Joan Vanessa Mason, known as Jo Ann, was 19 when she disappeared from Highland/Highland Park, Wayne County, Michigan, after leaving the 200 block of Buena Vista Street on April 25, 1983. She walked to a nearby corner store at Hamilton and Glendale avenues to pick up items for her four-year-old son and never returned. Joan was described as 5 feet 4 inches, about 120 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes; her ears were pierced. She was a college student and her family says it would have been out of character for her to leave her child.

Witness accounts differ but are consistently troubling: one witness saw a man get out of a car and approach Joan near the store, and another said Joan’s ex-boyfriend and other men drove up, after which the ex-boyfriend was seen walking down the street with her. The ex-boyfriend reportedly had a history of violence and had allegedly kidnapped and beaten her shortly before she vanished, but he was never publicly named a suspect and later died. Files from the period are reportedly missing and efforts to reopen the investigation have faced obstacles. Does anyone who lived in that neighborhood in 1983 or knew Joan have information that could help fill gaps in this cold case?