Mansfield news journal obirs10/2/2023 ![]() "There's a distance, but the B&O railroad went from Willard and would have gone right through the area," Turner previously told the News Journal. The fact that VanGilder was last seen in Willard could be a link in the case. Turner reached out to the county coroner, thinking there might be a connection. The body was traced to a private cemetery. Turner reached out to officials in Indiana for additional information. "It still had clothing on it, but the skin had decayed." "It was a skeleton that was found in the woods by a hunter," the detective said. Turner found an article on Find a Grave, a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records, regarding a Jane Doe near Valparaiso, Indiana, from November 1945. More: Shelby police pursuing new leads on woman who went missing in 1945 Shelby police detective following trail More: Body to be exhumed in case of missing Shelby woman It was the last time her family ever heard from Mary Jane. A few weeks later, she appeared to have sent them her final war bond. In 1945, Mary Jane sent a letter to West Virginia, asking her children to send the war bonds back to her in Plymouth. She got rides to and from work from co-workers.Īfter moving to Ohio, Mary Jane maintained contact with her children, mailing war bonds, as well as letters and clothes. Mary Jane got a job as a forklift operator at the Wilkins Air Force Depot in Shelby and lived in Plymouth. "Her children do not believe that he was (physically) abusive," Wilson said. The couple had five children, but it appears James' abusive behavior forced her to move to Ohio sometime in 1943, according to investigators. Now living in Georgia, she was VanGilder's daughter. Wilson said her aunt, Anna Rager, has been the driving force in keeping the case going. That's welcome news to Wilson, who lives in South Carolina. "We definitely made good progress," he said. In fact, Turner recently returned from exhumations in Indiana and Wisconsin in hopes of solving the mystery. More: 'Jane Doe' to be exhumed in cold case dating to 1945 More: Police reopen case into woman missing from Shelby since 1945 Shelby police Detective Adam Turner has been working on the case off and on for the last three years. Mary Jane Croft VanGilder went missing in 1945 and was never seen again. Wilson wants to know what happened to her. SHELBY - Mindy Wilson's grandmother disappeared before she was born.
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