Katharina Buczek
In 1975, Jane Ellen Wakefield was a beloved reading and math teacher at Penn Elementary School in North Liberty, Iowa.
As a child, she was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before furthering her education at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
It was one year after Jane began her studies that she met her soon-to-be husband, John. The pair tied the knot in 1967, and Jane continued her education at the University of Iowa before graduating in 1970.
By 1975, though, Jane and John’s marriage had seemingly gone sideways. That year, Jane filed for divorce and was separated from her husband. At the time, she lived in a mobile home in the Bon-Aire Mobile Home Lodge of Iowa City, pending her divorce; meanwhile, John continued living in the apartment they once shared in town.
According to friends of the couple, Jane had wanted children, but John was not on board. They suggested that this disagreement was one cause of the couple’s problems.
Regardless, six months after Jane initially filed for divorce, she mysteriously vanished.
It all began on September 6, 1975, when Jane embarked on a cross-country bike ride with her friends. By the afternoon, though, she opted to return to her mobile home at 2:30 p.m.– claiming she had an appointment.
Upon arriving back at her new home, Jane did speak with a neighbor. And the neighbor claimed she had not been acting out of character. Nonetheless, this was the last time Jane was ever seen.
Later that same evening, another neighbor reportedly heard screaming or yelling coming from the area of Jane’s home. The neighbor apparently wasn’t sure where the noise was coming from, though, and ultimately dismissed their concerns.
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