The other day, they aired an unsolved mystery about a little girl named Joan Gay Kroft who was injured in a tornado in 1947. She was carried off by two men and was never seen again. Does anyone know what happened with this case? I wonder what happened to her?

There have been no updates, so my guess is that she probably died. The whole case seems pretty strange to me.

Here is an article on the story. From reading it, it sounds like there's a good chance that Joan Gay Croft could be alive.


http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/041498/news/news06.html

I saw a story on the news a few years ago that she was found alive after all these years. I don't understand why UM didn't do an update on it though.

Joan Gay is still around:

Relatives of Joan Gay Croft try to trace her (http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ok/county/ellis/trivia.html)

Exhibition on the tornado and what really happened that day (http://www.news-star.com/stories/042102/New_50.shtml)

Now, from what I understand, the reason Joan Gay could not be found after she was taken to the farther-away hospital was that her speech was not easy to understand, and when she said her name it was written down wrong. The story about the adopted lady in Canada with a very similar name, which was posted by someone in this thread, is still the most promising.

I don't believe for a minute that any of the three little unidentified girls is Joan Gay.

The way to find out what's going on with Joan Gay is probably to write to the Woodward, OK historical society.

Let's bring this one back to the forefront. Does anyone know if Joan Gay Croft has finally been found???

Let's bring this one back to the forefront. Does anyone know if Joan Gay Croft has finally been found???

In response to that question, I googled her name and came across an article that was published in the April 2007 issue of the magazine American History. Sadly, the answer to your question is no. :(

http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_history/5805641.html?showAll=y&c=y

This was one of the most intriguing cases ever, and, sadly, due to its age, probably one of the most unsolvable. :( I did hear that a woman of similar looks with a murky background came forward, but nothing materialized from that. Now, I can see two perverts taking the chance to seize a child in the aftermath of a tornado, but why ask for the Croft children specifically and then only take Joan? And these men were unrecognized by any of the locals? Did Joan seem to know them? How did they know to ask for Joan, and why? The unidentified bod(ies) were, it seems, killed in the tornado, which Joan was definitely not, yet she has never turned up, alive or dead.

Found an article on her from a few months ago. Apparently she has never been found but its nice to know people still remember her. This article says something UM never mentioned, that Joan Gay was screaming as the two men took her away on the stretcher. Gives it a more sinister feel now imo.

http://www.enidnews.com/opinion/local_story_085234551.html

I would need to know the first names of Joan's parents and any other full names mentioned in the case to begin any kind of a background search.

According to an article, H. Olen Croft and Cleta Croft. Grandfather Raymond Goble. Half-sister, Jerri, was apparently Olen's child and not Cleta's. Joan was Cleta's child and, I think, Olen's as well. As I recall, Jerri was not interviewed on the program. Am I wrong, or had she passed away or declined to be interviewed? I only remember the aunt.

"Since the child could not talk plainly it is feared she has been unable to give her name correctly, thereby been miss-listed at some hospital in the state or in a home to which relief workers may have taken her"

This is from one of the links above. I guess it's possible that she died (maybe from an infection due to the injury) in a hospital, and her listed name was not correct, and her family could never be verified. Assuming the two men were honest about being relief workers who were taking her to Oklahoma City, you'd think that police (or the family) would have been able to eventually find out about a 4 year old girl that died at a Oklahoma City hospital but was never claimed by any parents. It seems strange that she would've been admitted to the hospital and treated, but never reunited with her relatives and instead put into foster care (presumably). Even if she didn't know her full name, the doctors would've at least known where the girl came from, and could have pieced it together since Joy had been declared missing. Both of these scenarios are assuming that the rescue workers just dropped her off and didn't help much (or at all) in terms of providing information about Joy to the doctors.

The other scenario, that the two men used the tornado as an opportunity to kidnap a child, seems unlikely to me. I guess her dying in a hospital and not being identified seems the most likely scenario out of the three (for me, anyway), but it still seems far fetched. I guess that's why this one is so intriguing.

P.S. For trivia buffs, when Stack says something to the effect of "there were two big events that day: the opening of the new Ingrid Bergman movie, and the tornado", he must be referring to Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious.

From the history.net link that Kane posted:

Joan's protests drew the attention of the hospital staff, who challenged the men. One of them said they were friends of the family and were simply taking Joan to another hospital where her family was waiting.

I don't think these guys were motivated by altruism, as they made no attempt to contact Joan's father or aunt, nor did they return for Joan's sister as they had claimed they would. They didn't provide Joan's name to hospital workers if they did check her into any of the regional hospitals, nor did they apparently take Joan to the hospital where her father was.

While Joan's family were more financially affluent than some of their neighbors, these two individuals never made a ransom demand. While there are cases of children being stolen in order to raise them, those cases generally involve women perpetrators. Sad as it is to think, something more sinister likely happened to her.

Fascinating, one commenter to this article http://www.historynet.com/oklahomas-deadliest-tornado.htm had met the woman who thought she might be Joan. Says the resemblance to a photo of the 4 year old Joan was very similar. She wonders if the DNA test back then was flawed.

The woman from Phoenix that believed she was the missing child passed away on 03/21/09 in Springerville, AZ. She still maintained that she was Joan Croft. Although DNA didn't match(especially in the early 90's when it was still considered experimental), there were so many uncanny simularities. I knew this woman and can't help believe she was who she believed she was. In seeing the picture of the child, it only confirmed my belief, as there were so many facial resemblances. What a sad, sad situation. Even sadder is that we may now never know the extent of the truth.

I know that some have suggested that Joan couldn't have been taken to be a child for a childless couple as it was two men that abducted her and stealing a very young child to raise as your own was usually done by women... but why couldn't a woman have hired these men? Men "rescue workers" would raise less suspicion than a strange woman.

They asked for the Croft children..that is creepy.

Sadly, like most missing children cases, I think the poor girl was probably raped and murdered soon after her abduction. :-/ The question is why would they specifically target that family?

Sadly, like most missing children cases, I think the poor girl was probably raped and murdered soon after her abduction. :-/ The question is why would they specifically target that family?

The only thing I can think of is they heard the mother was dead and took advantage of the situation, but they'd have to have been keeping an eye on that family to know that much.

Sadly, like most missing children cases, I think the poor girl was probably raped and murdered soon after her abduction. :-/ The question is why would they specifically target that family?

If you really believe that in the midst of that insanity Joan Gay was abducted by a predator ring, I suggest you read Stewart O'Nan's The Circus Fire, or any book about Katrina/Rita. In the aftermath of a disaster with the masses of human wreckage, living and dead, that the responders have to deal with, the amount of sheer shrieking bloody agony and horrific injuries among the survivors, there is an unbelievable amount of confusion. Survivors were being loaded onto freight cars to be taken to shelters and hospitals in other cities. The local fire chief wrote in his log book that this was a night of hell. These things do something to a person's mind and memory. You could look right at a close relative, even your own child, and not recognize them, or see a stranger and think it's your loved one.

This pertains to Joan Gay herself of course but also about the people around her, Geri included. Did the men actually come in asking for the Croft children or for Joan Gay? Whose word do we have on this? Maybe they asked for injured children, getting them to hospital first. Was she put on one of those boxcars and end up in a faraway city? Did she die in hospital unidentified like Little Miss 1565 -- and maybe get misidentified as many think 1565 was? Hospital records may not help. If the men did ask for her, were they possibly sent by Olin who was in critical condition at Oklahoma City hospital and trying to hold onto his loved child? (Geri was not his, she was a stepdaughter.) What did he say about all this later? Why wouldn't Geri participate in the DNA test? There are still way too many unanswered questions and undocumented facts.

You're right, Bluejay, maybe Geri was in on it!

I doubt the sister was "in on it" as she was 8 at the time. There are varying accounts that Joan Gay was taken alone because she was injured worse OR because her father only wanted his biological daughter, not his step-daughter. There could just be some lingering resentment if he showed extreme favoritism, too. If the half-sister has been living her life having mourned for her sister long ago and truly believing she's dead, she might not have wanted to drag all that back up again - especially since it seems likely she had no further contact with the Crofts after her mom passed away.

The men said they were taking her to Oklahoma City. A pencil-sized splinter through the knee isn't a huge trauma on a grown individual, but it could be fairly major for a small child of 4. If the ride wasn't smooth and careful, she could have had complications that necessitated stopping before they reached Oklahoma City. Or they could have wrecked on the way there. Those sorts of injuries can be deceiving since they don't tend to bleed that much but are still quite serious.

Oklahoma doesn't have any UID cases online prior to the 1970s, either.

I wouldn't be shocked that this is yet another mystery that has endured mostly because records are old and forgotten or have even disappeared over the years. If all of their UID records were placed online, there would probably be a match with her. The only family she was with to start with was an 8 year old sister and after that she was on her own as far as people who could identify her as well.

IMO, her age and injury along with the timing make it too inconvenient to be a kidnapping or other crime. They'd have to deal with her injury and there is a good possibility she had a physical impairment from it if she survived. She's also a bit old to be sold off for adoption once healed up.

According to a locak OK news report they have taken a sample of Marvella's DNA and are putting it in a state database and linking it with other states.

http://kfor.com/2016/05/05/search-still-on-for-woodward-5-year-old-who-vanished-after-tornado-69-years-ago/

I feel it's very possible the 2 men were just hired goon's by some unsavory Adoption Agency(which is why they showed up a day after the storm) and Joan lived somewhere else with forgotten memories.

I watched a soap opera where a character got amnesia following a tornado, so it's possible the same thing happened to Joan Gay Croft.

I watched a soap opera where a character got amnesia following a tornado, so it's possible the same thing happened to Joan Gay Croft.

I think this is closer to what happened. Like today, she might remember little or nothing, or maybe knows she was in a disaster, but without details. Like, "that's where I got this scar on my leg".

In the confusion and chaos she might have been placed at the wrong hospital. She might even have ended up out of state. She could not speak clearly so might have been misunderstood even if she did try to communicate.

I've always gone with the adoption theory. Either someone lost their kid and took her in, or she ended up at an orphanage and was adopted from there, or fostered where it was meant to be temporary and became permanent. One way or another, she is out there. She will be found.

Why did these men ask for Joan Gay in particular?

Why did these men ask for Joan Gay in particular?

If you go with the targeted kidnapping theory...then maybe a woman that really wanted a child had noticed her. Then the tornado happened. The woman heard that her mother was killed and knew she only had a stepfather and older half sister left so decided to take her for herself. (and had two men...her husband and brother???) carry it out.

I don't know if I agree with this theory, but I have no idea what is the most likely thing that happened.

Why did these men ask for Joan Gay in particular?

They also said they were taking her to rejoin other family members. That's what makes me think Olin was trying to bring her to him. He was laid up in an Oklahoma City hospital. No doubt he knew what can happen in a situation like this and wanted his daughter nearby.

Why did these men ask for Joan Gay in particular?

Good question, since they never returned for the older sister. There's no evidence that the father had any connection to these two individuals. If they were friends of the family as they claimed when they were confronted by the staff, why were none of the relatives ever contacted? If their story was truthful, there's no reason for Joan Gay to have disappeared - they would have taken her to one of the hospitals under her proper name (as they knew it) or they would have contacted her family.

Good question, since they never returned for the older sister. There's no evidence that the father had any connection to these two individuals. If they were friends of the family as they claimed when they were confronted by the staff, why were none of the relatives ever contacted? If their story was truthful, there's no reason for Joan Gay to have disappeared - they would have taken her to one of the hospitals under her proper name (as they knew it) or they would have contacted her family.


I wonder if perhaps Joan Gay's father Mr. Croft may have asked for his daughter via a 3rd individual who, in turn happened to see these two men and these two men were not from the area but were passing through yet took the task because they could have used the monies re carrying it out. The men would have known about Joan Gay so they could have asked for her. Then their own vehicle may have gotten into a one-car collision with it going straight into a flooded ditch/pond that no one else may have noticed during the chaos and the three of them drowned. Then, with no one noticing the accident and the site being underwater or eventually having sod shift over it, no one would has ever found the car. And if the two men were unknown in the area, it's also possible that whatever family or friends of theirs may have had no idea of their travels and wouldn't have looked for them in Oklahoma. Has anyone ever checked on whether two men from other parts of the country could have turned up missing at the same time as Joan Gay? Did anyone ask Mr. Croft if he DID ask anyone to retrieve his daughter. Perhaps whoever Mr. Crofth may have asked (IF he did) may have asked felt so ashamed that they'd entrusted two strangers with the task so they never admitted their own role.
I have nothing to base this on but it wouldn't be the first time folks with good intentions may have still wound up dead/missing with no one knowing their fates.

The idea that something happened to their transport is definitely possible. The men could have been either hired, as you suggest, or just wanted to help like Good Samaritans. (Or both.) There are so many elements to this. I found that Olin died age 83 in a mental institution -- now did he have something like Alzheimer's/senile dementia or was this another condition, maybe he got obsessive & paranoid trying to find her? Too much is unknown.

Most logical scenario is that she was one of the unidentified girls that the mortician had her aunt come view at the morgue, and that the aunt misidentified the body. It's possible that she died from her injuries after being picked up by the 2 unidentified men, or possible that the 2 men killed her and in the confusion, they assumed she died from injuries sustained in the tornado.

Most logical scenario is that she was one of the unidentified girls that the mortician had her aunt come view at the morgue, and that the aunt misidentified the body. It's possible that she died from her injuries after being picked up by the 2 unidentified men, or possible that the 2 men killed her and in the confusion, they assumed she died from injuries sustained in the tornado.
Wasn't the girl in the morgue too small to be Joan Gay? I seem to remember the mortician said the clothing the aunt brought was too big to fit the girl, and the aunt took a look at the body, too, but stranger things have happened.

Wasn't the girl in the morgue too small to be Joan Gay? I seem to remember the mortician said the clothing the aunt brought was too big to fit the girl, and the aunt took a look at the body, too, but stranger things have happened.

Yeah the mortician said the clothing was too small, and the aunt did look at the girl, but it could've been wishful thinking on the aunt's part, or the girl was in a condition where it wasn't as easy to identify her.

I just get the feeling that if she was taken from the hospital with good intentions, but somehow in the confusion got sent to live with a different family, why the hell didn't this family ever come forward and say that Joan Gay wasn't related to them? Why would they willingly take in a child that they didn't know? Plus, if she had a wood splinter that went clear through her leg, this obviously would've required days and possibly weeks of medical attention. So even after her family realized she was missing, she still would have been under medical care at a hospital. It should've been relatively easy (again, assuming she was taken with good intentions) to check the various hospitals in the area to find her.

Yeah the mortician said the clothing was too small, and the aunt did look at the girl, but it could've been wishful thinking on the aunt's part, or the girl was in a condition where it wasn't as easy to identify her.
I wondered about this myself. We don't know the condition of the body that the aunt viewed.



I just get the feeling that if she was taken from the hospital with good intentions, but somehow in the confusion got sent to live with a different family, why the hell didn't this family ever come forward and say that Joan Gay wasn't related to them? Why would they willingly take in a child that they didn't know? Plus, if she had a wood splinter that went clear through her leg, this obviously would've required days and possibly weeks of medical attention. So even after her family realized she was missing, she still would have been under medical care at a hospital. It should've been relatively easy (again, assuming she was taken with good intentions) to check the various hospitals in the area to find her.
I agree. I've seen the theory thrown around that the men could have had good intentions and then gotten into a car accident (perhaps a body of water that concealed the car and bodies) and that's why none of them ever surfaced again. I find that more plausible than being taken to live with another family without her ever surfacing again.

My fear, though, is that she was taken for nefarious reasons. I find the whole situation downright creepy. Specifically asking for the Croft children without identifying themselves and then just taking her away. I wonder if there could have been a plan to get ransom due to Olin Croft's wealth? The men would have had to have known the children had lost their mother and their father was injured and not there with them.

My fear, though, is that she was taken for nefarious reasons. I find the whole situation downright creepy. Specifically asking for the Croft children without identifying themselves and then just taking her away. I wonder if there could have been a plan to get ransom due to Olin Croft's wealth? The men would have had to have known the children had lost their mother and their father was injured and not there with them.

What are the odds that these guys just so happen to pick the date where one of the deadliest tornado's in US history rip through the town? And I don't think they would have used the disaster as a reason to go and kidnap her. That would've been like finding a needle in a haystack. The reason I think their intentions were good, was because they specifically asked for the "Croft children", and knew what hospital they were located at.

What are the odds that these guys just so happen to pick the date where one of the deadliest tornado's in US history rip through the town?

Opportunists. Crime rises in the immediate aftermath of disasters.

Just posted the latest article on my blog on the disappearance of Joan Gay Croft. A lot of info in this one!

https://lostnfoundblogs.com/f/joan-gay-croft-gone-with-the-wind

Just posted the latest article on my blog on the disappearance of Joan Gay Croft. A lot of info in this one!

Good read!

I seem to remember stumbling upon an article which said that it was possible that the coroner had the wrong ages of the 3 unidentified children and that one or all could have been much younger/older than they had initially thought. If that's true, than one of the 2 unidentified females could've been Joan Gay. But her injuries weren't severe. Very bizarre case.

Good read!

I seem to remember stumbling upon an article which said that it was possible that the coroner had the wrong ages of the 3 unidentified children and that one or all could have been much younger/older than they had initially thought. If that's true, than one of the 2 unidentified females could've been Joan Gay. But her injuries weren't severe. Very bizarre case.

Should be simple enough to determine whether any of the three unidentifieds was Joan. Dig 'em up and DNA test them.

I'm rather certain that the courts would allow it.. Just need someone to front the money for the exhumation, reinterment and DNA testing.

This would be a good use of crowdfunding. I'm pretty sure many of us here would kick in a few bucks towards the goal if there one were setup.

Even if it didn't identify Joan as one of the unidentifieds.. There'd be some leads towards identifying who they actually are.

Should be simple enough to determine whether any of the three unidentifieds was Joan. Dig 'em up and DNA test them.

I'm rather certain that the courts would allow it.. Just need someone to front the money for the exhumation, reinterment and DNA testing.

This would be a good use of crowdfunding. I'm pretty sure many of us here would kick in a few bucks towards the goal if there one were setup.

Even if it didn't identify Joan as one of the unidentifieds.. There'd be some leads towards identifying who they actually are.

Agreed, the "boy in the box" from Pennsylvania in the 1950s was exhumed and that at least eliminated some people who claimed he was their brother.

Re: the JGC segment, I definitely think she was kidnapped/abducted from the hospital by these two unidentified men. Based on her aunt's recollection in the segment, neither JGC or her sister had serious injuries (as a result of the tornado/hurricane damage) - so, it makes no sense for these two to take her to a distant hospital when she would have been safer just staying in the basement of the hospital she was in.

If JGC is still alive now, she'd be in her late '70's. If she is still alive (or at least was still alive when the original UM segment aired in the early '90's) she may not have known/remembered that she was actually JGC.

Yeah if you were kidnapped at 3-4 you wouldn't remember being so as an adult.

Although i'm a huge UM fan, i actually came across this case on the "Case went cold" podcast. It's not impossible that she was abducted, but i don't get how the abductors would know what they did as fast as they did.

How did they know that Joan was there? that she wasn't with her parents. that her mother was dead and her father in another hospital?? How would they have these abductors have communicated with each other, with information when the telephone strike was one of the things that made the tornado worse? Joan also had a "finger size" splinter right threw her leg that would have needed more medical attention. But no other hospital came forward later with information about someone needing that type of care?

Seems too complex

Did nothing pan out with that Lavinia Smith woman who claimed to be Joan Gay Croft? I saw her obituary used the name Joan Croft.

This (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tulsa-tribune-croft-one-year-later/117692719/) article interviews a nurse one year after Joan's diappearance and she says she doesn't remember two men specifically saying they were there for the Croft children, just that two men stopped her and said they were moving a small child to a different hospital. Isn't it possible that this was a completely different child from Joan and Joan was one of the dead unidentified bodies?

That makes sense.