The Disappearance of Jean Spangler
Earlier in this blog’s existence, I wrote a short bit about Jean Spangler, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a ton of information into the post because it was a group post about various disappearances. With today being the 100th birthday of Kirk Douglas, a suspect in her disappearance, I decided that I wanted to cover her story in full.
Jean Elizabeth Spangler was born on September 2nd, 1923 in Seattle, Washington. She attended Franklin High School, where she graduated in 1941. During her teenage years, Spangler danced with the Earl Caroll Theater and Florentine Gardens. She was married in 1942 to Dexter Benner, and two years later she gave birth to her first and only child, Christine. She later on divorced Benner, who initially took custody of their daughter, denying Jean any visitation. He reasoned that Spangler had been unfaithful during the marriage and cared more about her life of partying and fun than caring for her daughter. However, Spangler fought vigilantly for custody of her daughter, and was awarded with just that by a judge two years after the divorce. The ruling was ultimately in her favor as the judge believed that Spangler’s questionable past was behind her, and she had proven that Christine belonged with her. After the divorce, Spangler lived with her mother, brother, sister-in-law and daughter in Los Angeles.
Jean began her career as a hopeful actress in 1948. Although she had high hopes for the work, she was only ever awarded bit-roles in films and television shows. She was the girl in the church. The dancer. The showgirl. The pretty girl. Despite the size of the roles, she still had high hopes for her dreams of becoming a star. Unfortunately, this would never come to pass.
Jean Spangler would only ever become famous for being a missing person.
On October 7th 1949, only a little over a month after her 26th birthday, Jean Spangler left her home around 5:00 PM. Upon her leaving, she had told her family that she was meeting up with her ex husband to discuss child support, and that she had to work on a film afterwards. However, she never returned home. Her sister-in-law reported her missing the day afterwards. The last person to see Spangler was a store clerk, who said she seemed like she was waiting for someone. Additionally, police found that none of the studios in LA had anything being filmed that night.
Spangler’s ex husband was the first to be questioned. While it was clear that Benner had motive, his new wife assured police that her husband had been with her during the time of the disappearance.
Two days later, her purse was found.
The note found inside of the purse was unfinished, ending in a comma and unsigned, meaning Spangler might not have had time to finish it or she had been interrupted while writing it. It reads as follows:
Can’t wait any longer. Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away,
LA Police scrambled to connect the names to possible suspects. They looked into every Dr. Scott in the LA area but came up with no leads. In a strange turn, Kirk Douglas, who had been working on a film that Spangler had a part in, contacted the police to assure them he was not the Kirk in the note. By this point, the police hadn’t even considered Douglas yet. This seemed suspicious, but with no other evidence or leads pointing to him, Douglas was let off the hook. In another twist that shocked many, Jean Spangler’s friends told police that she was 3 months pregnant during the time of her disappearance, and she was looking into getting an abortion, which was illegal at that time in history.
Los Angeles police continued their search while looking into other possibilities. In the time before her disappearance, Spangler had been spotted with a man named Davy Ogul, who was connected to mobster Mickey Cohen. Around that time, Ogul was under suspicions of conspiracy, and was reported missing two days after Spangler’s disappearance. This led people to believe that they had possibly run away together to avoid prosecution. A hotel clerk claimed to have spotted Ogul in El Paso, Texas with a woman that resembled Spangler. However, neither of their names were used for registry and the claims could not be confirmed either true or false.
As it stands, no one knows what happened to Jean Spangler. She has been a missing person for over 67 years, and while people have claimed to see her all over the United States over the years, her case still remains open and unsolved.
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