Joyce Alice Fisher

• Missing Since 04/16/1978
• Missing From Sister Lakes, Michigan
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 28 years old
• Height and Weight 5'6, 125 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A blue nylon jacket, a blue plaid shirt and blue jeans.
• Associated Vehicle(s) 1969 Buick (accounted for)
• Distinguishing Characteristics White female. Blonde hair, green eyes. Joyce's maiden name is Collins. Her nickname is Joy.

Details of Disappearance

Joyce was last seen on April 16, 1978. She left her parents' summer cottage on Indian Lake shortly before 3:00 p.m., leaving her one-year-old daughter in her mother's care, and drove six miles to an antique store called Bell's Corner in Sister Lakes, Michigan to meet her estranged husband of two years, Jerry Wayne Fisher, who lived in Keeler Township, Michigan. She never came back and has never been heard from again.

Photographs of Jerry are posted with this case summary. Joyce was going to sign a title for a 1973 Chevrolet Vega over to him so he could sell it, and they went to get the document notarized. Joyce told the owner of Bell's Corner that she would return in about half an hour. Jerry stated they had driven only a short distance when Joyce realized they had the wrong title. He said he dropped Joyce off Bell's Corner between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., about forty-five minutes after they'd left, after giving her $500 in cash.

Other witnesses, however, said Jerry was alone when he came back. Jerry showed a car title to one of the men who operated Bell's Corner, and the man noticed the title was for a different car than a 1973 Chevrolet Vega. The title for the 1973 Chevrolet Vega later turned up in Jerry's safe deposit box. Joyce has never been heard from again. The 1969 Buick she was driving was later found parked in front of the store with the keys inside it. There was no sign of a struggle and no indication of her whereabouts.

Joyce left behind $600 in her bank account. She is described as a reliable and responsible woman and a dedicated mother who was close to her family. She told family and friends she was afraid of Jerry and that he had beaten her several times, even while she was pregnant. She feared he would try to take their daughter from her, as he had told her she would never see the child again.

The couple had separated in December 1977 and were in the process of a divorce. Joyce had worked as a special education teacher for the Dowagiac Union School District, but she resigned in January 1978 and moved in with her father and mother in a Chicago, Illinois suburb. She took their daughter to Michigan every two weeks so Jerry could visit with her, and it was during one of these trips that she disappeared.

Although she was stressed over her pending divorce, her loved ones don't believe she would have left without warning or taken her own life.

Following Joyce's disappearance, Jerry refused to cooperate with the investigation and hired an attorney. He was later accused of beating his and Joyce's daughter, and in January 1979, he lost custody to Joyce's parents.

He moved to Florida shortly after Joyce went missing, and remarried in 1986. He told his friends and his new wife that Joyce suffered from mental illness and had been "put away" as a long-term patient in a psychiatric hospital. Jerry and his new wife divorced in 1987, after a five-month marriage.

In 1987, he was charged with murder in Joyce's case. At his trial, his defense argued he had no reason to kill Joyce, and suggested Joyce had a "secret life" trafficking cocaine between Chicago and Sister Lakes and that this was cause of her disappearance.

Multiple witnesses testified as to Jerry's threats and violence towards Joyce and her fear of him, including one of Joyce's divorce lawyers, who said Jerry's state of mind was "that of a person who was emotionally disturbed and capable of doing great violence to his wife." The lawyer had sought a court order to deny Jerry visitation with his child until he got a psychiatric evaluation, due to his violent outbursts and bad temper.

One witness said he and Jerry had gotten drunk together at a bar in early April 1978, shortly before Joyce disappeared. After about four and a half hours of drinking, Jerry told the witness he had meet with Joyce to sign some papers related to their divorce, and once the papers were signed, "no one would ever see her again". When the witness and Jerry left the bar, the witness noticed some rope and four cement blocks inside of Jerry's truck. He didn't take Jerry's statements seriously, however, because of Jerry's intoxicated state.

Jerry was acquitted of murder but found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison. This greatly exceeded the state sentencing guidelines for the offense, which called for a one- to four-year sentence, but the judge said, "the criminal sentence should fit the crime and be tailored to fit the circumstance."

Four years after Jerry's conviction, the case was overturned on appeal and he was released. The appeals court found there was only "marginal evidence" against Jerry and no physical evidence of any act that could have caused Joyce's death.

Joyce's body has never been found, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.