Case Details

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This person was missing Missing Since 10/01/1999

Missing Since:

Missing Since 10/01/1999

Missing From:

Missing From Sunriver, Oregon

Classification:

Classification Endangered Missing

Gender:

Female

Race:

Race White

Date of Birth:

Date of Birth 08/11/1924 (100)

Age:

Age 75 years old

Height and Weight:

Height and Weight 5’7, 150 pounds

Clothing/Jewelry Description:

Distinguishing Characteristics:

Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Gray hair, blue eyes. Brewster wears a full set of dentures. She may use the names Frances B. Shipman and/or Frances Shipman Brewster. Brewster has had both hips replaced, the right one more recently than the left. She has previously broken her right wrist.

Details of Disappearance:

In October 1999, an elderly woman named Brewster disappeared from Sunriver, Oregon, where she lived with her son, John Shipman. Shipman claimed she was traveling with her brother-in-law, Walter Cierley, who had vanished a year earlier.

Brewster’s family reported her missing in May 2000 because they hadn’t heard from her. Police investigations also uncovered Cierley’s disappearance. They found that Shipman had been illegally cashing both Brewster’s and Cierley’s Social Security checks after they went missing.

In September 2001, Shipman committed suicide with a shotgun when police tried to arrest him on unrelated domestic violence charges. He was also facing federal charges for stealing the Social Security money.

Although Shipman never confessed, police believe he killed both his mother and uncle and buried their bodies somewhere in central Oregon. Their bodies have never been found, and investigators strongly suspect foul play.

Agency:

Bend Police Department 541-388-5550

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