Judy Hyams
Real Name: Judith Carol Hyams
Nicknames: Judy
Location: Coral Gables, Florida
Date: September 14, 1965
Bio
Occupation: Medical Technician
Date of Birth: 1943
Height: 5'2"
Weight: Unrevealed
Marital Status: Divorced
Characteristics: White female with black hair and brown eyes. Judy was pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
Case
Details: Judy Hyams was a twenty-two-year-old divorcee from Coral Gables, Florida. She worked as a medical technician at the University of Miami Medical School at Jackson Memorial Hospital. In August 1965, she discovered that she was pregnant. When she went for her pregnancy test, she used the name "B. Kenney" in order to keep her condition a secret. She also did not tell anyone that she was pregnant, most likely because she was single. On September 14, 1965, she vanished without a trace. On the day of her disappearance, she told her friend, Marilyn Jackson, that she was leaving work early that day to go shopping for a watch. She withdrew $300 from her bank account. Although she claimed that she was going to use the money to buy the watch, it is believed that she instead used the money to pay for an illegal abortion.
Later that day, Judy arrived at the office of Dr. George Hadju, a Hungarian immigrant who posed as an accredited physician. A friend of hers had put her in contact with him, who performed illegal abortions. It is not known what happened to her after she arrived at his office that day. Three weeks later, a rental car registered in her name was found 650 miles away in Atlanta, Georgia. Traces of blood were found on the back seat. Since the car had sat there for several days before being discovered, investigators were unable to properly examine the rest of it. A local resident had spotted a man in his 30s parking it. He removed a duffel bag from the back and walked away. He has never been identified.
Three months later, Dr. Hadju was arrested for impersonating a physician. He jumped bail and has not been seen since. He is still wanted on perjury charges. Police speculate that he knows what happened to Judy. After Dr. Hadju fled, this case grew cold. Many assumed that Judy had died due to complications during the abortion, but her body was never found. Marilyn did not believe that she died because she had extensive medical knowledge from her job as a medical technician.
Almost twenty-five years later, however, the investigation was reopened after a series of bizarre events. It began in 1990 when Coral Gables Police Captain Chuck Scherer went to a narcotics lecture at a police academy 200 miles west of Omaha, Nebraska. The lecture itself was uneventful and Scherer returned to Coral Gables. Two weeks later, however, he received a phone call from a man claiming to be Steve Brown, a popular radio talk show host in Omaha. He said an anonymous caller had given him information about Judy's disappearance. Scherer told him that he was unfamiliar with this case and would have to call him back. A day later, he did so, but Steve was confused. He stated that he had never called Scherer and didn't know anything about this case. He was even more confused because the other caller had somehow given Scherer his unlisted phone number.
Scherer was just as confused as Steve; he had never mentioned this case while at the lecture and had absolutely no knowledge of it prior to the phone call. Two days later, he received an even more bizarre phone call from an unidentified female caller. All she said was, "Judy Hyams is alive, and she lives in Omaha." When Scherer asked for more information, she just repeated the line several times. Finally, she hung up. The phone calls lead him to believe that Judy may actually be alive and living somewhere in Omaha.
In March 1990, an article about Judy's disappearance appeared in a local newspaper. Shortly after that, Scherer received yet another anonymous phone call. This caller claimed that he was an FBI informant who had spent several weeks with Dr. Hadju in Budapest, Hungary. The informant also gave Scherer a phone number for Dr. Hadju. Scherer contacted Interpol and gave them the number. It appeared to belong to someone with the same name as the fugitive doctor. However, Dr. Hadju has yet to be located. Police believe that it is unlikely that he was responsible for the phone calls.
Police and Judy's family and friends are still searching for answers in her disappearance. The mysterious calls have given them hope that she may still be alive.
Suspects: Dr. Hadju, a Hungarian immigrant who posed as a doctor and ran an illegal abortion clinic in Coral Gables, was supposedly the man Judy was going to meet the day she vanished. He was later arrested for impersonating a physician. He jumped bail in 1966 and hasn't been seen since. Police believe that he knows what happened to Judy.
Police also would like to locate the man that parked Judy's rental car in Atlanta, Georgia, in September 1965. He was last seen removing a duffel bag from the back. He was in his 30s at the time and has never been identified. It is believed that his name is "Smith" and that he took a flight back to Miami after abandoning the car.
Before the car was discovered, a couple was seen near it. The witness believed that the man was the same person that abandoned it and that the woman may have been Judy. However, they were later located and determined to not be Judy or the man who abandoned the car.
Dr. Lucien Gordon was identified as the man whom Judy dated prior to her disappearance. He is believed to be her child's father. A few days before she vanished, he went with her to meet Dr. Hadju. Another doctor, Herschel Gordon, was identified as the man who referred her to Dr. Hadju. It is not known if either was involved in her disappearance.
Extra Notes:
- This case first aired on the January 2, 1991 episode.
- Some sources list her middle name as "Carole" and last name as "Himes" or "Hymes".
Actual letter sent to police
Results: Unresolved. Four days after this case aired, an anonymous letter was received by the Coral Gables police department. It stated that Judy was indeed deceased and that her death was due to an allergic reaction to a drug given during the abortion. According to it, her body was disposed of in Biscayne Bay near Miami. The police believe it is legitimate and have no explanation for the Nebraska phone calls. However, there is speculation that the calls were a cruel prank. A 1989 newspaper article about missing persons mentioned this case. It was later syndicated in newspapers, so it is possible that the caller learned about this case through the article.
The Coral Gables police department pleaded for the author of the anonymous letter to turn himself/herself in, but it never happened. The Coral Gables police department has since closed this case, but Judy's body has never been found. Also, Dr. Hadju has never been located or arrested.
Steve Brown passed away in 2008. Captain Charles Scherer passed away in 2014.
Links:
- Judy Hyams on Unsolved.com
- Judy Hyams on the Charley Project
- Judy Hyams on the Doe Network
- Pretty Aide at Hospital is Missing - September 17, 1965
- Judy Drew $300 at Bank, Vanished - September 19, 1965
- Missing Girl Was Pregnant, Doctor Tells Police Here - September 20, 196
- Judy's Car Found Abandoned in Atlanta - September 22, 1965
- Missing Judith's Car is Found in Atlanta - September 22, 1965
- Missing Woman Reported Seen With Man in Atlanta - September 23, 1965
- Girl Seen Near Auto Wasn't Judith, Police Say - September 28, 1965
- Gerstein Talks to Doctors in Lost Girl Case - October 15, 1965
- Missing Girl Believed Dead - February 24, 1966
- Sepler vs. State (1966)
- Case reopens after mysterious calls - March 24, 1990
- Episode 105: Judith Hyams - Janaury 2, 2019
- The 1965 Disappearance of Judith Hyams: Allegedly Vanishes After Botched Abortion, Case is Revived by Bizarre Anonymous Phone Calls 24 Years Later - January 2, 2019
- SitcomsOnline Discussion of Judy Hyams
- Websleuths Discussion of Judy Hyams