[REPOST] Search in Seattle: A young mother leaves home to go to a doctor's appointment, and is never seen again. Where is Lorelee Lhotka, missing since 1975?
Hello! I am reposting all of my previous write-ups from my old account on my new profile so they do not get lost. This is part of my series on unsolved cases in California in the 1960s and 70s. If you are interested in seeing the comments on the original post, the link can be found here. If you have any questions, comments, requests, or feedback regarding these posts, please let me know!
Lorelee Sue Lhotka was last seen in Seattle, Washington in 1975. Both the Charley Project and some other secondary sources state that the specific date of Lorelee’s disappearance is unspecified, while all other databases give her date of last contact as January 1, 1975. Lorelee was reportedly last seen leaving home to go to a doctor’s appointment. While she was supposed to take the bus to the appointment, she was also known to hitchhike in order to get around, and may have hitchhiked instead of taking the bus. According to the Charley Project, Lorelee never arrived at the doctor’s office and has never been heard from again.
Lorelee’s wallet was found at Blewitt Pass in the Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state in 1978. The circumstances of this discovery are not given beyond that, and there are no newspaper reports whatsoever regarding Lorelee, her wallet, or her disappearance. Few details are available in her case.
Lorelee was anywhere between 17 and 20 years old when she disappeared. According to the DOB listed on Doe Network and Charley Project, as well as the age given on most databases, Lorelee was 19 years old when she disappeared on January 1, 1975. However, according to some databases, it is uncertain when in 1975 Lorelee was last seen, leading said sources to list her age at time of disappearance as 19-20 years old. All sources on Ancestry, however, indicate that Lorelee was born two years (and five days) later than the DOB given on DN and Charley Project. If this is true — which I am inclined to believe — then Lorelee was 17 years old on January 1, 1975, and was going to turn 18 on June 27th of that year.
Lorelee was 5’3 and 120 lb with brown hair and brown eyes. From the photo provided on all databases, her hair was styled in a middle part and reached to just below her shoulders. It is not known what she was wearing on the day of her disappearance. According to the Washington State Missing Persons database, Lorelee does have some sort of scar(s), mark(s), and/or tattoo(s), though further detail is not given; for further information, interested parties are to contact the submitting agency (King County Sheriff’s Office).
A couple databases state that Lorelee’s race was uncertain and/or American Indian/Alaska Native, while others simply state that she was Native American. It is certain that she was, at the very least, Indigenous. However, because she was born in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, it is possible that Lorelee would be considered First Nations instead of Native American. Which tribe/nation Lorelee was affiliated with is unknown. She was not missing from, nor was her primary residence on, tribal land.
The Washington State Missing Persons database lists Lorelee as “Missing – Endangered,” while Doe Network and Charley Project classify her as Missing and Endangered Missing, respectively. Lorelee’s NamUs page was created on March 19, 2012. Her Charley Project page was last updated on September 10, 2019, and her Doe Network page was added (and last updated) on December 15, 2023.
The King County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Lorelee’s disappearance. Anyone with information should contact Janet Gregory of the KCSO at 206-205-3432 (according to Charley Project) or (206) 296-4155 (all other databases). Lorelee’s agency case number is 05-232769.
NamUs states that Lorelee has fourteen UID exclusions; however, one of these is a repeat, so she actually has 13 exclusions, including one each from Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, two from Washington state, and eight from Virginia. Lorelee’s DNA is available for comparison, but it is unknown if her dentals or fingerprints are as well. Her first name is occasionally spelled “Loralee”, and on at least one official record was originally spelled “Lorilee” before being corrected. Her maiden name is Davis. She may use the last name Spamola.
Doe Network and Charley Project list Lorelee’s DOB as June 22, 1955, which seems to have been a misinterpretation of records. The following information has been gathered from Ancestry.
Lorelee was born Lorelee Sue Davis in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, on June 27 1957. Her mother, Sophie Davis, was born December 15 1929, making her 17 when Lorelee was born. On January 2, 1974, when she was 16 years old, Lorelee applied for a marriage license with D Lhotka (b 1955; given names redacted for privacy reasons, as I am unsure about whether he is still alive) in Okanogan County, WA. At the time, D was an 18-year-old cook living in Seattle. As she was still a minor at the time, Lorelee had to have consent given by her mother, Sophie, whom she lived with in Tonasket, WA. The marriage license was issued January 5 or 6, 1974.
On February 2, 1974, Lorelee and D were officially married in King County, WA, with D's parents serving as witnesses. At some point after this, Lorelee --- though not necessarily D, as I couldn't find record of him living there as well -- lived at 9265 57th Ave S in Seattle, WA. Together D and Lorelee had one daughter who was born in either December 1974 or January 1975.
According to the May 26, 1976 edition of The Olympian, a "Petition for dissolution [had] been filed in the Mason County Clerk's Office in the marriage of” D and Lorelee. A divorce record for the couple from December 22, 1977 in Mason County, WA exists. D was the one to file for divorce, and his attorney filled out the information in the record for the two of them. At the time of filing, Lorelee’s address was listed as 235 SW 97th Place, White Center, King County, WA, and she lived inside city limits. However, under the “County” subheading — which was the second piece of information requested for her address after state — “unknown” was originally typed, but then crossed out in pen with “King” written above it. D's attorney also listed Lorelee’s DOB as unknown, and her place of birth as Canada. Announcement of the decree of marriage dissolution was announced in the December 29, 1977 edition of The Olympian.
On August 6, 2018, user ”J.” commented on the Charley Project blog post about Lorelee, “Her married name was Lhotka. My friend growing up is her daughter. She disappeared just a couple weeks after she was born. She was on her way to a follow up Dr.s appointment. She was part native. I heard bits and pieces of story years ago. She was reported missing at the time not in 2012.”
On May 20, 2019, another user --- whose name I am withholding for privacy reasons, though is publicly available --- commented on the same Charley Project post (though not in reply to user J.), saying “[Lorelee] was my mom. Native NOT white. My fathers car had broken down, early 1975, same area her wallet was found 3 yrs later, but he’s white, even though he’s been questioned they seem to just take his word for it. He beat the hell out of her while she was pregnant with me. He’s white, she’s native, he always got away with it and has bragged in a drunken stupor to me that he has gotten away with what appears to be murder. Bundy was a suspect and questioned but had already made it to Colorado, not yet to Florida.”
However, I would like to point out that I cannot seem to find any other mention of Lorelee by her daughter or anyone else claiming to be close to her. I do not know about the validity of the statements made by the user claiming to be Lorelee's daughter, though I am putting them here for you to be the judge of.
What do you think happened to Lorelee? Could she still be alive, or did she die by misadventure, or even foul play? If the latter, who could have killed her? A stranger, her husband, or someone else known to her?
Sources
NamUs, Doe Network, Charley Project, wiki
Washington State Missing Persons Database
Newspaper clippings regarding divorce
Charley Project Blog post with comments
*** ETA: As of today, May 2, 2025, I have submitted Lorelee as a possible match to Swamp Mountain Jane Doe 1976 through the Doe Network.
Posted May 2, 2025, 11:04 PM UTC