Four days after a 20-year-old Portland woman was last seen getting into her own car with an unidentified man, the vehicle turned up abandoned in the city. Winnefred Jeanette Freeman disappeared on May 8, 1968, and more than 58 years later, her case remains open in NamUs as MP65219.
Details from that day are sparse. The Charley Project reports that Winnefred was seen getting into her blue-and-white 1964 Chevrolet with a heavyset, middle-aged man. She was never heard from again. Her car was recovered in Portland on May 12.
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Her Family Was Seeking Answers In 1968
A newspaper notice published months after Winnefred vanished confirms her family publicly searched for her that same year.
A Sept. 27, 1968, clipping from The Oregonian, preserved in the Websleuths case archive, described Winnefred as a missing woman and said her parents were seeking information about their daughter or her “possible abductor.” According to the notice, Winnefred’s mother said she was last seen entering her Chevrolet with the unidentified man. Readers with information were directed to the Portland Police Bureau’s missing persons department.
The clipping identified her mother as Mrs. Isaac Harpole. Decades later, an obituary published by The Oregonian for Isaac S. Harpole Sr. listed “Winifred Freeman” among his daughters who had predeceased him. Official missing person databases, however, continue to list Winnefred as missing. The obituary also uses a different spelling of her first name.
School Records Add Pieces Of Winnefred’s Life
The photograph now circulating in Winnefred’s missing person case came from her 1965 Jefferson High School yearbook, according to The Charley Project.
Additional yearbook research shared through Websleuths found earlier photographs under the name Winnefred Harpole. One image identifies her at Girls Polytechnic High School, while Jefferson High School records from 1964 show her before the Freeman surname appeared in later records. One yearbook photograph also places her with a girls’ football team.
A 1963 Tektronix company publication provides another glimpse of her teenage years. It identified a Jefferson High School student named Winnefred Harpole among local students touring the company through Junior Achievement.
Those records offer more of Winnefred than the few lines that survived in her missing person file.
Winnefred Jeanette Freeman: What To Know
At the time of her disappearance, Winnefred Jeanette Freeman stood 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed about 115 to 120 pounds. She had black hair and brown eyes.
Her NamUs record number is MP65219. An archived NamUs listing gives her Portland Police Bureau agency case number as 20-680221.
The Portland Police Bureau currently directs non-emergency missing person information to its Missing Persons Unit at missing@police.portlandoregon.gov. The department’s non-emergency number is 503-823-3333.
In September 1968, Winnefred’s parents offered a $300 reward for information leading to her return or information about her possible abductor. The historical notice does not establish that the reward remains active today.
Please share this story about Winnefred Jeanette Freeman to keep her missing person case in the spotlight. She is our sister, and her life matters.
Case Number: 20-680221
Agency: Portland Police Bureau
Phone: (503) 823-0400
Email: missing@police.portlandoregon.gov
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