WI--After car wreck, no woman (but car in river)
Kris Baker
Washington County -- Police are still looking for a woman after her car was
found in the Milwaukee River earlier today in the Town of Farmington.
After Kathy Van Altena's car was towed out of the water, rescuers found
major damage to the front end and windshield. Police think Van Altena hit a
retaining wall of a two-lane bridge over the Milwaukee River and went into
the water.
"We know she was southbound on trading post trail and went into the river,"
said Captain Steve Gonwa.
Washington County divers spent hours searching the murky water of the
Milwaukee River. Authorities found the car in 4 feet of water. Divers combed
the water near the scene while others walked the riverbank and a section of
the river looking for evidence.
"At this point we've been contacting friends, family, acquaintances anyone
who would have contact with her and we not been able to locate her," said
Gonwa.
Van Altena was last seen leaving the Fillmore House Tavern at about 2 a.m.
Police said she called a friend a half hour later and told him she had been
in an accident. Investigators say the keys were missing from the car.
"Our feeling at this point is she probably did exit the vehicle after the
accident, and we're hopefully she made it to the roadway and found the way
home," said Gonwa
Police said they contacted Kathy's parents, but still don't know where she
is. They are asking anyone with information to call the Washington County
Sheriff's Department
JonesieCat
"Kris Baker" <paralle...@ggmail.com> wrote in message
news:7k3mk0F...@mid.individual.net...
The reminds me of the young woman in - was it Vermont? Somewhere back East
(couple of years ago) she packed her car, told lies about why she was
leaving univ and work, and drove off into a snowy countryside. She hit a
tree, remember? And the bus driver who lived down the road stopped for a
minute & spoke w/her. 10 minutes later when LE arrived, she'd disappeared
forever.
Hope the one in article above didn't wander drunkenly back to the water and
fall in.
jc
Kris Baker
news:8ecDm.48825$ze1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
>
> The reminds me of the young woman in - was it Vermont? Somewhere back East
> (couple of years ago) she packed her car, told lies about why she was
> leaving univ and work, and drove off into a snowy countryside. She hit a
> tree, remember? And the bus driver who lived down the road stopped for a
> minute & spoke w/her. 10 minutes later when LE arrived, she'd disappeared
> forever.
>
> Hope the one in article above didn't wander drunkenly back to the water
> and fall in.
>
> jc
Bingo. I hadn't thought about Maura Murray.
Someone put together a pretty good Wikipedia page about it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Maura_Murray
I have to admit that I like the Wikipedia format much better
than the pages that CourtTV volunteers wrote...which went on
forever, page after page.
They link to a VERY detailed report about the minutes after her
accident. Wow. wow. wow.
http://whitmanhansonexpress.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76:maura-is-missing-part-ii-the-accident&catid=912&Itemid=83
I still kinda wonder about xxxx. Especially after
reading about his two different versions of his contact
with Maura. She either pleaded with him to not call the
police, or told him that she'd already called AAA.
Kris
Kris Baker
news:8ecDm.48825$ze1....@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>
>
> and fall in.
>
> jc
Really.
http://www.wisn.com/news/21343705/detail.html
There's a bit of an update, about the call being "garbled" and so they don't
know if it came before or after the accident. You'd think by now, they'd
have cellphone records.
Search Still On For Woman Whose Car Crashed Into River
Family Keeps Hope That Driver Is OK
POSTED: 7:30 pm CDT October 19, 2009
UPDATED: 9:28 am CDT October 20, 2009
WEST BEND, Wis. -- Police and her parents remain stumped after a West Bend
woman's car ended up in a river early Sunday morning, but she wasn't found.
Apparently she was able to get out of the vehicle.
But it's been a few days, and still no one has heard from 39-year-old Kathy
Van Altena.
Her parents begged her to phone home.
Police are hopeful that she is OK, but her family and friends are heartsick
waiting for some sign of Van Altena.
The Van Altenas said their phone has been ringing off the hook since Kathy
vanished, but none has been the call they've been praying for.
"I know she was so depressed about leaving that job," Gloria Van Altena,
Kathy's mother, said.
Her parents said Van Altena recently had a stretch of bad luck. She lost her
job after a car accident left her unable to do the work, but they said she
would not have driven into the river on purpose. Police found her car half
submerged in the Milwaukee River on Sunday morning.
"It just doesn't make sense that she would just be gone," Gloria Van Altena
said.
Van Altena was at a party at Sherry Baerber's house Saturday night above the
Fillmore House Tavern, but she left without saying goodbye. Her car went in
the river a half mile up the road.
"From leaving my driveway up, is what, a half mile? How do you fall asleep
in that short of a period? That doesn't fit," Baerber said.
Baerber said she is overwhelmed by not knowing where Van Altena is.
"You don't know how to feel. You're so mad at her for leaving, but then
you're so upset and worried cause she's not there," Baerber said.
Friends combed the area and divers searched the river all day Sunday, but
came up with nothing.
Her parents said they are hopeful she's OK because her keys were not in her
car, plus a friend in Milwaukee got a call from Van Altena's phone around 2
a.m. Sunday. However, the message was garbled, so it's unclear whether the
call came before or after the accident. Van Altena's parents are hoping
someone has seen her since.
"If anybody sees her, or if she can, [tell her] to call home," Gloria Van
Altena said. "Tell her to call home. We'll get her no matter where she is."
Van Altena was last seen wearing light blue jeans, a black sweatshirt, and
boots. Police said her cell phone is out of service.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Washington County
Sheriff's Department at 262 - 335 - 4411.
Kris Baker
>
> http://www.wisn.com/news/21343705/detail.html
>
>
> Van Altena was at a party at Sherry Baerber's house Saturday night above the
> Fillmore House Tavern, but she left without saying goodbye. Her car went in
> the river a half mile up the road.
OK. She left "without saying a word". Did anyone see her
leave? The party was at a house above a bar.
I don't think she was in the car. Someone else was driving
it, and their mistake is that they took the keys out of the
ignition when they left it. It wasn't totally in the river, either.
Here's the bar, and the apartment(s) above it. You can zoom
out and see the river, which is tiny at that point....only a mile
away. If she was super-drunk, why would she crash *at*
the river?
http://snurl.com/sm9d3 [maps_google_com]
Kris
M
Doing the google "Travel down the road" thing, it looks like that is
one of he few places where, if you go off the rad, you might not be
able to just back up and drive back on.
I'm guessing taht seh was driving intoxicated and is hiding out -
first worried about the law, and now due to embasrrassment.
Mick
JonesieCat
You always did wonder about the bus driver IIRC?
Here's what's odd to me: (from the first link) A rag from Maura's emergency
roadside kit was discovered stuffed into the Saturn's muffler pipe.[9]
And the cadaver dogs reacting in a nearby A-frame house closet? Who died??
Then from the 2nd link: (disregarding the neighbors who couldn't agree on
what they saw ) whether Maura stuffed the rag in the tailpipe herself and
what her motivation was.
Stuffing a rag into a tail pipe would stall the vehicle and it would
eventually kill the engine, according to Ferry's Automotive in Hanson.
Plugging the tailpipe can also be a way to check for leaks in a vehicle's
exhaust system. While carbon monoxide poisoning is a common method of
attempting suicide, it would normally require a means of feeding the deadly
gas back into the vehicle, such as by hose or in a confined space.
When asked if Maura could have put the rag in the tailpipe, her father said
it was possible. If smoke was trailing out of the tailpipe, Maura may have
wanted to plug the pipe to avoid attracting attention from police. [jc says,
yes, espec if she was drinking, which it seems she was - coke bottle found
with red fluid]
Also from the 2nd link: Sgt. Smith found a box of Franzia wine behind the
driver's seat of the vehicle and a red liquid on the driver's side door and
ceiling of the car. (Maura's high-school friend Liz Drewniak recalls that
Maura was not a heavy drinker, but often liked to buy wine by the box. jc:
ah, but she didn't drink much? riiiiiiight) The box was damaged, perhaps in
the accident, and reddish spots resembling wine were also found on the road,
according to investigator John Healy. Sgt. Smith later recovered a coke
bottle that contained "a red liquid with a strong alcoholic odor." None of
the other bottles of alcohol that Maura had bought in Amherst were found in
the car. [jc: coz they were IN her]
While later reports would suggest that a witness observed Maura intoxicated
at the time of the accident, the source of that information is unclear.
Circumstantial evidence suggests Maura may have been drinking wine prior to
the crash, but Butch Atwood confirmed to a reporter for this story that
Maura did not appear intoxicated when he spoke with her. [jc: like he'd
know?]
jc: I think she'd been a very, very young alcoholic who grew into an expert
at covering it up. I bet she was drunk the night before when she'd hit the
rail with her dad's car, and he either never suspected or refused to admit
it. Maybe nobody ever got what a lush she'd become, her way of dealing with
the pressure. I don't believe there were any other people involved at all
now. LE speculated she probably went away to kill herself, and I bet they're
right. Many adult suicides get really drunk first. Maybe she thought she
might do it right there in the car (stuffing the tail pipe) after that last
accident, and was so drunk... - until she realized how long it would take
for carbon monoxide to do it. So she walked until she stumbled into the
nearby river and went in. No telling why the dogs didn't track her more than
100 yds. Family still in the Nile.
Of course that doesn't explain what the cadaver smelled in the closet of
that A-Frame house...
jc
JonesieCat
"M" <mc...@pitt.edu> wrote in message
news:281eee4b-83f0-4223...@e34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
Mick
----------
Can't disagree. Pretty cold to not call the family though. I wonder if she
met someone who was driving her car, and they drunkenly absconded together
after the accident? Making her even MORE embarrassed?
jc
Kris Baker
I hadn't remembered anything about a rag in the tailpipe.
If someone stuffed the rag in the tailpipe, I'm thinking she did it
....as a suicide attempt. While her father wants to deny that, she
did purposely disappear, with enough alcohol to kill someone.
OR....maybe the rag was acting as a "flare" kind of warning? There's
no description of it. Stuffed in, hanging out, red, yellow, black?
But that still doesn't explain how she evaporated into thin air.
If I were searching for my own daughter, I'd have kept some of
that carpet from the A-frame and had it tested myself.
It's kinda sloppy police work. But they're operating on the
"she wanted to disappear and she was an adult" laziness.
It's like Lark Montague from Utah. Backed out of her driveway
about three years ago, and neither she nor the large SUV have
been seen since.
Kris
Kris Baker
http://www.wisn.com/news/21355909/detail.html
WEST BEND, Wis. -- The West Bend woman who disappeared after her car was
found submerged in the Milwaukee River has been found dead.
Kathy Van Altena was missing after her car was found in the Milwaukee River
near Fillmore on Sunday.
Van Altena's family had hopes of finding her alive, but her body was
discovered Tuesday afternoon.
Her body was discovered near the crash scene by members of a civilian dog
search team.
An autopsy was being done Wednesday morning, and the Washington County
Sheriff's Department is expected to hold a news conference Wednesday
afternoon.