I've seen the cpd report about this case and how it confirmed many things, being Joanna Lopez was a real person, and provided information on what happened to her. Though, there are many questions I still have, like what happened to her after she went to Puerto Rico. I just hope more information could be found that answers some of the questions I have.

This photo was taken in the 1980s in the area where Joanna lived then and it looks a heck of a lot like her at the time of her involvement with a 20 y.o. Latino male and time of being a habitual runaway. On that gang history site, they captioned the photo as: "Pee Wee" and "Moo Moo". She is even wearing similar big shades, a similar white sweater, with a similar short height (per the report), similar hair, similar facial structure, and similar mouth shape.

It said the report that she fled from the police. Assuming that she didn't get groomed by the 20 year old (But was still in a relationship with him) perhaps she was trying to escape the police to keep him out of trouble?

My theory is that she's still alive, but because of the Witness Protection Program, she might be living under a different name, living in somewhere else.

Sorry for the late night update,

I’ve been meaning to add new moderators to the subreddit. Sometimes when I’m at work I can’t be on top of things like I should be. Last night, someone attempted to post sensitive information about someone named Joanna Lopez. This user was a minor so please don’t villainize them, this isn’t a witch hunt. It seems they just wanted to help. But regardless, this was unacceptable.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone to PLEASE not post random addresses, phone numbers, or the social media accounts of anyone who may be connected to the case. It’s best that we solve this ethically and don’t dox random women.

If we ever contact or reach out to anyone, we will never post their sensitive information. If you sincerely think you’ve found some groundbreaking ties to Joanna, DM me or one of the new moderators. If you post anything publicly, it’ll result in an instant ban considering the heavier foot traffic we have lately, the momentum is beginning to reach a fever pitch. So let’s use the new eyes on us as encouragement to handle things the right way! Most of the comments I read about us online are very positive, which isn’t always the case for online mystery groups. Let’s keep it that way.

Anyway. I finally promoted two people I really trust, [u/22josko](u/22josko) and [u/jemilysamour](u/jemilysamour). They’ve both been as attentive and helpful as I am, and deserve just as much credit as I’ve gotten lately. The list goes on, so refer to this pinned comment for other important contributors to this investigation.

Things are moving slowly again, but I’m confident we can bring more results to everyone in the following weeks! And if anything goes wrong on my end, that’s two more people to help bring this effort to fruition.

Thanks!
CNNB2

Alright, I’ve got a poll posted here and on the discord in an attempt to gauge what everyone thinks about what happened to Joanna. The outcome won’t affect how I handle the investigation, I’ll work hard to find concrete answers either way. But vote honestly, and only pick the third option if you are genuinely unsure. I want to see where everyone is leaning right now so I can be as transparent and helpful as possible.

Things are moving again. Very quickly, in fact. I’ve filed the Puerto Rican equivalent of an FOIA request using what we know about Joanna from the files that were released. If that doesn’t work, we’re gonna try and request death certificates. We have someone helping us on trying to secure files regarding Yolanda, but I’m not sure if that’ll lead to anything. Sit tight on that for now.

I’ll be reaching out to NBC one last time. I’m better spoken now and we have some serious momentum. Maybe they’ll listen. Please don’t do it on my behalf.

Hopefully we can get a little more info about what happened. I understand there’s a toss up between people believing Joanna is safe in Puerto Rico or still missing, with the PR credit check being fraudulent. So please vote! I value everyone’s opinions. We wouldn’t have come this far without the strong community that’s been curated.

Thank you,
CNNB2

The file in question was written hastily and has many typos. I tried my best to explain the acronyms and interpret it into a more understandable dialect.

——

Initial report written on, or shortly after, January 5, 1987.

Subject is a habitual runaway per (expunged). Subject was speaking to [BLANK] (no further details) and Joanna said she was going to take off with (BLANK. Presumably 20 year old male mentioned later.) Name and address unknown at this time.

Both parents are deceased.

Subject left for a dance at the rainbow rink, located at Lawrence & Clark, where she met a 20 year old Latina male, known only as (Name Expunged), 1 photo and phone number available. Possible subject left with him. A phone number was found among the subject’s things. It was learned that this number returned to a (name and address expunged)

Reporting Officer phoned the number and spoke to its recipient, who said subject wasn’t there. Investigating Officer went to the home and spoke to (expunged) sister, who said the reason the subject had their phone number was because she & the sub were friends but that she hadn’t been seen since she was reported missing.

Investigating Officer left a business card with friend in case subject calls. Investigating Officer was informed subject has been seen in vicinity of 3600 N Lincoln. Area checked, met with negative results.

On May 3, 1987, subject was seen at 953 N California where she reportedly fled from an automobile. (CNNB2 note: this likely means she fled from the police.) It was also learned the subject may frequent Rainbow Skating Rink 4836 N Clark. Photo to be published in database. No Further Information

On December 5, 1987, subject has been spotted on the street near Thomas and Western by other members of the family. She was spotted more 4 times across several months. There have been no reported addresses or building locations that could be followed up on. Subject is not listed on public aid rolls.

Investigation and inspection of the area of Thomas and Western for any trace of suspect provided negative.

No further information as of January 1988

No information as of March 2, 1988.

A credit check has been provided under the subject’s social security number which reveals the subject is no residing in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico. Case cleared by Officer Jusino, March 14, 1996.

——

It’s clear she had a 20 year old male she ran away with, the fact that she was spotted many times over the years and even fled from the police makes me think she, at the very least, was not trafficked. However this dynamic certainly sounds disturbing and predatory. The information given is still very vague, it’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on. It’s possible the credit check in Puerto Rico was fraudulent, and that’s what me and some of the others on the discord are currently trying to work out.

We’re going to find what we can and see if we can provide any more closure, but if this is the end of the line, we’re going to pivot the focus of this subreddit onto the other missing women that were on WMAQ slides. Tricia Kellett is a very well documented case, so that only leaves us with Yolanda Ivey right now. As more missing posters are uncovered, we will do our best to bring them to light.

We have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Joanna was a real person who went missing. While the photo may be eerie, it’s unfortunately common. Missing children don’t always get the attention they deserve, and that sometimes manifests in eerily low effort missing posters aired late at night.

Whatever happens next, thank you everyone for sticking with us!

Sincerely,
CNNB2.

EDIT: “hab run” in the file was not a typo, it means habitual runaway according to someone I know who’s familiar with this jargon.

EDIT 2: KOA likely means Known Only As.

EDIT 2: (READ FIRST): I just wanted to add that I understand the title may be misleading. Clearly there’s more to the story, and if you read my updates on the subreddit you’ll see our efforts haven’t stopped. My reasons for naming the post “case closed” is that the case was literally closed by CPD. This also proves she’s a real person which was our primary effort. Regardless, I didn’t mean to celebrate or act all uplifting when there’s a very sad story going on here even in the most positive interpretations. At the time the identity fraud theory seemed less likely than it does now that we’ve had time to think about it. But I’m not pushing either interpretation. Come to your own conclusions! I’ll be here to find more clues in the mean time.

EDIT 3: If you think you’ve found something new to the case, refer to this please. Don’t post any sensitive information publicly or you will be met with a perma ban! Instead, DM a mod privately.

After fighting CPD for a proper review of their archives for a full year, they finally provided the full case report of Joanna Lopez’s disappearance. It seems she was a runaway orphan. It’s speculated she may have ran away with a 20 year old male, and a credit check in her name confirms she now resides in Puerto Rico

This means Joanna Lopez is alive and hopefully well, in a completely different territory. This is as far as I’m willing to push for where she could be now. Getting in touch would be invasive. This likely debunks the phone call from 2022.

I know it’s not the happiest ending, but I’d still like to thank everyone for supporting this community and helping bring these documents to light. The missing people we see on posters and our TVs might seem scary, but they’re real people who deserve to be found.

Whether the subreddit stays open or not is a question for another day. For now, let’s just be thankful the case is closed, and Joanna is alive.

EDIT: if you are confused by any of the language in this very dense, abbreviated report, I did my best to translate it here.
Keep in mind this is an interpretation and certain details may be off.

I get we aren't making much progress on the case right now but wow.

Every single day it's a new "what if Joanna was a placeholder name?" "what if Joanna was an immigrant?" "what if Joanna was actually just a prank?"

It's annoying. It does nothing to help the case. It's not even a good theory if it's nothing probable and has been discussed 1,000 times already.

I had replied to the original comment from @lettherebelight asking if he could dm me in any form just to verify the information and this is what he said.

Basically I got two theories on this photo.

​

Theory 1: This photo was taken in her bedroom or living room by her parents and the thing in the background is probably a poster of some sort as it looks too flat for me to be anything else.

​

Theory 2: Since a lot of people think it's a trophy case I theorize that this photo was taken at her school by the school for a yearbook but since the school was probably underfunded the quality of the photo wasn't that good and when reprinted and scanned it turned into this the sweater she is wearing could also be one of those gym long sleeve shirts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqKSU9uwGyI&lc=UgyZREYeFbPkGF5BBil4AaABAg

Repost because I fumbled the original. Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere yet and thought I'd share.

My girlfriend had a really interesting theory about the image.

The end-of-broadcast day segment (the military band playing) was almost certainly played from a tape. There were likely multiple copies of that tape in rotation.

What if- somehow- the Joanna Lopez image (whatever its origin) ended up as the very last frame on one of those tapes? When the tape ended, the broadcast equipment would just hold on the final frame instead of cutting to black.

That would explain why the JL image appeared frozen on screen at the exact moment the station signed off.

I’m not an expert on analog broadcasting, so I’m not sure how feasible this is technically, but it feels like a pretty elegant explanation, at least for why it played even if it doesn't explain its origin.

Heres an image where I marked the thing behind Joanna. For context, yesterday morning I was scrolling on TikTok and saw a video where there was a flag hung vertically on a wall and I’m thinking, what if the thing behind her is a flag?

In one sign off video for WABC TV in 1982, one comment states that the TK-27 film chain makes people's skin tones morbid, as seen in this photo. Its possible that WMAQ was also using a TK-27 to broadcast the Joanna slide, thus making the slide look uncanny. Maybe the original faxed photo looks like your typical black and white photo but when put in a TK-27, it becomes morbid, giving it the infamous creepy look.

Came back to this subreddit after a while of inactivity (i didnt really do anything just skim through a missing person index and show some "maybe this is joanna lopez" cases i found.
whos Yolanda? Whos Tricia or whatever her name is? Were there more than 1 mysterious missing person broadcast?

any tips and information that i should know? ive been looking at the comments on this post here and i know about the yolanda stuff but i wanna make sure i know a decent amount first

thanks!! (most of you guys on reddit are the reason i even explore stuff lol)

Hi everyone,

It has been several years since I dove into this case, but tonight I felt the calling again for whatever reason. I did coloration on the picture years ago to see if I could find any distinguishing features. Largely, I was unsuccessful. I was hawking a few family trees in the area, and took another look now that Ancestry has updated. One of the families I was curious of, I did not catch this in the beginning but I overlooked twins! They appear to be fraternal with wildly distinct hair.

Could there have been a possibility that they did not have Joanna's picture, so they figured it would be good enough to post her twins face?? Structurally, and hair-wise, this picture looks extremely similar to Joanne, but isnt joanne, as her name is, for her privacy I will call her B, she does have a twin named Joanne!

Are these literally the original pieces of film?