Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Jan Scharf now missing 4 years, Cameron Park, California

Although those of you outside of California may not have heard of her, Jan seems to be one of the many women who have been murdered by husbands or boyfriends. However, as you will read later, there is not much proof that she is dead. Either way, if you know anything about what happened to Jan Scharf, you should definitely call police at the number listed below.
Jan's information and photos of her and her husband from the Charley Project (http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/scharf_jan.html):
Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance
Missing Since: May 16, 2002
from Cameron Park, California
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: July 15, 1956
Age: 45 years old
Height and Weight: 5'5, 140
pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair, blue eyes. Jan's ears are
pierced. Her nickname is Jani. Jan may use the names Jani Jo Thompson, Jani Jo
Bautista and/or Jan Sharpe. She may be called Jane Scharf or Jani Jo Thompson by
some agencies.

Details of Disappearance
Jan was last seen in May 2002
in Cameron Park, California. Her friends and family last saw her on May 14,
2002, but her estranged husband, Glyn Wolfgang Scharf, whom she was in the
process of divorcing, claimed he saw her on May 16 at 8:00 p.m. when he visited
her home. A photograph of Glyn is posted below this case summary. The couple was
legally separated but still lived together to save money. Glyn spent the night
there in a different room than his wife and left at 6:40 a.m. the following
morning. He said that when he left the house, he noticed that Jan's bedroom door
was closed and her car was gone.
Jan usually went to work at 5:30 a.m., but
May 16 was her day off. Neighbors reported hearing a scream in the area at
approximately 8:00 p.m. on May 16.
Jan was reported missing on May 18 after
failing to show up at work. She was employed as an emergency room nurse at U. C.
Davis Medical Center and had been since 1985. Her car, a tan Ford Explorer,
disappeared at the same time she did; it was found abandoned on May 19 in front
of 24-Hour Fitness in Folsom, California. A photograph of the automobile is
shown below this case summary. Jan did not check into the fitness facility that
day and no one saw her there.
The same month Jan disappeared, she went to
the police with complaints that she was being poisoned by Glyn. She tested
positive for digoxin, a heart medication she had not been prescribed. Glyn, who
worked as a paramedic for a private ambulance, would have had access to the
drug. Jan also reported that a gun had disappeared from her house. No charges
were brought against anyone in either incident, however.
Jan has not used
her cellular phone or automatic teller machine (ATM) card since her
disappearance. She disappeared a day after she applied for a promotion at her
job. She had been planning to go water-skiing with a friend on Memorial Day
weekend, and go to Las Vegas over the summer with another friend. At the time
Jan disappeared, she had also been making preparations for her daughter's
wedding. Jan is described as a responsible, reliable person. Her loved ones say
it is extremely uncharacteristic of her to leave voluntarily.
On May 16,
2003, a year almost to the day after Jan was last seen, police conducted an
all-day search on her husband's home. They then arrested him for her murder.
Prosecutors said Glyn was a jealous and violent husband who lay in wait in Jan's
home and ambushed and killed her after she arrived home from work, but Glyn
maintained that Jan had probably run away with another man.
Glyn was
convicted of first-degree murder in October 2004 on mostly circumstantial
evidence. Some pieces of Jan's jewelry were found buried in Glyn's girlfriend's
front yard, neighbors reported hearing a scream at Jan's house around the time
Glyn would have come home the night she vanished, and the jury was allowed to
hear about the possible poisoning attempt on Jan.
Glyn attempted suicide
twice after the verdict was given. Jan's remains have never been located.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
El Dorado County Sheriff's Department
530-621-5703
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a "poster" of Jan. There is a short profile of Jan at the Carole Sund Carrington Foundation's website which might work as a flyer if you change your page setup to landscape. If you know a site that has posters of Jan for printing, please let me know.

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