Conradina Olson

Carl and Condradina Olsen

Real Name: Condradina Olson
Nicknames: No Known Nicknames
Location: Brookfield, Wisconsin and Ellis, Missouri
Date: About 1910

Case

Details: In 1910, 38-year-old Condradina Olson boarded a train in Brookfield, Wisconsin. She told her four children, who had come to the station to wish her off, that she was going to a doctor's appointment in Milwaukee, but she never returned. For the rest of his life, her eldest son Edwin blamed himself for not accompanying his mother.

Over seventy years later, Condradina's grand-daughter, Geneva (Olson) Fuchser, began genealogical research into her family's history. As a result of a "psychic" visiting her store, Geneva became convinced that Condradina was one and the same with a woman said to have vanished in Ellis, Missouri. The story of the Ellis woman was told in depth. According to the legend, an elegantly-dressed woman alighted from the train in Ellis. She was arguing with a man in what appeared to be lover's quarrel. The two stormed off down the tracks. Shortly thereafter, the man returned alone and boarded another train, disappearing. Three days later, train workers found her body. She was buried next to the tracks, as a Jane Doe.
Despite Ms. Fuchser's belief, however, it appears impossible that the Ellis woman was Condradina Olson. According to a 1888 newspaper article shown, the woman in Ellis was found on April 21, 1877. Conradina would have been but a girl at the time.
Suspects: Ms. Fuchser believed her grandfather, Carl Olson, killed Conradina.
Extra Notes: This segment originally aired on the December 19, 1990 episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
Results: Solved/Unsolved. Although Condradina Olson could not possibly be the identity of the woman buried in Ellis, both the true fate of Conradina Olson and the true identity of the woman buried in Ellis remain unsolved.
Links:

• 1877 Jane Doe Article

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