The Mysterious Disappearance of the Humboldt Five

What’s the Big Deal About Humboldt County?

Humboldt County sits in Northern California and is home to a large portion of the Coastal Redwoods forest. It’s about 250 miles north of San Francisco and is largely made up of dense forest. In 2021, Humboldt county had a population of just over 136,000, with a large portion of their population being college students, transients from out of state, and those looking for a more low-key life. 

There’s an area in Humboldt County called Alderpoint, which is often referred to as “Murder Mountain”. It got its name after a couple, James and Suzan Carson, went on a murder spree in the early 1980’s. The area is also known for its heavy black market marijuana production. Since the 70’s, the area has been a hotspot for illicit marijuana production because of how isolated it is. Since then, the area’s booming economy for marijuana and free-spirited reputation has attracted more and more people to the Humboldt County area. 

Humboldt County also lies within an area known as the Emerald Triangle. Along with two other counties, Humboldt completes an upside down triangle that makes up the largest cannabis-producing region. As the market for marijuana grew and the land was readily available, the need for workers on the marijuana farms also grew. Many of these workers came from Humboldt State University, particularly in the summer. Trimming the marijuana buds seemed like a relatively easy way for college kids to make money, but there were stories of abuse that came along with it. 

Some said that they’d have to perform oral sex on their bosses to get paid, while others said that they were offered more money to trim buds topless. There was even a story that two growers began having a sexual relationship with one of their trimmers. Not wanting her to run away, they locked her inside of a large toolbox. Though not all of these stories are verified, women who’ve had experience with working within the Emerald Triangle in the marijuana business didn’t often report abuse or assaults to the police. Because these were committed during the harvesting and production of illicit drugs, their stories often weren’t dealt with appropriately. Some of these women have even reported that they’ve been drugged and raped, with many rumors and accusations of human trafficking. 

With the increased population, and many of them being transient, with no familial or significant connections to the community, it’s not abnormal for people to be reported missing. Humboldt County has the highest per capita number of missing people in the state of California. While a large number of these people are located, it still remains that people seem to disappear rather frequently in this area, whether temporarily or permanently. 

Who was Jennifer Wilmer?

Jennifer Marie Wilmer was born on April 13th, 1972 and grew up in Long Island, New York. She had three siblings and was described by her brother as having “a restless, adventurous spirit”. Her mother, Susan, said that Jennifer wasn’t afraid to question authority. In elementary school, she’d yell at the nuns when they picked on students who didn’t know the answers. Susan remembered that Jennifer once asked to host her own Halloween party because she wanted to invite all of her classmates who weren’t invited to another classmate’s Halloween party. 

She attended high school in Manhasset at the private St. Mary’s High School. Jennifer was a very good student and earned a full scholarship to St. John’s University in New York City. Jennifer attended the research university for just one semester before dropping out. She told her mother, Susan, that she wanted to try to make it on her own, and left the east coast for sunny California. 

20-year-old Jennifer ended up in Arcata, California in the county of Humboldt in 1992. The town was about 200 miles north of San Francisco. Arcata was described as “a haven for postmodern hippies”. Jennifer intended to register and enroll in classes at the College of the Redwoods in nearby Eureka, but was unfortunately too late. Still intent on finding her place on the west coast, Jennifer began waitressing in the area and making friends. She spent a lot of time hanging out in the Arcata Plaza where many other young people performed street acts, met new people, and just relaxed. The area had a heavy transient community, and many people, like Jennifer, were looking to find something in their life. Most of those who frequented the Plaza area earned a nickname, and Jennifer quickly became known as Jade. She was living in a rented house with roommates and seemed to be enjoying herself for the most part. She remained in contact with her family, and Susan, her mother, felt like Jennifer would be ready to come home soon. Though Jennifer was happy to be in California and meeting new friends, she was suffering from depression and she had some difficulty being away from home. 

In the summer of 1993, the roommate that Jennifer was staying with told her that she “had to bail the scene” and was leaving. With nowhere else to go, and now jobless, Jennifer moved in with her boyfriend, Tro Patterson. Tro was a local to the area and lived in a rental house in Hawkin’s Bar, California with three roommates, Opie, Mingo, and Rebecca. Jennifer was accepting welfare at the time, but was actively looking for a job. A friend told her that there was a farm not far down the road that wasn’t currently looking for any help, but they probably would be soon. They suggested that Jennifer head down there to introduce herself anyways. 

There are two conflicting stories as to where/what Jennifer was last seen doing/going. One person said that Jennifer was last seen leaving her home to head to a travel agency to pick up a one-way plane ticket that her mother had purchased for her to return to New York. She was not seen at the travel agency. Susan confirmed that she had indeed purchased her daughter a ticket for New York, but Jennifer never picked it up.

The other report is that Jennifer left her home around 7:30AM on Monday, September 13th, 1993, and was seen hitchhiking in the area. She was looking for a ride to the farm that her friend had mentioned, which was reportedly about 9.5 miles northwest of the house that Jennifer was living in. This is the report that is most often found when researching Jennifer’s disappearance. When Jennifer left though, she did leave a handwritten note for her roommates:

Bye everybody,

Went to my 1st day at the farm. Wish me luck! Good luck to you, Mingo and see you in a few months. If someone could give food to the kitten as needed I’d appreciate it. Hopefully I’ll see you folks later

<3 Jade

Six days later, on September 19th, Susan still hadn’t heard from her daughter and had grown extremely concerned. Jennifer’s boyfriend, Tro, called Susan to tell her that Jennifer was missing. Susan said that at that point, she knew her daughter wasn’t alive anymore. She frantically called the local police and immediately Fed-Exed a photo of Jennifer to them. Unfortunately, it seemed as though police were unconcerned from the get-go. Martin Ryan, the Chief of the California Bureau of Investigations, said that Jennifer was a “walkaway” and that there was no evidence to indicate foul play. It seemed as though the local police felt the same way. 

Frustrated, Susan contacted the Nassau County Police, who were local to her in New York. The detective that she spoke to checked the National Criminal Information Center and didn’t see Jennifer’s name anywhere. It appeared that she hadn’t been entered into the system by the police in Humboldt County. The Nassau County detective filed the missing persons report. Convinced that nobody was looking for Jennifer in California, Susan and her husband Fred traveled across the country to look for her. 

When Susan and Fred arrived in California, they met with Jennifer’s roommates, who seemed equally concerned. Jennifer had left all of her belongings behind, including her ID, clothing, address book, Bible, bank card, and sleeping bag. It seemed pretty clear that Jennifer hadn’t intended on being gone for an extended period of time. 

Unfortunately, when Susan and Fred met with police, Susan felt that they remained extremely nonchalant. Days passed, weeks, months, then years.

In 1998, a truck driver from Arcata walked into the local sheriff’s department carrying a plastic bag containing a severed breast. He confessed to killing four women, specifically hitchhikers, dating back to 1997. He did not admit to Jennifer’s murder and had an alibi which excluded him. Also in 1998, a young woman signed into an abortion clinic with the name, Jennifer Wilmer. It was found that the young woman was actually a 14-year-old girl who’d used Jennifer’s name as an alias after seeing it on a missing persons poster. As years passed, tips became less and less frequent and the case grew cold. Jennifer was never seen again.

Who was Karen Mitchell?

Karen Marie Mitchell was born on November 11th, 1980. Her parents divorced shortly after her birth, and Karen grew up in Whittier, California with her mother, Mary Casper, and her brother. At the age of 13, Karen moved to Eureka, California, which lies in Humboldt County, to live with her aunt and uncle, Annie and Bill Casper. Karen’s mother believed that Eureka would be a safer place for her teenage daughter to live. On holidays and school breaks, Karen would go back to Whittier to spend time with her mother and brother.

Karen’s friends at school said that they all were impressed by her maturity when she first joined their class at Winship Middle School. She wasn’t from the small city of Eureka and seemed to just know a bit more about the world than her classmates who’d grown up in the rural town. One of Karen’s best friends, Meggan Bowser, said that Karen could always make her laugh. When Meggan left Eureka to visit her aunt and uncle in the summer, she and Karen would exchange letters like pen pals. She said that that was how she and Karen really grew close. The two remained good friends as they graduated to Eureka High School, talking about boys, skipping school occasionally, and going camping with friends and family.

Karen’s mom described her as warm, funny, loving, and full of compassion. She said “she just cared for everybody, everything…if it was a person or a plant or a bug or a tree, Karen cared about it.”

At just 16 years old, Karen decided that she wanted to graduate high school a year early so she could start college and begin studying environmental sciences. Her aunt said that she was an A student, who was “her own person, very vivacious, very strong, very smart…She was opinionated, but she had an agenda and she wanted to help change the world.”

Just before her disappearance, Karen had told her aunt that she was considering applying to Humboldt State University after she graduated from high school.

On the morning of November 25th, 1997, Karen spent some time on the phone talking to her mother. She was working on a school project that required her to speak to several different family members. Despite only being on Thanksgiving break, Karen was making plans with her mother for Christmas break. She’d be returning to Orange County to spend the holiday with her mom and brother. She and her mom were even filling out FAFSA paperwork so they could take some college courses together the following summer. 

That afternoon, Karen was helping out her aunt at her store, Annie’s Shoes, which was located at the Bayshore Mall. Karen was scheduled to work that afternoon at the Coastal Family Development Center. Her Aunt Annie asked her if she needed a ride from the shoe store to the daycare, but Karen said that since it was a beautiful day out, she’d walk the mile to work. She left the mall around 2:45PM. Karen was a star employee and hadn’t ever missed a day of work. Much like her schoolwork, Karen took a lot of pride in her job.

That evening, Annie pulled up in front of the daycare to pick Karen up, but the staff informed her that Karen had never come into work that day. Annie was immediately overcome with fear. Karen was responsible and never would’ve missed work without telling anyone. She was also scared of the dark and hated being out alone after nightfall. Unfortunately, despite police being alerted quickly after it was found that Karen was missing, the 16-year-old was nowhere to be found. 

Police located a witness who said that he saw a car pull across Broadway Street and almost hit him, just before stopping for a girl who he said matched Karen’s description. The witness said that Karen may have gotten into a light blue four-door 1976-‘78 sedan, possibly a Ford Grenada, a Mercury Monarch, or a Nissan. He recalled that the vehicle had California license plates and that “Eureka” was imprinted on the rear plate frame. 

The witness described the driver of the vehicle as a Caucasian male, approximately 60-70 years old with balding light-colored hair. He was said to have green or grey eyes with a large nose that may have previously been broken. He was wearing eyeglasses and a long-sleeved, light blue button down shirt. This potential “witness” was never located. The distance between Eureka and Willow Creek (where Jennifer Wilmer was last seen heading towards) was less than one hour. Karen disappeared four years after Jennifer.

There is quite a bit of speculation that Karen may have been a victim of the now-deceased murderer, Robert Durst. There are a few reasons for this: 1. Durst had lived in the area at one point in his life and a man who wrote a book on Durst, Matt Birkbeck, wrote that there were credit card records putting Durst in Eureka on the day Karen disappeared. He also wrote that Karen reportedly volunteered occasionally at a homeless shelter that Durst frequented. 2. The composite sketch given by the witness resembles Durst. With Durst now dead, it’s unlikely that police will be able to determine whether Karen was actually a victim of Durst.

Who was Christine Walters?

Christine Lindsey Walters was born on August 8th, 1985 in Wisconsin. She lived in Deerfield, Wisconsin and was studying botany and ethnobotany at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point. She was described as a young woman who was down-to-earth, friendly, and a hard worker. She was known as being independent and self-assured. Christine loved being outside in nature, as well as Pilates and yoga. Before her disappearance, Christine held multiple jobs, including working on an organic farm and teaching yoga and Pilates. A college friend said that Christine wanted to experience everything. When deciding what to study in college, she had a difficult time, looking at everything between anthropology to Spanish, to botany, to arts.

In the summer of 2008, 23-year-old Christine traveled to Portland, Oregon to visit some friends while on break from school. She planned on returning to Wisconsin after a few weeks and continuing her studies in the fall. However, while in Portland, Christine made a sudden decision to move to California with friends she’d met. In September of 2008, she moved to Humboldt County. After this move, her mother, Anita said that something seemed to change. 

Initially, Christine called home often. She told her mother that she was enjoying herself, making friends, and was interested in a community that she’d been introduced to called the Green Life Evolutions. Since then, this group, which was often referred to as cult-like, has been disbanded. Her mother worried that Christine might’ve been a bit too trusting of the people she was meeting. Anita and Christine were very close and Anita later said that her daughter didn’t understand the culture in California, and that worried her. 

Anita said that her daughter’s phone calls home became less positive and more concerning as time went on. In late October, Anita asked Christine if she’d come home, at least for a little bit. Christine responded that she couldn’t return yet. She was still on a journey and needed to follow her path. 

On November 7th, 2008, Christine participated in a tea ceremony at the Green Life facility. The ceremony used a South American hallucinogenic and was led by a Shaman. About 20 people participated in the ceremony and it was described as “mystical and psycho-spiritual psychedelic trip that can bring visions, self-realization and commonly violent purging, or vomiting”. This type of “tea ceremony” is illegal in the US. The “tea” consumed contained two different drugs, including one controlled substance. Those who were with Christine at Green Life said that she stayed with everyone else, finally leaving by herself on the 11th. 

The following morning, on November 12th, a couple found Christine standing on the doorstep of their home. They said that she was naked, confused, and covered in scratches. The couple called the police who took Christine to St. Joseph’s Hospital to be evaluated. They said that Christine appeared frightened and kept saying that someone was after her, but she wouldn’t tell them exactly what happened. No serious injuries were found and her blood test was negative for drugs or alcohol. She was still extremely vague regarding what had happened, but said that she’d walked a really long way and that there were demons who could hear her and were trying to get her. Police gave her a ride to a nearby hotel, where she made plans with her parents to fly back home. Christine had lost her identification and needed to get the appropriate documents to fly home. During her phone conversation with her daughter, Anita said that she expressed paranoia.

On November 14th, Christine was seen at the Copy Co. Printing store in Eureka. Anita had faxed Christine a copy of her driver’s license and social security card so she could get access to her bank account and the DMV. At 1PM, Christine, wearing her pajamas, left the keys to her room at the hotel front desk. The owner of the copy store remembered Christine arriving around 3:30PM, wearing her pajamas and slippers. He said that she said she’d lost her wallet, but acted very paranoid. Christine then asked for directions to the DMV, which was about one mile away, then left the copy store. This was the last time Christine was ever seen or heard from.

Who were Sheila Franks and Danielle Bertolini?

Sheila Sherrell Franks was born on July 19th, 1976. There isn’t very much published about Sheila’s personal life, however she was a divorced mother who was living in the town of Fortuna, California with a local man, 43-year-old James Eugene Jones. Jones said that on February 2, 2014, sometime during the evening, 37-year-old Sheila went out for a walk and never returned. Her older sister, Melissa Walstrom said that Sheila and Jamie had been dating for several months. There are also reports that Sheila was last seen in Eureka in January. On March 3, 2014, Sheila’s mother reported her missing to police in California. Normally Sheila was very consistent about talking to her son on the phone or over text, but none of her family had been able to get in touch with her. 10 days later, Fortuna Police forwarded the missing persons report to Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.

23-year-old Danielle Nicole Bertolini moved away from her home in Maine to California in 2013. She’d lost her son and was looking for a new start. Dealing with grief and change, Danielle had lost her direction in life. On February 9th, 2014, Danielle was seen in the Swains Flat area of California, which is, you guessed it, in Humboldt County. She was reportedly getting a ride into a town and hitched a ride with a local man. This man was also the last man who had seen Sheila Franks alive, James Jones. On February 19th, Danielle’s family filed a missing persons report on her, offering a $5000 reward for information leading to her return. 

With both women having been seen with Jones just prior to their disappearance, authorities felt confident the two cases were related, however they were unable to hold Jones on anything. Even disregarding the connection with the Jones, Sheila and Danielle shared a lot of similar qualities; they were both young blonde women with blue eyes and similar builds. Both had left their families and hometowns and were in California looking for something different, so they didn’t have many connections in the community.

With the connection made between Danielle and Sheila, the families of the two women combined forces to search for their missing loved ones. Jones said that he’d dropped Danielle off near her house and had no idea where she was.

On March 9th, 2015, a human skull was found along the Eel River, which runs through Humboldt County. It was later confirmed to belong to Danielle. No further remains of hers were found. A press release from Danielle’s family said that in their initial searches, they found an item of Danielle’s led them to believe she’d been murdered. There is no further information regarding what this item was. 

In June of 2014, Sheila’s family was notified that a femur bone had been discovered downstream from where Danielle’s skull was found. The DNA of the femur matched to Sheila Franks. No further remains were found belonging to Sheila. 

Jennifer Wilmer, Karen Mitchell, and Christine Walters are still missing. While Danielle Bertolini and Sheila Franks are considered to be deceased, no further remains have been found. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the disappearances or murders of The Humboldt Five.