Joann Ellis who went missing in Delaware County, Oklahoma on July 10, 1998.
At the time of her disappearance she was 49 years old. She had four children and four grandchildren.

Ellis left her family's residence on July 10, 1998, and never returned.
She was in the process of moving from Arkansas back to the family home in Delaware County.

In a Tulsa World report dated 7/24/01 and titled "After three years, kin still looking for woman" it was revealed that Joann Ellis had been missing from Delaware County for three years and that her family was frustrated with the lack of progress on the part of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, under then Sheriff Jim Earp.

The report went on to indicate that Ellis was reported as missing to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, after she didn't return to her parents' home the next day.

Quoting from the referenced Tulsa World Report:

Bob Baker, Ellis' father, said he had several conversations with Earp then and in the years following and that Earp told him he was working on the case.

Baker said no one really ever looked for his daughter and that he hopes the new sheriff takes more of an interest in his daughter's disappearance.

Sheriff Lenden Woodruff, who took office in January, said he asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to get involved in Ellis' case. Woodruff said he has talked to Ellis' sons and her father. Woodruff said he is trying to build a file and actively follow all leads.

Barker and his wife, Lois, said they have all but given up hope in the search for their daughter. Barker said a man was spotted driving Ellis' vehicle shortly after the family realized that she was missing.

The report went on to indicate that Ellis' sister, Laquita Pruitt, chased the unidentified man driving her sister's car through Disney a few days after her sister vanished. She tried blocking the road with her car, but the man raced around her and got away.

The following year, the Tulsa World in a report dated 7/10/2002 and titled, Family wants daughter's disappearance resolved" provided additional information on Joann Ellis and her disappearance.

Quoting from that report:

Bob Baker, Ellis' father, reported her missing to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office when she didn't come back by the following day, which was her birthday. Baker said his daughter, the mother of four, wouldn't just take off.

"Joann would never have left her children," Baker said. "She was like a mother hen. She's got a new grandchild this year that she hasn't even seen. We haven't heard anything in the last year, and I don't guess were going to."

The report went on to indicate that the family had hired private detectives in an attempt to locate Ellis. The results of that effort were negative. The report also indicated that the family acting on leads that Ellis's car might be found in Lake Eucha hired divers to search for the car. The results of that effort were also negative.

On 10/14/03, divers searching for lost fishing equipment discovered skeletal remains in a car submerged in Grand Lake, near Disney, Oklahoma. The vehicle was located in 50 feet of water, approximately 150 feet from the shore line. Authorities immediately suspected the remains were those of Joann Ellis.

News reports indicated the vehicle exactly matched the description of the car Ellis was driving at the time of her disappearance and had a 1999 Oklahoma tag. The divers had spotted the car in the water a few weeks earlier and reported it to authorities. It was only on a subsequent dive that they spotted the bones inside the car and again notified authorities of their find. The car was found in that portion of the lake which is in Mayes County. The recovery operation was conducted by both Mayes County and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation officers.

Initial news reports following the recovery of the vehicle and remains quoted investigators as saying that they felt that Ellis's death was not a suicide. The reports indicated that this belief was based in part on the fact that the vehicle's speedometer was "stuck" at 45 mph, the front windows were rolled down and the identification of two males and one female were found in the vehicle when it was recovered from the lake.

The state Medical Examiner's Office in Tulsa took custody of the remains and on 10/29/03 announced the results of its investigation. The remains recovered from the submerged car were those of Joann Ellis. The Medical Examiner's report indicated that Joann Ellis died from probable drowning and that the manner of death was suicide.

Did Joann Ellis really commit suicide?

If so, when?

On the day she disappeared?
Or later, days later?

And how does a suicide scenario coincide with Ellis' sister, Laquita Pruitt chasing Ellis's car, driven by a man, through Disney, Oklahoma days after her disappearance?

These and other questions regarding the disappearance and death of Joann Ellis remain and likely always will owing in a large part to the lack of concern and investigative effort on the part of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office under former Sheriff Jim Earp.

Both of Joann Ellis's parents died before her remains were discovered.

That is one of the saddest aspects of this case, that two loving parents went to their graves lacking the knowledge of what happened to their daughter.

Hopefully Joann Ellis's children, grand children and other family members have found closure, at long last, in being able to provide a proper burial for their loved one.

May you now rest in peace, Joann Ellis, for at long last you have been found.

What is most striking about this case is it's similarity to the Barbara Johnson-Willard case. Both are cases in which women disappeared in Delaware County and in the opinion of this writer the Sheriff at the time, Jim Earp, appeared to not only have lied to the family members of the two women but additionally he appears to have refused to conduct any type investigation what so ever into either of the cases.

Whether former Delaware County Sheriff Jim Earp's conduct in this case is the result of gross incompetence or something more sinister is a question begging to be answered. About the only hope for an answer is by impaneling a grand jury to investigate not only Joann Ellis's disappearance but also Earp's actions or lack thereof in this Case of the Missing Case.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those interested in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.