Every year numerous people seemingly vanish off the face of the earth. Despite varying degrees of investigations they are never seen again. In these five cases, not only did these people disappear but they did so leaving behind a strange mystery for those looking for them.
Lori Jean Lloyd: In February of 1976, teenage Lori Jean Lloyd went to babysit her nephew in Kettering, Ohio and was never seen again. At some point during the night, one of Lori's friends came by to give Lori a few minutes of break to run down to the nearby 7-11. It was around midnight, when the teenager's mother Anita Smith came by because Lori was usually home by that time. Naturally they got the police involved who questioned the employees at the 7-11 who had not seen Lori at all that night. Police developed a theory that the young woman was not going to the store and instead was meeting up with a secret boyfriend to run off together. Yet if that were the case why would she have left all of her personal belongings, as well as her money, at the house when she left. Four years later a strange twist entered the case when Lori's parents watched a documentary on the dangers of drugs called Angel Death. In the scene of kids at a Santa Monica rehab center they saw a girl who bore an uncanny resemblance to their daughter. Unfortunately the lead in California amounted to nothing, as the documentarians had not gotten signed release forms from those in the movie. Because the Kettering Police bungled the investigation at the beginning by writing Lori Jean Lloyd off as just a runaway, there is little evidence to work with.
Granger Taylor: Growing up, Granger Taylor was always seen as a bit eccentric, but he had an amazing knowledge of mechanics which seemed to him come naturally as well as a fascination with space. Those who knew him, said over time once he felt he had a complete understanding of how cars, trains, and other machines on earth work, he wondered how machines would work on other planets. In 1970, Taylor went so far as to build his own replica of a flying saucer which he would spend much of his time in. In the fall of 1980, the parents of Granger Taylor found a strange note left by their 32 year old son at their farm on Vancouver Island. In this note he explained a series of dreams he was having wherein extraterrestrials were to take him on a 42 month journey across the galaxy. Taylor believed these dreams to be prophetic and wrote that he was leaving his worldly possessions behind to meet with his alien travel companions. With that the man renowned for his mechanical knowledge drew a strange map and vanished, never to be seen or heard from again. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police took over the search though conducting an exhaustive investigation they could not find a single trace of where Granger Taylor had gone. One Mountie remarked how rare it is to have a missing person case without a single shred of evidence such as this. Around six years later, the burned and demolished remains of Taylor's trucks were discovered at the foot of Mount Sicker, and on the mountain a logger discovered a crater and metal shrapnel in an area believed to have come from Taylor's playing with explosives. Other than that nobody has seen or heard from the unconventional genius close to forty years.
Barbara Newhall Follett: At the age of just 12 years old, Barbara Newhall Follett, completed the manuscript for her novel, The House Without Windows. Her father, who was himself an accomplished writer and editor, was more than taken away by this and submitted his young daughter's work for publication. The publisher released the book to critical acclaim and high sales, Follett followed it up with the also successful The Voyage of Norman D. just a year later. Tragically by the age of 14 many felt that Barbara Follett had reached the peak of her career, and she even wondered that herself. Though she continued to write, the young woman never attained the same success again and by age 16 was working a secretary. In 1933, she fell in love with, and married, Nickerson Rogers, but wedded bliss would not last long. On December 7, 1939, the couple had a nasty argument and the writer stormed out with nothing but $30 in her pocket. After two weeks passed and she did not return, Rogers finally contacted the police. Bulletins went out for the woman, with her new surname of Rogers, which threw people off so that it took 13 years before the public realized it was in fact the famed author who had disappeared. Needless to say suspicion has been cast on her husband, but no evidence ever surfaced which would tie him to any foul play. To this day no trace of this prodigious writer has ever been found.
Dorothy Arnold: On December 12, 1910, Dorothy Arnold, the oldest daughter of an elite New York family ventured into the city to purchase a dress for her sister's party that evening. Several friends and acquaintances ran into her during this trip and she seemed to be in a great mood, even stopping by a candy shop just to buy some chocolate. Unfortunately she never came home that day. Not wanting to make a scene or tarnish their reputation, the Arnold family hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency as well as a family friend to secretly search for their missing daughter. After six weeks the only thing which was discovered was that Dorothy had been secretly dating a man by the name of George Griscom Jr. At the end of his rope Mr. Arnold, called a press conference to announce to the world that his daughter was missing. Rather than face the fact that his little girl may have run off with Griscom or some other gentleman he concocted a story that she was probably robbed and murdered in Central Park and her body was thrown in the river. There was not a shred of evidence to support this claim but the police searched around the park and waterways anyway and came up empty. Naturally they looked towards Griscom as a suspect but never found a reason to suspect him, in fact he even assisted with the investigation. Long after everyone else had given up the search, he was still buying ads in every major newspaper reading "Come Home Dorothy". In 1916 an inmate serving time in Rhode Island claimed he knew the whereabouts of Dorothy Arnold. According to him, a man matching George Griscom's description, paid him $150 to dispose of her body after a botched abortion left her dead. The inmate then buried her body in the cellar of a house outside of West Point. With nothing left to go on, investigators began digging around all of the known cellars in West Point, but once again found nothing.
AJ Breaux: on August 28, 1991, after leaving the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting he ran for his community, AJ Breaux went down the street to fill up with some gas and purchase some milk. After that, surveillance footage shows the Houma, Louisiana resident leaving, but nobody is sure where he went after that. When Breaux did not return home the next morning, they reported him missing to the police who a few days later found his car but no evidence of foul play or struggle. Inside the vehicle, they discovered the missing man's wallet, checkbook, and the funds for AA. This means he was not robbed, and neither did he have a known source of funding wherever he was. The same day, the car was discovered, one of AJ's friends saw him at a pay phone and it did not look like he was having a pleasant or comfortable conversation with whoever was on the other side, near him was a red compact car with three men inside. Shortly thereafter another of AJ's friends saw him in the same red car with these unknown men driving past his house. Unfortunately nothing came of these reports and the man who only wanted to help others beat their alcohol addiction, after beating his own has never been seen again.
