Well, I've done a lot of reading on this forum about Amy Billig and was surprised to see that nobody went another route with this story.

To refresh your memory she was she young lady who went missing and there was a lot of thought that she was abducted by bikers and kept as a slave known as "Mute". Her mother was always out searching for her and always seemed to be just a few steps behind her. Nothing ever came of it and one the bikers allegedly involved claimed on his deathbed that she overdosed at a party the night she went missing and they threw her body into the Everglades to be eaten by alligators.

The part that surprises me is that no one has focused in on Henry Johnson Blair, the man who began harassing Mrs. Billig with phone calls after Amy disappeared. He did this for 21 years. His identity was unknown until he made a call from his cell phone which they traced. Prior to that he always called from a phone booth.

What I find particularly interesting is that Amy had written in her journal that she was thinking of running away to South America with a man named Hank. Henry Johnson Blair's nickname is Hank and he worked for the Customs Department and was required to relocate to South America at the time of Amy's disappearance. Another scary fact is that they discovered Amy's camera along a northbound highway after he disappearance. When they developed the film they found a photo of a white van identical in color and model to the one Henry Johnson Blair drove in 1974.

Henry Johnson Blair claims he never met Amy and harassed her mother due to alcoholism and mental problems. But I find it unlikely he never met her. It's seems pretty evident they knew each other and may have been involved.

Whether or not he abducted her or not is another matter but I'm surprised its an avenue that hasn't been explored more. I never really took the biker abduction thing at face value. It's seems more likely to me that Henry Johnson Blair might have taken her and killed her. He seems obsessive, and she was a very pretty girl. It might have ended badly.

Thoughts?

but what about the UK link? the investigator said she had a contact who had been offered a "girl" nicknamed "mute".

This case has always stuck with me. Her mother died without finding out what really happened to her. So sad.
Did the police ever give "Hank" a lie detector test or anything? The whole mute situation, well that could have been her too. I think that her diary is def. credible, as are the pictures that she took. I wonder if her friends new about Hank.

Too bad that guy in the UK didn't agree to buy her. You know, arrange a time, place, and price, then go to the cops, who might even supply the money. I'd almost rather think he was lying than that Amy or some other unfortunate person was left in that situation due to him not pursuing it aggressively enough.

but what about the UK link? the investigator said she had a contact who had been offered a "girl" nicknamed "mute".

wow I can't believe I never saw this reply to the thread I started. I just thought no one responded. Ahem....it's a little late but here goes...

I really don't buy that story. How many times have we heard in missing persons cases that someone saw that person elsewhere and after the abduction, and were so sure of it. And much like the Kerri Lynn Nixon case it turned out to be false. Look, I've seen people on the streets who I thought were very dear friends of mine, only to discover it was someone else. Once in San Antonio I even thought I saw my mother, but it wasn't her.
Now I can only imagine in missing persons cases where the sense of urgency and hope for retrieval are heightened that it may become even more skewed.

If I am to believe the bikers story, if anything it just seems like the story by the bikers that she was abducted was just there to mess with Susan Billig, and draw suspicion away from the fact that
Amy was dead. Perhaps the bikers did know something about it. Perhaps she was killed by the bikers, or OD'd at a party they threw.

But in the end it just appears to me that there was little chance of her being absconded and remaining alive for that long, to end up where years later a man in England could "buy" her.

I also find the circumstances of the persona of that individual who was approached, being approached in that manner, at that location as being highly circumspect.


Yay 200th post!

I remember that story. It was really sad and I felt bad for her mom.

If I am to believe the bikers story, if anything it just seems like the story by the bikers that she was abducted was just there to mess with Susan Billig, and draw suspicion away from the fact that
Amy was dead. Perhaps the bikers did know something about it. Perhaps she was killed by the bikers, or OD'd at a party they threw.

If the phantom phoner harassed Amy's mother for 22 years when he had absolutely no involvement, and he was a cop, it's not outside the realm of probability that bikers would mess with her whether they knew anything or not.

I also find the circumstances of the persona of that individual who was approached, being approached in that manner, at that location as being highly circumspect.

Change that to highly suspect and I agree. Hardly a tough, greasy biker type, but more the type if he weren't so timid and plain pathetic, would go straight to authorities. Hardly "buyer" material.

Yay 200th post!

Congratulations!

I've often wondered if the Hank from Amy's journal and the Hank who harassed her mother were the same person. I wonder if Amy's friends were ever asked about the "Hank" mentioned in her journal. I find it hard to believe that a teenage girl would have an older boyfriend and not mention it to some of her girlfriends. When I was 17, that would have been one of the most exciting things I could imagine!

As for the bikers, there did seem to be strong leads there. But then again, they also found some girls in the biker circles who looked quite a bit like Amy, so it is possible it was all a case of mistaken identity to begin with.

Very puzzling case indeed. I highly recommend reading the book if you haven't. It is available on Amazon and is a great read, her mom went through so much to try and find her. http://www.amazon.com/Without-Trace-Disappearance-Billig-Mothers/dp/0380814137

This was a case that always stuck in my mind.

About that guy Hank, the police have said that wasn't involved or something to that effect. But I think he had to have known Amy. Why else would he be making all those phone calls. Hell, why he made those harrassing phone calls I'll never know. America's Most Wanted as profiled this case and one of the investigators said they wish they had know about Blair twenty years ago.

Was anyone else rescued from the biker culture while searching for Amy?

I believe there was a drug connection tied to her disappearance. If she disappeard with "Hank", I find it somehwat odd that she didn't tell any of her friends (she was supposed to meet them for lunch). Billig was involved in the Miami drug scene and wore roach clips in her hair.

It is crazy to think how reckless teens can be. When you grow older, you realize how many stupid things you did and all the ways you could have gotten hurt. I think she would have mentioned "Hank" to her friends as well. Remember that informant that was taking her mom to the biker bars? What happened with that? He died right?

Well, I've done a lot of reading on this forum about Amy Billig and was surprised to see that nobody went another route with this story.

To refresh your memory she was she young lady who went missing and there was a lot of thought that she was abducted by bikers and kept as a slave known as "Mute". Her mother was always out searching for her and always seemed to be just a few steps behind her. Nothing ever came of it and one the bikers allegedly involved claimed on his deathbed that she overdosed at a party the night she went missing and they threw her body into the Everglades to be eaten by alligators.

The part that surprises me is that no one has focused in on Henry Johnson Blair, the man who began harassing Mrs. Billig with phone calls after Amy disappeared. He did this for 21 years. His identity was unknown until he made a call from his cell phone which they traced. Prior to that he always called from a phone booth.

What I find particularly interesting is that Amy had written in her journal that she was thinking of running away to South America with a man named Hank. Henry Johnson Blair's nickname is Hank and he worked for the Customs Department and was required to relocate to South America at the time of Amy's disappearance. Another scary fact is that they discovered Amy's camera along a northbound highway after he disappearance. When they developed the film they found a photo of a white van identical in color and model to the one Henry Johnson Blair drove in 1974.

Henry Johnson Blair claims he never met Amy and harassed her mother due to alcoholism and mental problems. But I find it unlikely he never met her. It's seems pretty evident they knew each other and may have been involved.

Whether or not he abducted her or not is another matter but I'm surprised its an avenue that hasn't been explored more. I never really took the biker abduction thing at face value. It's seems more likely to me that Henry Johnson Blair might have taken her and killed her. He seems obsessive, and she was a very pretty girl. It might have ended badly.

Thoughts?

Why wasnt this mentioned in the segement?!?!

Personally I think Amy was abducted, raped and then murdered the same day. This whole thing about "owning" the women...this may happen but it is VERY rare. The biker that claimed he had info on Amy obviously was trying to get money from her (Amys mother). The time when he took Mrs. Billng to the bar and the "fight" broke out...total production number. It was all arranged. I dont care if he had crutches and bruises. I did feel sorry for the mother...this was a segement when it was total heartbreak. But the part when the man in Europe was approached by the biker who wanted to sell the girl. WoW! That was a one in a million shot...and then the news to travel that far and to make a connection to a case! WOWZERS! :eek4:

I remember hearing about the entire Blair case on Inside Edition. I saw a commercial for it and watched. I was very surprised the harrassing phone calls were not mentioned on UM. UM has a tendancy to leave out details but I have a feeling it might have had to do with the harrassing phone calls still be an ongoing investigation. Maybe they knew they were closing in and didn't want to ruin things by speaking about it.

I remember hearing about the entire Blair case on Inside Edition. I saw a commercial for it and watched. I was very surprised the harrassing phone calls were not mentioned on UM. UM has a tendancy to leave out details but I have a feeling it might have had to do with the harrassing phone calls still be an ongoing investigation. Maybe they knew they were closing in and didn't want to ruin things by speaking about it.
I get a bit frustrated with some of the information on UM too when it comes to details, but I will say that I understand leaving some of the information out if it's required for the investigation.
I have a hard time believing that someone would just call and harass the woman for 22 years just because he was a drunk and a mental case. It seems deeper than that to me. JMO...but it doesn't really seem right.

I have a hard time believing that someone would just call and harass the woman for 22 years just because he was a drunk and a mental case. It seems deeper than that to me. JMO...but it doesn't really seem right.

He was said to have harassed other families in distress, just not for as long. Something about his interaction with Amy's mother kept him addicted to tormenting her, the sicko!

I always thought Henry Blair was just a loon, suffering from something akin to Munchausen's by Proxy, torturing Mrs. Billig for the attention she gave him.

I have to say, I have always thought that Mrs. Billig and Mr. Nerenberg (father of Audrey, missing since 1977) were pillars of strength and the archetypes of parents of long missing children. Their constant vigilant advocacy for their children will never cease to amaze me.

He was said to have harassed other families in distress, just not for as long. Something about his interaction with Amy's mother kept him addicted to tormenting her, the sicko!

That is seriously sick.

I believe there was a drug connection tied to her disappearance. If she disappeard with "Hank", I find it somehwat odd that she didn't tell any of her friends (she was supposed to meet them for lunch). Billig was involved in the Miami drug scene and wore roach clips in her hair.

Was this information communicated to the public? I don't remember reading it anywhere, although I feel it's probably true. Typical of teenagers in the 70's.

This is one of my most frustrating "try-to-figure-it-out" cases.

If you think about it, Hank Blair, probably had a lot of ties to drugs, and maybe even possibly white slavery (as suggested by an earlier poster) with his connections to South America. I think he may have been intrigued with Amy and brainwashed her into maybe doing drugs with him and/or having casual sex with him. If I try to put myself into Amy's shoes, a teenager in the 70s (which I was), I may not have told my friends for fear that they would not accept him because of his age, his looks, his job, etc. He possibly could have asked her to swear it was their secret. There seems to be too much coincidence with Hank to overlook him as a possible suspect. I do believe that the bikers were also involved. Remember, they run the drugs in their respective "territories". Also, I know for a fact that bikers do still consider women their property although I don't think swaping still occurs today. I do know that it did occur in the 70s.

What I want to know is..........Why hasn't this been made into a movie???

This is one of my most frustrating "try-to-figure-it-out" cases.

If you think about it, Hank Blair, probably had a lot of ties to drugs, and maybe even possibly white slavery (as suggested by an earlier poster) with his connections to South America. I think he may have been intrigued with Amy and brainwashed her into maybe doing drugs with him and/or having casual sex with him. If I try to put myself into Amy's shoes, a teenager in the 70s (which I was), I may not have told my friends for fear that they would not accept him because of his age, his looks, his job, etc. He possibly could have asked her to swear it was their secret. There seems to be too much coincidence with Hank to overlook him as a possible suspect. I do believe that the bikers were also involved. Remember, they run the drugs in their respective "territories". Also, I know for a fact that bikers do still consider women their property although I don't think swaping still occurs today. I do know that it did occur in the 70s.

What I want to know is..........Why hasn't this been made into a movie???

I just have a hard time believing that she would mention a "Hank" in her diary and then a person with the same name comes into play. Not a really common name and unless there were more than one that she was connected to....just seems odd.

This is one of my most frustrating "try-to-figure-it-out" cases.

If you think about it, Hank Blair, probably had a lot of ties to drugs, and maybe even possibly white slavery (as suggested by an earlier poster) with his connections to South America. I think he may have been intrigued with Amy and brainwashed her into maybe doing drugs with him and/or having casual sex with him. If I try to put myself into Amy's shoes, a teenager in the 70s (which I was), I may not have told my friends for fear that they would not accept him because of his age, his looks, his job, etc. He possibly could have asked her to swear it was their secret. There seems to be too much coincidence with Hank to overlook him as a possible suspect. I do believe that the bikers were also involved. Remember, they run the drugs in their respective "territories". Also, I know for a fact that bikers do still consider women their property although I don't think swaping still occurs today. I do know that it did occur in the 70s.

What I want to know is..........Why hasn't this been made into a movie???

from everything I have read, Billig was into drugs, particularly marijuana. This may or may not have been introduced to her by "Hank" (I tend to believe it was probably a result of peer pressure from firneds, etc) . I still believe in the motorcycle connection and believe on he rway to lunch with friends, some of the bikers spotted her (she wore roach clips in her hair) and offered her some marijuana. They then abducted her.

This is one of my most frustrating "try-to-figure-it-out" cases.

If you think about it, Hank Blair, probably had a lot of ties to drugs, and maybe even possibly white slavery (as suggested by an earlier poster) with his connections to South America. I think he may have been intrigued with Amy and brainwashed her into maybe doing drugs with him and/or having casual sex with him. If I try to put myself into Amy's shoes, a teenager in the 70s (which I was), I may not have told my friends for fear that they would not accept him because of his age, his looks, his job, etc. He possibly could have asked her to swear it was their secret. There seems to be too much coincidence with Hank to overlook him as a possible suspect. I do believe that the bikers were also involved. Remember, they run the drugs in their respective "territories". Also, I know for a fact that bikers do still consider women their property although I don't think swaping still occurs today. I do know that it did occur in the 70s.

What I want to know is..........Why hasn't this been made into a movie???

from everything I have read, Billig was into drugs, particularly marijuana. This may or may not have been introduced to her by "Hank" (I tend to believe it was probably a result of peer pressure from firneds, etc) . I still believe in the motorcycle connection and believe on her way to lunch with friends, some of the bikers spotted her (she wore roach clips in her hair) and offered her some marijuana. They then abducted her.

This is one of my most frustrating "try-to-figure-it-out" cases.

If you think about it, Hank Blair, probably had a lot of ties to drugs, and maybe even possibly white slavery (as suggested by an earlier poster) with his connections to South America. I think he may have been intrigued with Amy and brainwashed her into maybe doing drugs with him and/or having casual sex with him. If I try to put myself into Amy's shoes, a teenager in the 70s (which I was), I may not have told my friends for fear that they would not accept him because of his age, his looks, his job, etc. He possibly could have asked her to swear it was their secret. There seems to be too much coincidence with Hank to overlook him as a possible suspect. I do believe that the bikers were also involved. Remember, they run the drugs in their respective "territories". Also, I know for a fact that bikers do still consider women their property although I don't think swaping still occurs today. I do know that it did occur in the 70s.

What I want to know is..........Why hasn't this been made into a movie???

from everything I have read, Billig was into drugs, particularly marijuana. This may or may not have been introduced to her by "Hank" (I tend to believe it was probably a result of peer pressure from firneds, etc) . I still believe in the motorcycle connection and believe on her way to lunch with friends, some of the bikers spotted her (she wore roach clips in her hair) and offered her some marijuana. They then abducted her.

This is one of my most frustrating "try-to-figure-it-out" cases.

If you think about it, Hank Blair, probably had a lot of ties to drugs, and maybe even possibly white slavery (as suggested by an earlier poster) with his connections to South America. I think he may have been intrigued with Amy and brainwashed her into maybe doing drugs with him and/or having casual sex with him. If I try to put myself into Amy's shoes, a teenager in the 70s (which I was), I may not have told my friends for fear that they would not accept him because of his age, his looks, his job, etc. He possibly could have asked her to swear it was their secret. There seems to be too much coincidence with Hank to overlook him as a possible suspect. I do believe that the bikers were also involved. Remember, they run the drugs in their respective "territories". Also, I know for a fact that bikers do still consider women their property although I don't think swaping still occurs today. I do know that it did occur in the 70s.

What I want to know is..........Why hasn't this been made into a movie???

from everything I have read, Billig was into drugs, particularly marijuana. This may or may not have been introduced to her by "Hank" (I tend to believe it was probably a result of peer pressure from friends, etc) . I still believe in the motorcycle connection and believe on her way to lunch with friends, some of the bikers spotted her (she wore roach clips in her hair) and offered her some marijuana. They then abducted her.

i liked it the the first 3 times you posted it. The fourth time was totally overkill.
:)

i liked it the the first 3 times you posted it. The fourth time was totally overkill.
:)


sorry, problems with my computer while I wa sposting. I love the avatar, BTW. How tall is Ric Flair? I heard him listed as everywhere from 5'10" to 6'2" . Most sources say he is roughly 6'0"

Was this information communicated to the public? I don't remember reading it anywhere, although I feel it's probably true. Typical of teenagers in the 70's.

Yes, it is pretty much public knowledge and is referenced several times in stories on Billig.

sorry, problems with my computer while I wa sposting. I love the avatar, BTW. How tall is Ric Flair? I heard him listed as everywhere from 5'10" to 6'2" . Most sources say he is roughly 6'0"


Well, I'm 6'2 and he looks to be about 2 inches shorter.
Im always amazed when I meet wrestlers that I'm usually as tall or taller than like 80% of them.

Well, I'm 6'2 and he looks to be about 2 inches shorter.
Im always amazed when I meet wrestlers that I'm usually as tall or taller than like 80% of them.


that's cool. I was (still am) a huge Hulkamaniac, brother!. I also like Brock Lesnar (too bad his career was short), Superfly Jimmy Snuka, Bruno sammartino, Superstar Billy Graham, Ricky Steamboat, Bret Hart, Edge, etc. Who else have you met? I'm also curious to know which ones are shorter than you expected (I am 6'2" also). Iam 28 but tend to like most of the older guys better. the Rock was good on the mic but I would grow sick of him fast (he was MUCH better as a heal, IMO). I am on and off on my like for Triple H. The WWE is so saturated with him now that I'm sick of him again.

Yes, it is pretty much public knowledge and is referenced several times in stories on Billig.

Ok, everyone smoked pot in the 70s and Miami was the hotbead for all drugs then.

Another thing that really bothers me is that there are a few inconsistencies in several of the stories about Amy. For one, a lot of people believed she was not a runaway although there was a very high incidence of teenage runaways back then, me included. I don't think the families leak out everything to the public when there is a mystery in a disapearance; problems at home etc. for fear the public won't help. I first read about Amy in Edna Buchanan's book The Corpse Had a Familar Face. When Sue found the bikers in Seattle, Edna's story was that they told Sue "..she's one of us now...". In Greg Anapau's book it doesn't state this, just that they offered to find her. If indeed they said "she's one of us now" surely it would seem that Amy ran away with the bikers and didn't want to be found again.

The other inconsistency was UM (and I think someone mentioned this in an earlier post) when Sue went to the biker bar with Paul Branch and he approached a table of bikers to ask about her and they threw Sue out of the bar. Maybe this scene was just thrown in to keep viewers interested in the case. I hope not. It should be just about true facts. There are a few others but I can't think of them now.

I definately don't believe in the investigator's story in England. I think he wanted some publicity or new business.

Interesting that Amy's brother said on CNN after Sue passed that she still followed leads about Amy to the end. I wonder what those leads were? So many unanswered questions in this case. It just eats away at me.
:confused:

Ok, everyone smoked pot in the 70s and Miami was the hotbead for all drugs then.

Another thing that really bothers me is that there are a few inconsistencies in several of the stories about Amy. For one, a lot of people believed she was not a runaway although there was a very high incidence of teenage runaways back then, me included. I don't think the families leak out everything to the public when there is a mystery in a disapearance; problems at home etc. for fear the public won't help. I first read about Amy in Edna Buchanan's book The Corpse Had a Familar Face. When Sue found the bikers in Seattle, Edna's story was that they told Sue "..she's one of us now...". In Greg Anapau's book it doesn't state this, just that they offered to find her. If indeed they said "she's one of us now" surely it would seem that Amy ran away with the bikers and didn't want to be found again.

The other inconsistency was UM (and I think someone mentioned this in an earlier post) when Sue went to the biker bar with Paul Branch and he approached a table of bikers to ask about her and they threw Sue out of the bar. Maybe this scene was just thrown in to keep viewers interested in the case. I hope not. It should be just about true facts. There are a few others but I can't think of them now.

I definately don't believe in the investigator's story in England. I think he wanted some publicity or new business.

Interesting that Amy's brother said on CNN after Sue passed that she still followed leads about Amy to the end. I wonder what those leads were? So many unanswered questions in this case. It just eats away at me.
:confused:

I wouldn't pretend to know everything about this case, but I do agree with many of the things you have pointed out. If we really exam most cases in which the primary source of information about the child is from the parent, there seems to be an unintentional slanting of information.
I will offer as an example, the current Casey Anthony case. What most of the world can see so clearly, seems impossible for the parents to see. The person who seems responsible for the loss of their precious granddaughter, is rather obviously their daughter. Yet, they deny this emphatically in public because they claim they know their daughter wouldn't do that.

I am a mother and I believe that I know my children pretty well, but what I don't really know is what goes on during the day when they are at school. I don't know what their relationships with other people are when I am not there to see the interaction first hand. If the day comes when someone comes to me and says, "your daughter or son did this or that"...am I going to be able to accept that and not blindly go with what I think I know them capable of? I work in banking and I have seen kids drain their savings accounts at 15 or 16 years of age. Most of the time the parents didn't think that they would come take the money out, so they didn't put a restriction on it. When we call to tell them they are taking money out, they are shocked.

I would have to argue that the same thing applys in some cases, such as the Amy Billig case. Maybe (and I stress that maybe) what Sue thought her daughter capable of, and what she was capable of were two different things.

I think the phrase "Your perception defines your reality" is quite appropriate in most cases.

The other inconsistency was UM (and I think someone mentioned this in an earlier post) when Sue went to the biker bar with Paul Branch and he approached a table of bikers to ask about her and they threw Sue out of the bar. Maybe this scene was just thrown in to keep viewers interested in the case. I hope not. It should be just about true facts. There are a few others but I can't think of them now.


This incident never happened? It was just for dramatic effect?

Why wasnt this mentioned in the segement?!?!

Personally I think Amy was abducted, raped and then murdered the same day. This whole thing about "owning" the women...this may happen but it is VERY rare. The biker that claimed he had info on Amy obviously was trying to get money from her (Amys mother). The time when he took Mrs. Billng to the bar and the "fight" broke out...total production number. It was all arranged. I dont care if he had crutches and bruises. I did feel sorry for the mother...this was a segement when it was total heartbreak. But the part when the man in Europe was approached by the biker who wanted to sell the girl. WoW! That was a one in a million shot...and then the news to travel that far and to make a connection to a case! WOWZERS! :eek4:

Sorry, I read someone's quote incorrectly. I thought the bar scene was something that UM threw in.

I wouldn't pretend to know everything about this case, but I do agree with many of the things you have pointed out. If we really exam most cases in which the primary source of information about the child is from the parent, there seems to be an unintentional slanting of information.
I will offer as an example, the current Casey Anthony case. What most of the world can see so clearly, seems impossible for the parents to see. The person who seems responsible for the loss of their precious granddaughter, is rather obviously their daughter. Yet, they deny this emphatically in public because they claim they know their daughter wouldn't do that.

I am a mother and I believe that I know my children pretty well, but what I don't really know is what goes on during the day when they are at school. I don't know what their relationships with other people are when I am not there to see the interaction first hand. If the day comes when someone comes to me and says, "your daughter or son did this or that"...am I going to be able to accept that and not blindly go with what I think I know them capable of? I work in banking and I have seen kids drain their savings accounts at 15 or 16 years of age. Most of the time the parents didn't think that they would come take the money out, so they didn't put a restriction on it. When we call to tell them they are taking money out, they are shocked.

I would have to argue that the same thing applys in some cases, such as the Amy Billig case. Maybe (and I stress that maybe) what Sue thought her daughter capable of, and what she was capable of were two different things.

How very, very true. Excellent points.

I saw a post (it may have been on websleuths instead of on here) talking about the scar that was referenced by the biker. The person making the post said it wa snot uncommon for biker girls ("old ladies") to have scars on their wrists. Amy's scar wa son her abdomen and was hidden on her body. Mrs. Billig did not divuulge that to police until much later.

from everything I have read, Billig was into drugs, particularly marijuana. This may or may not have been introduced to her by "Hank" (I tend to believe it was probably a result of peer pressure from firneds, etc) . I still believe in the motorcycle connection and believe on her way to lunch with friends, some of the bikers spotted her (she wore roach clips in her hair) and offered her some marijuana. They then abducted her.

Where did you read that she wore roach clips in her hair? In the thread about Amy over at Websleuths, someone mentioned that in the 1970's, girls would wear them in their hair. But they never said that Amy in particular was known to do so.

I've done quite a bit of reading on this case, and if there is information out there that points to Amy having been into drugs, I have missed it. I don't doubt that she might have experimented with them, but based on what I have read about her it doesn't seem like she was leading a particularly hardcore party lifestyle.

This is one of my "pet" cases. So if I have missed something, I'd certainly be interested in hearing about it. :)

Ok.......just decided to google search Amy Billig's name to see if there by chance was anything new to the case and came up with the link below. This is for the open-minded folks who follow the astrological natal charts.

What do you think?

http://forensicastrology.blogspot.com/

Ok.......just decided to google search Amy Billig's name to see if there by chance was anything new to the case and came up with the link below. This is for the open-minded folks who follow the astrological natal charts.

What do you think?

http://forensicastrology.blogspot.com/

Interesting read... Thanks for the link.

Ok.......just decided to google search Amy Billig's name to see if there by chance was anything new to the case and came up with the link below. This is for the open-minded folks who follow the astrological natal charts.

What do you think?

http://forensicastrology.blogspot.com/

I consider myself to be fairly open minded, so I don't discount stuff like this outright. However, it seems kind of similar to many supposed psychic leads that come out regarding disappearances and murders. "I am sensing that they are near water. I see..trees and..a farmhouse." Whether such details have a basis in reality or not, the descriptions are generally just too vague to really do much with.

With that in mind, I found it to be an interesting read, and it could certainly have some basis in truth. It was nice of the person to take the time to look into the case and write all of that up.

Ok.......just decided to google search Amy Billig's name to see if there by chance was anything new to the case and came up with the link below. This is for the open-minded folks who follow the astrological natal charts.

What do you think?

http://forensicastrology.blogspot.com/

yes, that was very interesting, thank you for the link. There were some other people profiled on UM on there: Tara Calico, Cindy Song, and 1 or 2 others.

Yes. This website is a good one. I did also note a few other missing persons charts were done also. Very interesting read. As for Amy, it does sound like Branch's widow Tootsie may have been telling the truth after all.

If anyone is interested, I did a search for the Greyhound racing as the astrologer suggested and came up with a track in St. Petersburg. I believe the Outlaws had their clubhouse out there at one point.

I'm wondering if you all feel that passing along this reading to someone in LE would help in any way? Just a thought..

I just watch this case again (I barely remember seeing it apart from some small bits and pieces). Heartbreaking stuff. Then I come on here and find out it's still not solved and her mother has died.... Very saddening.

It's a shame UM didn't mention the harassment on her diary entry etc as they seem vital to me. I can see how the bikers could have been lying, or could have been a different girl (or girls) that were similar. However at the same time, the biker that was helping out mentioning a scar at the same spot Amy did have one seems a little bit unlikely, but at the same time if it was from a surgery like removal of an appendix I guess it's somewhat possible to just have a 'lucky guess' or a co-incidence.

I can see three possible ways this went down.

1) The bikers are going through the town/city and come across her. Maybe one or more stop and offer her some drugs. She says she doesn't have any money (She wanted to borrow some from her dad IIRC), so the bikers say something along the lines of "Come with us and you'll have all the money you need". Maybe she willingly goes with them, maybe they take her by force when she refuses... Who knows.

If this happened and she is this 'mute' girl, then it'd seem she was forced.

2) Hank is involved. Maybe he set it up with the bikies... Being involved in drugs with them or something, maybe he sold her to them originally... Perhaps he was going to drive her to lunch and it was during this a trade took place.

3) Hank kidnapped and killed her. Why make all these calls? She knows him, was thinking about running away with him, so she trusted the hell out of him. He's clearly a sick freak, and therefore it's pretty well with in the realms of possibility he killed her for some reason.

This is personally one of the cases I'd most like to see solved... It's so saddening, and it would have been great if it'd been solved before her mothers passing as well.

With regards to the whole "Hank" issue, I still go back to my thinking that it would be unusual for a teenage girl to have an older boyfriend and NOT tell at least one of her girlfriends about him. The idea of an older guy being interested in you at that age is pretty thrilling, and worth talking about. Not saying it rules out that possibility, just something that nags me when I consider it.

Here's something else to think about, though: if the "Hank" in the diary was indeed Henry Blair, maybe he was simply a casual acquaintance of Amy's but wanted to have something more with her? Her diary notes that she "told him he was crazy" when he suggested she go to South America with him -- which doesn't sound like a teenage girl who is dreaming of running away with her lover. Henry Blair is obviously capable of stalking a woman and becoming obsessed with her, look what he did to Sue, not far of a reach to imagine he once had a similar obsession with Amy. If that was the case, perhaps Amy was too naive and inexperienced to see his behavior as alarming and simply thought of him as being silly, "crazy" in a laughable and harmless way. Might be the kinda guy she'd get into a car with if she needed a ride, while he had other intentions :(

I used to be pretty convinced that the bikers kidnapped her, but I find myself becoming more and more curious about Mr. Blair.

I'm re-reading Susan's book after all these years & it's just as harrowing the second time around. Susan was so brave & so strong. What an amazing woman.

I also believe there is probably more to the Henry Johnson Blair connection to this crime and he wasn't some crazy guy getting off on the phone calls.

I'd be interested to know what he's been up to after he served his time. Does his family still stand by him? Has he been accused of any other crimes?

A leopard doesn't change his spots.

Any news about this creepy man?


And ms_bates, I totally agree with your take on this. Young girls (and guys) in the 70s didn't think of danger in the ways people do now. Sadly, that's why it was so easy for Ted Bundy & so many other serial killers to find victims.

I just watch this case again (I barely remember seeing it apart from some small bits and pieces). Heartbreaking stuff. Then I come on here and find out it's still not solved and her mother has died.... Very saddening.



Same here.

If anyone is interested, there is a very well-written "eulogy" of Susan Billig's search, on her find-a-grave page.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11356148

Here's what I find really odd in this one.

The biker that brings the mother to his house and then later has her meet him in Oklahoma. This makes no sense at all unless ofcourse he's trying to through her off and hide the fact that they actually killed her and disposed of the body.

The oulaws are a well maintaned criminal organization much like the Mafia in the days of old. If this guy is a member what in the hell is he doing bringing the mother of a kidnapped girl to meet her abductors????? Would this not cost him his life?? What motivation would he have to risk his own neck for this, unless maybe the mother was paying him a good sum of money. Which if that was the case you must wonder if he didnt just put on this whole charade to make a few bucks.

Has the FBI ever went after him? Or any members of the outlaws who might have been in the vicinity of Amy's kidnapping??

They have nailed the outlaws for everything from murder to robbery and the DEA has had several stings on outlaw chapters for drugs so what about for a missing girl? Do we know if there have ever been any missing girls turn up as biker slaves???? Normally there are plenty of lowlife women more then willing to serve these men so why start abducting and draw more law enforcement attention??
You know someone threw it out there that bikers where involved, then you see the mother meeting with two members of the outlaws, (again very odd they would do that) and then this guy contacts her and has her over to his house. It sounds like a set up from the start. The two bikers she met with probably planned the whole charade with the other one she met with. I just wonder if anyone know if she was indeed paying him and if so about how much. I really cant see any other motivation for him to do what he was doing.

While the biker theory is interesting, I've always thought it was just as likely that Amy was hitching a ride and was picked up by a predator.

I suspect she was with the bikers until she A) tried to run away and was killed or B) was used up to the point where she wasn't useful to the gang anymore.

just finished watching this segment again


very depressing...my guess is she has been dead for awhile but who knows

It seems highly unlikely that Amy is still alive today. One would assume that she would have contacted her brother if she were alive today. Like others have said, Amy Billig probably either overdosed on drugs or was murdered by a biker. I do subscribe to the belief that Amy was with some biker gang, be it Outlaws, Pagans, etc. It doesn't make sense that many individuals involved with the gangs claimed to have seen Amy. Also, I wonder if one of the gangs possibly murdered Amy as a result of Sue's search. Maybe they killed Amy out of fear that she would snitch to the authorities if she was reunited with her mom. Paranoia runs deep in such gangs.

Hopefully some day the authorities can find out what happened to Amy.

Like the many "been missing for a long time but might still be alive" cases she isn't.

I totally dismissed the biker gang angle untill i saw gangland series on the history channel. they had an episode about biker gangs and how violent they were. So now, i'm sure they might have killed Amy.

I just watched the segment today, very sad. Do you think it's possible her remains have already been found, but they're buried somewhere as Jane Doe?

I just watched the segment today, very sad. Do you think it's possible her remains have already been found, but they're buried somewhere as Jane Doe?

In the book written by Sue Billig, she said that her contact in the police department always called her when a body was found and dental records were being compared to Amy's. She noted that she wished they wouldn't tell her these things unless they actually made a match, because it put her through endless anxiety to wait for test results. So I think the investigators were pretty on top of it when it came to that. Of course, this doesn't mean something wasn't missed. Amy could have ended up a dead body anywhere in the country, and you have to wonder how much communication was happening between departments at that time. Heck, I wonder how good communication is now, but at least with the internet there are more resources available to law enforcement.

Many bodies go unidentified for years. Take a look at the "resolved" section of the Charley Project. I've seen case updates where a missing person case from 20 or more years ago has been solved, simply because a body found way back when was finally identified. It's sad to think that this might be Amy's fate, but it's a realistic possibility.

Here is my theory..a completely different scenerio but perhaps on the same approach. Amy was hitchhiking. The bikers had some involvement because as her mom mentioned the biker that lead her to his home told sue of a scar she had on her abdomen. Quite unlikely unless they had involvement. Sue had never mentioned this to anyone. So how would he know? hmm..Next "hank" it is unlikely he didnt know her and his story of being on alcohol to harass a woman for so many years about her daughter, no! I believe he knew Amy and the police didnt do the proper investigation and neither have enough info to associate him with any type of crime. Here's whats hard for me to believe:

1. Amy is hitchiking and several moter cycles are driving by and no-one is a witness to a young girl getting taken by several. Im pretty sure she would be kicking and screaming. There were eyewitnesses who seen her with them but no-one saw the abduction?

2. She had film and reference in her diary to a man named "hank". Her friends had no knowledge of this man? hard to believe. What if they had seen him with her and could have identified him in a line-up of photo's? It would be more likely she was abducted by a van or vehicle then a bike..seems more plausable and more discreet so hense barely any witnesses would have seen.

3. They called her mute and such. But here's where it doesnt make sense. The girlfriend of the biker said on his death bed amy overdosed and fought for her life however while they were trying to have their way, so why all of a sudden is she mute and quiet. unlikely as amy was an outgoing personality. Hippy of her time. and if they had had a party, why is everyone going to keep quiet about her death? I'm pretty sure their was other girls abducted at this so called party and other kids her age event. I think this was made-up! My thoughts is they knew somewhat about amy but never had her in their possession. Someone from the party would have came forward in "74".

4. There was many radical church groups which included bikers in their community in that time. Two of which were recruiting young people like amy, plus they also helped change peoples identities. I read about this and I think amy someone willingly went with someone who offered her drugs and acted friendly, sort of hippy like herself so she wouldnt have been scared and no-one would have witnessed a woman screaming and kicking. I think back on a young girl in the news that was abducted by a cult leader and she wasnt trying to escape when she learned their way of life. she accepted it because they brainwashed her. So can amy be with one of these religous radical movements. and some of these organizations are not allowed to watch tv or read anything from the outside world so maybe she wouldnt contact home. I wonder? I dont know if her mother thought of this possibility but it deffinately is something to consider. I read about two movements of that time. Look it up people.

oh and to add to this mess..why was their only one biker that sue confided in about finding her daugther? Do you guys know of anymore that were talked to in this equation? They sent her on a cab home- this was staged but why? Maybe they wanted sue to believe amy was with them to extort money out of her eventually. I know the bikers gf got paid for that fake confession but perhaps thats all they wanted was money and could have easily found out about amy's scar. I think hank has a part to play in this but his obsession with amy and calling her mom for so long leads me to believe amy turned him down and he was angry and took it out on the mother after amy dissapeared perhaps to a cult..

I just watched the segment today, very sad. Do you think it's possible her remains have already been found, but they're buried somewhere as Jane Doe?

I know they were comparing Amy's dental records to a lot of Jane Does that they were finding, but one thing that bothered Amy's mother badly was that as soon as Amy went missing, she begged the police to fingerprint her room so they could ID her fairly quickly if she were found dead or alive, but the police kept putting it off.

They finally came to the house a few months later (maybe 3 months) and couldn't lift a usable print from Amy's room. They told Sue Billig that it was because so many months had elapsed since Amy had touched anything in the room and the FL humidity degrades fingerprints very quickly.

The only definite info they were able to give on Amy's prints was that they tended to be oval shaped. :rolleyes:

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

BOOK SPOILER ALERT

I have read this book: Without a Trace: The Disappearance of Amy Billig. Many of my posts in the rest of this thread, including this post, quote the book and discuss information taken directly from the book. Other posters may have quoted my posts or make references to the contents of the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Trace-Disappearance-Billig--A-Mothers/dp/0380814137/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389711032&sr=8-1&keywords=amy+billig



why was their only one biker that sue confided in about finding her daugther? Do you guys know of anymore that were talked to in this equation?

I think Sue Billig spoke to several bikers asking about what they knew regarding Amy's disappearance. These are the names I've run across so far. I'm on page 117 out of 352 of the Aunapu/Billig book:

Pagan, Paul Branch, former Hells Angel, part time Outlaw (I think this is the guy she had the most contact with)

Pagan, Satan (I think she spoke with him very briefly)

Pagan, Dennis Kenny aka Pampano Red

President of the Outlaws, Big Jim Nolan

Outlaw, Sid Fast

Outlaw, Greek



And do you guys remember the two former Miami narcotics agents who initiated a meeting with Sue Billig at a Denny's, told her that they'd chase leads all over the world looking for Amy, would call her every day, no matter where they were located at the time to update her on the case, then took $1,500 in cash from her, stuck her with the bill for dinner, and NEVER searched for Amy or even placed a call to the Billigs pretending to search!? Hard to believe that hardcore bikers were actually more helpful in some ways than these former cops, who just outright scammed the Billigs for cash.

-----
ETA, I just noticed that a poster further along in the thread was unaware that we were discussing direct quotes from the book, which s/he had not yet read, and was hoping for a spoiler alert. Doing my best to let any future readers know about the book spoilers. Also, I apologize for that, I meant no harm in my posts. Just trying to discuss the case and forgot all about the internet spoiler rules. :doh:

I think Sue Billig spoke to several bikers asking about what they knew regarding Amy's disappearance. These are the names I've run across so far. I'm on page 117 out of 352 of the Aunapu/Billig book:

Pagan, Paul Branch, former Hells Angel, part time Outlaw (I think this is the guy she had the most contact with)

Pagan, Satan (I think she spoke with him very briefly)

Pagan, Dennis Kenny aka Pampano Red

President of the Outlaws, Big Jim Nolan

Outlaw, Sid Fast

Outlaw, Greek



And do you guys remember the two former Miami narcotics agents who initiated a meeting with Sue Billig at a Denny's, told her that they'd chase leads all over the world looking for Amy, would call her every day, no matter where they were located at the time to update her on the case, then took $1,500 in cash from her, stuck her with the bill for dinner, and NEVER searched for Amy or even placed a call to the Billigs pretending to search!? Hard to believe that hardcore bikers were actually more helpful in some ways than these former cops, who just outright scammed the Billigs for cash.

That isn't too surprising. It was the 70s, a lot of cops were very corrupt then.

I know they were comparing Amy's dental records to a lot of Jane Does that they were finding, but one thing that bothered Amy's mother badly was that as soon as Amy went missing, she begged the police to fingerprint her room so they could ID her fairly quickly if she were found dead or alive, but the police kept putting it off.

They finally came to the house a few months later (maybe 3 months) and couldn't lift a usable print from Amy's room. They told Sue Billig that it was because so many months had elapsed since Amy had touched anything in the room and the FL humidity degrades fingerprints very quickly.

The only definite info they were able to give on Amy's prints was that they tended to be oval shaped. :rolleyes:


theres one jane doe that i came across on florida's database but its only of a skull and there is no other information they have on it. It is around the time amy dissapeared, and of same age and race. If there is any skeletel remains the likely hood of us finding a complete skeletal is slim if in fact she was thrown in with the aligators or around that area. I believe either my theory of the cult or the possibility we will only find a skull or partial remain of Amy. People start looking for this. I already combed through the website and nothing is a match to her resemblence and description of clothing. The other place we need to check is all the unidentified people in the tips Sue received. Quite possibly she was killed at a later date and i looked through the florida and doe network and found nothing on a likeliness and have extended my time outwards as to death. I think her remains can be that of what i mentioned on skull fragment i found or in another state..

I just finished reading "Without A Trace", the book co-written by Amy's mother.

I can't get over that guy Henry Blair, who made threatening and obscene phone calls to Sue Billig for two decades. The testemony he gave at his trial was just sickening. He basically said that he tormented the victim because she wanted it! Yes, he used "the victim wanted it" defense!

And he was successful.

He had 3 counts against him and his case was one of the first to test the state's new stalking laws. The jury found him guilty of the two lesser charges. They couldn't agree on the third charge. Somehow or other, Sue Billig agreed for him to be sentenced to probation on that one in order to avoid a mistrial. He ended up serving around two years total, but if he'd been fully convicted, could have gotten around 15 years.

She was not allowed to listen to Blair's testimony, and when she finally heard that he'd used the "victim wanted it" defense, she sued him in civil court and won a financial judgement against him.

In the criminal trial, I got the feeling that his lawyers were using the old defense of throwing everything at the jury and hoping at least one thing would stick, causing reasonable doubt, or whatever the standard was.

They claimed he had too much stress at work, he suffered from alcoholic illness, he suffered from various mental disorders, and on and on... of course any and all of them causing him to not have any self control, making him unable to resist the urge to repeatedly call Sue Billig and taunt her with evil stories of her daughter's suffering and gloat about her husband's recent death.

What a coward.

I just finished reading "Without A Trace", the book co-written by Amy's mother.

I can't get over that guy Henry Blair, who made threatening and obscene phone calls to Sue Billig for two decades. The testemony he gave at his trial was just sickening. He basically said that he tormented the victim because she wanted it! Yes, he used "the victim wanted it" defense!

And he was successful.

He had 3 counts against him and his case was one of the first to test the state's new stalking laws. The jury found him guilty of the two lesser charges. They couldn't agree on the third charge. Somehow or other, Sue Billig agreed for him to be sentenced to probation on that one in order to avoid a mistrial. He ended up serving around two years total, but if he'd been fully convicted, could have gotten around 15 years.

She was not allowed to listen to Blair's testimony, and when she finally heard that he'd used the "victim wanted it" defense, she sued him in civil court and won a financial judgement against him.

In the criminal trial, I got the feeling that his lawyers were using the old defense of throwing everything at the jury and hoping at least one thing would stick, causing reasonable doubt, or whatever the standard was.

They claimed he had too much stress at work, he suffered from alcoholic illness, he suffered from various mental disorders, and on and on... of course any and all of them causing him to not have any self control, making him unable to resist the urge to repeatedly call Sue Billig and taunt her with evil stories of her daughter's suffering and gloat about her husband's recent death.

What a coward.

This was Florida...can't expect much...

And do you guys remember the two former Miami narcotics agents who initiated a meeting with Sue Billig at a Denny's, told her that they'd chase leads all over the world looking for Amy, would call her every day, no matter where they were located at the time to update her on the case, then took $1,500 in cash from her, stuck her with the bill for dinner, and NEVER searched for Amy or even placed a call to the Billigs pretending to search!? Hard to believe that hardcore bikers were actually more helpful in some ways than these former cops, who just outright scammed the Billigs for cash.

Plenty of people put the Billigs through hell. There were the twin brothers who claimed they were holding Amy for ransom (and impeding the investigation in the process) and then all of the informants who kept asking for loans and then giving vague information. This is besides missing persons' families being harassed by self proclaimed psychics.

I think Blair's a SOB who likes to harass people, but I don't think he had anything to do with her disappearance. It's pretty interesting that Branch knew about both Amy's appendectomy scar and the tattoo she recently had done (that only her and Susan knew about).

The more I think about it, the more I realize that Blair character was such a self centered idiot that he didn't even think about just exactly who he was dealing with the entire time he was harassing (and then facing in court) with Mrs. Billig.

Blair had a wife and two daughters, who were about 17 and 20 years old at the time of his trial.

Amongst Susan Billig's close acquaintances were everyone from cops, to judges, to gang leaders, to hitmen!

If she decided that she wasn't going to play fair any longer (and God bless her, she was the most understanding and forgiving person I've ever heard of) she could have had bikers pick up his daughters, (as they admitted they sometimes did if they wanted a girl) never to be seen again.

She could have possibly made his life miserable using her connections in the legal world. He was beat up in prison once and had to be segregated, but she could have probably had him killed in a prison murder if she wanted to.

Is he still stealing oxygen from the rest of us? If so, that coward needs to thank Mrs. Billig for sparing his life and that of his entire family, instead of playing the victim (even one of his daughters played the whiny victim) because, I honestly believe, she could have had their lives in her own hands, had she chosen to exert that power.

Plenty of people put the Billigs through hell. There were the twin brothers who claimed they were holding Amy for ransom (and impeding the investigation in the process)....

Oh yeah, those spoiled brats seemed to have basically done it for kicks and had no concept of the misery they were causing. When they were confronted with the results of their actions, they still had no empathy or remorse.

They also took the opportunity to play the victim a few times and seemed to not even understand that they had victimized a family who was already being victimized on a daily basis. Completely disgusting.

I know the Billigs had a vast and loving group of friends and supporters. That must have helped and given them the strength to endure what they suffered through.

Based off of the UM segment alone, I doubt she was abducted by bikers and unfortunately I think Amy's mother was led on several wild goose chases to find her daughter. I honestly don't think there's hardly any biker connection at all. I must admit I've never read the book about Amy's case, but after reading a few posts about this Hank guy, it seems to me like he's the likely suspect. Could anyone give me a refresher about how this guy Hank is involved in the case?

Back to the biker angle though, the biker "Dave" in the UM segment seemed to be nothing more than an extortionist, IMHO. If he was really intent on finding this woman's daughter, why would he be so open about it? He drove her around on his hog, and took her to that biker bar. If the Outlaws were like the Mafia, wouldn't this be grounds for murdering "Dave" out of fear of being exposed of a crime they comitted? That just doesn't add up to me. I think perhaps "Dave" read about the scar from a newspaper article about Amy (I know her mother said she never revealed the scar, but perhaps there were records that indicated her scar and they were made public in hopes of finding her) and figured it be an easy way to make some cash. The bar fight with "Dave" seems a bit too staged to me. Immediately after the fight, someone goes over to Amy's mother and escorts her out to a cab, and the cab just drives away despite her mother's protests? It's just weird to me as to why they would walk her outside and say, "Ok here's a cab. See ya!" And we not only have a member of the Outlaws but also members of another motorcycle gang who claimed to have seen Amy with the gangs? I just find that highly suspect. Why would they harbor her for all of those years? That's just asking to be caught, if you figure after all of those years she would have most likely had at least one attempt to escape, or to try and attempt to signal for help (if she was on the back of a bike frequently, she had ample time to try and get someone's attention on the road). I honestly don't know what happened to Amy, but this Hank fellow seems to be the likely suspect.

One thing that puzzled me about the case was the first 'near sighting' of her that somehow sent her poor mother to seeking leads via biker gangs was at this grocery store where the clerk who allegedly witnessed Amy with the biker/s said that she was simultaneously 'mute' while adamant in maintaining a vegetarian diet while they were picking up supplies from the store. Mrs. Billing decided right then and there that it HAD to be Amy since she knew Amy was a vegetarian (and, if I recall correctly, later claimed 'witnesses' also maintained that Amy maintained her vegetarian diet whilst being a mute captive).
Here's the problem I have with this scenario. If someone is being held captive by individuals so violent that they believe the only way to survive this captivity is to become mute, why would she(Amy) even nonverbally insist on a vegetarian diet rather than simply eat whatever the captor/s scrounged up for them? I mean, in the 1970's tofu and even fresh vegetables weren't in such easy reach for those who'd frequent convenience stores and biker bars (where the bikers would have normally gotten their meals). I'd think the captors would have either further tortured her until she gave up her vegetarian demands (along with her voice) OR outrightly killed her rather than consider keeping her as a captive worth the extra effort of finding her vegetarian meals. Yeah, since we have only theories as opposed to any evidence as to what actually happened to Amy after her disappearance, this would be in the realm of possibility but it makes very little sense to me.

From the book, I think Henry Johnson "Hank" Blair was only involved after the fact. I don't think he abducted Amy because it seemed like he never had any real information about her when he'd call Sue Billig.

Everything he said on the phone about the tortures Amy was enduring were very vague and he seemed to be living out an obscene phone call fantasy. For nearly 20 years, he always promised to provide more info in his next call, but never did.

This could mean nothing, but Blair got married 12 days before Amy's disappearance. He could have been busy as a newly wed, spending time with his wife, or going on a honeymoon, and not have time to take Amy. Although, I have heard of a case where a guy actually went out and raped a woman, on his wedding night.

Even after reading the book and watching the UM segment, among other shows, I still don't know if Amy was abducted by a random killer, taken by the bikers, or if something else happened. If she was taken by the bikers, I don't think she lived longer than maybe 3 years.

I don't really believe the story that the main biker Sue had contact with for so many years confessed to his girlfriend, on his death bed, that Amy had been gang raped and fed to alligators the day she went missing. In the book, Sue's son says that story was bought by tv show producers who convinced Sue Billig to have Amy's name and dates of birth and death placed on the family tombstone while they filmed a final shot of her mourning at the grave in the rain. Sue's son, Josh, was incensed at that callousness.

And yep, there were a whole lot of people who sent the Billigs on wild goose chases. The whole situation is so sad.

I dont think she was taken by bikers. I think thats as phoney as the whole devil cult killing kids in the west memphis 3 case. Its one of those ideas that gets blown way out of proportion. Its becomes an urban legend in a way, like there's some killer biker gang going around kidnapping and murdering girls off the street.
Someone else said it earlier about biker gangs being alot like mafias. This is true, these are criminal organizations that make money off of illegal activity. It is not in their interest to draw the attention of law enforcement by abducting girls in upper class neighborhoods.

They dont have to abduct their women as many will freely go with them. Anyone who knows anything about biker gangs knows that there is no shortage of women around these guys and while they may trade their women or sell them they are not kidnapped. This idea that they take girls who's families will launch all out search efforts for them and sell them to one another is insane.

I don't get the biker that told the mother he'd take her to Amy. Why would he do this?? So he could be killed?? What's he gonna tell his biker buddies? "Hey remember that girl you kidnapped and are holding well I brought her mother here and she wants her back"? Are you kidding?? This was all a game and she probably paid him.

I didnt get the whole bar fight in Tulsa thing either. Why didnt Sue just wait there and see if Amy came out? Why not wait for the cops and let them know her missing daughter was suppose to be in there??

One thing that puzzled me about the case was the first 'near sighting' of her that somehow sent her poor mother to seeking leads via biker gangs was at this grocery store where the clerk who allegedly witnessed Amy with the biker/s said that she was simultaneously 'mute' while adamant in maintaining a vegetarian diet while they were picking up supplies from the store. Mrs. Billing decided right then and there that it HAD to be Amy since she knew Amy was a vegetarian (and, if I recall correctly, later claimed 'witnesses' also maintained that Amy maintained her vegetarian diet whilst being a mute captive).
Here's the problem I have with this scenario. If someone is being held captive by individuals so violent that they believe the only way to survive this captivity is to become mute, why would she(Amy) even nonverbally insist on a vegetarian diet rather than simply eat whatever the captor/s scrounged up for them? I mean, in the 1970's tofu and even fresh vegetables weren't in such easy reach for those who'd frequent convenience stores and biker bars (where the bikers would have normally gotten their meals). I'd think the captors would have either further tortured her until she gave up her vegetarian demands (along with her voice) OR outrightly killed her rather than consider keeping her as a captive worth the extra effort of finding her vegetarian meals. Yeah, since we have only theories as opposed to any evidence as to what actually happened to Amy after her disappearance, this would be in the realm of possibility but it makes very little sense to me.

Brillent!!! I just thought after you said this. Why in fact a rough crowd of bikers would risk having her in public with them to just pick up some vegatarian food? I don't believe that was amy now that i think more about it..The person who walked in was quiet (perhaps could be held against her own will) but they are actually catering to her needs with specific type of food she eats, highly doesnt seem like killers of that girl whoever she would have been to me. Why bother if she's just being traded from man to man and perhaps being raped somewhere out there? Let's think about how they treated Sue for a moment...She asked to see Amy and they put her in a car to go from the biker bar, not in fact catering to sues request or event acknologing they had amy..which leads me to believe they never did...I think the man that took sue to the bar went up to speak to someone else to tell them "hey this girls mom is looking for her, lets try and make some money". and the person he spoke with got angry at the fact he's bringing the bikers in on this missing person and the lady to the bar for that matter! huh?

I dont think she was taken by bikers. I think thats as phoney as the whole devil cult killing kids in the west memphis 3 case. Its one of those ideas that gets blown way out of proportion. Its becomes an urban legend in a way, like there's some killer biker gang going around kidnapping and murdering girls off the street.
Someone else said it earlier about biker gangs being alot like mafias. This is true, these are criminal organizations that make money off of illegal activity. It is not in their interest to draw the attention of law enforcement by abducting girls in upper class neighborhoods.

They dont have to abduct their women as many will freely go with them. Anyone who knows anything about biker gangs knows that there is no shortage of women around these guys and while they may trade their women or sell them they are not kidnapped. This idea that they take girls who's families will launch all out search efforts for them and sell them to one another is insane.

I don't get the biker that told the mother he'd take her to Amy. Why would he do this?? So he could be killed?? What's he gonna tell his biker buddies? "Hey remember that girl you kidnapped and are holding well I brought her mother here and she wants her back"? Are you kidding?? This was all a game and she probably paid him.

I didnt get the whole bar fight in Tulsa thing either. Why didnt Sue just wait there and see if Amy came out? Why not wait for the cops and let them know her missing daughter was suppose to be in there??
I never got this either? why didnt sue just tell the dam cab driver to stop around the corner and sneak a peek whats going on? And why after so many years would amy be in another country and the biker trying to solicit her? If in fact they had that type of money to take her to the other country then why not do this early on the game? These are bikers! They arent going to cough up the money to take this girl to another country and then try and sell her on the streets..They would have done this in neihbooring florida state! The only way the other country thing would have event made sense is if she married someone and went with them to the other country, but you dont think amy would have told the officials at the airport? This is not a credibal lead and sounds like it was made up for publicity purposes to generate money since this is a high profile type of case...Sue should have just gotton the officials at the bar to arrest the bikers..no playing around anymore! She had gone on to that point and the guy didnt cough out the info at his house and not at the bar well get the cops now to question all of them since he claimed his buddy was there and had amy..but sue was scared and desperately did whatever they wanted to get more leads to get amy back..it makes you think..amy was opposite from her mother and usually kids are..she was a hippy and outgoing and social and probably wouldnt have been scared of many ppl she encountered but i do doubt she would have went with bikers or they would have magically pick her up nearby her nice neiboorhood...Hank is a suspect they should still be looking at, and possibly like i said church movements in that time.

I dont think she was taken by bikers. I think thats as phoney as the whole devil cult killing kids in the west memphis 3 case. Its one of those ideas that gets blown way out of proportion. Its becomes an urban legend in a way, like there's some killer biker gang going around kidnapping and murdering girls off the street.
Someone else said it earlier about biker gangs being alot like mafias. This is true, these are criminal organizations that make money off of illegal activity. It is not in their interest to draw the attention of law enforcement by abducting girls in upper class neighborhoods.

They dont have to abduct their women as many will freely go with them. Anyone who knows anything about biker gangs knows that there is no shortage of women around these guys and while they may trade their women or sell them they are not kidnapped. This idea that they take girls who's families will launch all out search efforts for them and sell them to one another is insane.

That's what I said when I first saw this segment, which caused my dad to explain how very wrong I was. He was in the Highway Patrol in Florida at around this time, and yeah, bikers were abducting middle class girls. He personally found a grove where about 5 women/girls were chained to trees, all dead, all raped and tortured. One was 12 years old. It was bikers (The Pagans, specifically). It was not an isolated incident, though the scale was unique. Sure, they had willing women, but so? Most rapists could, if they wanted, find a woman to have sex with them. But that's not what they want.

The racketeering stuff all seems to be fairly late from the brief research I just did - the 1990s on. Even Hunter S. Thompson's book, which is trying oh so very hard to make the Hells Angels sound cool and awesome, ended up mentioning their brutality against women. Gang rapes were a common punishment. They weren't all non-violent racketeers who had respectful sex with ladies who liked them. I don't know how common it was or if there was a large ring that sold women, but abductions? Oh, yes. That happened. And the Hells Angels in Germany were found to be behind just such a ring, for what it's worth.

I don't believe Amy was ever taken to the UK. I don't know what the motive was behind that part of the story. I think it was a british production company who paid Paul the biker's girlfriend to tell the "gang rape and alligator" story to Sue Billig on camera. They were also the ones who filmed the "mourning at the grave" scene. Seems like the UK guy who claimed that someone tried to sell Amy to him was PI or something. Maybe he was connected to the production company and was hoping to get fame or money from being involved in the case.

The book barely went into the aspect of Amy always being called Mute. It mentioned "Sunshine" as one of her possible nicknames. Was it the UM segment that made such a big connection to Amy and the nickname "Mute"?

I also doubt the eyewitness convenience store clerk's ID of Amy. We all know how many people have claimed to recognize a missing person and they are almost always wrong. It was on that ID that Mrs. Billig went to a nearby apartment where bikers hung out to see if Amy was still with the gang there. They were gone, but a hairbrush was left behind. Officials only said that the hair found on it was similar to Amy's but it was never confirmed. Can they even match a hair to a person? I thought the best they could do with that was say that a hair was either consistent or inconsistent with the suspected person.

Regarding Paul the Biker stringing Mrs. Billig along for so many years... He never really took large sums of money from her, but she did pay him for travel expenses and some other things. She got a lawyer friend of hers to get him off of serious weapons (and DUI) charges in exchange for info on Amy, which he never produced. IIRC, she paid for repairs to his bike so he could have reliable transportation in his "search" for Amy.

I have the feeling that he used Sue Billig to help finance some of his travels, not looking for Amy, but to go to biker meetings around the country. When she went to the midwest on his claim that Amy was being held there, there was a big biker gathering going on. IIRC, she spent about a month there and Paul was several days late meeting with her. There was a big Jehovah's Witness convention in town and all the hotels were booked. She ended up paying for Paul to stay a night in the honeymoon suite of her hotel, since it was the only available room.

After she went back to FL, he was supposedly shot several times, beaten, and left for dead. He was probably just getting into gang fights. He was a former Hells Angel, ran with the Pagans and the Outlaws, and eventually turned snitch. I wouldn't be surprised if his wavering loyalties were at the root of the attempted murder.

That's what I said when I first saw this segment, which caused my dad to explain how very wrong I was. He was in the Highway Patrol in Florida at around this time, and yeah, bikers were abducting middle class girls. He personally found a grove where about 5 women/girls were chained to trees, all dead, all raped and tortured. One was 12 years old. It was bikers (The Pagans, specifically). It was not an isolated incident, though the scale was unique. Sure, they had willing women, but so? Most rapists could, if they wanted, find a woman to have sex with them. But that's not what they want.

The racketeering stuff all seems to be fairly late from the brief research I just did - the 1990s on. Even Hunter S. Thompson's book, which is trying oh so very hard to make the Hells Angels sound cool and awesome, ended up mentioning their brutality against women. Gang rapes were a common punishment. They weren't all non-violent racketeers who had respectful sex with ladies who liked them. I don't know how common it was or if there was a large ring that sold women, but abductions? Oh, yes. That happened. And the Hells Angels in Germany were found to be behind just such a ring, for what it's worth.

Do you know of any information available online pertaining to the 5 girls found bound to trees? Do you know where this happened?
Im sure it is possible that Amy was abducted and killed by bikers but I highly doubt they kept her with them for years and years. I think she probably died that day. Im not saying that these types arent violent and abusive towards women at all. It just seems odd to me that they would want to draw the attention of the police onto themselves like this. Its kinda hard to operate in the shadows if your kidnapping civilans.

Im sure it is possible that Amy was abducted and killed by bikers but I highly doubt they kept her with them for years and years. I think she probably died that day. Im not saying that these types arent violent and abusive towards women at all. It just seems odd to me that they would want to draw the attention of the police onto themselves like this. Its kinda hard to operate in the shadows if your kidnapping civilans.

Exactly.

This goes against the normal behavior of most 1%er gangs. While most are anti mainstream and often violent criminals; a good many of them tend to keep to themselves and their own little patch of Earth (while still being involved in various drug crimes, weapons dealing, and getting into low rent turf wars and bar fights) Kidnapping I can see as a quick money ploy but keeping someone for years and years draws the kind of attention that would have the gang throw these guys out and kill them for bringing the law down on them because by doing so they have become a liability to the whole bunch. You can't make much money doing illegal activities if your drawing attention to yourself.

Also there is no money in doing this. Sadly what there was money in was leading a poor grieving mother on some wild snipe hunt. I don't think the bikers that were bilking her really knew anything. Also if they did know anything why would they violate the gang code of silence by doing this it and putting their own lives at risk doesn't make much sense.

Do you know of any information available online pertaining to the 5 girls found bound to trees? Do you know where this happened?
Im sure it is possible that Amy was abducted and killed by bikers but I highly doubt they kept her with them for years and years. I think she probably died that day. Im not saying that these types arent violent and abusive towards women at all. It just seems odd to me that they would want to draw the attention of the police onto themselves like this. Its kinda hard to operate in the shadows if your kidnapping civilans.

Sorry, I don't know of any info online - it was in the mid-1970s. My dad died a few years ago, so I can't get too many more details. I asked my mom and she thinks it was in the Everglades. The thing about trafficking in Germany is on Wikipedia, though, and Thompson's book is readily available.

I think we're cross-communicating a little, now that I think about it. I wasn't distinguishing between "women who were kidnapped from the start" and "women who now count as kidnapped because they went willingly but weren't counting on the gang-rape." I'm not saying they necessarily were snatching rich girls out of their bedrooms, but a woman who initially joined then changed her mind and is held against her will is still abducted. Unfortunately, that woman is often written off as having run away willingly and the investigation might not be as intense.

I do think you're underestimating how difficult it can be for the cops to bust a nomadic group that won't squeal on each other. Even if an individual goes down for a crime that doesn't mean the group stops. It's indisputable that the Pagans brought police attention on themselves multiple times through some very public murders. The Lewis Hartless/Richard Newland case springs to mind. Some individuals went down, but the group manages to operate perfectly well despite this.

This, from earlier - while they may trade their women or sell them they are not kidnapped.
Yeah, they are. It's not actually legal to sell a woman. I can guarantee you it is often, maybe always, kidnapping, even if Stockholm Syndrome has kicked in at some point.

I don't know if Billig was abducted by bikers. I certainly don't think it went down with the whole elaborate London scenario. But to say it couldn't have been bikers because bikers simply never kidnapped women is bizarre.

I don't believe Amy was ever taken to the UK. I don't know what the motive was behind that part of the story. I think it was a british production company who paid Paul the biker's girlfriend to tell the "gang rape and alligator" story to Sue Billig on camera. They were also the ones who filmed the "mourning at the grave" scene. Seems like the UK guy who claimed that someone tried to sell Amy to him was PI or something. Maybe he was connected to the production company and was hoping to get fame or money from being involved in the case.

Yeah, this part of the story made zero sense to me and I never believed a word of it. I don't have much knowledge of how a biker would go about trying to sell a girl, but I doubt he would try it in a crowded post office in the middle of the day! The middle-aged British gentleman they cast in the re-enactment certainly didn't look like the most likely candidate to approach about buying a girl :lol: .

The middle-aged British gentleman they cast in the re-enactment certainly didn't look like the most likely candidate to approach about buying a girl :lol: .

Ha ha! Yeah, the actor was a little bit too "Pip pip! Cheerio! Tell me more about your American prostitute..." :lol: Not to make light of the Billig disappearance, but that guy's story was not too believable and the reenactment just made it even less believable.

The bikers story sounds uncredible..The leads never led to nothing but more searching and more money out of sue's pocket to hunt down amy. It's so uncredible the main bikers gf states that amy overdosed and was fed to alligators..How ridiculous does this sound at this point to Sue after she was led on this wild goose chase for so many years to so many places just to find out the guy lied and amy died the first night?! Common...Theres nothing in my mind to link Amy ever being with them.

Witnesses never produced anything credible to the whereabouts of amy. So altho they may have been rough and tough, they never in my mind had Amy. She would always get there just minutes late or days late of Amy being found. I do not believe they had Amy. I do however question "Hank" in this equation. Amy had actually made a reference to him and it links to a man very similar in nickname and type of vehicle. And who was this woman at the grocery store that had seen amy? Would it have been uncommon for several hippies in that time to eat vegetarian food? Was there a reward in that time when Sue asked the convienant clerk if there was any info that led to Amy? So the plot thickens more as we pick away at each detail of this story and try and find facts here to pull this jigsaw puzzle together.

The woman in the convenience store who said she saw Amy was the owner of the store. She said she thought Amy might be pregnant and gave her crackers to help with the nausea, apparently because she didn't have any money to pay for the crackers.

At least in the early years of the search, the money in the escrow fund was usually $1,000 or $2,000. They used the money for reward money and search related expenses. At the time Sue met with the store clerk, I think the reward was $1,000, but I'm not positive. Since the lead didn't produce Amy or any proof of her location, I don't think she got any of the reward money, but again, I'm not positive.

When those spoiled brat brothers lied to Mrs. Billig, telling her to meet them at a hotel with $30,000 in a black briefcase and they would hand Amy over to her, that ransom money was obtained through a banker friend of the Billigs. Law enforcement was involved, but I don't think they provided the cash and that money didn't come out of Amy's escrow donations. I'm not sure the book is exactly clear on where that money came from, if the bank and friends of the Billigs donated all they could to the ransom or what. When the hoax kid called and said he wanted to exchange Amy for a small sum of money, $30,000, Sue Billig said to him, "You call that small!?"

Regarding the vegetarian food... The book says that the state was full of hippie gatherings, "love ins", and music festivals inspired by Woodstock. The bikers would go harass the hippies and drive up swinging chains and beating them with chains. I don't know what that was all about. They must have considered attacking people to be their entertainment. IMO, the girl buying the vegetarian soup could have easily been one of the hippie girls traveling in and out of the state for the festivals and she just happed to be a vegetarian. IIRC, the store was in or near Kissimee, FL.

IMO, the girl buying the vegetarian soup could have easily been one of the hippie girls traveling in and out of the state for the festivals and she just happed to be a vegetarian. IIRC, the store was in or near Kissimee, FL.

I've always thought this too. It's just too bold to say it was definitely Amy just because the girl bought vegetarian soup. She was last seen hitchiking, so it could have been anyone who kidnapped her. I still think she was killed shortly after she was abducted, and feel bad for what her mother had to go through in searching for her.

I was reading up on the outlaws biker gang today and it came as no suprise that the FBI had put undercover agents into the group. This made me wonder, has anyone ever entertained the idea that this Dave guy from the outlaws was really an undercover agent who was trying to help them find Amy while at the same time not blowing his cover??

Would this not explain why he would try and help Sue even though it seems to make no sense? Has anyone dove into this case enough to know if Sue ever gave Dave any money? Im just puzzled as to what his motivation would be if he was not working undercover.

I was reading up on the outlaws biker gang today and it came as no suprise that the FBI had put undercover agents into the group. This made me wonder, has anyone ever entertained the idea that this Dave guy from the outlaws was really an undercover agent who was trying to help them find Amy while at the same time not blowing his cover??

Would this not explain why he would try and help Sue even though it seems to make no sense? Has anyone dove into this case enough to know if Sue ever gave Dave any money? Im just puzzled as to what his motivation would be if he was not working undercover.

This is going to sound naive, but maybe just simple decency? I mean all of those biker guys have mothers, sisters, etc...I'm sure there had to be one decent one among them who viewed the practice of just "taking" women and selling them amongst each other as wrong.

I doubt Dave would have been an FBI agent simply because he never revealed that to Sue Billig. Remember in the UM segment she said she hated him and basically wanted to destroy him when she saw him, and he's sitting right in front of her admitting that he "owned" her daughter. If he was working to save Amy, I don't see how revealing himself to her mother would have hindered the investigation at all...Sue obviously wouldn't have blabbed to someone, just look at the great lengths she took in trying to locate Amy.

"Dave" was Paul Branch, the guy I've been calling "Paul the biker" in my posts.

I doubt he was any kind of law enforcement. He told Mrs. Billig that her daughter was in OK. She flew there ahead of him and got a hotel room. He was about a week late to their meeting, and for some reason, having obtained a van instead of his motorcycle. He had some kind of problems with his motel room, and had Sue pay for him to stay one night in the Honeymoon suite of her hotel, which was the only room available in the area at the time, due to a big convention.

At the end of his life, he was covered with skin cancer, nearly toothless, one of his eyes had the tendons removed, was so damaged that he couldn't open it without using his fingers and he eventually went blind in that eye.

When he died, he was near destitute, living in his girlfriend's trailer in the backwoods of VA. He met his girlfriend, through another inmate, while he was in prison. He lived with her for 10 years before his death. She was the woman who told the "gang rape and alligator" story for the british production company who she says paid her $200 for her tale.

Edited to make a correction re: the van and motorcycle.

I just watched the segment again. That stuff about Amy being in England is all a horrible lie. I can't believe that two PIs would victimize Sue Billig for their own profit, but then I was surprised at the two miami cops who scammed her out of $1,500.

Nearly 20 years after Amy went missing, a PI from florida contacted Sue Billig to say that a PI in england, who she was working with on another case, had been offered Amy for sale. Why in the world would an american biker travel to England, go to the post office, and approach a private investigator to offer him a slave? First, I'd like to see the biker with enough money to travel to europe, and second, once he was there, why wouldn't he hook up with other bikers and try to sell his woman to one of them? It's all lies. None of that ever happened.

Every bit of information those PIs gave Sue Billig was available to the public. Amy's interest in music, her reputation as "mute", etc, was all common knowledge. I don't know what those idiots were thinking, but the female PI got her mug on TV (which I'm sure she needed to boost her business) and karma got the male PI one year later.

Ha ha! Yeah, the actor was a little bit too "Pip pip! Cheerio! Tell me more about your American prostitute..." :lol: Not to make light of the Billig disappearance, but that guy's story was not too believable and the reenactment just made it even less believable.

Yeah he was more of a "spot of tea on the meadow" kind of guy.

I just watched the segment again. That stuff about Amy being in England is all a horrible lie. I can't believe that two PIs would victimize Sue Billig for their own profit, but then I was surprised at the two miami cops who scammed her out of $1,500.

Nearly 20 years after Amy went missing, a PI from florida contacted Sue Billig to say that a PI in england, who she was working with on another case, had been offered Amy for sale. Why in the world would an american biker travel to England, go to the post office, and approach a private investigator to offer him a slave? First, I'd like to see the biker with enough money to travel to europe, and second, once he was there, why wouldn't he hook up with other bikers and try to sell his woman to one of them? It's all lies. None of that ever happened.

Every bit of information those PIs gave Sue Billig was available to the public. Amy's interest in music, her reputation as "mute", etc, was all common knowledge. I don't know what those idiots were thinking, but the female PI got her mug on TV (which I'm sure she needed to boost her business) and karma got the male PI one year later.

yes i mentioned this previous as well..and who knows if the owner of the store thought just for providing a tip she would get rewarded? hard to say..vegetarian could in fact be ate by anyone so its not uncommon for that time. You mentioned a convention? what sort of convention? I always thought either amy was killed that night by an unknown person or joined the church in some type of cult. I read on a organization that during the time of the 70's concealed peoples identities with new ones, also they wouldnt allow anyone to receive blood transfusions and major organ operations as it was against thier religion in that time. Many people died because of this as the hospital was not allowed to save them without their approval of these external organs or blood..I wonder...

You mentioned a convention? what sort of convention? I always thought either amy was killed that night by an unknown person or joined the church in some type of cult. I read on a organization that during the time of the 70's concealed peoples identities with new ones, also they wouldnt allow anyone to receive blood transfusions and major organ operations as it was against thier religion in that time. Many people died because of this as the hospital was not allowed to save them without their approval of these external organs or blood..I wonder...

Jehovah's Witnesses don't permit blood transfusions. I'm not sure about their beliefs on surgery and organ transplants.

IMO, it's just a coincidence that it was a Jehovah's Witness convention that was going on in OK when Paul Branch told Sue Billig that Amy was being held in that state by fellow bikers.

The bikers were travelling all over the country for their "conventions" too. There was a big gathering of a bunch of different biker gangs in OK at the same time of the church convention. I think it had something to do with the 1976 bicentennial fourth of july.

IMO, Paul Branch wanted to go to this gathering but his bike wasn't running well. IIRC, Sue Billig paid for his bike to be fixed. He was going to drive up to OK to get Amy from the biker acquaintance who had her, Dishrag Harry, then call Sue to come pick her up. Sue flew to OK to wait for him. He ended up going to visit his sick granny, then got put in jail for 5 days. When he finally showed up in OK one night, he didn't have a place to stay, and that's how he ended up in the honeymoon suite at Sue's hotel with her footing the bill.

But that's pretty much all the book has to say about conventions. Hippies were gathering informally for the festivals and love ins around the state and country. Bikers were driving all over the state and country for their regular gatherings. The only time a religious convention was mentioned was the 1976 Jehovah's Witness thing in OK.

IMO, Amy didn't leave voluntarily, either to go with the bikers or to join a cult. She had a lunch meeting with her friends the day she disappeared. She called her dad to see if she could stop by and get a few dollars from him to pay for her meal. She was hitchhiking to her dad's work to get the money when she vanished.

Jehovah's Witnesses don't permit blood transfusions. I'm not sure about their beliefs on surgery and organ transplants.

IMO, it's just a coincidence that it was a Jehovah's Witness convention that was going on in OK when Paul Branch told Sue Billig that Amy was being held in that state by fellow bikers.

The bikers were travelling all over the country for their "conventions" too. There was a big gathering of a bunch of different biker gangs in OK at the same time of the church convention. I think it had something to do with the 1976 bicentennial fourth of july.

IMO, Paul Branch wanted to go to this gathering but his bike wasn't running well. IIRC, Sue Billig paid for his bike to be fixed. He was going to drive up to OK to get Amy from the biker acquaintance who had her, Dishrag Harry, then call Sue to come pick her up. Sue flew to OK to wait for him. He ended up going to visit his sick granny, then got put in jail for 5 days. When he finally showed up in OK one night, he didn't have a place to stay, and that's how he ended up in the honeymoon suite at Sue's hotel with her footing the bill.

But that's pretty much all the book has to say about conventions. Hippies were gathering informally for the festivals and love ins around the state and country. Bikers were driving all over the state and country for their regular gatherings. The only time a religious convention was mentioned was the 1976 Jehovah's Witness thing in OK.

i had looked them up and found they were recruiting ppl into the church and holding mini meetings in that time frame. It makes me wonder about my theory...

"Dave" was Paul Branch, the guy I've been calling "Paul the biker" in my posts.

I doubt he was any kind of law enforcement. He told Mrs. Billig that her daughter was in OK. She flew there ahead of him and got a hotel room. He was about a week late to their meeting, and for some reason, having obtained a van instead of his motorcycle. He had some kind of problems with his motel room, and had Sue pay for him to stay one night in the Honeymoon suite of her hotel, which was the only room available in the area at the time, due to a big convention.

At the end of his life, he was covered with skin cancer, nearly toothless, one of his eyes had the tendons removed, was so damaged that he couldn't open it without using his fingers and he eventually went blind in that eye.

When he died, he was near destitute, living in his girlfriend's trailer in the backwoods of VA. He met his girlfriend, through another inmate, while he was in prison. He lived with her for 10 years before his death. She was the woman who told the "gang rape and alligator" story for the british production company who she says paid her $200 for her tale.

Edited to make a correction re: the van and motorcycle.

Okay wait a minute here I must have missed something. Your saying it was Dave the biker that had her meet him in Oklahoma that made the death bed confession???

Okay wait a minute here I must have missed something. Your saying it was Dave the biker that had her meet him in Oklahoma that made the death bed confession???

Yep, from what I can tell from the book and the segment, Dave is Paul Branch. He's the biker guy who Sue Billig had the most contact with.

About 18 months after Amy went missing, he called the Billigs and said he'd just gotten out of jail and was reading old newspapers (to see who among his friends had been arrested while he was locked up) when he came across the story about Amy being missing and possibly taken by a biker gang.

He told her that he had once owned Amy and that when he had to do a stint in prison, he gave his motorcycle and Amy to Dishrag Harry for safekeeping until he got out of jail.

Then all the other stuff happened... he took Sue for a ride on his motorcycle to go to his place where he said that Amy liked Joni Mitchell music, was skinny, and liked to read. He convinced Sue that he knew Amy.

I think it was several months later when he told Sue that he'd traced Amy and Dishrag Harry to Oklahoma and he needed some help fixing his bike so he could drive up there and look around for Amy. Sue met him there. She was convinced that this guy had Amy in OK, that Paul had the means to get her back from him, and that she'd be flying back home to FL with Amy in just a few days.

Years later is when the supposed confession took place and as far as I know, Paul Branch never made any such confession about Amy being gang raped and fed to alligators.

A cop, Jack Calvar, had traced Paul Branch to VA. He interviewed him for two hours. Branch never said anything to the cop about Amy being raped and murdered. His story was that Amy had been kidnapped by other bikers and he met her at a biker party, where she was being mistreated. He claims he took her home to Orlando where they lived together harmoniously until he had to go back to jail.

Paul Branch died about two months after the interview. Months after his death, some british tv producers were trying to track him down so they could do a piece on Amy's case. They found Paul's widow/girlfriend.

It was the widow/girlfriend who claimed that Paul had made a deathbed confession. The tv producers flew Sue Billig to VA so they could film Paul's girlfriend breaking the news directly to Amy's mom, with cameras rolling and everything. This is quoted from the book:

She said Amy and a girlfriend showed up at a Pagan's biker bar in Miami, where "the drunker she got, the more drugs she did, the mouthier she got with this fella. He got very upset and started knocking her around."

"He started passing her around to these different guys [that evening]. The more she would be with these fellas, the madder she was getting. And the mouthier she was getting, the more she was getting knocked around. Basically, what I was told really killed her was an overdose, she was doing drugs on her own free will before, and it was just a party and everything was fine until she started mouthing off."

"He didn't tell me directly what happened to her body, but he did make mention many times of how it was so uncivilized in Virginia, because they didn't have anywhere to hide the body, in other words they used alligators in the swamp."

That's it. I think the woman made the whole thing up. She says she was paid for making her statement on camera and that she used that $200 toward Paul Branch's funeral. What she claimed was Paul's deathbed confession didn't really confess anything.

She later wrote to Sue Billig and said that she wished she'd spoken only with her and not with cameras involved. She accused the production company of putting her in danger because they promised to keep her identity a secret, but they filmed her openly and, apparently, aired the program with her identity revealed. I haven't seen the program, but IMO, the woman probably agreed to be filmed and then realized, too late, that blabbing about biker gangs on tv might be a dangerous thing to do.

Another quote from the book (this is all in chapter 25):

The party story holds about as much water as your standard sieve. It was obvious that this story was put together by someone who did not know the details of Susan's adventures.

I was reading up on the outlaws biker gang today and it came as no suprise that the FBI had put undercover agents into the group.

The book touched on this. It said that in the roughest gangs new bikers "apprenticed" for a year, then had to commit a big crime, usually murder, to be a full fledged member.

Because they required such a serious crime to qualify for membership, it made it hard for law enforcement to plant guys in the gangs.

u know i never believed the biker theory until I watched gangland on the History channel. I had no clue about how bad the outlaw biker gangs were and still are. I think some biker killed her.

As for the Jehovah Witness thing. That is waaaay off base. JW are not a cult squirrelling away people. I use to be a JW and many, many people you live next to and work with are JW. They are no different that any other christian religion. There is a convention once a year for 2 or 3 days and they go to church about 2 days a week with a bible study once a week.

As a JW you can stop being a witness anytime you wish and you still can talk to your family.

For those who don't have Sue Billig's book, this is how the biker angle of the story got started.

Amy went missing on March 5, 1974. During the search for her, many friends went to stay at the Billig's house, 24/7 to help take calls, among other things. One of their friends was Toby.

On March 16, 1974, Toby answered the phone at the Billig's house. The caller identified herself as Susan Johnson and said that she was using an alias because she was afraid.

She stated that she had seen Sue Billig in the Grove with Amy's missing poster.

"A friend of mine went up to Daytona, where they had the motorcycle races last week. And a motorcycle gang was there. Now... they have her! They picked her up hitchhiking and she's being held against her will..."

What I want to know is if this woman saw Amy's picture on a missing poster, how did her friend up in Daytona identify her as Amy? Apparently, the friend had never seen a photo of Amy.

Toby asked if she was sure about her facts and she swore on her daughter's life and said she was 100% positive. She said that the motorcycle gang involved was the Outlaws. He asked her to call the investigator that the Billigs were working with, Mike Gonzalez. She placed a call to him and was worried about it being traced. From the book:

Gonzalez: "She wasn't able to tell me any more [information than she'd already told Toby]. Still, she sounds sincere, and like she believes it - in her present state of mind, anyway. While it's vague, she promises to go back to her friend and get some more information. They're supposed to be camped around Titusville..."

The caller: "The two girls [the caller had said Amy was being held with another female victim] are being held for white slavery and he [her friend from Daytona?] recognized the picture of Amy as being one of the girls."

The book never says how or when the caller's friend saw a photo of Amy so he could correctly identify her. As far as I'm concerned, this is bad 2nd hand information. The caller's friend, in another city, saw Amy with a motorcycle gang being held for white slavery. How do the caller and the friend know that "white slavery" is involved? Maybe the girls were just kidnap victims. Maybe they're just belligerent biker chicks.

Amy's camera was found along the side of the road (just north of Orlando) that a group of bikers would have used travelling from Daytona. The book calls this their "first real evidence" to a biker connection. The camera was found along the southbound side of the road, but police believe the bikers were heading northbound. The book doesn't address that part of the issue any further.

Considering how many people travelling in and through FL drive on the Florida turnpike, I don't consider finding her camera to be proof that a biker gang had Amy. Any abductor could have driven on that highway and tossed Amy's camera out the window to get rid of it. Her name was on the camera so it would be in the best interest of a criminal to discard any items bearing Amy's name.

The Billigs wanted to get the film in Amy's camera developed to see if there were any clues in the pictures. This is what the book says about that part:

No one with a car was available except one teenager from out of town, the brother of a friend. The only lab that could develop the slide film that afternoon was several miles away. On the way to the shop, the teenager was stopped by an officer for making an illegal left-hand turn. The boy, driving with an out of state license, was arrested. He called Sue an hour later, from jail.

Sue called a bail bondsman to spring the kid from jail. The bondsman, Joe Klein, listened to the story and informed Sue that he was the bondsman for the Outlaws. He vowed to get a couple of bikers to pay Sue a visit the next evening.

That's it folks. The bondsman sent some bikers to the Billig home. They took Amy's picture with them and said they'd check with Outlaws and Pagans to see if anyone recognized her. The whole biker thing snowballed from there.

That's it folks. The bondsman sent some bikers to the Billig home. They took Amy's picture with them and said they'd check with Outlaws and Pagans to see if anyone recognized her. The whole biker thing snowballed from there.

I'm starting to wonder if the whole biker thing even has any meaning. It's all second hand information from people who knew a guy who knew a guy or heard this rumor or that rumor. It's never anyone directly involved or anyone with solid concrete proof.

Then you get into bikers using this to get free cash, made up UK stories and other nonsense it makes me wonder if she wasn't just picked up by some random nut, biker or not.

u know i never believed the biker theory until I watched gangland on the History channel. I had no clue about how bad the outlaw biker gangs were and still are. I think some biker killed her.

As for the Jehovah Witness thing. That is waaaay off base. JW are not a cult squirrelling away people. I use to be a JW and many, many people you live next to and work with are JW. They are no different that any other christian religion. There is a convention once a year for 2 or 3 days and they go to church about 2 days a week with a bible study once a week.

As a JW you can stop being a witness anytime you wish and you still can talk to your family.

i am referring to 74'. and my mother is jehovah so i know how it is but this is not based on today's standards. Many have come forward and have testified this was happening. They were abducting people into their group and yes back then it was different. Read up on it more. I think this is a possibility, not a fact but rather a possible scenerio that never was looked at.

I'm starting to wonder if the whole biker thing even has any meaning. It's all second hand information from people who knew a guy who knew a guy or heard this rumor or that rumor. It's never anyone directly involved or anyone with solid concrete proof.

Then you get into bikers using this to get free cash, made up UK stories and other nonsense it makes me wonder if she wasn't just picked up by some random nut, biker or not.

I'm starting to wonder the same thing. The more I study it closely and break down each chapter to it's basic details, the biker connection is looking very weak.

It's sorta looking like hitchhiking is the only real clue to what happened and it broadens the possibilities rather than narrowing the search down to a specific group of suspects.

For the folks who think that Hank Blair is involved, there could be a clue to advance your theories. IIRC someone posted that Blair had a white pickup truck. When the film in Amy's camera was developed, there were only 4 pictures. Three of them were useless but one had white pickup truck in it.

I got the impression that the truck wasn't the subject of the photo, but was in the background. But, imo and with this being hot sunny florida, there were probably a lot of white vehicles around. I wonder if there's any way to find out what make and model Blair owned at the time and what make and model was seen in Amy's photo.

The more I think about it, the more i think she was abducted by a random person or left on her own free will...Hank wouldnt have cared about harrassing sue for so long unless amy turned him down or he never got a chance to be with amy and the only way he knows to deal with this is harass the relative closest to her since you cant harass the real person! The other mess is the bikers in this equation. I do think that if they had amy, one of them would have mentioned the aligator story long ago, especially because their biker buddy was telling sue he had amy and owned her so why not just end the search long ago and say well someone fed her to the aligators but we dont know which biker did it! This story was made up so his gf could get the money. we all rule out the post office agent! So whats left? amy was abducted by a random person perhaps..so who would have been a rapist or pedafile of that time period? Perhaps we should be looking for these types that lived close by her home? She was wearing a skirt so whoever done this crime was attracted to a young girl wearing a skirt. This weighs more on transient types or rapist/pedifiles. who were the neiboors as well in this equation? I want to know who lived in the nieboorhood? anyone suspicious?

She was known to hitchhike regularly. I suppose that someone who knew her well, or just knew her from giving her a few rides could have planned to take her the next time he saw her hitching a ride.

Seems to me like people knew Sue Billig was willing to pay money to find Amy, so they would just give false information in hopes of making some quick cash. I know it sounds pretty pathetic, but there's never someone who had any direct ties to Amy. It's just someone who knew a friend of someone. I've never bought into the abduction by biker theory, and since she was last seen hitchiking wouldn't it be more logical to get into a car rather than on the back of a motorcycle? I think she was picked up by sick murderer, and that this was just a random act of violence.

I've never bought into the abduction by biker theory, and since she was last seen hitchiking wouldn't it be more logical to get into a car rather than on the back of a motorcycle? I think she was picked up by sick murderer, and that this was just a random act of violence.

It would seem that it would be quite difficult to abduct someone while on a motorcycle. I mean, you're going to keep the bike upright and going in a straight line while holding a struggling person? We're not talking about a child, either. Amy was fully grown. In the book, it was mentioned that several of the gang members drove vans at times, but since this was "bike week" you'd think they'd all be on their motorcycles.

I'd like to know more about the route Amy took from her home headed to her dad's business. Was it mostly residential? a quaint little downtown area? Of course, bad people can pop up anywhere, but depending on the surroundings, it could point to someone more local and familiar with the area.

It would seem that it would be quite difficult to abduct someone while on a motorcycle. I mean, you're going to keep the bike upright and going in a straight line while holding a struggling person?

Exactly. There was a UM segment (the one about the female police sketch artist who was raped and she used her experience to help others) that featured two brothers that got abducted at gunpoint and were taken in a van and they jumped from the van at 70 mph. How hard would it have been for Amy to jump off the bike if she were in fear for her life?

Exactly. There was a UM segment (the one about the female police sketch artist who was raped and she used her experience to help others) that featured two brothers that got abducted at gunpoint and were taken in a van and they jumped from the van at 70 mph. How hard would it have been for Amy to jump off the bike if she were in fear for her life?


To be fair, in the book, one biker told Sue Billig that bikers do abduct girls while on their motorcycles. He claimed they'd tie them up and hold them on the front of the motorcycle, while other gang members rode alongside. But it seems like it'd be pretty hard to do, and he could have been full of it.

Another theory was that perhaps Amy had gotten on a bike voluntarily, assuming it was an innocent lift, and things went wrong from there. Amy was noted for being very trusting, but I have to wonder if even the most trusting and naive young girl would accept a ride from a bunch of scary dudes in a motorcycle gang. We're not exactly talking about a handsome and charming Ted Bundy kinda guy, ya know?

I'm not so sure about this mute theory, also what about all these supposed opportunities there were for Amy to be taken back, I think that the bikers were just messing with the Billig family really.

why is the biker theory given soo much attention? For all we know, it could be someone else. Why should we trust someone like the guy depicted in the segment....He was after money, if the girl would be found then there goes his cashcow.........similarly, he said he owned her once, how come he never felt remorse then?

i think the incident at the bar was also planned. However, the biker got beat up because he probably was behind on debts or they felt he was a snitch, probably both.

there was also the cashier who saw a person that could have been amy buying canned veggie soups.....yuck to that... but we have to consider it could have been someone else. A lot of people come into and leave flordia and i doubt she was the only female eating veggie soups at the time..........

IMO I think a biker did offer her a lift,she accepted,thinking it would be a short ride,and things went wrong from there.I think the bikers Amy's mom spoke to did know of her,and someone got scared and killed her after that.I just wonder if her mom hadn't done that,if things would have turned out differently.that's not the way to approach the situation.the bikers should have been quietly infiltrated to see if she was there.I realize mrs billing wasn't getting any help,still...

Like others here, I find Henry Blair, "Hank", an eerie connection to this case. Besides how this sicko relentlessly and unconscionably harassed Susan for over two decades, it is very strange that Amy's diary mentioned a man named Hank. It seemed like they quickly cleared him of any involvement in the case other than his harassment of Susan, but somehow his emergence plagues me.

So many took advantage of this poor, desperate mother, sending her on wild goose chases all over the world. It sickens me. And it is so sad both parents died without ever finding Amy or at least knowing what happened to her.

I just finished reading Susan's book, co-authored with Greg Aunapu. I had tears in my eyes after finishing the last paragraph, a poem written by Amy. It was an amazing read and even though I know full well Amy has never been found, my hopes would rise every time Sue got a lead.

I love Unsolved Mysteries, so no bashing intended. But the segment left out so many things that should have been mentioned; not to mention, the bar fight and England thing weren't even mentioned in the book. Far more interesting leads were.

Henry Blair is a sick, sick individual and it was a bummer to read about how he only received a low sentence as well as very nice prison accommodations; I had to smile when I heard that another prisoner hit him. I don't know if he was necessarily involved, though that line in Amy's diary is puzzling. But speaking of Amy's diary, her poetry does not in the slightest suggest a girl who would run away, particularly on her way for a lunch date. Yes, I understand the book was co-authored by her mother, but Amy running off when about to pick up money for lunch when she always called no matter where she was off to seems unreal. Amy's poetry and words were jarring to me; it reminded me of myself, introspective and imaginative. She was two weeks from graduating high school and going to New York to see a friend, visit art galleries and try for drama school. I don't believe she ran off. Hitchhiking gone wrong could very well have been the culprit since almost everyone in Coconut Grove apparently did so.

I think the bikers may have been involved, simply because they knew things that had never been released to the public; certain scars on Amy's body, certain habits. But I believe, unfortunately, that someone got scared and probably did her in for fear of prosecution. The overdose at a party theory with the alligators and all that I do not believe; that theory was thrown out by another money-grubbing woman.

This book pulled at my heart; like the back cover says, we see the worst of humanity in it. Murderers, rapists, and the unspeakable cruelty of those who would taunt and extort a grieving mother with false leads and time-wasting red herrings. Yet, through it all Susan Billig herself remains a beacon for humanity; so altruistic, so beautiful, so kind, so brave- when offered chances to pursue some of these extortionists she wouldn't. She even kindly approached Blair's family and said she meant no malice by the trial, after nearly twenty years of harassment and sexually explicit phone calls. She saved a girl's life by pushing the ex-boyfriend who was attacking her away and advised a young woman not to hitchhike again, wanting to spare others from a fate such as Amy's. It was so sad to read about her heart attack, bypass surgery and how she and her husband were both diagnosed with lung cancer around the same time. Susan beat the odds and survived until she was 80, but lost her husband over a decade before. If this lady was still alive, I would pen her a long, heartfelt letter simply wanting to tell her what a wonderful person she was and how I hoped she would one day find answers. Tears welled up in my eyes when she finally marked Amy's name on a headstone and received some sense of closure after over twenty years. She was finally able to go on to some degree, though not completely, of course.

I highly recommend the book. It's fascinating, but very sad to read about the detriment on Billig family as well the intermittent poetry and optimism of Amy. Susan Billig and her husband were wonderful people who deserved to know the truth and have some peace in their lives. So the book ends with you feeling down that the mystery was never solved, yet I also felt some sense of uplifting in that there are such beautiful, courageous, and selfless people as the Billigs in the world. I hope that one day, some answers will come.

yes, the book was very sad.I was also saddened to learn that Janet Reno (yes,same one of recent political fame) could have done something to help but did not.
I'm also confused as to why Amy's camera and items were found on the opposite side of the hwy in which she would have been hitchhiking.very odd.

I definitely never thought she ran off, I think she was kidnapped and killed.

Ha! What in the world are the chances?!
Check out this woman,named Amy Billig (Dr.),and she looks identical to the Missing Amy Billig!
Ha! So odd! What a huge coincidence,which is all it is,but it's weird nonetheless.


http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_lvqH9orZ6uA/TLhRuskRK0I/AAAAAAAAABg/3opDBSlXMho/S1600-R/Photo%2Bon%2B2010-09-21%2Bat%2B08.28%2B%25232%2Bcopy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://amybilligeportfolio.blogspot.com/2010/10/investigating-impact-of-integrating.html&h=436&w=458&sz=35&tbnid=_TWf7evb_C10LM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=102&zoom=1&usg=__yTbYEY9x28JM7WN6DaBW8qcyAl0=&docid=7K2ZZc2SHJilwM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6eUiUIeSL_K00AGj8oCoCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CGsQ9QEwBw&dur=1380 :eek:

maybe it's true we all have a twin..lol...no i don't believe that,but I googled my name once and found a lady who looks so much like me that my family thought it was a pic of me! and I also found my name assoc. with a little girl that looks just like my daughter...truly weird!

Ha! What in the world are the chances?!
Check out this woman,named Amy Billig (Dr.),and she looks identical to the Missing Amy Billig! Ha! So odd! What a huge coincidence,which is all it is,but it's weird nonetheless.

They sure do look a lot alike. Wouldn't it be strange to actually resemble someone who shared your exact (and somewhat unusual) name? I wonder if the lady in that link has ever had someone tell her how much she looks like her Name Twin.

Could one of the mods please put a spoiler alert on this thread? I have not read "Without a Trace" yet but I intend to, and this thread has a lot of goodies in it from the book.

Thanks ;)

Isn't it true that Billig was killed the day or night she vanished?

I remember I saw a news piece on this and there was a deathbed confession from a biker.

Isn't it true that Billig was killed the day or night she vanished?

This hasn't been proven, but I believe she was killed either the day or shortly after she disappeared. I think the biker who contacted her mother about the whole "slave trade" thing was making everything up to try and get some sort of reward out of her family.

This hasn't been proven, but I believe she was killed either the day or shortly after she disappeared. I think the biker who contacted her mother about the whole "slave trade" thing was making everything up to try and get some sort of reward out of her family.

But I remember they said he was on his death bed. What good is a reward if you're dead?

But I remember they said he was on his death bed. What good is a reward if you're dead?

The "confession" was told second hand, by the guy's wife, who was paid money by a shady production crew, she later admitted this to Amy's mother. There is no evidence that the biker himself ever made such a confession.

I believe that Amy was probably killed the day she disappeared or very shortly after, but I don't lend much credence to the bikers or the whole ''drugged and thrown in the swamp'' confession. A poster on WS posted an article or something about that theory as though it was real, but I really have my doubts. For those unaware, this is the confession that Amy was raped by two dozen bikers and drugged to stop resisting but her heart stopped because of it. I think this is another bogus confession and it just seems far-fetched. If there were two dozen men there to control her, why would they feel the need to resort to using drugs and continuously pump them into her? I don't buy it. Branch was a pathological liar and did nothing but milk Sue for more money. And as another poster mentioned, it was his wife who announced the theory and it was more than likely done for monetary reasons. :mad:

I think that she did hitchhike as most people did back then in that area and that another predator is more than likely responsible. If this is true, this killer is very lucky that so much attention has been drawn away from him and focused on bikers instead. This is around the time that Ted Bundy was on his rampage; I highly doubt he was the only one taking advantage of hitchhikers during this time period. There really isn't a lot of tangible evidence linking Amy to the bikers.


After reading the book, I'm convinced that people were just intent on getting money out of Sue, but I cannot fault her for trying every possible lead. Some of these sightings and such seemed so promising, including Branch talking about a scar Amy had that had never been publicized. Susan also found hair in a hairbrush that looked like her daughter's and was sent for testing. But it seems all for naught. People like Branch milked Sue and her husband's bank account dry and they were forced to sell their car and lose many of their assets, if I recall correctly. :( They really tried every possible avenue.

About Henry Blair, I believe he is just mentally ill and not involved.

Exactly. There was a UM segment (the one about the female police sketch artist who was raped and she used her experience to help others) that featured two brothers that got abducted at gunpoint and were taken in a van and they jumped from the van at 70 mph. How hard would it have been for Amy to jump off the bike if she were in fear for her life?
I remember this segment very vaguely, but can't recall any names! I would like to see it again.

And I agree with these sentiments. I doubt Amy was abducted by anyone on a motorcycle. At stoplights or just in general, she could have fought. She could have hitchhiked and gotten on one, perhaps, but I really doubt it. I bet her abductor had a car that was harder to get out of and even possibly had other occupants that could help restrain her. I really think she was in a car and thus no struggling would have been noticed by bystanders.

A brand new age progression photograph has been made of Amy Billig:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1016848_636667106350958_300380094_n.jpg

Am I the only one who thinks Henry Blair did this?

Am I the only one who thinks Henry Blair did this?

Nope. I'm with you. There are at least two hard probable links to Blair, one being the reference to "Hank" (Blair's nickname) in Amy's diary just over a month before she disappeared, and the photograph developed from the roll of film in Amy's camera showing a van matching the exact year, make, model, and color of one owned by Blair at the time. Yes, there were consistent stories from those in the biker community, but I personally don't feel like it was Amy they were all talking about (provided "Mute" even existed in the first place).

I read the book a few years ago, and after reading I, too, felt like Blair could have done it.

Bumping for Amy. We're nearing the 41st year of her disappearance :(

I'm rereading Without a Trace, and I am starting to change my mind on the Henry Blair theory. He's a nutcase, but the "Hank" angle and the photograph of his car really bothers me. I wonder if she was on her way to lunch with friends, started hitchhiking, and he just happened to be driving around at the time so she got in the car with him, knowing and trusting him. Then because she didn't want to run off with him to South America (or they got into a similar argument), he killed her. We don't have an account of his day on the date of the disappearance, as far as I recall. We only know that he was certainly in town.

Bumping for Amy. We're nearing the 41st year of her disappearance :(

I'm rereading Without a Trace, and I am starting to change my mind on the Henry Blair theory. He's a nutcase, but the "Hank" angle and the photograph of his car really bothers me. I wonder if she was on her way to lunch with friends, started hitchhiking, and he just happened to be driving around at the time so she got in the car with him, knowing and trusting him. Then because she didn't want to run off with him to South America (or they got into a similar argument), he killed her. We don't have an account of his day on the date of the disappearance, as far as I recall. We only know that he was certainly in town.

Forgive me if the question has been answered elsewhere and is obvious to everyone but me = but what is Henry Blair doing these days? Is he still alive?

Forgive me if the question has been answered elsewhere and is obvious to everyone but me = but what is Henry Blair doing these days? Is he still alive?
I hadn't heard any news about him dying, but this blog post says he died in 2006:
http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=191

This article has a lot of additional info on the harassing phone calls Mrs. Billig received.

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/03/us/the-night-caller-21-years-of-unspeakable-grief.html

For anyone who listens to the Thinking Sideways podcast, the episode they released today covered Amy Billig.

https://player.fm/series/series-1389003/the-disappearance-of-amy-billig

The chances of this getting solved now based on everything are so so low unfortunately.

For anyone who listens to the Thinking Sideways podcast, the episode they released today covered Amy Billig.

https://player.fm/series/series-1389003/the-disappearance-of-amy-billig
Thank you for this.

Interesting how they say Blair is alive. Perhaps those sources that said he died in 2006 were incorrect, but I'm having difficulty finding much online.

For me she just hitched with the wrong guy or guys & the camera fell out of the car or she threw it out during a struggle to try to alert somebody to her predicament. If it was bikers then they wouldn't let a camera they could sell fall or even throw it to the ground. I think the bikers were trying to bilk her mother for money & although the story didn't say she paid them you have to suspect that is exactly what happened-I cannot see biker gang members helping her out of the kindness of their heart.

The guy who supposedly bought her & then sold her arranged for the little scene in the bar where just conveniently a taxi was waiting for her to be taken away when the 'fight' happened. I suspect she had paid that guy a large sum outside the bar before they went in or on the way there. These bikers had all these stories yet not one photo of her, didn't get her on the phone to speak to her mother, didn't produce any clothing etc for her mother to verify. Likely aside from fleecing her they were having some fun with her as well-like the truck stop call.

I heard the English thing was either a hoax or like all the other leads didn't pan out, I wonder if it was something that guy & the co-author in the USA who was interviewed on the show cooked up for publicity. The idea of some biker guy walking into a post office anywhere in the UK offering a female sex slave to random pensioners is laughable, even more so in a place like Falmouth.

I've gone back and forth on this case. Either Hank or the bikers did it, and the other are red herrings. The Prime update says that the police were able to verify "some" details of Branch's death bed confession. I did not know that of the week she went missing there was a huge bike rally in Daytona in which members of Branch's gang attended. I don't think it's a coincidence that Branch knew of the scar that was never publicized. The biker theory seems to be the more accurate one, since there hasn't been any verifiable ties to Hank other than Amy mentioning a man named Hank and a picture of a white van in one of her photos.

Hank might just have been somebody imaginary-a bored/restless kid inventing somebody, a bit like Tara Calico's creative writing inspired by those abysmal books she & many teen girls liked back them.

It is possible she got into a biker gangs vehicle, although it could have been anybody. I always take the details never released stuff with a pinch of salt as that has been shown not to be the case in cases in the past where the media have printed stuff or announced it on television-if so it would have been easy for the biker guy to do a library search before meeting her. Branch's supposed deathbed confession differs from what he told Mrs Billig-instead of her being his 'old lady' for some time before he sold her now they took her to party, they gave/forced her to have too many drugs, assaulted her & her heart stopped, so they fed her to the alligators in the everglades the same day.

Also it is quite possible that he saw a photo of her in the mothers house where the scar was showing, or maybe he got her to volunteer the information without her knowing as psychics do. Either way they were purely trying to get as much money out of her as possible.

I cannot make out all the print here, but it s possible the scar which would be a big identifying feature might even have been listed on missing posters she had made up.

http://i.imgur.com/h8w3I5Dl.png

Hank might just have been somebody imaginary-a bored/restless kid inventing somebody, a bit like Tara Calico's creative writing inspired by those abysmal books she & many teen girls liked back them.

It is possible she got into a biker gangs vehicle, although it could have been anybody. I always take the details never released stuff with a pinch of salt as that has been shown not to be the case in cases in the past where the media have printed stuff or announced it on television-if so it would have been easy for the biker guy to do a library search before meeting her. Branch's supposed deathbed confession differs from what he told Mrs Billig-instead of her being his 'old lady' for some time before he sold her now they took her to party, they gave/forced her to have too many drugs, assaulted her & her heart stopped, so they fed her to the alligators in the everglades the same day.

Also it is quite possible that he saw a photo of her in the mothers house where the scar was showing, or maybe he got her to volunteer the information without her knowing as psychics do. Either way they were purely trying to get as much money out of her as possible.

I cannot make out all the print here, but it s possible the scar which would be a big identifying feature might even have been listed on missing posters she had made up.

http://i.imgur.com/h8w3I5Dl.png
not sure I buy into this dude going through all the trouble of going to a library for a story....but I can see him and others mkaing up stuff just to toy with her, and they either know something or they don't. The scar isn't reportedly something featured in the missing posters though, and if even some of his details were verified then it still leaves the mom on the right path, even if all the known details or info isn't corrrect

don't bikers have a code to basically just leave normies alone? Is it possible bikers have no dealings with her situation?

Why would a biker gang want heat on them for no reason? Most organized gangs don't just go for random people. They also are not desperate for women either.

Susan Billig was one of the most admirable people ever featured on UM. It’s a shame she never found peace.

My theory on this case is that Amy was not kidnapped, but encountered the bikers socially, and being a free-spirited type, partied with them willingly. She probably enjoyed the lifestyle, what they stood for, etc. but one thing lead to another and she either died of an overdose or got killed within a few years of her disappearance.

Death by misadventure, more or less.

The Hank thing doesn’t add up to much in my opinion. It could be the same guy but there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was involved. Blair seemed like a mentally ill person maybe with an obsessive crush on Amy but not enough balls to have made any drastic moves.

don't bikers have a code to basically just leave normies alone? Is it possible bikers have no dealings with her situation?

Most of the time, yeah, but young bikers sometimes hang out in the same social situations as other young people. This was probably even more common in the 70s.

My theory on this case is that Amy was not kidnapped, but encountered the bikers socially, and being a free-spirited type, partied with them willingly. She probably enjoyed the lifestyle, what they stood for, etc. but one thing lead to another and she either died of an overdose or got killed within a few years of her disappearance.

I'm at the point now where I don't think the bikers were involved. I'm not saying they didn't take women in the past but I think it was just a well timed coincidence they happened to be driving through the area at the time. The bikers just strung Susan along like so many other people cruelly did through those years.

Keep in mind, Amy knew that her father was expecting her within the next 10 minutes or so and her friends were expecting to meet her after that. So she knew immediately that multiple people would have been looking for her right away if she suddenly changed plans for anything else.

As soon as she got off the phone with her father, she walked a block and half down her street, reached the corner and stuck out her thumb. (Street maintenance workers verified seeing her hitchhike at that corner.) Hitchhiking was not at all out of the ordinary in 1974. Whoever picked her up at the corner killed her, I believe. It was as simple as that. And the family was left spending the next 30-something years being purposely led down dead end roads.

Susan Billig was one of the most admirable people ever featured on UM. It’s a shame she never found peace.

My theory on this case is that Amy was not kidnapped, but encountered the bikers socially, and being a free-spirited type, partied with them willingly. She probably enjoyed the lifestyle, what they stood for, etc. but one thing lead to another and she either died of an overdose or got killed within a few years of her disappearance.

Death by misadventure, more or less.

The Hank thing doesn’t add up to much in my opinion. It could be the same guy but there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was involved. Blair seemed like a mentally ill person maybe with an obsessive crush on Amy but not enough balls to have made any drastic moves.


This pretty much fits Occam's Razor for me. I asked myself what's more of a stretch - A high school girl ending up at a wild party and getting drugged by some unsavory characters?? Or the mention of a name and the picture of a van, leading back to a mentally unstable alcoholic who managed to pull off the perfect crime while leaving no trace evidence behind??

I think this guy (Blair) knew of Amy and/or her family - how, I don't know. He developed a fascination/infatuation with her and, during his drunken binges, harassed her - telling her about fantasies of them jetting away to South America and such. Enough harassment may have led Amy to mention Blair in her diary, but I don't think he did it.

On the other hand, Branch knowing about her scar (which was not public info) and police verifying several parts of his story makes the biker angle more credible - thinking of Gus Hoffman for a moment, drugging, raping and other unspeakable acts wouldn't be out of character for bikers like Branch and his ilk.

From what I read in 1998 the guy confessed on his death bed. Then apparently susan accepted it. Then a couple years later susan said she didnt believe it anymore. The police believe the confession was true.

Susan Billig was one of the most admirable people ever featured on UM. It’s a shame she never found peace.

My theory on this case is that Amy was not kidnapped, but encountered the bikers socially, and being a free-spirited type, partied with them willingly. She probably enjoyed the lifestyle, what they stood for, etc. but one thing lead to another and she either died of an overdose or got killed within a few years of her disappearance.

Death by misadventure, more or less.

The Hank thing doesn’t add up to much in my opinion. It could be the same guy but there’s no evidence whatsoever that he was involved. Blair seemed like a mentally ill person maybe with an obsessive crush on Amy but not enough balls to have made any drastic moves.

I can admire her tenacity, but really she was totally deluded & spent decades jumping down various rabbit holes/being exploited for money by con artists. She reminds me of Noreen Gosch-somebody who cannot accept that her daughters vanishing/murder was likely as straightforward as her hitch-hiking & just getting in the wrong persons car & instead created/was sold multiple scenarios due to the publicity she created that led her into a total fantasy world where she even put herself in danger. She let some random weirdo taunt her for decades, flew over to the UK to investigate some ludicrous tale about some biker dude wandering around quaint rural villages offering a now thirty something Amy as a sex slave, she was hanging around with bikers who were patently ripping her off seeing how desperate she was etc.

Just finished watching this case for the first time in years. I agree with some others in this thread that the biker angle was complete BS. Amy's mom wasted so many years with that. "Old Ladies" in biker culture are almost all willing participants. Biker gangs don't abduct strangers. I really feel like the "biker" angle was like the "satanic" angle - an attempt by Amy's mom to find a bogeyman. Something bad happens, well it must be satan or bikers, of course.

It is far more likely that Amy was abducted and killed the same day by a random psycho. This was the 70's - there were lots of serial killers running around back then. Bundy was killing in Florida around this time I believe, and she fits the profile perfectly of one of his victims. Sheer probability would say he's likely not the perp, but I would wager it was someone like him.

And the tip from the UK was utter nonsense. Who is going to refer to a 30 something grown woman as a "girl" and try to "sell" her to a random guy on the street? Sounds made up, quite frankly.

Why would a biker gang want heat on them for no reason? Most organized gangs don't just go for random people. They also are not desperate for women either.

Exactly. I don't know about the 70's, but I was in a bar the other night that is a heavy biker hangout. All the biker dudes I saw had women all around them -- voluntarily. These dudes didn't seem to be hurting for women to hang out with. :D

Just finished watching this case for the first time in years. I agree with some others in this thread that the biker angle was complete BS. Amy's mom wasted so many years with that. "Old Ladies" in biker culture are almost all willing participants. Biker gangs don't abduct strangers. I really feel like the "biker" angle was like the "satanic" angle - an attempt by Amy's mom to find a bogeyman. Something bad happens, well it must be satan or bikers, of course.

It is far more likely that Amy was abducted and killed the same day by a random psycho. This was the 70's - there were lots of serial killers running around back then. Bundy was killing in Florida around this time I believe, and she fits the profile perfectly of one of his victims. Sheer probability would say he's likely not the perp, but I would wager it was someone like him.


Wasn't Bundy. Amy disappeared in 1974, though Bundy was killing then he was known to still be out west at that time. He didn't get to Florida until 1978 when he fled out there after breaking out of prison. Though had he been in the area he definitely would have been a suspect, you are correct that Amy fit the profile of his victims to a t.

I don't know of any other serial killers known to have been in Florida in '74 but there could have been.

The biker angle still has as much credence as anything. Their are bad bikers unfortunately, hell look at those creeps who killed Gus Hoffman. And that was only four years afterwards. These guys could have been of the same caliber. And why would that guy make a deathbed confession of something he didn't do? Doesn't make much sense to me.

I am inclined to think it was him and Amy's mother had searched for so long she just didn't want to accept it. Though I do agree she was led on a wild goose chase for a long time. I still think it could have been a biker but I think she was definitely killed shortly after her abduction.

I believe Amy was killed shortly after being picked up. She accepted a ride from an opportunist that has managed to never be on anyone's radar all these years.

I just finished reading the book " Without a trace " that I got on Ebay ! I had first seen the case on UM years ago and have been fascinated by it !

Been reading through this thread and after reading I'm still not sure what happened? I don't believe the deathbed confession or the UK angle at all though !

The only thing that makes me think Paul the biker was involved was the knowledge of the appendix scar and The only reason at all I think that weird Henry guy ( Hank ) was involved was what she had written in her journal !

And the theory it was a random creep like Ted Bundy picking Amy up hitchhiking was highly likely as was mentioned .

Something that nobody has mentioned here was could it have been somebody very obvious right under their noses but that nobody would suspect ? Meaning a male classmate that maybe Amy had turned down for a date and he harbored a strong resentment, a neighbor , a family friend? She was very pretty, it was possible for a man to be obsessed with her ? A so called " good person " who had another side to them? Picked up Amy hitchhiking, made an advance on her, she refused, fought him off and ended up him killing her ? This person knowing the bikers were in town at that time figured it would be pinned on them, which really did end up being the case !

IDK ! Never thought about it till I read the book , but I am kind of leaning towards it was someone the family knew and trusted and totally got away with murder this horrible crime ! Or a male classmate or so called male friend she knew from somewhere else other than school who couldn't have her and couldn't accept it!

Very sad and tragic, her poor Mother Sue chasing all the fake leads all those years ! Heartbreaking !

Here is the link to my writeup on Amy's case.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/631752367223887/permalink/1333275623738221/

Here is the link to my writeup on Amy's case.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/631752367223887/permalink/1333275623738221/

Thank you!;):wave:

Since we're revisiting Amys .... where is everyone's head today on Amy Billig?

Since we're revisiting Amys .... where is everyone's head today on Amy Billig?

Got in the wrong guys car while hitchhiking. Sadly all the bikers stuff was total crap invented by them to take her money & various other parasites joined in.

Amazing how two missing Amy's a quarter of a century apart were clearly basic murders or misadventure & yet both ended up with ludicrous international human trafficking network theories being pushed by the parents, television shows & the internet.

Got in the wrong guys car while hitchhiking. Sadly all the bikers stuff was total crap invented by them to take her money & various other parasites joined in.

Amazing how two missing Amy's a quarter of a century apart were clearly basic murders or misadventure & yet both ended up with ludicrous international human trafficking network theories being pushed by the parents, television shows & the internet.

Everyone wants to be so quick to blame the disappearance of any young lady on trafficking and the sinister white van.

I like how the family seems to grasp onto anything. First it was the bikers, then Henry Blair. Or are they saying Henry Blair was one of the bikers?

I like how the family seems to grasp onto anything. First it was the bikers, then Henry Blair. Or are they saying Henry Blair was one of the bikers?


I think they were chasing after a biker girl was not her. The guy she mentioned in her journal she was meeting up with probably the one did some thing to her and she isnt alive. Sad !

I have more empathy for the Billig family than I do the Bradleys when it comes to the leads they followed. the Bradley's had to invent a trafficking plot out of thin air (and racism), the Billig's had people from the gang that allegedly took her dangling Amy in their faces. There was more credibility there. Plus the phone harassment.

I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't yet read the book "Without a Trace", which Amy's mother co-authored. UM couldn't even scratch the surface with their lengthy segment. You will see the numerous leads the family got and how draining it was on their mental health. And it's very easy to see why the biker theory was so enticing once you read the book. There were so many leads dangled in front of the family's faces that looked very solid, but they were just getting the run around.

I think the biker who made the deathbed confession was lying, as he was well-known to do (or his girlfriend, who was paid for her interview, lied about it). I think she just got in the wrong car while hitchhiking on a day that coincided with the bikers being in town.

I do find the theory that Blair is the mysterious Hank in Amy's diary (and the one who abducted her) to be fascinating, but unfortunately, there isn't a lot of evidence beyond his nickname being Hank and the one photo from Amy's camera having a vehicle that looked just like his. Looks good on paper, but it isn't a slam dunk theory that he is responsible for her disappearance.

I do find the theory that Blair is the mysterious Hank in Amy's diary (and the one who abducted her) to be fascinating, but unfortunately, there isn't a lot of evidence beyond his nickname being Hank and the one photo from Amy's camera having a vehicle that looked just like his. Looks good on paper, but it isn't a slam dunk theory that he is responsible for her disappearance.

Could have been Big Bad Hank-cause he was everywhere.

I highly recommend that anyone who hasn't yet read the book "Without a Trace", which Amy's mother co-authored. UM couldn't even scratch the surface with their lengthy segment. You will see the numerous leads the family got and how draining it was on their mental health. And it's very easy to see why the biker theory was so enticing once you read the book. There were so many leads dangled in front of the family's faces that looked very solid, but they were just getting the run around.

I don't know if I have the stomach to read that book. And I say this as someone who has read several books covering UM cases which were all tragic in their own ways. But with this case...the UM segment already made it pretty clear how that biker took Susan on a wild goose chase to find Amy when he really knew jack sh*t about where she actually was. I've read a few articles from the 70's about how the Billig family were subjected to endless prank phone calls from nutcases who got their phone number off Amy's missing posters. And the story of two teenagers pretending to be kidnappers of Amy and trying to extort $30,000 from the family for her safe return.

From her interview, you could tell how amazing of a woman Susan was. She seemed like the kind of mother any person would want in their corner. And to hear how so many garbage human beings took advantage of her pain for such a long period of time, it's difficult to process the horrible treatment she was given for so long. I just don't think I could read the book.

I don't know if I have the stomach to read that book. And I say this as someone who has read several books covering UM cases which were all tragic in their own ways. But with this case...the UM segment already made it pretty clear how that biker took Susan on a wild goose chase to find Amy when he really knew jack sh*t about where she actually was. I've read a few articles from the 70's about how the Billig family were subjected to endless prank phone calls from nutcases who got their phone number off Amy's missing posters. And the story of two teenagers pretending to be kidnappers of Amy and trying to extort $30,000 from the family for her safe return.

From her interview, you could tell how amazing of a woman Susan was. She seemed like the kind of mother any person would want in their corner. And to hear how so many garbage human beings took advantage of her pain for such a long period of time, it's difficult to process the horrible treatment she was given for so long. I just don't think I could read the book.

Why the police always tell people they shouldn't put their home phone or mobile number on missing posters-they themselves get all the cranks, cruel idiots & time wasters ringing their hotlines up, so they know what the family will get. Just being featured on a show/making an appeal if your number is in the local phone book etc will get you enough cranks as it is.

Why the police always tell people they shouldn't put their home phone or mobile number on missing posters-they themselves get all the cranks, cruel idiots & time wasters ringing their hotlines up, so they know what the family will get. Just being featured on a show/making an appeal if your number is in the local phone book etc will get you enough cranks as it is.

I get that. But I think you have to take into account this was 1974 and…I don’t know, the thought process of how you handled something like this would have been different. I could see police overlooking that back then. There’s no way it would have been handled like that today.

I get that. But I think you have to take into account this was 1974 and…I don’t know, the thought process of how you handled something like this would have been different. I could see police overlooking that back then. There’s no way it would have been handled like that today.

If it were my kid that were missing, I would probably do the same thing. Even though you would absolutely get the crank and hoax calls, there would still be a chance that you could get the one phone call that could actually lead to their location.

For me, that would be worth every single false lead and crank phone call.

Since we're revisiting Amys .... where is everyone's head today on Amy Billig?

Abducted by an unknown perpetrator while going to her parent's art gallery to get money for lunch. What ever happened to her, I don't believe that she was alive months or years afterward.

I sympathize with why her family focused on the biker leads because of the initial tips about two young women being held by bikers and that Paul Branch knew about both the tattoo and the appendectomy scar that Amy had (Sue had not publicly divulged this information). One of the Outlaws who ran the organization in the 1970's and whom Susan met, James 'Big Jim' Nolan, was later accused (https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1995-12-17-9512160801-story.html) of both homicides and kidnapping and prostituting women.

If it were my kid that were missing, I would probably do the same thing. Even though you would absolutely get the crank and hoax calls, there would still be a chance that you could get the one phone call that could actually lead to their location.

For me, that would be worth every single false lead and crank phone call.


I wouldn't. The toll on my mental health would be too much. I would leave it to detectives. Obviously, at first it would hurt me, but I would still hold out hope. However, this seems to happen in most missing persons cases that are well publicised. It's a magnet for the absolute worst people in society. Form legitimate sociopaths taking pleasure in the pain and vulnerability of the family. To bottom feeders that actually try and make money off the victims, whether it be by extortion, or by so-called psychics.

Sylvia Browne, a convicted criminal, made a fortune off guessing what happened to missing children (being wrong 100% of the time). Henry J. Blair by calling and tormenting the mother for 21 years, is a sociopathic monster, who should have been sentenced to at least 20 years for the emotional damage he inflicted on the family.

If it were my kid that were missing, I would probably do the same thing. Even though you would absolutely get the crank and hoax calls, there would still be a chance that you could get the one phone call that could actually lead to their location.

For me, that would be worth every single false lead and crank phone call.

Hindsight being what it is, I'd have done something similar. Though I'd have stood up a separate line / voice mail for people to leave tips to rather than my home number.

I can't fault Susan, the mother of Amy, following every lead in trying to find her daughter. Those sightings, which never proved to be credible, were all that Susan had of finding her daughter. I like Bonniegirl's idea that Amy might have known her abductor/killer.

This case has always reminded me of Tammi Lynn Leppert. A young woman who was last seen walking down a city street in Florida.

Sylvia Browne, a convicted criminal, made a fortune off guessing what happened to missing children (being wrong 100% of the time). Henry J. Blair by calling and tormenting the mother for 21 years, is a sociopathic monster, who should have been sentenced to at least 20 years for the emotional damage he inflicted on the family.

Sheesh, I had no idea she was convicted of anything. Reading up on her wiki it seems she was nothing more than a horrible fraud making money off innocent people. I remember going to her website one time in the late 2000s and the charges for her live readings was insane. You could also pay for a reading from her son which was still several hundreds of dollars.

To take advantage of people who are hurting and missing their family members is just sick.

It should be punishable by law to claim to be a "psychic" as opposed to LE actually using them on cases. Talk about ridiculous. If people can't see that it's all a bunch of BS, then I feel very sorry for them.

It should be punishable by law to claim to be a "psychic" as opposed to LE actually using them on cases. Talk about ridiculous. If people can't see that it's all a bunch of BS, then I feel very sorry for them.

This is where I once again get upset at UM for using a murder case as part of their segment on Dorothy Allison without doing a full segment on the victim they exploited.

Lori Zimmerman's (https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Lori_Zimmerman) killer is still at large.

But if she OD'd and died the night she was abducted, the UK incident isn't possible. This case drives me CRAZY because there's just so many theories that do make a lot of sense. I never heard about the Hank connection, but now I'm very curious to know more about him.

But if she OD'd and died the night she was abducted, the UK incident isn't possible. This case drives me CRAZY because there's just so many theories that do make a lot of sense. I never heard about the Hank connection, but now I'm very curious to know more about him.

The UK sighting was determined to be not credible. One of the Outlaw Bikers made a deathbed confession (IIRC), and stated that the gang abducted Amy the date she went missing, drugged her, and had their way with her, before killing her, and dumping her remains into a swamp.I can't vouch for the credibility, but it could explain things.

as for Hank, it was found that Amy had wrote in her diary, described a man named Hank who wanted to take her to South America at the same time Henry's job as a customs agent was sending him to Argentina. It was never confirmed if the "Hank" that Amy was referring to, ws the same Hank who harassed the mother with indecent phone call for years.

But if she OD'd and died the night she was abducted, the UK incident isn't possible. This case drives me CRAZY because there's just so many theories that do make a lot of sense. I never heard about the Hank connection, but now I'm very curious to know more about him.

The whole UK thing really doesn't make any sense. I don't see bikers shipping Amy over to the UK to hook or dance. I thought we had seen Virginia Snyder featured on another UM case. I disagreed with her about Amy still being alive. In fact I was a little unhappy with Snyder for giving a bunch of false hope to a still-grieving mother. I don't see how Amy's family could cope between Snyder and the continual harassing phone calls

It's easy to feel that one can trust Unsolved Mysteries 100%, but that takes me back to the case of John and Linda Sohus. UM stated that Linda's cat's were picked up by a stranger and this was completely untrue. Linda's sister later confirmed to me that she was the one who picked them up. So not every little piece of information UM ever presented can be taken as fact.

The whole UK thing really doesn't make any sense. I don't see bikers shipping Amy over to the UK to hook or dance. I thought we had seen Virginia Snyder featured on another UM case. I disagreed with her about Amy still being alive. In fact I was a little unhappy with Snyder for giving a bunch of false hope to a still-grieving mother. I don't see how Amy's family could cope between Snyder and the continual harassing phone calls

It's easy to feel that one can trust Unsolved Mysteries 100%, but that takes me back to the case of John and Linda Sohus. UM stated that Linda's cat's were picked up by a stranger and this was completely untrue. Linda's sister later confirmed to me that she was the one who picked them up. So not every little piece of information UM ever presented can be taken as fact.

the whole biker thing dosent make sense.

the whole biker thing dosent make sense.

No it doesn't, the whole investigator thing just doesn't jive with me at all either. Who knows if Amy's mother got the information about the biker thing in the UK from the investigator himself, or Snyder. It makes no sense to me, an older gentleman in a UK post office is approached by an American biker trying to sell someone who could be Amy? wtf?? Does not compute. Was the world "mute" even used? And Virginia Snyder....I don't know how she got wrapped up in the case.

I just feel for Amy's family and especially her mother. Losing your baby, your child, rather if that child is a newborn or an adult, there is a part of your heart that is gone and can never be replaced.

No it doesn't, the whole investigator thing just doesn't jive with me at all either. Who knows if Amy's mother got the information about the biker thing in the UK from the investigator himself, or Snyder. It makes no sense to me, an older gentleman in a UK post office is approached by an American biker trying to sell someone who could be Amy? wtf?? Does not compute. Was the world "mute" even used? And Virginia Snyder....I don't know how she got wrapped up in the case.

I just feel for Amy's family and especially her mother. Losing your baby, your child, rather if that child is a newborn or an adult, there is a part of your heart that is gone and can never be replaced.

Likely Snyder told him about the case & they concocted it. I cannot begin to say how ridiculous it is that a biker would walk into a post office in Cornwall with people posting letters/parcels & collecting their pensions & loudly offer some old guy a kidnapped sex slave & that guy just happens to be an investigator.

One would think a biker if it was true would be trying to sell her to fetish sex clubs, or at nightclubs/dive pubs & it would be in London-not a village post office in a nice, respectable sleepy town like Falmouth-where probably the most exciting thing that happened there back then was the Yachting Regatta.

The biker gang going through their city at the time really sent the Billigs on a wild goose chase that was doomed from the start. UM never mentions what articles did; that Amy walked about two blocks from her home to an intersection and pulled out her thumb. Road crew workers were right there and told police they saw her standing there trying to hitch a ride. They would have said something if that entire huge biker gang had passed by. You’re going to hear that many motorcycles coming down the road.

I’m 99% sure whoever picked her up at that intersection killed her. It’s just such a shame that Susan had to go multiple decades thinking Amy was a sex slave living in captivity.

The biker gang going through their city at the time really sent the Billigs on a wild goose chase that was doomed from the start. UM never mentions what articles did; that Amy walked about two blocks from her home to an intersection and pulled out her thumb. Road crew workers were right there and told police they saw her standing there trying to hitch a ride. They would have said something if that entire huge biker gang had passed by. You’re going to hear that many motorcycles coming down the road.

I’m 99% sure whoever picked her up at that intersection killed her. It’s just such a shame that Susan had to go multiple decades thinking Amy was a sex slave living in captivity.

Strange how this idea permeates over the decades-Amy Bradley, Lisa Bishop, pretty much every woman who goes missing in recent years the first suggestion is sex trafficking gangs running round kidnapping them-rather than hitchhiker gets in the wrong guys vehicle, lone sex offender sees an opportunity in a deserted/remote area, looking at their partner/husband etc.

Strange how this idea permeates over the decades-Amy Bradley, Lisa Bishop, pretty much every woman who goes missing in recent years the first suggestion is sex trafficking gangs running round kidnapping them-rather than hitchhiker gets in the wrong guys vehicle, lone sex offender sees an opportunity in a deserted/remote area, looking at their partner/husband etc.

I believe that it gives the family a glimmer of hope that their loved one is still alive and might someday come home if they were trafficked. It’s very unlikely but it’s all they have and they hang on to that hope.

I believe that it gives the family a glimmer of hope that their loved one is still alive and might someday come home if they were trafficked. It’s very unlikely but it’s all they have and they hang on to that hope.

I kind of get it from the family perspective, but that now large swathes if not the majority of the public believe it & shout sex trafficking every time a white woman goes missing. When the reality is that is very rare & it is far more likely to be non-white women that happens to.

I kind of get it from the family perspective, but that now large swathes if not the majority of the public believe it & shout sex trafficking every time a white woman goes missing. When the reality is that is very rare & it is far more likely to be non-white women that happens to.

This is true. Just like every white work van in the WM parking lot is full of sex traffickers looking for victims.

I’m 99% sure whoever picked her up at that intersection killed her. It’s just such a shame that Susan had to go multiple decades thinking Amy was a sex slave living in captivity.

I'm confident of this, too. I think she was picked up, killed, and dumped somewhere where her body was not recoverable (in Florida, this could be many places). Most of Amy's possessions were probably dumped in the same spot, with the exception of her camera, which the killer flung out of the car while driving.

I don't fault Susan for her believing her daughter was still alive, as I have read her account of the many red herrings leading her to believe it. The reality is, there were probably many girls among the bikers who fit Amy's description. Amy's scar from an appendectomy wouldn't even be that uncommon (plenty of people have had their appendixes out, speaking as someone who had theirs out years ago). Plenty of other young girls would have been vegetarians around the same time buying vegetable soup. And of course, there were people who wanted to fleece money from Susan and fed her information she wanted to hear. It's a sad situation all around.

In Susan's place, I'm sure if I was hearing all this hopeful information I'd have wanted to keep running around chasing every lead, too.

As for Henry Blair, I know an increasingly popular theory is that he is responsible (the Hank in the diary and the owner of the car in one of Amy's photographs from her recovered camera), but I think he is also a red herring and that Amy was the victim of a random killer who picked her up while she hitchhiked. I think the killer may have convinced her to go elsewhere with him (so she didn't put up a big fight in the car) and promised her she could call her friends/father from that place to apologize for standing them up. Then, in a more remote location, he attacked. Or he may have simply threatened her from the start once she got in the car or the car had multiple assailants in it. I think this is more likely than Henry Blair happening upon her while she hitchhiked and then embarking on the telephone harassment. Anything is possible, but I'm betting on a random killer unknown to Amy.

This case is probably one of the saddest episodes I had ever seen, when I first watched it as a teen in 1994. UM did not even mention the 20 years of harassing phone calls by Blair when it aired. From all accounts, Amy was a free spirit, who was head strong, and intelligent, which adds credibility to the theory that she was killed the night she was abducted. I am convinced that if she was kept alive as a slave, she would ahve escaped eventually.

It's been 50 years, and in the remote chance Amy was alive, she would be 67 today. Both of her parents passed away. Susan died in 2005 at the age of 80, never getting over the loss of her daughter. Henry J Blair also passed away in 2006, in his late 50s. I doubt Blair had anything to do with the disappearance, as the Police would have grilled him for the harassing calls, but it is possible that they came in contact before Amy's disappearance, as he was local to the area, and his job required him to travel to places like South America.

Finally, one poster mentioned Amy was "entrenched in the drug culture," suggesting she was somehow to blame for her kidnapping. She smoked marijuana on occasion, for Christ sakes. Millions of teens have used marijuana or alcohol at one time. It's completely irrelevant to the case.

Finally, one poster mentioned Amy was "entrenched in the drug culture," suggesting she was somehow to blame for her kidnapping. She smoked marijuana on occasion, for Christ sakes. Millions of teens have used marijuana or alcohol at one time. It's completely irrelevant to the case.

It's sad that some people have this bonkers mindset. It almost gives off a "who cares," attitude to a tragedy because the person was not perfect. The problem with this thinking is that NOBODY is perfect.

I remember feeling this in the Kurt Sova thread a couple years back when a poster had a blase comment trying to downgrade the seriousness of his death because "he was on a path to nowhere," and such wouldn't have been much of a functional and well-rounded adult. So, because he skipped school one day and attended a party, he was forever doomed character-wise and should be remembered that way...which is incredibly stupid. Imagine someone holding every dumb thing you did as a 17-year-old as justification for not respecting you today.

This case is probably one of the saddest episodes I had ever seen, when I first watched it as a teen in 1994. UM did not even mention the 20 years of harassing phone calls by Blair when it aired......

It's been 40 years, and in the remote chance Amy was alive, she would be 57 today.

I enjoyed your post and also remember watching this as a teen in 1994.
Not trying to be pedantic, but your post also reminds me how time can truly fly by....especially when I think of my parents, who were also teens in the '70s.

It's actually been 50 years! Amy Billig would be approaching 70 and
Tammy Lynn Leppert will be 60 next year!

I hope both are resolved eventually, but I think both are no longer on this earth.

I watched this segment yesterday and the update at the end basically says what this (https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/02/27/24-year-old-mystery-is-solved-detective-says/) article says: Amy was picked up and taken to a party by the bikers who raped her and eventually forced her to do too many drugs and she overdosed. Case closed.

But something about this theory is...off. I have not read the book referenced several times in this thread, but Susan Billig made it a point to mention that Amy would call and check in with her parents for everything. Going off to grab something for lunch and then deciding to go party with a bunch of bikers without telling anyone would be so far out of left field for someone like her to have done. The "biker theory" has never really felt right to me. This (https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7203954,-80.2493721,3a,75y,76.73h,70.66t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqm1qSuBSef_pQtxrfU7mMg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D19.340598770925936%26panoid%3Dqm1qSuBSef_pQtxrfU7mMg%26yaw%3D76.73032147373684!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDExMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) is where construction workers observed her hitchhiking. Not some major highway or anything. Someone local (or visiting someone local) had to have been involved.

I watched this segment yesterday and the update at the end basically says what this (https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/02/27/24-year-old-mystery-is-solved-detective-says/) article says: Amy was picked up and taken to a party by the bikers who raped her and eventually forced her to do too many drugs and she overdosed. Case closed.

But something about this theory is...off. I have not read the book referenced several times in this thread, but Susan Billig made it a point to mention that Amy would call and check in with her parents for everything. Going off to grab something for lunch and then deciding to go party with a bunch of bikers without telling anyone would be so far out of left field for someone like her to have done. The "biker theory" has never really felt right to me. This (https://www.google.com/maps/@25.7203954,-80.2493721,3a,75y,76.73h,70.66t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqm1qSuBSef_pQtxrfU7mMg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D19.340598770925936%26panoid%3Dqm1qSuBSef_pQtxrfU7mMg%26yaw%3D76.73032147373684!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDExMC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D) is where construction workers observed her hitchhiking. Not some major highway or anything. Someone local (or visiting someone local) had to have been involved.

Having read the book, I don't believe the update at all. Paul Branch was a liar who manipulated and fleeced Susan for many years. While there were many leads that I don't blame Susan for thinking sounded like Amy, I believe it was an act of opportunity by a predator driving through the area, not a biker gang who was responsible for the crime. Paul Branch simply was not credible and--you guessed it--his widow wasn't either. She was paid for the interview and confession.

Having read the book, I don't believe the update at all. Paul Branch was a liar who manipulated and fleeced Susan for many years. While there were many leads that I don't blame Susan for thinking sounded like Amy, I believe it was an act of opportunity by a predator driving through the area, not a biker gang who was responsible for the crime. Paul Branch simply was not credible and--you guessed it--his widow wasn't either. She was paid for the interview and confession.

I have not read the book. I have read other information. I knew a few guys who had been bikers on the east coast during that time. They left that life but would occasionly talk about it. First they refer to their organization as a club or by name. The Outlaws and the Pagans are rival organizations. Membership includes diverse people and personalities.

Amy's mother allegedly contacted The Outlaws through her lawyer. They are supposed to have told her Amy would be returned if she was found in Outlaw territory. Then she was contacted and told to forget it. They must have found out Amy was dead and not recoverable.
Paul Branch a member of the Pagans fleeced Susan for over a decade. His deathbed confession is the only thing he said that sounds credible. He knew Amy was dead all along.

Hitch hiking was common and relatively safe in 1974. A mile on a flat road could take 20 minutes at a leisure amble. Amy was wearing platform cork soled sandals. Fashionable but impracticle footwear. In my opinion she was overconfident and willing accepted a ride with a Pagan and obviously things didn't go her way.

Her story is pretty crazy. I think she was likely abducted, assaulted and killed within a short time period. It's bad enough that they killed her, but leading her mom for years on was just as bad.

The show didn't say it, but I bet her being missing as opposed to confirmed dead also caused additional problems. They probably could have done more, charged some people and so forth had she been confirmed dead.

There are many other segments like this one where the families get taken by scammers. Another Amy comes to mind, Amy Bradley.

I have not read the book. I have read other information. I knew a few guys who had been bikers on the east coast during that time. They left that life but would occasionly talk about it. First they refer to their organization as a club or by name. The Outlaws and the Pagans are rival organizations. Membership includes diverse people and personalities.

Amy's mother allegedly contacted The Outlaws through her lawyer. They are supposed to have told her Amy would be returned if she was found in Outlaw territory. Then she was contacted and told to forget it. They must have found out Amy was dead and not recoverable.
Paul Branch a member of the Pagans fleeced Susan for over a decade. His deathbed confession is the only thing he said that sounds credible. He knew Amy was dead all along.

Hitch hiking was common and relatively safe in 1974. A mile on a flat road could take 20 minutes at a leisure amble. Amy was wearing platform cork soled sandals. Fashionable but impracticle footwear. In my opinion she was overconfident and willing accepted a ride with a Pagan and obviously things didn't go her way.

The bikers knew she was dead like anybody else impartial-she got into a strangers car, it was the wrong guy & she was never seen again. At least one gang had no interest in stringing her along for cash or kicks, unlike the other gang, the crazy guy who stalked her with the hoax calls for 20 odd years, the psychic phonies, the guy over here in the UK etc.

There are many other segments like this one where the families get taken by scammers. Another Amy comes to mind, Amy Bradley.

So sad that these families would rather believe horrible scenarios where their daughters have been sex trafficked & kept in captivity for years & eventually decades, than face the far more palatable reality-daughter hitched, guy raped & killed her quickly & inebriated daughter falls overboard on a cruise ship in the early hours & these ludicrous James Bond like global plots the scammers come up with to part them from their cash.

I've only just heard the update. Sounds like people generally don't buy it.

It's sad that some people have this bonkers mindset. It almost gives off a "who cares," attitude to a tragedy because the person was not perfect. The problem with this thinking is that NOBODY is perfect.

I remember feeling this in the Kurt Sova thread a couple years back when a poster had a blase comment trying to downgrade the seriousness of his death because "he was on a path to nowhere," and such wouldn't have been much of a functional and well-rounded adult. So, because he skipped school one day and attended a party, he was forever doomed character-wise and should be remembered that way...which is incredibly stupid. Imagine someone holding every dumb thing you did as a 17-year-old as justification for not respecting you today.

Your comment reminded me of the Ohio prostitute murders. Michael Berens made the comment that (paraphrasing) a missing prostitute wouldn’t be pursued like a missing housewife. Some have called his comment cold, and it is, but it’s not because he is a cold person. It’s cold because it’s the truth. He’s absolutely right and I think some people don’t like hearing it. Deny it or not, victims are negatively judged constantly. That’s why even to this day women are still afraid to come forward after being raped.

Your comment reminded me of the Ohio prostitute murders. Michael Berens made the comment that (paraphrasing) a missing prostitute wouldn’t be pursued like a missing housewife. Some have called his comment cold, and it is, but it’s not because he is a cold person. It’s cold because it’s the truth. He’s absolutely right and I think some people don’t like hearing it. Deny it or not, victims are negatively judged constantly. That’s why even to this day women are still afraid to come forward after being raped.

Some Police departments in the past considered missing/murdered prostitutes/drug addicts as "NHI" cases.

"No Humans Involved."

I just read what everyone has said here, and I'm thinking a few things based on that, my experience with human behavior, and my gut.

First, I really hope there is an afterlife and Amy and her parents are reunited and her mother finally knows what happened and is at peace.

The UK story has to be false. You need a passport to go to any other country and at one time you needed to apply for visas, even as Americans. How do bikers take a broad to another country without a passport and if they can smuggle her, why risk it?

Appendix scars are fairly common. My cousin told me all three of her kids had to get their appendixes removed. It was either a guess or someone told him. Wasn't there also a time where they were removing healthy appendixes to prevent possible deaths from a ruptured appendix?

Hearing the mother, and likely the bikers seeing the house, they figured she had money to spare and that she viewed them as "lower" class and figured they will take the "uppety" white High life New York broad for whatever they can, and did. They probably were just as disgusted with her and she was of them. They were different worlds that neither liked or understood each other. The best con is when you string your mark along always just missing their target, so they get hooked and keep trying. It's an ego thing being so close not wanting to give up, just try a little harder, you don't stop to think you're being scammed. Think about a gambler at a slot machine thinking any moment it will pay out because they think they're close. They're not.

Why do you guys believe Paul really got hurt at the bar? Was it because he said he was hurt? Always assume someone is a liar until you can verify what they said is true. He did not meet up with Amy's mother again after that. He figured he got what he could out of her or his cronies told him not to go any further so they can stay under the radar. That bar scene was false if it actually happened. The confession was a lie by the girlfriend. That's obvious.

I think part of Amy's mother's pursuit was for the attention she got as well. Call me crass for saying it if you want. I don't doubt she wanted to find her daughter, but the victim's attention she got may have done something for her too.

My gut tells me she died as a result of hitchhiking. She was picked up by a white male or 2 between the ages of 18 and 40. The driver may have been an acquaintance or someone she knew and said he would drop her off at her father's place. As they were getting close, the car passes the location and she says it's her father's place, why won't he stop maybe he hits her then. He turns the car around to go back to where he wants to do whatever it is he wants at his place or another place. He likely was attracted to her and it was on his mind and when he saw her that day, something kicked in. Maybe while they're going back either he thought she was trying to photograph him and he threw the camera out her side window, or she did it either by accident or on purpose so people know she was there. If the camera was found on the other side of the road, that could be why it was on that side and not the side she was standing initially. I think she was murdered within an hour to 48 hours after she got in the car and was thrown in the swamp which accidentally made what the biker "confession" turn out to be true.

I think the Hank guy may have known her and had a strong attraction for her and after she went missing, he got obsessed. Maybe she told him her mother would never allow her with an older guy, so he took it out on the mother because in his mind had she been with him, she wouldn't be missing. Maybe it was a sexual thing for him too doing that to the mother that he got aroused by putting her through that in a sadist way. If all that about him is true, there has to be something seriously wrong with you to make calls like that to a missing woman's mother.

One thing that makes me wonder is her brother doesn't seem to be that into it like the mother. It could be there is information about her we don't know, something the mother didn't want to admit or accept. Maybe the brother knows something. Maybe there was a lot of arguing about her hitch hiking and he is thinking that it could be a non-biker, but the mother got obsessed believing it was a biker. We don't have all the facts. If the killer was a guy in his 30s, then he is very likely dead now.

I think the Hank guy may have known her and had a strong attraction for her and after she went missing, he got obsessed. Maybe she told him her mother would never allow her with an older guy, so he took it out on the mother because in his mind had she been with him, she wouldn't be missing. Maybe it was a sexual thing for him too doing that to the mother that he got aroused by putting her through that in a sadist way. If all that about him is true, there has to be something seriously wrong with you to make calls like that to a missing woman's mother.

It's fairly simple. Henry Blair was a sociopath, who got off on the suffering of vulnerable people. Thank God he was caught around 1995, as he had been harassing the Billig's for 20 years. At the trial, his family and colleagues defended him, as he had a good work record. However, hen he took the stand, it became clear that this man was deeply disturbed, actually blaming Billig's mother for his actions. I think he spent a couple of years in jail, and never recovered after his reputation was ruined, as well as becoming a social pariah. He died in 2006 a decade later.

PS...her mother did not know he even existed, until after Amy went missing.

One thing that makes me wonder is her brother doesn't seem to be that into it like the mother. It could be there is information about her we don't know, something the mother didn't want to admit or accept. Maybe the brother knows something. Maybe there was a lot of arguing about her hitch hiking and he is thinking that it could be a non-biker, but the mother got obsessed believing it was a biker. We don't have all the facts. If the killer was a guy in his 30s, then he is very likely dead now.

I doubt it. I think the brother may have been more grounded in reality, and accepted the fact that his sister was likely dead, and was able to heal quicker. Parents, especially mothers, will hold onto any faint hope their child was alive, regardless of the source.

I doubt it. I think the brother may have been more grounded in reality, and accepted the fact that his sister was likely dead, and was able to heal quicker. Parents, especially mothers, will hold onto any faint hope their child was alive, regardless of the source.

I'm pretty sure it is cut out of the FilmRise version, but in the original segment, you see Amy's brother and mother walking with the brother's wife and at least one of their children. They mention that Amy's father had died the year before. Susan (Amy's mother) mentions that if she can't find Amy in her lifetime, she wants Josh (Amy's brother) to continue the search.

I am sure Josh does want his sister found, but Amy's disappearance also caused a lot of distress in his own life. I believe he really wanted to (and still wants to) focus on his family and not uproot his own life to dedicate all his time to searching for Amy. She's almost certainly dead and while of course upsetting, he probably has long since accepted this.

Reading the book Susan co-authored with Greg Aunapu, you can see that Josh was still very much in the picture toward the end of Susan's life and supporting his mother even if he did not dedicate his life toward the search.

I'm pretty sure it is cut out of the FilmRise version, but in the original segment, you see Amy's brother and mother walking with the brother's wife and at least one of their children. They mention that Amy's father had died the year before. Susan (Amy's mother) mentions that if she can't find Amy in her lifetime, she wants Josh (Amy's brother) to continue the search.

The segment aired in 1994, so a lot has changed since then. At the time, the harassing phone calls were not mentioned. Additionally, the family eventually accepted that Amy was dead, and in 1998, held a private memorial service for her, with friends and family.

Sadly, in 2005, Amy's mother Susan died at age 80. Josh and the remainder of the family have moved on, although before Susan died in 2002, they did dedicate the "Amy Billig Meditation Garden" for her, in Coconut Grove.

Amy has been missing for 52 years. If alive, she would be 69.

I doubt it. I think the brother may have been more grounded in reality, and accepted the fact that his sister was likely dead, and was able to heal quicker. Parents, especially mothers, will hold onto any faint hope their child was alive, regardless of the source.

I take the converse interpretation.

Parents are much more likely to have a level of dedication and devotion that will sustain them through a life consuming search for the truth.

Siblings are more likely to want to prioritize their own lives and be unwilling to dedicate their life to finding someone in the way that a parent would.

There are of course exceptions, but its common in these cases for siblings, who likely realize that their parents are right deep down, to see a likely futile search as a barrier to the rest of their life and thus adjust their beliefs about what happened to remove that barrier.

The segment aired in 1994, so a lot has changed since then. At the time, the harassing phone calls were not mentioned. Additionally, the family eventually accepted that Amy was dead, and in 1998, held a private memorial service for her, with friends and family.

Sadly, in 2005, Amy's mother Susan died at age 80. Josh and the remainder of the family have moved on, although before Susan died in 2002, they did dedicate the "Amy Billig Meditation Garden" for her, in Coconut Grove.

Amy has been missing for 52 years. If alive, she would be 69.

Yes, I'm aware of all this. I think that Susan knew her daughter was dead after a few years, but getting these leads would make her wonder and she felt she just had to chase them because of the tiny chance her daughter could still be out there. And of course, that made her the target of many con artists and harassers. I have to wonder if she asked UM not to talk about Henry Blair or if UM decided not to because the segment was so long already and he was almost certainly a hoaxster.

It's really a shame the family never got closure. Finding Amy's remains would at least have brought them something. A deathbed confession from a guy who lied repeatedly before and fleeced the Billigs of money (and also cost money to receive, by the way. The confessor's girlfriend was paid for it.) wasn't enough.

It's really a shame the family never got closure. Finding Amy's remains would at least have brought them something. A deathbed confession from a guy who lied repeatedly before and fleeced the Billigs of money (and also cost money to receive, by the way. The confessor's girlfriend was paid for it.) wasn't enough.

Are you sure that you are thinking of the right person. I know the guy who allegedly had his legs broken was the main culprit in fleecing the Billings. I did not think the other biker bothered Amy's family for money...at least initially.

I take the converse interpretation.

Parents are much more likely to have a level of dedication and devotion that will sustain them through a life consuming search for the truth.

Siblings are more likely to want to prioritize their own lives and be unwilling to dedicate their life to finding someone in the way that a parent would.

There are of course exceptions, but its common in these cases for siblings, who likely realize that their parents are right deep down, to see a likely futile search as a barrier to the rest of their life and thus adjust their beliefs about what happened to remove that barrier.

If something happened to a sibling of mine, I would move heaven and earth to get justice.

Are you sure that you are thinking of the right person. I know the guy who allegedly had his legs broken was the main culprit in fleecing the Billings. I did not think the other biker bothered Amy's family for money...at least initially.

Same guy, Paul Branch. He repeatedly took money from Susan Billig claiming he needed it to travel and find Amy. She paid for his food, hotel rooms, gas, etc. She met with him multiple times and he always had some sort of excuse as to why he couldn't get a hold of who had her. He lied to the Billigs many, many times in addition to the investigators who questioned him.

Interestingly enough, the encounter where his legs were broken is never brought up in the book. But the book does describe her meeting with him and getting on his motorcycle to speak with him as well as meeting him on other occasions. It's an infuriating read, but I absolutely recommend it so you can see the lengths Susan went to. She really left no stone unturned.

Bottom line, Branch has no credibility.

Same guy, Paul Branch. He repeatedly took money from Susan Billig claiming he needed it to travel and find Amy. She paid for his food, hotel rooms, gas, etc. She met with him multiple times and he always had some sort of excuse as to why he couldn't get a hold of who had her. He lied to the Billigs many, many times in addition to the investigators who questioned him.

Interestingly enough, the encounter where his legs were broken is never brought up in the book. But the book does describe her meeting with him and getting on his motorcycle to speak with him as well as meeting him on other occasions. It's an infuriating read, but I absolutely recommend it so you can see the lengths Susan went to. She really left no stone unturned.

Bottom line, Branch has no credibility.


Regardless of who spoke out among the bikers, the evidence points towards foul play. The fact that her camera was discovered a 3 hour drive north of Miami, off a turnpike, and the fact that there have been no credible sightings of AMy since the date she vanished, leads me to believe she was killed 24-48 hours upon her kidnapping.

The story of being abducted, raped and killed at a biker party seems most likely, especially if they threw her in a swamp in the Florida everglades, would make sure her body was never found. However, there is always the possibility that a lone male who was not a biker could have abducted and killed her as well.

The fact is, that from what I have read, I would think her getting into a vehicle of a loan male, something would have come up in the past 50 years. For all the smoke and mirrors that the bikers have subjected investigators and the family to, the fact is that there was a group of bikers that was seen around the same time Amy was hitchhiking, and around the same location.

I wish I could read more about this case, or at least have access to Police files, but my gut instinct leads me to believe she was indeed abducted by bikers.

Same guy, Paul Branch. He repeatedly took money from Susan Billig claiming he needed it to travel and find Amy. She paid for his food, hotel rooms, gas, etc. She met with him multiple times and he always had some sort of excuse as to why he couldn't get a hold of who had her. He lied to the Billigs many, many times in addition to the investigators who questioned him.

Interestingly enough, the encounter where his legs were broken is never brought up in the book. But the book does describe her meeting with him and getting on his motorcycle to speak with him as well as meeting him on other occasions. It's an infuriating read, but I absolutely recommend it so you can see the lengths Susan went to. She really left no stone unturned.

Bottom line, Branch has no credibility.

I just read some facts about the case, and it was a different man, who strung along Amy's mother. His name was David (not Paul Branch), and he claimed he could return Amy to her. He was the guy that had his legs supposedly broken in Oklahoma in the late 70s. Incidentally, Branch was questioned along with several other bikers in the area in 1974, but denied any knowledge regarding Amy's whereabouts to Susan and the Police.

Incidentally, Amy wrote about a man named "Hank" in her journal in 1974, as she had somehow befriended him, as he wanted Amy to accompany him to South America, where he was going to be posted for his job at the time. "Hank" was the nickname of Henry Blair, the harassing caller of over 20 years. Incidentally, he was arrested at his job as a customs officer. It was discovered that he indeed went to South America in the mid 70s, as part of his job posting.

In spite of this, Blair denied any involvement. However, the odds of Amy exchanging contact with a "Hank" that happened to work as a customs agent, and being invited to go to South America with him, (investigators later discovered Blair did indeed work in South America), to have absolutely no involvement in her disappearance, only to harass the family for 20 years, seems highly unlikely.

I would assume Police conducted an intensive investigation of Henry Blair, and found no evidence linking him to her disappearance, but stranger things have happened.

Regardless of who spoke out among the bikers, the evidence points towards foul play. The fact that her camera was discovered a 3 hour drive north of Miami, off a turnpike, and the fact that there have been no credible sightings of AMy since the date she vanished, leads me to believe she was killed 24-48 hours upon her kidnapping.

The story of being abducted, raped and killed at a biker party seems most likely, especially if they threw her in a swamp in the Florida everglades, would make sure her body was never found. However, there is always the possibility that a lone male who was not a biker could have abducted and killed her as well.

The fact is, that from what I have read, I would think her getting into a vehicle of a loan male, something would have come up in the past 50 years. For all the smoke and mirrors that the bikers have subjected investigators and the family to, the fact is that there was a group of bikers that was seen around the same time Amy was hitchhiking, and around the same location.

I wish I could read more about this case, or at least have access to Police files, but my gut instinct leads me to believe she was indeed abducted by bikers.

I think Amy was abducted and killed as well, whether by bikers or not. I do not believe she was the girl known as "Mute" seen with bikers, and I don't think she was alive for long after her abduction. It was probably very quick, and her camera was tossed out of the car by the perpetrator after he disposed of her.

As for Paul Branch, he may not have been the one who had his legs broken, but he did many of the activities depicted in the segment by the same man, and he took money, brought Susan to his home on a motorcycle, and strung her along for ages with many false leads. I don't think he was credible at all, and I don't think he knew anything about the crime itself. It was all a ploy to get money.

Henry Blair could have been responsible, but there's just so little evidence besides the diary entry and the potential match in the roll of film to his vehicle. It's a real shame.

Unless Amy was found and remains unidentified, I think it's pretty much hopeless any trace of her will be found due to the Florida climate. But I hope I'm wrong.

I think Amy was abducted and killed as well, whether by bikers or not. I do not believe she was the girl known as "Mute" seen with bikers,

The whole "mute" thing is just UM sensationalist garbage. Like tons of other cases UM profiled, ratings dictated what they did and did not show. See the Anthonette Cayedito case as a prime example.

As for Paul Branch, he may not have been the one who had his legs broken, but he did many of the activities depicted in the segment by the same man,

Again, the best way to research the case, is to ignore everything on the UM segment, and disregard it completely. When I was a kid, it was my favorite show, and I believed what was televised word-for-word. However 15 years ago, I learned that the producers of the show would compromise facts, in place of what generated ratings.

Amy being led around by bikers for 20 years, and even ending up in the UK in 1992, made for great ratings. The actuall evidence of the case did not.

The whole "mute" thing is just UM sensationalist garbage. Like tons of other cases UM profiled, ratings dictated what they did and did not show. See the Anthonette Cayedito case as a prime example.



Again, the best way to research the case, is to ignore everything on the UM segment, and disregard it completely. When I was a kid, it was my favorite show, and I believed what was televised word-for-word. However 15 years ago, I learned that the producers of the show would compromise facts, in place of what generated ratings.

Amy being led around by bikers for 20 years, and even ending up in the UK in 1992, made for great ratings. The actuall evidence of the case did not.

I remember as a kid thinking that the vegetarian soup part sounded so convincing, only to realize that even if the convenience store worker was telling the truth, it wasn't the lead that it seemed. Reminds me of the eyewitness testimony of people who were "absolutely certain" they saw someone who had actually been dead the whole time. It made for great, compelling television.

It is true that Susan Billig got many "leads" like this from people on her odyssey to find her daughter. Some may have been from well-meaning people; others were obvious con artists.

UM did cherry pick a lot of things for this case, didn't include a lot of other facts, and did what they could for the ratings. You would think that the Glasser boys extortion and Henry Blair's calls would have made for better sensationalism, but it's possible that Susan asked them not to talk about those.

Not this case, but a UM exclusion I find pretty glaring is whenever there is a "suicide v. murder" case, they often omit that the gun belonged to the victim. So to be clear, I'm agreeing with you that UM isn't the credible source we may all have thought it to be when younger. I still love reading all the articles I can find on various cases to see what information was omitted/what was wrongly depicted.

Not this case, but a UM exclusion I find pretty glaring is whenever there is a "suicide v. murder" case, they often omit that the gun belonged to the victim. So to be clear, I'm agreeing with you that UM isn't the credible source we may all have thought it to be when younger. I still love reading all the articles I can find on various cases to see what information was omitted/what was wrongly depicted.

The point of no return for UM, came when they ran an episode that strongly suggested Kurt Cobain was murdered. That is just playing to conspiracy nuts.