Missing From: Pasadena, Maryland
Missing Since: June 1, 1976
Age: 14
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 110
Case Number: 07719714
Karen was last seen in Pasadena, Maryland sometime during the winter months of 1976. She was living with her grandmother, Olga Kamsch, in the 50 block of Wishing Rock Road at the time. She left behind all of her belongings, including her winter coat. In 2007, Karen's younger brother contacted police to inquire as to the status of her case only to find no record of the report ever being made. A new missing persons report was officially filed for Karen on May 15, 2007. Her case is being treated as a homicide and they have a person of interest in Karen's disappearance.
Karen Jean Kamsch
Last Seen: June 1st 1976
Age: 14
Pasadena Maryland
Precursor There is some cases from the 60s and 70s that are so confusing so complex, yet they have dark family secrets associated with them. Think of the Westerfeld brothers case, the Charlotte Loomis case and even the Irene LaRosa case as examples. In Karen Kamsch case from 1976, it too is very confusing to even get a basic story written yet, it also follows the dark family secret.
Background:
What we know is that Karen Kamsch was a straight A student in school and she had even skipped the 6h grade. At around the time of her disapperence, she was having problems with her family and had moved in with her Grandmother Olga and her father. We know from doing research that she was a frequent run away and may got in with the rough crowd a bit. It is also presumed that she was abused during this time of her life, but the nature of it has never been disclosed.
Circumstance:
This is where the story of Karen Kamsch gets confusing, because you see that date June 1st 1976? That date is incorrect because it was said by her grandmother that she went missing in the winter months of that year. June 1st 1976 is likely a loose date of when someone other than her grandmother or father physically saw her. We know that from the Namus report that Olga said that one day during the winter months, Karen just left, she didn’t go to school and she left all of her belongings and left. In a LA Times article in 2007 an old neighbor of Olga stated “ that she remembered seeing a large number of cars parked outside the Kamsch home one day in the late 1970s. She said Olga Kamsch appeared to be crying.” Over the years she would ask Olga if she had any updates about Karen and Olga would respond with a simple “No one has heard of her,” and that would be the end of the conversation.
As years went by, nothing more would be heard from Karen. In 1999, Olga Kamsch died and in her obituary it mentions Karen as one of her granddaughters. In 2007, Karens youngest brother Tate went to the police to inquire about his eldest sibling, only to find out that no missing persons report had been filed in her case. Once police got involved with the case and started interviewing people they realized something odd, some of the Kamsch family members were cooperative with the investigation and some weren’t.
In the middle of 2007, a search warrant was issued for the former home of Olga and during the search, the investigation zeroed in on a dried up well. While they never discussed what they found, they did say that some of the items they pulled up surprised them (LA Times). Since 2007, the case has gone cold, though no one is for sure why. The police stated in 2014 stated that they had a person of interest in her case, though they didn’t disclose who, only that it was a close associate or close relative to Karen. Foul play is suspected in her case though her brother Tate hopes that she is alive and has a family.
https://www.latimes.com/…/la-xpm-2007-sep-09-adna…
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90693017/olga_m-kamsch
https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/42d23b92-b11a-4bb5…/
https://www.nbcwashington.com/…/karen-kamsch…/66202/
https://www.wusa9.com/…/police-woman…/65-285169546 (This link kept crashing my computer even though it’s a news article)
https://charleyproject.org/case/karen-beth-kamsch