#joanna lopez

[taxi-davis]

WMAQ Channel 5 - PSAs, Meditation, Sign-Off & Joanna Lopez 'Missing' Slide (1/14/1989)

[crtter]

Speaking of the Spamton Value Network stream, this is a post I’ve been meaning to make for a while now but kept forgetting: I believe the bits during the “commercials” that showed Wayne and Baaulp as being missing using very low res pictures of them and offering a contact number to call might be a reference to the infamous Joanna Lopez incident from 1989:

The rather eerie, seemingly repeated xeroxed picture that supposedly shows a missing person wearing big sunglasses seen above was silently broadcast after the WMAQ-TV channel from Chicago ended its normal programming for the night, with no warning whatsoever or any further information about this person other than a phone number for hours and hours on end. It was broadcast again for a few seconds a few years later, in 1991. No further information on this missing person case has ever dug up.

[justabitsp00ky]

Joanna Lopez

On January 14, 1989, A Chicago-based television station called WMAQ, would do their usual nightly sign off, only this time as the screen cut black, a missing poster for Joanna Lopez was aired throughout the night until the morning when the channel would go back on air. There no voice overs, no music, no details of Joanna Lopez such as possible whereabouts, where she was last seen, or a description of her. The photo isn’t much help either, as one can barely make out any details of her through this image. It took editing of contrast and brightness and speculation to realize she was wearing glasses in this photo, which only further obscures details of her. It would seem a photocopy of her photo was sent in and use. The only other information, besides her name and the photo, is a phone number, that lead to a Chicago Police Department’s Youth Division (which is no longer in service). Our only lead was that she was likely a minor. No details were ever revealed of her the following days.

The television channel would return to normal, all until a separate incident in 1991, when this missing poster of Joanna Lopez would show air again after the sign off, and in slightly higher quality. Only, this time, it only aired for 10 seconds before switching to colour bars and a tone.

You can view the clips of the sign offs here:

1989 Sign off

1991 Sign off

The case does, in fact, get stranger. Through research, there were no records of any missing persons by the name of Joanna Lopez in 1989 or 1991. No news paper articles, no information on The Charley Project (A website dedicated to showcasing missing persons that have been neglected by press before they could be found, if showcased at all), nothing. No records for a missing Joanna Lopez. Some people are convinced she doesn’t even exist.

This case is almost like Canal 5 and their Selene Delgado missing persons case and urban legend.

Of course, so far we only have theories, which I will post below the read more. Before that, I would like to add that this is still an on going case being investigated by curious people on the internet, mainly those on the original r/unresolvedmysteries sub-reddit post, and on youtube. There are very few websites out there with an entry about this case, too. Truly, it is a very obscure case, and one shrouded in mystery as of this day.

Most importantly, it’s a devastating case, as it is a grim reminder of missing children. Any child can go missing, and for any reason, and may never be found, or not found in time, due to lack of information or help. Sometimes it’s even that cops are useless in finding them, as sometimes cases are shrugged off. Those especially affected are children or colour and children from low-income families/neighborhoods. It’s the unfortunate truth. All children deserve to be protected and safe and be able to be saved by a loving and caring community, and especially those that feel unseen like poor children or children of colour.

Now, onto the theories about Joanna Lopez, and her missing poster in WMAQ.

Testing and Accidental Broadcasting

This theory states that WMAQ had made a mocked up missing poster for testing, which would go live during the night of 1989, when nobody would be watching. This would explain the low-quality photo and the lack of information, as they wouldn’t want to waste anybody’s time looking for someone who doesn’t exist, assuming this is really the case. With it airing again in 1991, in the same fashion and for only 10 seconds, makes it seem it was a mistake from the broadcasting team. After all, accidents like that do happen on television, where they put up something that isn’t meant to be put up, be it the wrong show or airing the same commercial twice. All it takes is one button.

A Cruel Joke

This theory states that the WMAQ fabricated all this as a joke to scare viewers. Nothing much else to say about it.

Foster Care Runaway

This theory states that Joanna Lopez was possibly a foster child that had ran off from her foster family, hence why she’s missing, and they perhaps found her relatively soon, which is why the missing persons broadcasting only lasted that one night in 1989. It also explains that the photo is in fact a photocopy of her sent in by the foster family

Partly related to this theory, is the theory that she changed her name, possibly to evade her foster family or the police, and that’s why we can’t find records of a Joanna Lopez.

DoeNetwork

tw: death, implied rape, violence, particularly against a minority.

DoeNetwork is a website run by law enforcement volunteers dedicated to John Does and Jane Does and matching them to missing persons cases. On there is an entry for a Jane Doe who was found dead in Chicago in 1994, and missing half of her clothes. Investigators estimate she was between the ages of 18-22 years old. Her killer claimed that he picked her up while she was working as a prostitute, but he had no idea of her name. It seemed nobody could identify her. There is a photo to accompany this entry, but there is little match between her and Joanna Lopez, which is largely due to the lack of quality. Mostly all there is to link this to Joanna Lopez is the time and place, being in Chicago. It does also give the story that Joanna had run off, eventually becoming a prostitute to make ends meet. One could also argue that the timeline could match up, except that judging by the Jane Doe’s assumed age of 18-22, that would but Joanna around 5 years old in 1989 during the first disappearance, and she doesn’t appear to be that young in the photo, past what details you can make of her. So this theory isn’t likely either.

[aoki-akagi]

Joanna Lopez

More info here: https://justabitsp00ky.tumblr.com/post/672235266058125312/joanna-lopez

Joanna Lopez

On January 14, 1989, A Chicago-based television station called WMAQ, would do their usual nightly sign off, only this time as the screen cut

[telechat-attack333]

MISSING.

[justabitsp00ky]

Joanna Lopez - Possible Updates

Rather late to making this post, but I had just learned of the possible updates since posting about Joanna Lopez back in January. To find that post to see what we are catching up on, you can follow this link here.

Possible Match - A Lead

Back in February, the most likely possible match was found.

TL;DR, reddit user BubblegumTrad had a phone call with a Joanna Lopez, somewhere in her 40′s, who said she ran away from home in Chicago. User CringeNaeNaeBaby2 says they were able to verifying the information, but will not disclose how, to respect the privacy and safety of people involved.

Unfortunately, the suspected person never called back despite saying she would. Of course some people suspect this is a troll who is just messing around with this person, but the case is a bit more of an obscure case, so the chances would be rather slim. The other theories are that she’s freaked out, and understandably so. Running away from home can be scary, so the whole incident is probably traumatizing to her, and she doesn’t want to disclose it to strangers she doesn’t know, especially if she doesn’t even know why people are looking for her and the whole eerie broadcast people are trying to figure out. If a stranger called you asking to talk about a specific time of your life, especially a scary one, you wouldn’t want to disclose details either, would you?

On more specifics of the matter, BubblegumTrad stated in the comments of the above post

“ thank you for post!! just as they said, I spoke with a possible joanna on the phone just now. She seemed very freaked out that I knew all of this stuff so I am confident she is being genuine. She did tell me that she was only gone for a few days and her parents wouldn't have called any news stations. I'll let you know if/when she calls me back :)) “

It very well could be a genuine match, but with no callback, this can be either the end of a solved case, or a dead end to a continue mystery.

Second Broadcast Airing

While the original broadcast aired in 1989, a second broadcast of Joanna Lopez was aired again just a couple years later in 1991. As for, people were unsure. The first idea was that she went missing again, or was still missing two years later. Another theory was that it was an incorrect memory, or a simple mistake, and was supposed to be 1989. It would be an easy to typo to make after all.

However, in June, a reddit user by the name TulaneBC did come with a likely explanation for the second airing of the missing poster broadcast.

In other words, on one of the master copies of the sign off, Joanna Lopez’s missing poster just so happened to be saved onto the ending of it. In the comments, the op explains further

“ There aren't many masters of the sign off. Maybe three or four. In two years of sign offs those taps can get ragged, lost or worn out. On that day in 1991, they just so happened to use master copy for the sign off and it just happened to have Joanna on it. I used to use many tapes with old copy on it just for the B roll and old stuff would pop up on it. “

This does seem to be the most likely theory about the second airing.

This whole mystery took a very different turn from the first few months of the mystery being brought up on a few reddit threads and then on youtube, but it’s a turn that it more calm and comforting. I do truly hope this is true, and that Joanna Lopez is alive and safe, and that she isn’t being harassed about her broadcasting.

[pulsarex]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA HOLY FCU

r/joannalopez - Joanna Lopez may not have gone missing in 1989. Massive revelations.

0 votes and 7 comments so far on Reddit

[woodmeregossip]

any thoughts on the lopez girl?

I can’t really say anything on the subject of her, anon. Other than the fact that she’s pretty damn attractive. She seems to keep on the quiet side. Joanna is probably one of the nicer of the ladies living in Woodmere. I haven’t yet seen her pull the claws out yet. We’ll just have to see if anything can actually tick her off.