WEBVTT 1 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:30.480 Welcome back to the Pathway Chili. 2 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:34.799 I'm Robin, I'm Jules, and I'm Ashley. 3 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:37.200 Let's dive right into this week's case. 4 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:44.320 April ninth, nineteen forty seven, Woodward, Oklahoma, four year old 5 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.079 Joan gay Croft is taken to the local hospital after 6 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:51.000 an F five tornado wipes out her hometown and kills 7 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:54.679 over one hundred people, including her mother. While Joan Gay 8 00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:57.960 and her half sister are recovering from injuries in the basement, 9 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:01.960 two men show up and take Gay away. They claim 10 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:04.719 that they're taking Joan Gage to another hospital to see 11 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.680 her family, but she's never seen again and these two 12 00:01:07.760 --> 00:01:11.439 men are never identified. Over the next several decades, there 13 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:14.840 would be a number of promising leads, including an anonymous 14 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:18.200 emailer claiming to be Joan Gay, but she's never found 15 00:01:18.359 --> 00:01:22.040 and the circumstances of her disappearance remain shrouded in mystery. 16 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:26.200 After that, the path went Chiley. So today we're going 17 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.799 to be traveling back over seventy eight years to cover 18 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:33.120 a very unique unsolved mystery, the nineteen forty seven disappearance 19 00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:36.959 of four year old Joan gay Croft. Cases involving missing 20 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:40.560 children can be incredibly difficult, to cover, but the circumstances 21 00:01:40.599 --> 00:01:43.280 of this one are just so bizarre, and it's unlike 22 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:46.439 any other missing children's case you've ever seen. The whole 23 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.480 story is technically a tragedy within a tragedy, as it 24 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:53.120 involves one of the worst tornadoes in history, completely devastating 25 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:55.879 a small town in Oklahoma and causing the deaths of 26 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.480 over one hundred people, including the victim's mother. But the 27 00:01:59.560 --> 00:02:02.719 truly weird part is that Joan Gay went missing after 28 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:06.000 the tornado concluded, as she was recovering from an injury 29 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.800 in the basement of the town's hospital before two men 30 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:11.759 came in and took her away, and they subsequently vanished 31 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:15.719 within the chaos. What's interesting is that when they first arrived, 32 00:02:15.800 --> 00:02:18.680 the men specifically asked for Joan Gay, but they didn't 33 00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.719 show any interest in her half sister, who was recovering 34 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:25.560 from injuries alongside her. If this was a planned abduction, 35 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:28.520 it seems pretty brazen to do something like that in 36 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.439 full view of several witnesses during the aftermath of an 37 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:35.439 F five tornado. Over the past several decades, a number 38 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:38.159 of different theories have been pushed forward in an attempt 39 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:41.319 to explain this disappearance. Ever going to try and explore 40 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:44.520 all of them on today's episode. As a disclaimer, I 41 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:46.960 should also mention that, since this is an older case, 42 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:50.879 we ran into the issue of different sources providing contradictory 43 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:54.159 information about certain details. So if there are any instances 44 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:56.560 when we're not sure which version is the correct one, 45 00:02:56.759 --> 00:02:57.960 we'll try to acknowledge it. 46 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:02.159 Well, this is, like you said, double layered. We have 47 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.719 a natural disaster that's causing grief and trauma already for 48 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:08.360 this community, and then you have four year old little 49 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.960 Joan Gay who's just up and taken away by people 50 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.879 and never seen again. What I think about when I 51 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:18.919 think about someone this young is my prayer is that 52 00:03:19.240 --> 00:03:24.000 someone wanted a child and took Joan and raised her 53 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:27.840 in a family that presented in always healthy and happy 54 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:32.680 and being four. It's possible Joan never even knew that 55 00:03:32.759 --> 00:03:36.039 she was not necessarily with family or me, raised by 56 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:40.039 people who loved her. So, you know, that's in my 57 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:42.800 naive head. That's my hope, is that this four year 58 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:47.280 old is raised by people who do eventually love her 59 00:03:47.879 --> 00:03:50.400 and take care of her, and then she just says, hey, 60 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:52.520 I you know, I know my family passed away in 61 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.080 a tornado, and this is also my family, and this 62 00:03:55.120 --> 00:03:58.159 is how you know my life happened. But I'm really 63 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:00.599 interested to hear, since it's such an old kid, what 64 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.039 different types of explanations they might have. 65 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:07.080 Well, it is definitely a possibility that she could have 66 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.719 been raised by another family somewhere, because she would have 67 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:12.039 no memory of her past life. And as we're going 68 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.439 to talk about, there would be an anonymous email or 69 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.120 who contacted someone decades after the fact claiming that she 70 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:21.560 was Joan gay though they were never officially identified. But 71 00:04:21.639 --> 00:04:23.759 it's just you got to think of the mindset about 72 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:26.199 who would decide to steal her and just think that, hey, 73 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:28.480 we've just had one of the worst tornadoes our country 74 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:31.399 has ever seen. Let's just decide to abduct a child 75 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:34.000 and raise her as her own. So you're just wondering 76 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:37.120 how did these circumstances unfold, and who made the decision 77 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:39.199 to just take her away from her family. 78 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:42.319 And how would they get her name? Like would they 79 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:45.160 have been stalking her prior and thought like this is 80 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:48.759 a great opportunity. It just seems odd if that is 81 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:51.199 the motivation you're going to send these two men, Like 82 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:54.120 it would have had to have been like an organization 83 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:58.079 that was potentially helping these people who wanted to be parents, 84 00:04:58.120 --> 00:04:59.120 like facilitate it. 85 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.600 That is possible. But it's just like this was such 86 00:05:02.639 --> 00:05:05.160 a disaster that what goes through your mind where you've 87 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:07.240 been stalking Joan Gay for a while and you're going 88 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.879 to think to yourself, well, her mother has been killed, 89 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.199 her home has been destroyed, now's a good time to 90 00:05:12.279 --> 00:05:14.920 abduct her. But most people are just going to be thinking, 91 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:17.000 I want to survive, I want to avoid all this 92 00:05:17.160 --> 00:05:20.519 chaos of this tragedy, rather than just deciding now I'm 93 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.600 going to just swoop in and steal a child. 94 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:26.959 And do you both think that like the likelihood of 95 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:31.199 say somebody was opportunistic and there it was a trafficking situation. 96 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:34.240 If you were able to take Joan Gay, wouldn't you 97 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:36.040 then take her sister as well? 98 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:36.279 Right? 99 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:38.240 It doesn't make sense that they just took one of 100 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:40.480 them and they were down in a basement. I'm assuming 101 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:44.079 the top floor level that's level to the ground. I'm 102 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:47.120 assuming that that was depleted or you know, wiped away, 103 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:50.360 and they're existing in this basement that survived underground. 104 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:53.680 It's because it was like overrunning the hospital. There were 105 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:56.120 so many injuries that they just didn't have enough beds. 106 00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:58.040 They were all filled, so they had to decide we 107 00:05:58.120 --> 00:05:59.839 have to treat some of the people with the lesser 108 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:02.519 injuries in the basement. So there were a lot of 109 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:03.879 people down there at that time. 110 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:06.920 Oh, this is the basement of the hospital. Okay, okay, okay. 111 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:09.040 So I was wondering how they were stalking their home. 112 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:12.399 This is the hospital. So it's possible someone working in 113 00:06:12.439 --> 00:06:16.240 the hospital took the ability also to capitalize. 114 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:18.120 On this as well. Yeah, and they just were brazen 115 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.439 enough to do it in full view of several witnesses. 116 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.759 You can imagine somebody in the hospital being like, okay, 117 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:28.480 well there are spotter. So there's a bunch of children 118 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:30.639 who are in here. They know there isn't the supervision 119 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.199 of parents, and that the parents might be scattered elsewhere 120 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:37.319 or injured, and so if there is an organization they 121 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:41.759 could say, well, this girl fits the criteria. Our story 122 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:46.480 begins in nineteen forty seven in Woodward, Oklahoma, a small 123 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.199 town located in Woodward County, which had a population of 124 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:52.879 just under five thousand, five hundred people at the time. 125 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:57.279 Our central figure is four year old Joan Gaycroft, who 126 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:00.639 lives with her parents Olin and Cledacroft, and to his 127 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:03.680 seven year old half sister, Geraldine, who goes by the 128 00:07:03.759 --> 00:07:08.360 name Jerry. After they each got divorced from their previous spouses, 129 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.839 Olin and Clita got married in nineteen forty two, and 130 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:15.680 Jerry's Clida's daughter from her first marriage. Olin is a 131 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:18.639 very successful sheep rancher, and while the Crofts are not 132 00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:21.639 overly wealthy, there considered to be one of the most 133 00:07:21.720 --> 00:07:25.600 prominent families in Woodward. On April ninth, the United States 134 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.959 was on its third day of a national telephone operators strike, 135 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:32.279 which would last a total of five weeks, and Cleeda 136 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:36.160 herself worked as an operator. While the strike was taking place, 137 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:40.360 only emergency operators would be allowed to operate the nation's switchboards, 138 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:42.959 and just two of them were on duty and Woodward. 139 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:46.240 This meant that the town was essentially cut off from 140 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:50.759 communicating with the outside world, so unfortunately, they were oblivious 141 00:07:50.839 --> 00:07:53.000 to the fact that they were now directly in the 142 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:56.720 path of an F five tornado. Earlier that day, a 143 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:01.879 supercells thunder storm near Amarillo, Texas, spawned six separate tornadoes, 144 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:04.800 the worst of which was an f five that measured 145 00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:08.120 almost two miles wide and wreaked havoc for nearly one 146 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:12.120 hundred and fifty miles across three different states. It would 147 00:08:12.199 --> 00:08:16.000 completely decimate a couple of small farming towns in Texas, 148 00:08:16.040 --> 00:08:20.360 including Glazier, where there were sixteen casualties, and Higgins, where 149 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:23.399 a total of forty five people were killed. However, the 150 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:26.759 tornado wound up doing the most damage in Oklahoma, and 151 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:29.319 to this day is still considered to be the worst 152 00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:32.879 storm in history of the state. At around eight PM, 153 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.639 the tornado destroyed the farming town of Gage, causing the 154 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:39.279 deaths of eight people, and it was here when the 155 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.840 emergency operators in Woodward were finally informed about the impending storm, 156 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:47.399 but by this point it was too late to warn everybody. 157 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:51.080 The town's residents would later describe the sky as becoming 158 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:55.320 ominously dark before the tornado finally arrived at eight forty 159 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:59.159 three pm. Even though it only took around five minutes 160 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:02.559 to pass through, it traveled at wind speeds ranging from 161 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.519 between two hundred and twenty five to four hundred and 162 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:09.960 forty miles per hour, and a completely ravaged Woodward, flattening 163 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.320 over a hundred city blocks. A number of homes and 164 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:16.960 businesses were destroyed, and a local high school student wound 165 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.840 up surviving the ordeal because he happened to be in 166 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:22.799 his bathtub at the time. Even though the storm lifted 167 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:26.600 his entire house into the air, the bathtub's plumbing kept 168 00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:28.879 it secured to the ground, so he was able to 169 00:09:29.000 --> 00:09:32.159 use it as cover. The winds were so strong that 170 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:34.960 they even managed to lift up a twenty ton steel 171 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:38.559 boiler tank from the town's power plant and propell it 172 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:42.440 a full block and a half. Moments before he was killed, 173 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.840 one of the plants workers, Irwin Walker, managed to throw 174 00:09:45.879 --> 00:09:48.679 the master switch and cut off the town's power, a 175 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.480 heroic act which likely saved a number of lives. The 176 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:55.360 winds completely ripped the bark off a number of trees, 177 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:59.720 and hundreds of chickens had their feathers stripped away. In total, 178 00:09:59.799 --> 00:10:02.039 the storm class the deaths of one hundred and eighty 179 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.559 one people, one hundred and seven of them from the 180 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:08.200 Woodward area, and nearly one thousand people were injured. It 181 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:11.200 ranked as the sixth deadliest tornado in the history of 182 00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:12.120 the United States. 183 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.039 This is wild. We're so privileged now to have the 184 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:19.000 technology we have where you have the sirens, you have 185 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:21.600 television alerts, you have phone alerts, you have all these things. 186 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:25.200 But back in the forties, like you said, we're looking 187 00:10:25.240 --> 00:10:28.279 at these telephone operators being the ones who would be 188 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:31.799 the individuals to relay these messages, and it just so 189 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:34.080 happens that there's a strike going on, so there's not 190 00:10:34.320 --> 00:10:38.480 enough people there to communicate information. And so when you 191 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:41.679 look at a small town of about five thousand people 192 00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:44.960 and one hundred and seven of them die in this storm, 193 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:49.799 it's heartbreaking. And I can't even put into my mind 194 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:51.399 what it would be like to be in two hundred 195 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:54.000 and twenty five to four hundred and forty mile per 196 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:57.480 hour winds. I'm used to hurricane weather, not tornado weather. 197 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:02.000 Now I'm in Tornado Alley, but I grew up with hurricanes, 198 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:05.799 and you don't see wins around. You don't see four 199 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.159 hundred and forty miles per hour. I can't even think 200 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:12.279 about that and conceptualize how devastating something like that could be, 201 00:11:12.279 --> 00:11:15.320 because when you're in the hundreds, you can have deaths 202 00:11:15.320 --> 00:11:17.919 and severe damage, much less four hundred degree you know, 203 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:19.480 four hundred miles per hour winds. 204 00:11:20.679 --> 00:11:23.639 Yeah, you could probably do an individual podcast episode just 205 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:27.080 on this one tornado, because it was such a huge disaster, 206 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.960 and there are just so many little interesting stories within stories, 207 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:33.840 like someone could do an episode on Irwin Walker, the 208 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:36.440 heroic plant worker who turned off the power at the 209 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:40.360 very last second, even though he technically sacrificed his own life. 210 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.039 And of course talking about the context, how this is 211 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:45.600 the late nineteen forties and we didn't have the Internet 212 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:48.600 or weather alert systems, and we had to rely on 213 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:51.320 two telephone operators because there was a strike going on. 214 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:54.200 So it is just a very crazy story. And the 215 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:57.440 fact that Joan Gay would go missing under such strange 216 00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:01.399 circumstances after the tornado took place is just only one 217 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:07.159 of many weird things that happened on this particular day. Unfortunately, 218 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.080 one of the tornado's fatalities was cleaed to Croft, who 219 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:12.720 was instantly killed when the storm hit her family's home 220 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:15.000 and caused the side of the house to fall on 221 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:17.600 to her. She was twenty six years old at the 222 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:21.440 time of her death. Ollencroft was left critically injured, while 223 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:26.440 the two children suffered relatively minor injuries. Jerry suffered some bruises, 224 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:29.440 while Joan Gay's left calf was pierced by a pencil 225 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:31.919 size splinter of wood which went right through her leg. 226 00:12:32.759 --> 00:12:35.679 While their father received medical attention, the two children were 227 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:39.399 taken to Woodward Memorial Hospital by a neighbor. By this point, 228 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:42.399 the town is incomplete chaos because this was the lone 229 00:12:42.440 --> 00:12:45.159 hospital and it was only equipped with twenty eight beds. 230 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:48.320 The bodies of a number of deceased victims were collected 231 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:51.440 and placed on the hospital's lawn, and the nearby Baker 232 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:55.039 Hotel would be converted into a makeshift hospital in order 233 00:12:55.080 --> 00:12:58.679 to treat those with less serious injuries. Costs were set 234 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:01.960 up inside Woodward Memorial Hospital's basement to convert it into 235 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.360 a rescue shelter, so after they arrived, Joan Gay and 236 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.480 Jerry were taken down there to receive treatment for their injuries. 237 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:12.519 The girl's paternal aunt, Ruth Croft, eventually showed up at 238 00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:15.799 the hospital with her own daughter. Ruth was married to 239 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:19.279 Olan's brother Arthur, and was trying to locate the Croft family, 240 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:22.879 as well as her own mother and brother. After she 241 00:13:23.000 --> 00:13:25.480 learned that Joan, Gay and Jerry were receiving treatment in 242 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:28.279 the basement, Ruth went down to see the girls and 243 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:30.559 assured them that their father was going to be all right, 244 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:32.960 though she did not tell them their mother was dead 245 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:36.200 because she feared the news would traumatize them. Ruth then 246 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:39.720 went back outside and finally located her own brother and mother. 247 00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:43.519 Since her mother was injured and the Woodward hospital was overwhelmed, 248 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:46.919 Ruth took her to another hospital in Moorlands, ten miles away. 249 00:13:47.679 --> 00:13:50.039 While she was there, she volunteered to help tend to 250 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:53.440 the other injured victims, which would keep her occupied overnight. 251 00:13:54.279 --> 00:13:57.200 When the morning of April the twentieth hit, Ruth returned 252 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:00.039 to Woodward Memorial Hospital, but when she went down in 253 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:03.120 the basement, she was surprised to discover that Joan Gay 254 00:14:03.240 --> 00:14:05.960 was no longer there, and Jerry would provide a very 255 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:07.960 troubling story about her disappearance. 256 00:14:08.759 --> 00:14:10.080 Remind me how old Jerry is. 257 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.039 She's uh, seven years old. 258 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:15.759 She's seven, Okay, so she's a little one too. What's 259 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:18.679 interesting here is that, you know, everything seems to be 260 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.799 utter chaos, but by the time that her aunt gets 261 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:27.480 there and you have Ruth, she's making sure that okay, 262 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:30.480 I'm accounting for different family members. I can only imagine 263 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:32.759 the piece she feels when she sees the two children 264 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:36.519 downstairs in the basement. She knows, Okay, Dad's being tended to. 265 00:14:36.919 --> 00:14:39.519 They've lost their mother, but I know where the girls are, 266 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:41.919 and so the babies are safe. They're being tended to 267 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:45.000 by other adults and people who are you volunteering. 268 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.279 Just like she is. 269 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.159 And so she goes off to do exactly what I 270 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:50.799 guarantee a lot of people are doing, throwing their hat 271 00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:53.440 in the ring for whatever services they can provide to 272 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:56.840 their little community. And when she comes back down to 273 00:14:56.919 --> 00:14:59.759 check on them again, only one of the children's there. 274 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.240 And you're about to tell me what she hears, but 275 00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:05.360 we already know it's going to be a quite disturbing story. 276 00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:11.080 So, according to Jerry, sometime during the night, two men 277 00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:14.600 dressed in what she described as military type khaki clothing 278 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.639 came down into the basement. Some sources state that they 279 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:21.399 asked for the Croft children, while others say that they 280 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:25.480 specifically asked for Joan Gay. When they found Joan Gay, 281 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:28.720 the men proceeded to pick her up. She objected because 282 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:31.000 she didn't want to leave her sister, but one of 283 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:33.519 the men assured her that they would return for Jerry. 284 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:37.080 Later on, when a nurse confronted the men they told 285 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:39.519 her that they were taking Joan Gay to another hospital 286 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:42.960 in Oklahoma City to see her family. The staff seemed 287 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:46.159 to believe this explanation, so the two men were allowed 288 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.759 to leave with Joan Gay. But this would turn out 289 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:51.559 to be the last time she was ever seen. A 290 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.480 number of calls were made to hospitals in Oklahoma City 291 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.519 and the surrounding area, but there was no success at 292 00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:58.679 locating Joan Gay. 293 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:02.240 Remember, right now we're in the middle of this horrific 294 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:04.960 tragedy with the natural disaster, and I don't know how 295 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:07.120 it worked in the forties, but I wonder if there 296 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:11.919 were large numbers of police presence and military presence and 297 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.519 sending things like the National Guard, those kinds of concepts 298 00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:17.399 to this little child to try to help in the 299 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.720 midst of this tragedy. And then would those two men 300 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.639 have presented to the nurses and even to the children 301 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:27.120 as somewhat of authority like a khaki if you were 302 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:30.240 dressed all in khaki. I wonder would they look military 303 00:16:30.360 --> 00:16:35.279 law enforcement, some kind of put together individual who seems 304 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:37.320 to have some kind of authority with them. 305 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:40.639 That's what I'm guessing that the nurses probably assumed that 306 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.919 they were affiliated with military or they were rescue workers, 307 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:47.399 so they didn't have any nefarious intentions when they decided 308 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.600 to take Joan Gay out of the basement. And it 309 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:53.080 seems rather plausible the fact that she was taking her 310 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.559 to see her father in Oklahoma City at the hospital there, 311 00:16:56.600 --> 00:17:00.440 because Jerry was not her biological daughter, she was the 312 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:03.840 daughter of the mother Kletas, So on the surface, it 313 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.440 wouldn't seem implausible that they would only take one child 314 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:09.960 that they're going to see, specifically Joan Gay's biological father. 315 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:12.599 And of course, even though the nurses got suspicious, you 316 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:16.079 can almost understand them buying this story because they've obviously 317 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:17.920 got a lot of chaos to attend to a lot 318 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:21.039 of patients, so they're thinking, Okay, this is all an authority. 319 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:23.599 They're taking Joan Gay to another hospital, and we've got 320 00:17:23.599 --> 00:17:26.039 a million other things to do, so we'll take their 321 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:29.160 story at face value. But surprisingly this was the last 322 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.359 time anyone ever saw Joan Gay and the fact, like 323 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:35.759 I mentioned, there are differing accounts from differing sources about 324 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:38.400 whether or not they asked for the Craft children or 325 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:41.240 if they specifically ask for Joan Gay. But if the 326 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.319 second scenario is the correct one, then they obviously only 327 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:46.839 intended to get her and had no interest in Jerry. 328 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:49.119 But how do they know all these things? How do 329 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:51.799 they know the children are there? So the Craft children 330 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.400 or Joan, right, someone had to know this family pretty intimately, 331 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:58.480 because they shouldn't have been in a basement hospital a 332 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:01.960 hospital basement, have been in their home, or they should 333 00:18:01.960 --> 00:18:04.119 have been with their dad, or they should have been 334 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.319 with other family members. So someone had to have intimate 335 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:10.640 knowledge of let's say they just asked for Joan, the 336 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.839 fact that she is the only biological child to the dad. 337 00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:16.720 They had to know that these kids were now being 338 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:20.400 tended to down in this basement. So it's really interesting 339 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:23.839 because it seems like such intimate details. But it has 340 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.000 to be someone who can get her far enough away 341 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:29.559 from this small area, because if you just took her 342 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:32.119 to let's say a house in the neighborhood and it's 343 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:35.400 a family who knew the family really well, she'd be discovered. 344 00:18:35.559 --> 00:18:38.240 So it's someone who knows them, but has to also 345 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:41.440 transport her far enough away to where she can't be located. 346 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:44.599 But what if it's not someone who knows them, and 347 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:48.799 the intimate knowledge just comes from a worker in the hospital, 348 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:52.680 like somebody who's gone, Okay, well I've scanned and there's 349 00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:56.559 you know, these kids here, and so I'm going to 350 00:18:56.599 --> 00:19:00.279 give the information to my counterparts, and they're going to 351 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:02.240 come in and pose as people who are going to 352 00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:07.000 be transporting Joan Gay or the Croft children, whatever they 353 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.920 asked for to a different place. It could be that 354 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:13.240 or somebody who was known to them on an intimate level, 355 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:15.559 but it seems like all the houses in their area 356 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:19.240 and the people that they knew were decimated or affected 357 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:24.160 by this extreme weather event. They killed so many people, 358 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:28.319 So it just is also perplexing the timing and everything. 359 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:30.440 Yeah, because you think if it was someone who lived 360 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:32.799 in the area and suffered from the tragedy and lost 361 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:36.000 their own house, they wouldn't be preoccupied with taking a child. 362 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:38.880 So that's why it's compelling to think that these two 363 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:41.200 men in the military clothing were from out of town. 364 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:44.559 And I know that Jerry never said that she recognized them, 365 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:46.920 even though Woodward was known as being one of those 366 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:50.720 small towns where everyone knew everyone. But it doesn't sound 367 00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:53.200 like the nurses recognized them either, so it almost seems 368 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:55.440 like they just kind of came out of nowhere and 369 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:59.640 then left town immediately after they got Joan Gay. So 370 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:02.680 the aftermath of the tornado, it turned out there were 371 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.880 three victims in Woodward who cannot be identified, and they 372 00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:08.680 all happened to be young girls. One of them was 373 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:11.960 approximately twelve years old, the second was a small infant, 374 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:14.680 but the third victim was a blonde girl who appeared 375 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:16.799 to be around three to four years old and had 376 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:20.680 a resemblance to Joan Gay. The town's mortician asked Ruth 377 00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:22.480 to come down to the funeral home to look at 378 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:25.640 the deceased child and bring some of Joan Gay's clothing along. 379 00:20:26.359 --> 00:20:28.640 When Ruth saw the victim, she was one under percent 380 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:31.799 certain it was not Joan Gay, and the mortician confirmed 381 00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:35.599 that Joan Gay's clothes were too big for Apparently, some 382 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.759 local residents were able to identify the child as a 383 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:41.240 girl who came from a broken home where her parents 384 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:45.200 had separated and she was now being raised by her grandmother. However, 385 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:48.440 the grandmother refused to make a positive identification or claim 386 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:50.720 the body, so the girl would have to be buried 387 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:54.079 as an unidentified Jane Doe. It was theorized that the 388 00:20:54.119 --> 00:20:56.400 parents of the twelve year old girl and the infant 389 00:20:56.759 --> 00:20:59.799 may have either been transients or so destitute that they 390 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:02.559 could not afford to pay for the child's burial, so 391 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:06.359 they never came forward to identify them. Hundreds of school 392 00:21:06.359 --> 00:21:09.720 teachers from Woodward and the surrounding area visited the morgue 393 00:21:09.720 --> 00:21:11.720 to look at the twelve year old and even brought 394 00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:14.680 their enrollment books along to jog their memories, but none 395 00:21:14.680 --> 00:21:17.079 of them seem to have any idea who the girl was. 396 00:21:17.880 --> 00:21:20.519 The three children were never identified, and they would be 397 00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:22.680 buried in Woodward's Elmwood Cemetery. 398 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.079 Now that's absolutely tragic. Part of me thinks the poor 399 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:30.079 grandmother grief is what drove her to say, like, I'm 400 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:33.839 not saying that that's my baby. But then you also 401 00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:36.200