Rita Lorraine Jolly was a creative and academically gifted 17-year-old when she left her family’s home in West Linn, Oregon, on the evening of June 29, 1973. She told her family she was going for a walk, an activity that was familiar and ordinary for her. Rita enjoyed walking through the community and surrounding countryside, so there was no immediate reason to believe she was in danger or planning to leave permanently.
Rita never returned.
Reported sightings placed her in different parts of the West Linn area later that evening, including near Sunset Avenue, the Robinwood neighborhood, and possibly the bridge connecting West Linn with Oregon City. After those sightings, her trail disappeared…