Jean Marie Schoen, also known as Jeanie, disappeared on July 21, 1974, in Jacksonville, Florida. She was 9 years old, white, with blonde hair, green eyes, and a height of 4’2″ and weight of 55 pounds. She was last seen wearing a dark blue shirt with red trim, blue shorts, and blue shoes. Jeanie was last spotted leaving her grandmother’s house to buy cigarettes for her uncle at a nearby store. Witnesses reported seeing a man with hair like Elvis Presley’s on a blue bicycle grabbing her and taking her into a restroom at a closed arcade called The Hangout. Jeanie’s body was never found, and her case remains unsolved.
Jean Marie Schoen
Jeanie, 9 years old, went missing from Jacksonville, Florida on 07/21/1974. Jeanie is a white girl with blonde hair and green eyes. She’s 4’2 tall, weighs 55 pounds, and was last seen wearing a dark blue shirt with red trim, blue shorts, and blue shoes. Her nickname is Jeanie, and she was missing a front tooth when she disappeared.
Case detail
Jean was last spotted in Jacksonville, Florida, on July 21, 1974. She left her grandmother’s house on West 19th Street to walk to Hanna’s Food Store, which was about two blocks away at 17th Street and Pearl Street. She made it to the store and bought a pack of cigarettes for her uncle, but she forgot them and had to go back for them.
After retrieving the cigarettes, Jean headed to an arcade called The Hangout to play pinball. Witnesses mentioned that the arcade was closed at that time, but a man on a bicycle, described as having hair like Elvis, approached her and pulled her into a bathroom. Afterward, Jeanie was spotted crying as she left the restroom with the man, and she hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
That same year, several young girls aged between six and twelve went missing from the Jacksonville area. Jean was the first. Sisters Annette and Mylette Anderson disappeared on August 1, Virginia Suzanne Helm vanished on September 27, and Rebecca Ann Greene disappeared on October 12.
Virginia’s partially clothed body was discovered in a shallow grave about a month after she went missing. She had been shot in the head. Rebecca’s skeletal remains were found three years later, washed up on the shore of Little Fort George Island, near the mouth of the St. Johns River. Both girls were twelve years old when they died.
Jean’s body and the Anderson sisters’ remains were never located. Since the abductions occurred in different parts of the city, authorities do not believe they are connected.
At the time of her disappearance, Jean was a student at Love Grove Elementary School. She performed well academically and was active in the Brownies. Her case remains unsolved, and her family holds out hope that she may still be alive.
If you have any information about Jeanie’s disappearance, you are encouraged to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500.
