Rita Lorraine Jolly

I would like to take a moment to tell you about Rita Lorraine Jolly who has been missing since 1973 and her sister’s mission to bring awareness to her case.

Rita’s parents had met while attending the University of Minnesota and would eventually open and run a law office together. Rita’s father Donald was an attorney and Mary Elizabeth her mother was his legal assistant.

Rita, Lorraine Jolley was born on December 6 th 1955, and was the baby of the family. She had two older brothers and one older sister Jill.

Rita and her siblings grew up in West Linn, Oregon, where Rita found a love for nature, and animals, writing poetry, reading books, and creating art.

Rita’s parents had been raised during the Great Depression and while that made them frugal it also led to them raising their children to strive to be educated and encouraged them to make independent decisions and think out complex problems and situations.

While Rita enjoyed nature, animals, friends, and family her true passion was writing and her artwork. Jill has to this day folders filled with Rita’s writings and artwork.

Jill has said despite having all these folders with artwork and writings she struggles to dive into them as it’s very emotionally draining. She feels like these pieces give such an intimate view into her sister’s mind and can feel the anguish in them.

Growing up Rita at times struggled to regulate her emotions and her parents would reach out to a child psychologist for help. In Rita’s junior year of high school, she faced constant bullying for being different from the kids in her class.

Rita’s parents supported her through this and even went as far as defending her to the school administrators and pressured the school to look at its culture of bullying and work on improving it.

Jill says looking back now she believes Rita may have been on the spectrum but that’s not something that was recognized or considered back then.

As a senior Rita would attend Clackamas Community College through a program for scholastically advanced high school seniors.

This got her out of high school and allowed her to focus on her creative writing and art. Rita flourished in this environment and despite not attending her senior year at Westland High School she did insist on participating in the graduation ceremony with her class in June of 1973.

On June 29, 1973, Rita decided to do something that she did all the time that was completely normal for her. She decided that she was going to take a walk. It was 7:15 PM still quite sunny out when Rita walked out the door, smiling at her parents as she walked past, that would be the last time they saw her smile.

Just like every other walk that she had taken before this one, Rita left the house without any of her personal belongings no money, and no extra clothes. Nothing pointed to Rita not coming back through that door like she always did.

When Rita didn’t make it home that night, she was reported missing. There would be witness reports that Rita was last seen in the Robinwood area or Sunset Avenue around 830 to 9 p.m. There would also be reports that Rita was seen on E Main Street of Oregon City near the Oregon City Arch bridge at 9:30 PM.

The very following night two young men would report to police that they had tried to pick up a girl that they thought matched the description of Rita, but they don’t believe that this young lady they were talking about was Rita. However, unfortunately, the men did not leave their names when they made this report so law enforcement was not able to fully follow this lead to gather more information

Rita’s parents did not believe Rita ran away. Rita’s father described her as a loner and independent, more mature than her 17 years of age. Rita had been on a few dates and had a small circle of friends and had earned nearly perfect grades, nothing stuck out to her parents as a reason she would walk away from her life.

Rita’s parents sent letters out to the media, law enforcement, and so many others asking for help finding their daughter. A quote from one of the letters Rita’s father wrote reads quote

“This may well be the last chance we will ever have to help our missing and beloved daughter, and I cannot describe to you the depth of our heartbreak over her disappearance.”

“ The price of senseless violence everywhere is paid in morning and sorrow, often never known to the hard and uncaring ones who may have caused a lifetime of melancholy memories for the survivors”

It’s been 50 years and the jolly family still has no answers. And foul play is suspected and Rita‘s case and there have been five possible suspects that have been identified along the way.

Jill told uncovered about the investigation quote “The truth is that we really don’t know what happened to her. We all have theories.

Our dad thought she had called several times mostly just silence on the phone but once he said that he heard her voice say “Mom, mom, dad, then click the phone hanging up.

Could she have gotten involved in a cult or some situation where it was hard to leave?

I find myself wondering how folks can help with solving the mystery of what happened to Rita after 50 years I don’t think it’s likely that we will have answers before all of us who knew her are gone from this earth.

The advent of DNA gave us so much hope but the number of unidentified bodies, and the expense and difficulty of the tests has been discouraging. It’s not a quick fix nonetheless, perhaps someday she will be one of the humans who are given their name back”. Unquote

Please share Rita’s story on whatever platform you’re most comfortable with even if that includes word-of-mouth. Let’s help Jill find the answers to what happened to her sister 50 years ago.

At the time of Rita’s disappearance, she was 17 years old, 5’6″, 130 lbs. with long, light-brown hair. She was last seen wearing a brown Pendleton shirt, army fatigue pants, or blue jeans, and low-cut blue tennis shoes. She walks with an uneven stride.

If you know anything about the disappearance of Rita Jolly, please reach out to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. You can reach Detective James White at 505-785-5000 or Detective Eric Lee at 503-785-5140

Sources and informative links:

Jill Jolly Rita’s a Sister provided photos and family information

https://uncovered.com/cases/rita-jolly#sources

For more information and to ask questions about Rita’s case please visit Finley Creek Jane Doe page as Mel has worked directly with Jill on Rita’s case. Mel Jederberg runs all Finley Creek Jane Doe social medias and is happy to answer inquiries in Rita’s case.

TikTok @finleycreekjanedoe