1979 Jaster, Paulette Susan 05/12/79 (or 05/05/79), Davison 25 YO

[PorchlightUSA]

Long gone
Decades drag on for family, friends of missing woman
DAVISON TOWNSHIP
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, April 30, 2006
By Ron Fonger
rfonger@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6317
QUICK TAKE
Looking for leads
Anyone with information about missing person Paulette Jaster of Davison is asked to call state police Detective Sgt. Stephen Sipes at (810) 732-0740.


Paulette Jaster has been considered a missing person for most of the past three decades. Here's what is known:

JAN. 9, 1954: Paulette Susan Jaster is born the fourth of seven children to Edwin and Caroline Jaster at Wayne County's Holy Cross Hospital.


1958: The Jasters move from the Detroit area to Davison.


June 15, 1971: Paulette is popular and does well at Davison High School. She is named to the National Honor Society.


AUG. 27, 1972: Paulette leaves home for Central Michigan University but drops out after one semester.


1974: Family members say Paulette shows signs of emotional problems and drug use. She breaks up with her high school sweetheart and quits a job at Chevrolet in Flint.


JUNE 22, 1977: Paulette tells Davison police that people are trying to kill her. Police petition the state, saying Paulette is unable to understand her need for treatment or care for herself.


JULY 7, 1977: Paulette is found mentally ill by Genesee County Probate Court. She is sent to Ypsilanti State Hospital but signs herself out less than two months later.


DEC. 23, 1978: At home off and on, Paulette leaves town for Florida after a fight with her father.


MARCH 13, 1979: Paulette's mother files a missing person report after Paulette remains out of touch, apparently in Florida.


APRIL 28, 1979: Appearing refreshed and happy, Paulette returns home for her mother's birthday.


MAY 12, 1979: Paulette is last seen by one of her sisters as she leaves town without saying goodbye - carrying a green dufflebag and walking toward I-69 in Davison.


1980: Still out of touch with her family, Paulette earns $319 while working at a lunch counter at Walgreens and restaurant in Mesa, Ariz., according to Social Security records.


1983: Following a tip that her daughter is back in Florida and could be in trouble, Caroline Jaster finds several people who say they believe they saw Paulette a few months before.


DEC. 23, 1989: A sister receives a strange telephone call from a woman she believes is Paulette, but the woman refuses to stay on the line.


OCTOBER 1996: Michigan State Police receive no new leads in response to a new nationwide bulletin.


MAY 1, 2005: Paulette's mother dies without ever having found her daughter. Her estate remains unsettled, partly because of Paulette's status as a missing person.






DAVISON - Paulette Jaster was a homecoming queen candidate and one of the best female players ever to lace up a pair of Converse hightops for Davison High School.

She was smart - a National Honor Society member - and heartbreakingly attractive, with flowing dark hair and brown eyes.

And for nearly three decades, she has been missing - presumed neither dead nor alive - leaving her family to assume the worst even though they hope they are wrong.

"I think she's dead, ... a body that's been buried," said Paulette's father, Edwin, sipping a cup of coffee as he thumbed through old papers that remind him of his daughter's story.

There is a court petition to commit her to Ypsilanti State Hospital in 1977, an ad from a Florida newspaper offering a reward for information, letters to television shows desperately asking for help.

In May, it will be 27 years since Edwin Jaster, 85, last saw his daughter. His ex-wife, Caroline, died last year, still chasing rumors about Paulette sightings. His other children are scattered throughout the country, and he still hopes Paulette, who would be 52 now, is somewhere out there, too.

"Wouldn't it be nice if she was found someplace?" he asked.

Jaster's eyes brightened at the thought - the same possibility that drives Paulette's sisters to keep recalling the sometimes painful memories about their sibling who started showing signs of mental illness almost overnight and walked away from home early one morning, never to return.

Paulette faded away, never using her Social Security number after 1980, never contacting her family or her closest friends and still suffering from the schizophrenia that hit her hard at about the time she graduated from Davison High School.

Paulette was 25 when she left Davison on foot May 12, 1979, headed toward I-69, carrying an old Army backpack, wearing jeans and a favorite turquoise ring.

"She may be with the Lord by now," said Pam Atkinson, a younger sister who lives in the Bridgeport area. "I believe she was alive (as recently as) 1989. I believe (that) in my gut."

Popular girl

Paulette was popular at Davison High School, part of the same class of 1972 that produced filmmaker Michael Moore.

Boys were interested in her, but she wasn't just a pretty face. She was named to the All-Big Nine Conference basketball team two straight years and sang in the school choir. She could draw and played piano.

"She had a beautiful figure. She was just dramatic looking," said best friend Kathy Pagels, now of Scottsdale, Ariz. "She was beautiful, artistic, funny, adventurous, gifted - all those things."

Friends since they met at St. John Catholic Elementary School in Davison, Pagels still has photos of her and Paulette from her sixth birthday party.

And she keeps a children's book that she wrote and Paulette illustrated while the two were at college.

The colored-pencil drawings tell the story of a little boy who wanders away from home.

The two stayed best friends through high school, and Pagels said she tried to help her friend through a single semester at Central Michigan University.

But there already was a distant look in Paulette's eyes - something that wasn't right.

"The summer after high school, things really started to change for her. It was kind of a rigidity - almost more of a fearful look," Pagels said about her friend. "She kind of shunned attempts to talk to her.

"In my heart, I think she just had a dramatic onset of mental illness that nobody understood or treated properly. ... People were afraid of it, and she began to lose her connections."

Family

The Jaster family lived in a new ranch-style house on Gary Ray Street in Davison.

Edwin Jaster says he was busy with work as an appliance salesman, traveling to retail stores all over the region, which extended into Michigan's Thumb.

His daughters say he was strict with them and had a quick temper.

Paulette's sisters remember their mother as loving, taking care of their needs and getting them where they needed to go. The girls rode bicycles, played hopscotch and make-believe at home, and vacationed at a shared cabin at Oscoda.

Paulette "was just a normal kid," said older sister Peggy Sperlich of Hot Springs, S.D. "She was fun-loving, very physically active - kind of a tomboy."

Paulette shared a room with older sister Pat Miller, who now lives just south of St. Paul, Minn.

"We were typical sisters - half the time getting along (and) half the time fighting," Miller recalls.

Schizophrenia

As with other victims of schizophrenia, there was no way to tell Paulette would develop the disease and no early signs that it was starting to eat away at her as she grew into a woman.

There is no certain cause for the disease, which can be like a distortion of reality accompanied by delusions, hallucinations and bizarre behavior. It can develop with no loss of basic intellectual functions.

Two years before she disappeared, Paulette showed signs of her troubled mind. She walked into the Davison Police Department and told dispatcher Donna Granger that she was afraid that people - "even Henry in California" - were trying to kill her

In a Genesee County Probate Court petition, Granger wrote that Paulette said Henry was "trying to use her brain," and other men took her up north and shot her full of poison.

A probate judge found Paulette mentally ill on July 7, 1977, after she was arrested following an argument with a customer at a Davison restaurant for reasons no one can remember.

At Ypsilanti, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted to the hospital.

"Mental illness can abruptly present itself, and I think Paulette was dealing with that longer than anyone probably knew. I think she tried very hard" to mask it, said Pagels, who visited her friend in Ypsilanti but remembers only a few details.

"There was almost a part of her that was missing. That part that you could really connect with was missing. It was almost like she was talking to someone through a fog.''

After less than two months at the former state mental hospital, Paulette signed herself out, and her sisters said her condition grew worse.

"She would sometimes take her medication and sometimes she wouldn't," Sperlich said.

And she self-medicated, friends and family said, using marijuana and other drugs.

She also came and went from Davison, traveling out West and to Florida, using her parents' house as a home base.

Dr. Robert A. Cuthbertson, vice president of medical affairs at Genesee County Community Mental Health, said schizophrenia can develop suddenly and its cause is unknown.

Sufferers become more withdrawn and have a harder time interacting. They can hear voices and struggle with decisions like whether to turn left or right.

And, importantly for Paulette, they can become reclusive, intentionally avoiding contact with others even when they need help.

"There are many of the street people who choose not to be in an apartment despite the fact that an apartment is available," Cuthbertson said.

Sometimes, perhaps most frustrating for Paulette's family and friends, people with schizophrenia change their identities to avoid being found.

Last seen

Just six years ago, Paulette's family got its last break in locating her when former state police Detective Sgt. Daniel Bohnett tracked Social Security records that put Paulette or someone using her identity in Arizona in 1980.

An e-mail from Bohnett to the family says Paulette earned $319 working in January and February 1980 at a Walgreens lunch counter and a family restaurant, both in Mesa, Ariz.

No other records have been found, and the leads were too old to help much, said Bohnett, who has since retired.

The investigator tried to shake the case up and generate new leads by sending out a nationwide bulletin and ordering computerized and hand-drawn age-progressions of Paulette some years ago.

The drawings assume Paulette has lived for decades as a transient.

"There's different possibilities," Bohnett said of the case. "There's times I think she may still be out there. She may (be in) Mexico or the Dominican Republic.

Atkinson said she believes Paulette, who lived with her briefly after college, tried to contact her on Dec. 23, 1989 - more than 10 years after she left Davison for the last time.

Another secretary at the church where she worked answered the telephone and heard an operator ask, "Is this the number you wanted?" Atkinson said. The female caller said yes, then, "Pam? Pam?" before becoming guarded, nervous and hanging up.

"I think she just panicked," Atkinson said.

Paulette's mother followed several tips that her daughter was alive, including one that she was in Florida and could be in trouble. In the Sarasota area, Caroline Jaster found several people who believed they had seen Paulette a few months before.

Never coming back

Paulette talked to Atkinson before she left Davison for the last time, telling her she was leaving town and never coming back. She may have feared her family wanted to institutionalize her.

"She knew her life was out of control," Atkinson said, and had already started using different names, including Paula Johnson.

Mark Higham, who dated and traveled with Paulette after she dropped out of college, said his ex-girlfriend just "wanted to disappear."

Higham said he didn't see the mental problems - just a desire to leave the Genesee County and get away from her family.

"We were pretty rebellious," said Higham, who lived for years in Arizona until recently moving back to the county. "Our families did everything to break us up.

"Everybody just wanted to be in control, and we were not controllable. ... If your parents told you to do something, you didn't listen."

Many missing

Paulette Jaster is one of two long-missing women from Genesee County listed on the Michigan Does - as in John or Jane Doe - Web site, www.michigandoes.com.

The other -Linda S. Nickell - walked away from her sister's home on Davison Road in Flint 30 years ago and has been missing ever since. Michigan Does tries to find long-term missing persons and to identify human remains.

So far, the Web site lists the stories of about 200 missing Michigan residents.

The FBI's National Crime Information Center says almost 7,000 people from Michigan missing and unaccounted for, according to Michigan Does.

"Sometimes people are murdered, and their remains are never located. Sometimes they just take off and assume a new identity, some seem to vanish into thin air," said Elizabeth Sinor of Michigan Does.

"Sometimes people disappear, but no one reports them missing until years later, and others go about their lives and don't even realize they (themselves) are 'missing,' " Sinor said.

Paulette's dental records and personal information - date of birth, height, weight, scars and birthmarks - have been entered into a national database that police use when trying to identify unidentified bodies.

At the state police post in Flint Township, troopers keep an open file on the case, but there hasn't been activity since Bohnett retired, said Detective Sgt. Stephen Sipes.

Higham said he believes Paulette may still be alive.

"Just the other day I was thinking, 'I bet she's out there,' " he said. "She left and didn't really care about coming back.

"That was mine and her attitude at the time, and her attitude was stronger than mine."

***




©2006 Flint Journal
© 2006 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

[PorchlightUSA]

Cops look to DNA in 1979 case
Data banks to be checked to locate missing woman
DAVISON
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, May 19, 2006
By Ron Fonger
rfonger@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6317


Paulette Jaster disappeared from her parents' home in
Davison on May 12, 1979. She would now be 52.

State police are restarting their investigation of her
disappearance, hoping DNA from Jaster's father and
sisters will help them close the case. Until now,
Jaster's DNA information has not been entered into a
national FBI databank that helps match missing persons
with unidentified human remains.

If you have information that might be helpful to
police, call state police Detective Sgt. Jason Teddy
at (810) 732-1111.

[PorchlightUSA]

Paulette Susan Jaster


Left: Jaster, circa 1979;
Right: Age-progression to an unknown age


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: May 5, 1979 from Davison, Michigan
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: January 9, 1954
Age: 25 years old
Height and Weight: 5'4, 115 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Dark brown hair, hazel eyes. Jaster has a slender to medium build. She used the aliases Paula Johnson, Paula Breck, Paulette Breck and/or Paula Sweet prior to her 1979 disappearance. Jaster has a scar on the crown of her head. There is a gray mark on her left cheekbone below her eye from embedded pencil lead.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: Jeans, a ring with a turquoise stone, a silver ring with a stone of unknown color, and blue jeans.
Medical Conditions: Jaster was diagnosed with schizophrenia several years before she disappeared in May 1979. She may be in need of medical attention.


Details of Disappearance

Jaster disappeared from Davison, Michigan on May 5, 1979. She carrying an army-style duffel bag, and was last seen walking towards Interstate 69. It has been established that Jaster was employed at two eateries in Mesa, Arizona in early 1980: WAG's Restaurant and Paul Perry's Smorgee Table. There has been no trace of Jaster since that time.
Michigan is listed as the state of record for Jaster's disappearance, as that was the region from which she was initially reported missing in 1979. It is possible that she may have traveled to Florida after her employment in Arizona in 1980. Both Michigan and Arizona authorities are handling Jaster's investigation.

Jaster is described as artistic and creative. She enjoyed animals, unique jewelry and natural items prior to her disappearance. She became mentally ill after graduating high school, developed paranoid delusions, and spent only one semester at Central Michigan University before dropping out. She was committed to a mental hospital after being arrested in 1977 and diagnosed with schizophrenia, but she left the hospital after two months. Jaster's condition worsened after she left the hospital and she began using marijuana and other drugs.

Authorities believe Jaster was a transient for an extended period of time, possibly decades, after her disappearance. She may have tried to contact her younger sister in 1989; Jaster's sister got a phone call at work from an unidentified woman who hung up before she could speak to her.

None of Jaster's aliases or her Social Security number have been used since 1980, and her parents believe she may be deceased. Her case remains unsolved.



Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Michigan State Police
810-664-2905
OR
Mesa, Arizona Police Department
480-644-2019



Source Information
The National Center for Missing Adults
The Doe Network
The Homeless and Missing Persons Project
** The Web site is now defunct **
The Flint Journal



Updated 2 times since October 12, 2004.

Last updated May 10, 2006; medical conditions and details of disappearance updated.

Charley Project Home
http://charleyproject.org/cases/j/jaster_paulette.html

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Davison family still searches for clues in case of woman missing since 1979
Posted by Ron Fonger | The Flint Journal February 09, 2008 17:30PM
Categories: Community: Davison, Davison Township, Police

Sgt. Mark Krebs | Age progressionn sketch
A picture of Paulette Jaster in 1979 (left) and what she might look like today.Edwin Jaster updated his last will several times before he died in January, changing parts of his final bequest but never removing his daughter Paulette from it even though she disappeared nearly 30 years ago.

"He always had that hope, and until someone proves otherwise, I still believe she's out there (too)," said Peggy Sperlich, Paulette Jaster's older sister. "If she's gone to the Lord, I just want to know what happened to her."

Eighteen months after police restarted one of the Genesee County's oldest missing person cases, however, the whereabouts of the former high school homecoming queen candidate apparently remain a mystery.

Family members haven't seen Jaster since May 12, 1979, when one of her sisters saw Jaster carrying a green dufflebag and walking toward I-69 in Davison.

Now family members hope they'll get help in finding her from two new age-progression sketches that show what Paulette Jaster might look like if she is alive today.

Sperlich said DNA from her mother and father, both of whom have died, has been collected and filed as part of a nationwide FBI database to aid in identifying Jaster.

Police have ruled out the possibility that an unidentified body found in Blue Earth, Minn., might have been Jaster, Sperlich said.

The Flint Journal could not reach Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Jason Teddy of the Flint Township post for comment. Teddy has been involved in the search for Jaster.

Jaster's case was profiled by The Flint Journal in April 2006 and her story generated calls and tips to police, but none so far have panned out, according to Sperlich.

Anyone who thinks they may recognize Jaster from the new age-progression sketches can contact Teddy at (810) 732-1111. Jaster would have turned 54 last month.

Family members have chased leads about the disappearance to Florida, and Social Security records indicate Jaster may have worked at a Walgreens lunch counter and a restaurant in Mesa, Ariz., in 1980.

Elizabeth Sinor of michigandoes.com said cases of people who have been missing as long as Jaster become harder and harder to solve as new cases demand attention from police and evidence trails dry up.

"Cases aren't necessarily closed, they are just sort of put in a file," Sinor said. "A lot of these cases just sort of fall into the cracks by default."

The Web site michigandoes.com features information about missing persons from the state, including Jaster, in an effort to bring attention to their cases.

Sinor said the chances of finding a long-term missing person alive are slim and families have to push for publicity and police attention if they ever hope to resolve their cases.

Sperlich said her sister has one year to claim her part of an insurance settlement with their father's estate or the payment will be lost.

"I just wish we could do something to bring (her case) to light again," Sperlich said. "It might be just one thing that leads to the answer."

http://blog.mlive.com/flintjournal/newsnow...l_searches.html

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Sketch hoped to heat up cold case
DAVISON
FIRST
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Staff Report
DAVISON - Edwin Jaster updated his last will several times before he died in January, changing parts of his final bequest but never removing his daughter, Paulette, who disappeared nearly 30 years ago.

"He always had that hope, and until someone proves otherwise, I still believe she's out there (too)," said Peggy Sperlich, Paulette Jaster's older sister. "If she's gone to the Lord, I just want to know what happened to her."

Eighteen months after police restarted one of Genesee County's oldest missing person cases, however, the whereabouts of the former high school homecoming queen candidate remain a mystery.

Family members haven't seen Jaster since May 12, 1979, when one of her sisters saw Jaster carrying a green duffel bag and walking toward I-69 in Davison

Now family members hope they'll get help in finding her from two new age-progression sketches that show what she might look like if she is alive today.

Sperlich said DNA from her mother and father, both of whom have died, has been collected and filed as part of a nationwide FBI database to aid in identifying Jaster.

Police have ruled out the possibility that an unidentified body found in Blue Earth, Minn., might have been Jaster, Sperlich said.

Jaster, who would have turned 54 last month, was last profiled by The Flint Journal in April 2006. The story generated calls and tips to police, but none have panned out, Sperlich said.

Anyone who thinks they may recognize Jaster from the new age-progression sketch can contact Teddy at (810) 732-1111.

Family members have chased leads about the disappearance to Florida. Social Security records indicate Jaster may have worked at a Walgreens lunch counter and a restaurant in Mesa, Ariz., in 1980.

The Web site michigandoes.com features information about missing Michiganians, including Jaster, in an effort to bring attention to their cases. Elizabeth Sinor of michigandoes.com said cases of people who have been missing as long as Jaster has become harder and harder to solve as new cases demand attention from police, and evidence trails dry up.

"Cases aren't necessarily closed, they are just sort of put in a file," Sinor said. "A lot of these cases just sort of fall into the cracks by default."

Sinor said the chances of finding a long-term missing person alive are slim, and families have to push for publicity and police attention if they ever hope to resolve their cases.

Sperlich said her sister has one year to claim her part of an insurance settlement with their father's estate, or the payment will be lost.

"I just wish we could do something to bring (her case) to light again," Sperlich said. "It might be just one thing that leads to the answer."

***

http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/ind...8390.xml&coll=5

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[PorchlightUSA]

October 18, 2008 - 6:20PM
Woman searches for sister missing since 1980
Comments 0| Recommend 2
John Leptich, Tribune
As cold cases go, the disappearance of a Michigan woman who spent about six months in Mesa nearly 30 years ago is frigid. Yet Paulette Jaster's oldest sister has come to the Valley to follow clues from a case that police in Michigan say is still open.

Peggy Sperlich came from South Dakota looking into the disappearance of her sister; no one in the family has seen or heard from Jaster since 1979.

Sperlich spoke lovingly of Jaster, calling her someone who was vivacious, beautiful and young, but who had bouts with mental illness and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Jaster was 25 years old when she disappeared May 12, 1979, from Davison, Mich. In 1980, records show she was working in Mesa. After that, she vanished.

"I want to know what happened to Paulette," Sperlich said Wednesday at the Mesa Police Department's Center Against Family Violence. "If she's out there and needs help, I want to give it to her. We love her and would love to hear from her and see that she's OK. That, and she has a little inheritance coming from mom and dad. I will never give up."

Margie Quihuiz, a Mesa police investigator, has spoken with Sperlich about the case by phone for several years. Quihuiz thinks news about Jaster locally might jog memories and bring fresh clues.

Jaster's mother, Caroline, died May 1, 2005. Her father, Edwin, died in January. Sperlich admits Jaster and her father didn't always get along.

"If it was an argument that triggered her to leave Michigan, he's gone now," Sperlich said. "There's no reason not to contact anyone. I believe she is the type of person who would have made an attempt to contact her brothers and sisters."

In 1999, a now-retired detective with the Michigan State Police discovered Jaster's Mesa connection through interviews with relatives and checking her Social Security earnings records. He found that in January 1980, Jaster started working at Wag's restaurant inside Walgreens at 1860 W. Main St,, now the site of an International House of Pancakes. Jaster later worked at Paul Perry's Smorgee Table, 1235 E. Main St., where a Sally's Fabrics is now located.

Sperlich thinks Mark Higham, who dated Jaster and traveled with her after she dropped out of college, may know what happened to her. She said the two met at a wedding reception in California. Higham, who has since returned to Michigan, lived in Mesa and Chandler.

"He told (Michigan) police that she just wanted to leave home," Sperlich said. "Maybe he helped her. I just want the truth."

During a telephone interview Wednesday, Higham said he wasn't surprised that Jaster disappeared. He said he was in Arizona from 1977 to 1999, the first 17 years in Tucson, and the rest in Mesa and Chandler. He said while Jaster may have been in Arizona, he never saw her or spoke with her during that time.

"She wasn't happy with anything up here," he said from his home in Flint, Mich. "It was kinda crazy at the time, but I didn't think she was crazy. Her family treated her bad. I think the whole family forced her out. Her family assumed she came to see me in Arizona, but she never did.

"Occasionally, I think about her. I bet she's out there. She left and didn't really care about coming back. That was mine and her attitude at the time, and her attitude was stronger than mine. I still feel she went down to Mexico and didn't want to be found. My family drove me away, and hers did it to her."

Sperlich, 61, said while she's in the Valley she will try to connect with anyone who might know anything about her sister. On Wednesday, she spoke with Kathleen Collins Pagels of Scottsdale, a classmate of Jaster's from kindergarten through the one year she spent in college.

Pagels said she and Jaster were best friends and that Jaster was a talented person who was loved by everyone.

"Her disappearance surprised me," she said. "Despite differences with her family and her growing problem with, perhaps, her mental state, I can't believe in my heart that she decided to leave her family and friends and not contact anyone, me included."

Pagels, who has been in the Valley for 25 years, said Jaster's conduct changed after high school and that she seemed troubled before her disappearance.

"I think if she was anywhere near me, she would have found me," Pagels said. "We went our separate ways, but she always seemed to find me when she was in trouble or needed money. I think she would have done that."

Quihuiz carries a folder with information about the case and hopes it can be solved. She said she's assisting the Flint police, who haven't closed the case.

Quihuiz said Paula Perry, who waited tables at her family's restaurant, said Jaster came to work one day wearing an engagement ring, but was gone the next. Higham said he was never engaged to Jaster.

Quihuiz said all Perry remembers about Jaster was she was a quiet, efficient worker who didn't share details about her personal life.

Quihuiz added she has pulled out all the stops in trying to help Sperlich find Jaster.

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/128416

[PorchlightUSA]

Family of Paulette Jaster hopes new DNA testing could answer 30-year-old mystery of Davison woman's disappearance
by Ron Fonger | The Flint Journal
Friday January 02, 2009, 12:30 PM

Sgt. Mark Krebs | Age progressionn sketch
A picture of Paulette Jaster in 1979 (left) and what she might look like today.Flint Journal extra: Related article, Feb. 9, 2008: Davison family still searches for clues in case of woman missing since 1979

DAVISON, Michigan -- Ever since a farmer found a woman's decomposing body near Blue Earth, Minn., almost 30 years ago, people in the tiny city wondered who she was and where she came from.

Today, there's still no answer, but there is a fresh effort to rule out the possibility that the dead woman is Paulette Jaster, a star basketball player and homecoming queen candidate from Davison High School who has been missing for nearly 30 years.

"There's so much that matches (the two) up," said Peggy Sperlich, one of Jaster's surviving sisters. "I do have a feeling in my gut."

Jaster's disappearance remains one of Genesee County's most impenetrable mysteries.

The one-time honor student developed schizophrenia as young woman, left college and roamed the country.

Family members last saw her walking toward I-69 in Davison with a green dufflebag on her shoulder.


Flint Journal extras
Missing for 30 years

• Paulette Susan Jaster was last seen by her family in Davison on May 12, 1979.

• Suffering from mental illness, she walked away without saying where she was headed and never returned or made contact with friends or family.

• If she is still living, Jaster would be 55 years old on Jan. 9.

• Anyone with information about Jaster can call the state police post in Flint Township at (810) 732-1111.

Past articles on this case:


• Feb. 9, 2008: Davison family still searches for clues in case of woman missing since 1979


• May 19, 2006: Cops look to DNA in 1979 case

• Related Web site: Paulette Jester missing since 1979

More than two years ago, state police ruled out the possibility that Jaster was the woman found in Blue Earth on May 20, 1980, based on dental records.

But Sperlich said she would like investigators here or there to have a second look at the case, particularly DNA collected from her mother and father before their deaths.

There's confusion about whether Jaster's DNA has been compared to Blue Earth's Jane Doe, partly because the state police investigator assigned to the Jaster case -- state police Detective Sgt. Jason Teddy -- has been deployed in Iraq for several months.

Deborah B. Anderson, a Blue Earth resident who started a Web site devoted to identifying the woman found there, and a retired police chief who lives in southern Minnesota, have been in contact with Sperlich recently.

Anderson said she remains convinced that Jaster is the closest match to Blue Earth Jane Doe based physical descriptions and timing.

Jaster was last seen about one year before the discovery of Jane Doe. Her Social Security number was used while she apparently worked as a waitress in early 1980 in Arizona --Â just months before the discovery of Jane Doe's body.

Investigators have said the two women were both about 5-feet, 3-inches tall. Jane Doe's weight was estimated at 128 pounds and Jaster was listed on missing persons Web sites as weighing about 115 pounds.




Paulette Jaster
in 1969

Paulette Jaster
in 1972
Both had brown hair and the two were in the same age range.

"I just think there's too many (similarities)," Anderson said. "It's still a long shot, but it's still something that has not been 100 percent ruled out."

Don Mickelson, a former police chief in nearby St. James, Minn., said he's also spent time volunteering on the Blue Earth Jane Doe case.

Mickelson would like to see the body of Jane Doe exhumed so that a full facial reconstruction can be done. He doesn't trust hand-written dental records, which indicate the two women are not the same person.

"Maybe somebody screwed up," he said. "Maybe we should double-check this."
Faribault County, Minn., Sheriff Mike Gormley said his office is willing to look again at a possible Jaster-Blue Earth connection.

The case of Jane Doe, who was buried in a rural cemetery with a headstone marked "unidentified person," has hung over this small community for decades, he said.
Blue Earth is about 11 hours from Davison.

Four or five times a month, Gormley said the department hears from families and police, looking for someone they think could be the victim found here with her clothing stripped, head partly shaved, and a cord around her neck.

Gormley said the case has been especially frustrating because a man in a Texas prison has confessed to the Jane Doe murder, describing details about the case that only police knew.

The man claimed to have picked up his victim after she exited a vehicle on I-90 in southern Minnesota.

But the identity of the victim remains unknown and her body was badly decomposed when she was discovered.

"We'd like closure with it. We'd like closure for the family and to put a name to her," Gormley said.

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/..._testing_c.html

[PorchlightUSA]

Flint Journal, The (MI)
February 10, 2008
Edition: THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Section: LOCAL NEWS
Page: A03

Inheritance in store for woman missing since 1979

Author: Ron Fonger; rfonger@flintjournal.com * 810.766.6317

Dateline: DAVISON


Article Text:
Edwin Jaster updated his last will several times before he died in January, changing parts of his final bequest but never removing his daughter, Paulette, who disappeared nearly 30 years ago.


"He always had that hope, and until someone proves otherwise, I still believe she's out there (too)," said Peggy Sperlich, Paulette Jaster's older sister. "If she's gone to the Lord, I just want to know what happened to her."

Eighteen months after police restarted one of Genesee County's oldest missing person cases, however, the whereabouts of the former high school homecoming queen candidate apparently remain a mystery.

Family members haven't seen Jaster since May 12, 1979, when one of her sisters saw Jaster carrying a green duffel bag and walking toward I-69 in Davison

Now family members hope they'll get help in finding her from two new age-progression sketches that show what she might look like if she is alive today.

Sperlich said DNA from her mother and father, both of whom have died, has been collected and filed as part of a nationwide FBI database to aid in identifying Jaster.

Police have ruled out the possibility that an unidentified body found in Blue Earth, Minn., might have been Jaster, Sperlich said.

The Flint Journal could not reach state police Detective Sgt. Jason Teddy of the Flint Township post for comment. Teddy has been involved in searching for Jaster.

Jaster, who would have turned 54 last month, was profiled by The Flint Journal in April 2006. The story generated calls and tips to police, but none so far has panned out, Sperlich said.

Anyone who thinks they may recognize Jaster from the new age-progression sketches can contact Teddy at (810) 732-1111.

Family members have chased leads about the disappearance to Florida. Social Security records indicate Jaster may have worked at a Walgreens lunch counter and a restaurant in Mesa, Ariz., in 1980.

Elizabeth Sinor of michigandoes.com said cases of people who have been missing as long as Jaster become harder and harder to solve as new cases demand attention from police, and evidence trails dry up.

"Cases aren't necessarily closed, they are just sort of put in a file," Sinor said. "A lot of these cases just sort of fall into the cracks by default."

The Web site michigandoes.com features information about missing Michiganians, including Jaster, in an effort to bring attention to their cases.

Sinor said the chances of finding a long-term missing person alive are slim, and families have to push for publicity and police attention if they ever hope to resolve their cases.

Sperlich said her sister has one year to claim her part of an insurance settlement with their father's estate, or the payment will be lost.

"I just wish we could do something to bring (her case) to light again," Sperlich said. "It might be just one thing that leads to the answer."

[PorchlightUSA]

BE’s ‘Jane Doe’ not Michigan woman, search to continue

It didn’t take authorities long to determine a missing Michigan woman is not the ‘Jane Doe’ buried at Riverside Cemetery in Blue Earth.

Faribault County chief deputy Scott Adams says the FBI Office in Mankato last week compared the DNA of the two missing women.

Adams says the FBI contacted him Tuesday morning and told him Paulette Jaster of Davison, Mich., is not the woman found May 30, 1980, east of Blue Earth.

“She (Jaster) has been ruled out 100 percent. It’s what I expected, but at least we did our job and had the DNAs compared,” he says.

Deb Anderson of Blue Earth has maintained a website for several years in hopes of putting a name to Jane Doe.

Anderson was driving home from work when she heard Jaster and Jane Doe were not a match.

“I’m glad that someone actually looked at the DNAs side by side. It was a possibility they were the same person, Now we know for sure,” she says.

Interest in the two cases was sparked because of confusion of whether DNAs of the missing women were ever compared.

Michigan detective trooper Joe Jones is a ‘cold case’ investigator who has been trying to solve the Jaster mystery.

Jane Doe’s DNA was entered into the national database for missing person in 2004.

Jones says DNA of Jaster was not put on the FBI database until 2006.

“They probably wanted some closure, but they must be happy knowing she might still be out there,” says Jones. “I just needed to double check for the family.”Jaster, a star basketball player and homecoming queen candidate from Davison High School, was reported nearly 30 years ago.

Around that same time period, Jane Doe’s body was found by a farmer in a ditch along I-90.

In the coming days, Anderson plans to send Adams information on four missing persons she wants compared to Jane Doe. One is from Canada and the others from the states of Nebraska, Montana and Washington.

Anderson says she came across the cases while looking at government websites dealing with cold cases.

“They are possibilities. It may be like a needle in the haystack. But, it’s a shot,” Anderson says

http://www.faribaultcountyregister.com/pag...4.html?nav=5002