Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 11/15/1982
- Missing From:
- Missing From Tampa, Florida
- Classification:
- Classification Non-Family Abduction
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race Hispanic
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 06/08/1975 (49)
- Age:
- Age 7 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 3’6 – 4’0, 60 – 70 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A pink or orange knee-length dress with yellow flowers printed on it, maroon ballet shoes, heart-shaped gold post earrings, a gold necklace, a hair comb with ribbons and flowers, and peach-colored polish and silver glitter on her fingernails.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics Hispanic female. Black hair, brown eyes. Jennifer has moles or beauty marks on the upper part of her chest, on the right side of her nose near her eye, and on her collarbone. She has a mole on the back of her right thigh. Her ears are pierced. She has a cleft in her chin and her upper front teeth are large, crooked and chipped. Jennifer’s nickname is Firecracker. She is of Cuban, Lebanese and Italian descent. She walks pigeon-toed and one of her shoulders is lower than the other.
- Details of Disappearance:
- Jennifer, a second-grader, vanished on November 15, 1982, in Tampa, Florida. She was almost home from school when she disappeared. A friend briefly looked away, and Jennifer was gone.
Her parents were divorced, and she lived with her father and stepmother, though her mother had custody. Family tensions were high, with accusations flying between both sides after Jennifer’s disappearance. Police investigated the family but eventually cleared them.
Police suspected a family friend, Thomas Welnicki, a man with a criminal record. Welnicki claimed a “psychic vision” of Jennifer’s abduction and murder by two men – one older with a criminal record, and a blond man in his twenties Jennifer knew. Welnicki fits the description of the younger man. Authorities thought his story was a confession, but he denied it. A lie detector test was inconclusive due to his medication. Welnicki was never charged.
Jennifer’s disappearance remains a mystery. Her mother wrote a book about it, hoping to find answers.
- Agency:
- Tampa Police Department 813-273-0770
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 11/15/1982