On a summer day in Zanesville, Ohio, on July 13, 1948, 40-year-old Bertha Marie Newell, also known as nee Tidd, informed her family that she was heading to the grocery store. She left her home and seemingly vanished, never to return. In a detail that would haunt her family, Bertha left without her purse or any of her other personal belongings. At the time of her disappearance, she was a mother to ten children. Bertha was described as a white female, standing between 5'8" and 5'10" and weighing between 125 and 145 pounds. She had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, with a scar on her head just behind the crown. Reports indicate she was wearing a brown tweed dress and high heels on the day she was last seen.
In the weeks and years that followed Bertha's disappearance, a number of theories and rumors emerged, none of which could be substantiated. There was talk that she had run away to join a traveling circus, a romantic but unlikely scenario.
More sinister speculation suggested that her husband may have been involved in her disappearance. Another rumor placed her in a nursing home in Woodfield, though this lead, like the others, went nowhere. The investigation into her vanishing was sparse on concrete leads. In 1956, eight years after she was last seen, a report surfaced that she had been spotted in a town north of Zanesville. However, after some investigation, police hit a dead-end. Her case was further complicated by a history of mental health issues, which had led to a brief stay in an Ohio state mental hospital at some point before she went missing.
The passage of time has not brought any definitive answers in the case of Bertha Marie Newell. Decades have passed without any solid leads to her whereabouts or what became of her. It has been suggested that her disappearance may not have been taken as seriously at the time as it should have been, possibly due to her having been reported missing on previous occasions in 1943 and 1944. There were also reports of a prior incident where she had held police at bay with a gun to help her son escape. Despite the various theories, from running away to foul play, no evidence has ever surfaced to give her family closure. Her case is no longer on file with the Zanesville Police Department, and what happened to the mother of ten after she walked out of her home for a trip to the grocery store remains a mystery.Last Seen: Jul 13, 1948
