup | Jun 21 2011, 08:45 PM Post #15 |
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The Old Heifer! An oxymoron, of course.
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http://crimevoice.com/cadaver-dogs-bring-h...cold-case-6121/ Cadaver dogs bring heat to cold case By R.L. McCullough on Thursday, June 16th, 2011 at 9:42 pm Font Size : Mack Ray Edwards was sentenced to death in 1970 after being convicted of three murders he confessed to. Edwards killed himself before he could be executed. SANTA BARBARA – In 1961, 7-year-old Romona Price struck out for an adventurous trek from her family home in Santa Barbara to a new house the Price family was moving into several miles away. While in the vicinity of an exclusive Hope Ranch country club, Romona vanished. No trace of her has ever been found. Now, 50 years later, Santa Barbara Police Department investigators have unearthed several new leads. According to department spokesman Lt. Paul McCaffrey, four highly-trained cadaver dogs dug up an “area of interest” near the foundation of an offramp-bridge on U.S. 101 in Goleta on Wednesday. “It’s about as strong a reaction as we could have expected,” McCaffrey announced to the media. McCaffrey added that detectives are working leads in connection with the missing girl’s possible contact with Mack Ray Edwards, the confessed killer of a half-dozen children throughout Southern California. Edwards was a construction worker on the Winchester Canyon Bridge, which went into service shortly after Romona Price vanished. Edwards, who had boasted of as many as 20 murders while incarcerated in San Quentin following his attempted kidnapping of three San Fernando Valley girls, hanged himself in his prison cell in 1972. Santa Barbara police Chief Cam Sanchez held an impromptu press conference at the site of the Winchester Canyon Bridge canine search. “When Edwards was in San Quentin, he told other inmates he had victims no one would ever find because no one would ever tear up the freeways,” Sanchez noted. While Sanchez was speaking with the press, four dogs from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office volunteer Canine Specialized Search Team were alerting to brush-covered areas at the base of the bridge, which is scheduled for demolition and reconstruction this summer. “We’re hoping and praying that some great things come out of this,” Sanchez said. “Everyone deserves some kind of closure.” |
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Lauran "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth." The late, great Roberto Clemente. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. | |
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| mimi | Sep 12 2012, 06:02 PM Post #16 |
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Advanced Member
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http://www.knappfamily.com/ramonaprice.htm Ramona Irene Price Date Of Birth: June 24, 1954 Date of Disappearance: September 2, 1961 Height and Weight at Disappearance: 4' - 45 lbs Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian. Dark hair NCIC Number: SB Police Case Number- If you have any information that I can add or if you are familiar with any details about this case please contact me. If you reference this information, please give a link back so I may be able to get information from anyone that is also interested or investigating this case. If you have any information that you think may help with this case please call the Santa Barbara Police Department at (805) 897-2300. FACTS ON RAMONA PRICE CASE On the morning of September 2, 1961 Ramona Irene Price, age 7, told her father she was going to walk to their new home. That day, the Prices’ were moving from a home in Santa Barbara to one located in Goleta, approximately 5 miles away. Her father jokingly said “go to it.” He never saw her again. At the time of her disappearance, Ramona Price was 4 ft. tall, 45 lbs. and had a dark pixie style haircut. She was last seen wearing a brown and white pull over sweater, brown pants with fine pin stripes and flip flops. Ramona walked from Oak Ave. down Modoc Rd. and towards the entrance of the La Cumbre Country Club; police believe it was there that she disappeared. Extensive searches proved fruitless. Bloodhounds hit on several sites, although nothing significant ever emerged. One dog did show interest near an old house on a hill in the area and foot steps of a small child and adult were present. The handler said the scent could have been Ramona’s, but still for some reason, they deemed this information inconclusive because the dogs were not being consistent. The dogs did indicate that her tracks went upward through the Hope Ranch area, but went back towards the Country Club ultimately ending in the vicinity. Along her route she was spotted by several people. One woman said that she saw Ramona dragging a stick behind her and many people said (foot steps in dirt confirmed this) that she stopped often to remove her sandals, as they had pinched her feet. Searchers combed the entire area all the way to the beaches. No trace of her was ever found. Several witnesses came forward with similar descriptions of a car. Some people claimed they saw a blue/grey Cadillac or Plymouth. A few people said they saw a man, 60’s, thin face wearing a felt hat, obviously interested in Ramona. Modoc Rd. was a well known road, but was typically only traveled by the locals. Within a few days, two men were arrested for failing to register as sex offenders. Their names were Ray and William Panno. These brothers did admit they had been in their car across from the Country Club drinking. Their car fit the description given by witnesses. William Panno had spent time in Mendocino State Hospital for molesting a girl in Isla Vista. When the brothers were arrested, their car was confiscated and processed for fingerprint/blood evidence. All tests came up negative. The Panno brothers both gave polygraph and sodium pentothal tests. Police were slow to reveal that the tests were deemed inconclusive and later, according to the Santa Barbara News Press, tests indicated they had no knowledge of her whereabouts. Police apparently excluded a blue Plymouth found abandon in the Santa Barbara Mountains saying it had nothing to do with this case. I know nothing further on this incident or what made law enforcement come to this conclusion. A few weeks after Ramona’s disappearance Ventura Authorities reported a blue and white Plymouth 1953-1954 watching children playing near Meirner’s Oaks but the man left the scene before law enforcement could investigate. There were reports of similar incidents in Santa Barbara in the weeks following Ramona’s disappearance. A Santa Barbara Police Investigator speculated that Ramona may have been abducted by someone working on a nearby road construction site. Someone out there knows something. Contact me @ amycontact@knappfamily.com if you have any information on this case that you would like to share. |
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3:45 AM Jul 11