Post by starsky on Dec 20, 2021 7:22:38 GMT
Janie June Coe, 38, went missing on April 29, 1997 from Petaluma, Calif.
On April 29, 1997, Janie June Coe had a job interview. The 38-year-old mother of three lived on Penrod Drive in Petaluma and, after she wrapped up with the interview, she headed home around 3 p.m.
It was there she was seen for the last time.
On May 2, after she failed to pick up her kids from a stay with her father in Marin County, she was reported missing. For the last 24 years, police have been searching for the missing mom — and now a break in the case has come via DNA evidence.
Coe's disappearance had a worrisome tenor from the start. Three hours after she was last seen, an unidentified woman driving a 1978-82 Ford Mustang used Coe's ATM card at the West America Bank in Petaluma. The transaction was filmed by surveillance cameras, but the video is too grainy to make out the woman or the car's license plate.
Coe's 1989 Ford Aerostar van was found abandoned near a field on Windsor Street in Napa three days after she was reported missing. Police at the time said she had friends in Napa, but none of them had been contacted by her recently. She reportedly "did not like to venture far from home" and left behind glasses and contact lenses she needed in order to drive.
Petaluma Police Department/Handout
"Janie's children have not heard from her since her disappearance," the Petaluma Police Department said in a statement. "Twenty-five years later, new DNA evidence has emerged in Janie's disappearance."
Police did not provide more details about the nature of the DNA evidence or from where it was obtained. But the lead is significant enough that the Petaluma Police Department issued a press release seeking new information in the case. "New DNA evidence was discovered in some of the evidence that had been collected during the initial investigation," the department said. "This has led to new witness contacts and investigative leads as detectives continue to follow-up on this active investigation."
Petaluma Police Department/Handout
The press release also included an age-progressed image of Coe, who would be 63 today.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Corie Joerger at 707-778-4456.
www.sfgate.com/unsolved/article/Janie-Coe-went-missing-24-years-ago-Bay-Area-16713634.php
