Case Details
- Photo URLs:
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- Missing Since:
- Missing Since 07/19/1977
- Missing From:
- Missing From Los Angeles County, California
- Classification:
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Gender:
- Female
- Race:
- Race Black
- Date of Birth:
- Date of Birth 09/05/1969 (55)
- Age:
- Age 7 years old
- Height and Weight:
- Height and Weight 4’0, 55 pounds
- Clothing/Jewelry Description:
- Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue jumpsuit.
- Distinguishing Characteristics:
- Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Some agencies list Yolanda’s middle name as Maria.
- Details of Disappearance:
- In 1977, a family lived in Los Angeles: Earlene Williams, her daughter Yolanda, and Earlene’s daughters Violet and Ivy. One night, a boy, Sir-Kristopher Marshall, was sleeping over. A fire destroyed their house. Earlene was found strangled. The children were missing. A blood trail led from the house to a nearby street, suggesting someone escaped in a car. The fire started in the kids’ bedroom.
Earlene’s estranged husband, James (Yolanda’s father), was a suspect. He’d been accused of molesting and raping Ivy the previous year. After the fire, James was questioned, released, then arrested for Earlene’s murder. He was later seen with the missing children at a restaurant, but he was picked up later that day by friends without the children. He claimed his car broke down, but had a cut hand.
James was charged with murdering Earlene and the four missing children. The girls were set to testify against him in the molestation case. He was tried twice for murder, but the juries couldn’t reach a verdict. The charges were eventually dropped in 1979. Years later, Ivy’s remains were found. Yolanda, Violet, and Sir-Kristopher have never been found.
- Agency:
- Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department 562-465-7816
- Source Links:
This person was missing Missing Since 07/19/1977