Name: Josephine Carroll Chatraw
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: July 29, 1984
Location Last Seen: Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York
Date of Birth: circa 1948
Age: 36 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Thin build. Scar on chin and long scar on head.
Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Not Available
Clothing: White blouse and blue jeans
Jewelry: Possibly wearing mother of pearl ring in silver setting on right hand. Silver chain with small heart on left hand.
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
Josephine last spoke with her sister from her home at 206 Seymour St, Syracuse, New York on July 29, 1984. Josephine was upset regarding a dispute with her boyfriend, Phillip Whaley. She was reported missing August 3, 1984, by one of her sisters.
The last person to acknowledge seeing Chatraw was Phillip Whaley, who was her boyfriend for several years and who lived one block from her apartment.
On July 29 Chatraw visited Whaley at his 156 Seymour Street apartment. Whaley told police they argued, then she left on her own accord. He last saw her walking alone on Seymour Street. One of Chatraw's neighbors saw Whaley beating Chatraw up at 01.00 earlier that day in the hallway outside her apartment. Shortly before the assault, Chatraw told one of her sisters that Whaley had threatened to kill her and hide her so no one could find her.
Whaley was arrested on charges of first-degree unlawful imprisonment and third-degree assault several weeks before Chatraw disappeared. He allegedly held her against her will in his apartment.
Philip Whaley went to trial in 1996, charged with kidnapping and murdering Chatraw.
Shortly after Chatraw disappeared Philip Whaley admitted causing her death and burying her in some woods near Central Square, a friend of Whaley's testified at the trial. Whaley was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison for the homicide of Chatraw and another missing woman, Margaret "Peggy" Reiley . The bodies of the two women were never found.
Agency Name: Syracuse Police Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 315-442-5111
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 84-88980
NamUs Case Number: MP7593
NCIC Case Number: M-128859064
Syracuse Herald-Journal
Syracuse Police Department
NamUs
Added: 10/22/07; 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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