Joanna Kay Otto

• Missing Since 11/20/1992
• Missing From Pensacola, Florida
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 08/03/1973 (52)
• Age 19 years old
• Height and Weight 5'7, 140 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A white sweater, blue shorts with lace trim, a silver necklace and gold earrings.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Otto's nickname is Jo.

Details of Disappearance

Otto was last seen on November 20, 1992. She and her roommate went to a party, but her roommate became ill and had to go home.

Otto got a ride home later with a friend, 27-year-old James Earl Gibson. He later told police that he took two other people home, both of them young men Otto knew from school, and then dropped Otto off at her apartment at Maison de Ville Apartments in the 800 block of Royce Street. Although her apartment was closer to the site of the party than the other men's homes, she was the last person to be dropped off. She never arrived home and has never been heard from again.

One of the men Gibson dropped off that night when he gave Otto a ride was "Bubba" White. Police got a tip that about half an hour after dropping him off at his home, Gibson returned to the residence and asked to make a phone call. He spoke to someone on the phone for several minutes but White didn't know who he was speaking to or what the conversation was about. Then he left.

According to the same tipster, one of Gibson's relatives got a phone call from him on the night Otto disappeared and then left the house, saying he had "business" to attend to. That same relative, after Otto went missing, supposedly said that if the police could not find her body they would not be able to charge Gibson with anything.

The police tried to verify the tipster's information, but were unable to find anyone who could collaborate it. Gibson's family members all denied knowing anything about Otto's disappearance but said he had been using drugs around that time and seemed "very stressed out." Investigators conducted a voice stress analysis of Gibson's recorded statement about the night Otto disappeared, and the results "indicated he did not tell the entire truth." Gibson initially agreed to take a polygraph, but never showed up for the appointment to take the test and later said he'd changed his mind.

Otto had a history of dropping out of sight for days at a time, but she'd never been gone for longer than three days without calling home, and her family became worried after she failed to contact them over Thanksgiving. She was not reported missing until December 8. She was unemployed at the time of her disappearance, but looking for a job, and had gotten an interview for a position at the mall.

A photo of Gibson is posted with this case summary. He was later sentenced to 35 years in prison for a 1994 kidnapping and sexual battery. He had abducted an eighteen-year-old girl, an acquaintance of Otto's, from a gas station restroom when the girl and a friend stopped there on the way to a party.

The victim said Gibson covered her mouth, forced her into his vehicle, and took her to two different locations, first to a wooded area and then to his trailer off Nine Mile Road. He repeatedly sexually assaulted her and held her against her will for nearly nine hours before he fell asleep and she was able to escape the trailer, naked, and go to a neighbor's to get help.

Authorities believe Gibson could be a serial killer. He has not been charged in Otto's case, however, or with any murders, and in July 2019 he was paroled from prison on the kidnap and rape charge. After his release he was arrested multiple times for offenses including failure to keep the sex offender registry notified when he changed jobs and home addresses, and for fighting with his female roommate and taking her phone away from her when she tried to call for help. In 2024, he was imprisoned again; he is scheduled to be released in 2027.

Otto was born in Dotham, Alabama and attended Woodham High School in Pensacola. She dropped out of high school in her junior year. Her mother described her as a trusting individual who loved going to parties. Foul play is suspected in her case.