In 1983, This 17-Year-Old Vanished On Her Way To Help Her Aunt Tutor Students; Now, Community Members Are Fighting For Answers And For Her Case Files To Be Made Public
In 1983, Joan Leigh Hall of Warrenton, Oregon, was just seventeen years old. Nicknamed Joanie, she was a senior attending Warrenton High School who had five siblings and big dreams for her future.
Joan wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement upon graduation and was even building her resume while finishing her degree.
In fact, she was the first female elected to be president of the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Department Explorer Post– a program meant to educate and involve young community members in police operations.
But then, on September 30, 1983, everything changed for the Hall family.
That Friday began like many others. Joan traveled to her high school in the morning to attend her classes. And later, by about 2:10 p.m., she was dismissed from class and ready to head home.
It was at that time that Joan got a ride from her classmate, Mike, and traveled to a local Mini-Mart. There, she purchased a Coca-Cola before leaving the convenience store.
According to an employee, Joan then walked down Main Street on foot. She was headed to Warrenton Grade School that afternoon– which was just a half-mile away– since her aunt, Ruth, was working there as a third-grade teacher. Joan had planned to help Ruth with some tutoring before going home for the evening.
But while Ruth waited at the school, Joan never showed up.
Facebook; pictured above is Joan
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And as the day turned to night, the Hall family knew that something had gone terribly wrong.
Joan was known to be a very reliable young woman. She did not smoke or drink, was having no problems at home or at school, and Joan’s parents knew that she would not have just run away.
So, authorities immediately suspected foul play, and police officers from several agencies got involved in the hunt for the teen.
Despite numerous intense searches and interviews with Joan’s classmates, though, the Hall family never gained any conclusive answers.
One of Joan’s female classmates claimed that she had seen Joan get into the car of another young man shortly after being dropped off at the Mini-Mart.
But, this classmate later retracted her claim and said that the girl getting into the car was not Joan.
Three of Mike’s friends also claimed to have seen Joan with him in his car at about 4:00 p.m. that afternoon– well after Joan was supposed to meet her aunt Ruth.
But then, all three of Mike’s friends changed their stories and stated that they had misidentified another young woman as Joan.
These lackluster leads and the countless questions surrounding Joan’s disappearance ultimately tore the Hall family apart.
Joan’s father, Melvin, had a heart attack just days afterward. Then, in 1994, Melvin and Joan’s mother, Mary, died two months apart.
Still, three of Joan’s remaining siblings– Chuck, Jeff, and Becky– have continued searching for their sister over thirty-nine years later.
They created a Facebook group dedicated to raising awareness about Joan’s disappearance.
Facebook; pictured above is another photo of Joan
Plus, Joan’s case still weighs heavy on the hearts of community members in the Warrenton community, who are still fighting for answers.
In fact, in May of 2021, three penned and published an open letter to the Clatsop County District Attorney Ron Brown and the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office as a whole in the Cannon Beach Gazette.
Within that letter, the community members– Dena Mattox Rush, Jason Futch, and Gwen Barringer– detailed their frustrations about the lack of transparency in Joan’s case and pushed for the release of investigative records.
“We are a small but dedicated group of civilians who are seeking resolution in the case of Joanie Hall, for the sake of the general public and to ease the heartbreak that her family has dealt with for all of these years,” the letter began.
“With that being said, we can state without any hesitation that this case has been egregiously mishandled from the very beginning.”
The letter goes on to describe how CCSO Deputy Gerald M. Basch was allowed to interview his own son, as well as two of his son’s friends.
These were the three teens who claimed to have seen Joanie in Mike’s car two hours after she had visited the Mini-Mart, but later changed their story and claimed they had spotted another girl who bore no resemblance to Joan.
“And when we attempted to submit a request via the Freedom of Information Act for any public records regarding Joanie’s disappearance, we were surprised to learn that on 12/10/2018, Judge Paula Brownfield signed a protective order keeping the investigative files on Joanie’s case sealed from the public eye for the next 75 years, until 2093, without notifying the victim’s family,” the letter continued.
“This is completely unacceptable, and we, as Joanie’s advocates, demand to know why Paula Brownfield, who has a track record of caring about children and victims, signed off on sealing these records.”
The letter also urged the Clatsop County Sherrif’s office to reveal why the order was enacted in the first place and demanded that Joan’s case be given the proper attention it deserves.
“We will not rest until the facts of this case are made available to the public, and the question of what happened on September 30, 1983, is answered once and for all,” the letter concluded.
Joan was last seen wearing blue jeans, a green hooded sweatshirt, a blue jacket, and maroon and white sneakers. She was five foot six, weighed one hundred and twenty pounds, and had brown hair and blue eyes.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has also released age progression photos showing what Joan may have looked like at forty-six years old.
If you have any information regarding Joan’s disappearance, you are urged to contact the Clatsop Sheriff’s Office at (503) 325-8635.
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