Robin Graham - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Robin Ann Graham was a college student who disappeared from a Los Angeles freeway in the early hours of November 15, 1970 after her car had broken down. She has not been heard from since, nor are there any clues as to her whereabouts or subsequent fate. Graham's case is often included in television programs about missing persons.

Background

Robin was the daughter of Marvin and Beverly Graham. She grew up on Lemoyne Street, in the Silverlake-Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, and had graduated from John Marshall High School

John Marshall High School (Los Angeles, California)

John Marshall High School is a high school located in the Los Feliz district of the City of Los Angeles at 3939 Tracy Street, in Los Angeles, California, USA.Marshall, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District...

in June, 1970. She was attending Pierce College

Los Angeles Pierce College

Los Angeles Pierce College, also known as Pierce College, Pierce, is a community college that serves more than 23,000 students in the northern Chalk Hills of Woodland Hills, a community within the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California.The college began with 70 students...

, in Woodland Hills

Woodland Hills

Woodland Hills is the name of various communities in the United States, including:*Woodland Hills, Cleveland, a neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio.* Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California...

and working part time at Pier 1 Imports

Pier 1 Imports

Pier 1 Imports Inc. is a Fort Worth, Texas based retailer specializing in imported home furnishings and decor, particularly furniture, table-top items, decorative accessories and seasonal decor. The chain operates over 1,000 stores under the name Pier 1 Imports in the United States, Canada, Mexico...

, in Hollywood

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...

Disappearance

Robin Graham was last seen by California Highway Patrol

California Highway Patrol

The California Highway Patrol is a law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and also acts as the state police....

officers at approximately 2:00 a.m. on November 15, 1970, beside her car on the shoulder of the southbound Hollywood Freeway

Hollywood Freeway

The Hollywood Freeway is one of the principal freeways of Los Angeles, California and one of the busiest in the United States. It is the principal route over the Cahuenga Pass, the primary shortcut between the Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley...

near the Santa Monica offramp; she was in the presence of a dark-haired white man estimated to be in his mid-twenties who drove a late 1950s model Chevrolet Corvette C1

Chevrolet Corvette C1

The Chevrolet Corvette is the first generation of the sports car by the Chevrolet division of General Motors introduced late in the 1953 model year and produced through 1962. It is commonly referred to as the "solid-axle" generation, as the independent rear suspension didn't appear until the 1963...

, pale blue or green with primer. Graham used a call box to ask that a CHP emergency operator let her parents know she had run out of gas. Graham's younger sister took the call and relayed the information to her parents upon their return home at approximately 2:30 a.m. They went immediately to the location where they found Robin's car, but she was not there. There was no note found on her locked car. The CHP officers had stopped several times earlier and spoke with Graham but did not stop again when they saw her talking with the young man; the patrolmen assumed he was family, the help for which she'd called. The CHP officers were acting in accordance with policy; as a result of this case CHP policy was changed to ensure the safety of stranded female motorists.

Graham had been out Saturday night with friends. After dropping off a girlfriend, Graham was dropped off at her car in the Pier 1 Imports

Pier 1 Imports

parking lot, at approximately 1:45 a.m. The initial report had Graham leaving voluntarily in the Corvette, but the CHP officer who made that report was requestioned and said he saw her in the presence of the young man but did not see them leave.

The case was handled by detectives at the Rampart Division of the LAPD who thought Graham's disappearance was possibly linked to three other similar cases involving young women over the previous two years, including Rose Tashman, an Israeli

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

-born student at San Fernando Valley State College who disappeared in 1969. She had a flat tire on the Hollywood Freeway, a few miles from the location of Graham's car. None of the other cases were solved and all the other victims were found dead in the Hollywood Hills

Hollywood Hills

The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...

. In 1975, a similar disappearance took place from the San Bernardino Freeway

San Bernardino Freeway

The San Bernardino Freeway, formerly known as the Ramona Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Orange Counties in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It refers to the following two segments:...

, in El Monte. The skeletal remains of Mona Jean Gallegos were found nearly six months later in a Riverside

Riverside, California

Riverside is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and the county seat of the eponymous county. Named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the largest city in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area of Southern California, 4th largest inland California...

ravine. Some speculate that Graham was a victim of the Zodiac Killer

Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The killer's identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women...

. At the time of her disappearance Graham had long brown hair, brown eyes, fair skin and was 5'6 in height.

Further activity

Seventeen-years later, a curious ad appeared in the Los Angeles Times classifieds which caught the attention of the Graham family as well as KFI

KFI

KFI is an AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It received its license to operate on March 31, 1922 and began operating on April 16, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear-channel" stations...

disc jockey Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards

Geoffrey Bruce Owen "Geoff" Edwards is an American television actor, game show host and radio personality. Over the past decade and a half, he has been a writer and broadcaster on travel. He was born in Westfield, New Jersey....

, who read it on the air: "DEAREST ROBIN You ran out of gas on the Hollywood Frwy. A man in a Corvette pulled over to help. You've not been seen of since. It's been 17 years, but it's always just yesterday. Still looking for you (signed) THE ECHO PARK DUCKS." It turned out that Al Medrano, a friend still living in the neighborhood, simply wanted to express that Robin has not been forgotten.

The case of Robin Graham's disappearance has been included in television specials about missing persons. It remains an unsolved mystery.

External links

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