Name: Benita Gay Chamberlin
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: February 23, 1978
Location Last Seen: Eugene, Lane County, Oregon
Date of Birth: October 27, 1953
Age: 24 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Blue
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Sample submitted - Tests complete
Clothing: Black turtleneck sweater, white pants, earth shoes, and red and blue ski jacket.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Benita was last seen with her estranged husband between 10 and 11am at Sacred Heart Hospital in the vicinity of 13th Ave. and Hilyard St. in Eugene, OR. She had just left the hospital after feeding her newborn daughter, who was born premature. She planned to return around 1:30pm to take her daughter home, but she never returned.
Her purse was found early Friday (2:30am) in a University of Oregon parking lot on Franklin Boulevard, just south of the U of O canoe shack. Later that morning, her vehicle - a 1966 blue Mercury Comet - was found abandoned about a block to the east in the parking lot of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company plant at 1565 Franklin Boulevard.
Ms. Chamberlin attended Churchill High School and was recently separated from her husband, John. She worked as a hotel maid at the Holiday Inn on Coburg Road in Eugene for five months before taking maternity leave on February 4th.
Agency Name: Lane County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Sgt Carl Wilkerson
Agency Phone Number: 541-682-4311
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 78-2325
NamUs Case Number: 869
NCIC Case Number: M-974849853
NamUs
Eugene Register-Guard (February 25, 1978)
Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 05-18-2022 - By: Htmlcnvtr
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information is from the time of disappearance.
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