DALENE CARLSON - 23 yo - Stockton CA

STOCKTON, CA - Family, friends and strangers created a car wash fundraiser
to keep a missing woman's disappearance in the public spotlight and to
raise funds for a reward leading to information to her whereabouts.



Dalene Carlson, 23, a newcomer to Stockton, mysteriously disappeared after a night out with friends on August 7.

According to her family, Carlson moved to Stockton from Idaho in June to start a new life.

"This is to keep the case active," event organizer Joe DeGravio said.

DeGravio never personally knew Carlson, but was deeply effected by her story.

"My sister goes to Finnegan's Pub all time, which is how I heard
about it," DeGravio said. "I would never want something like this to
happen to my daughter or sister."

The car wash on the MTI campus on North El Dorado Street was free, but patrons were asked to make a donation to her reward fund.

The fire fighters who aided the water search at the Calaveras River last week also showed up to show support.

"Where she disappeared is right down the street from our station, so
we feel really connected to her," Stockton Fire Department Engine 4
Capt. Shannon Lewis said. "It's been difficult for us that we can't help
find the person who's missing."

Carlson was last seen leaving Finnegan's Pub on Pacific Avenue on
August 7. She later appeared on surveillance video at a Food 4 Less
grocery store with her friend, Jason Gilley.

Police arrested Gilley on Aug. 14 for kidnapping Carlson, but the
charges were dropped three days later. Gilley denies any involvement in
Carlson's disappearance and said she left his house on Amador Place in
the early morning hours of Aug. 7.

No one has seen Carlson since.

"That's the hardest part, the not knowing anything," Carlson's aunt
Margret Baker said. "We can't even answer our 'maybes' or 'what ifs.'"

Baker said her sister, Carlson's mother, is building up a type of
"hate inside her, a distraught feeling" over not being able to
understand what happened to her daughter.

The volunteers and patrons who attended the car wash said they felt a connection to Carlson's story and are praying for her safe return.

"I don't know her, but the story of her just tugs at my heart," patron Erica Duran said.

http://www.news10.net/news/article/152129/2/Missing-womans-friends-family-hold-fundraiser

Dalene Carlson

September 10, 2011 12:00 AM
STOCKTON - Friends and family members of a missing 23-year-old woman have raised more than $1,000 to add to a
potential reward for information leading to her whereabouts.
Dalene Carlson, who recently moved to Stockton from Idaho, has not been seen for more than a month since she was seen on surveillance cameras making a
purchase at a Food 4 Less store with friend Jason Gilley.
Police arrested Gilley, but prosecutors did not file charges because of a lack of evidence, and he has been released.

As homicide detectives continue to pursue the case, friends and family members of Carlson have held numerous
fundraisers and candlelight vigils to raise money to increase a reward for information, said organizer and friend Joe Degravio.
Degravio said a carwash and a candlelight vigil raised $1,000 to add to Crime Stoppers' $1,000 reward for legitimate information about where Carlson is.
"And we're doing more, so the reward amount is growing," Degravio said, noting a local semipro football team
has expressed interest in hosting a game and raffle to raise more money.
Degravio said individual donations can also be made at Finnegan's Pub, 6252 Pacific Ave.
Anyone with information on the Carlson case can call Stockton police at (209) 937-8323.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110910/A_NEWS/109100326

Body ID'd as Carlson

Three men deemed persons of interest in case
STOCKTON - Margret Baker was not surprised when
she learned Monday afternoon that human remains found 48 hours earlier
in an Escalon cornfield had been confirmed through dental records to be
those of her niece, Dalene Carlson.
Having her
worst fears realized, however, did nothing to ease the pain Baker felt
upon officially being told of the 23-year-old Carlson's tragic fate.
"You
always think you can set yourself up for when this happens, but you
never do," said Baker, with whom Carlson was living at the time she
disappeared. "The only thing I can say is now they can move on and get
the person who did do this to her."
Carlson had been missing since Aug. 7, when she was last seen by friends at Finnegan's Pub and Grill on Pacific Avenue.
Family
members had maintained hope for more than two months that Carlson would
be found alive, but Stockton police spokesman Pete Smith said the
condition of the remains made it clear she had been dead for quite some
time. Smith said he had been told Carlson's remains were "in an advanced
state of decomposition."
A cause of death is
still to be determined. Police are hopeful, Smith said, that
examination of the remains will help investigators determine "the person
or persons" responsible for Carlson's death.
Smith
said investigators continue to view three people - Jason Gilley, Jacob
Evangelisti and James Cosens - as persons of interest in Carlson's
disappearance and death. Police initially arrested Gilley, 25, but
prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to charge him in
Carlson's disappearance, and he was released.
"Nobody
has been discounted or eliminated that we've had interest in from the
beginning, and certainly, Mr. Gilley is counted among those," Smith
said.
What turned out to be Carlson's remains were
found at about noon Saturday by an Escalon farm worker who was
harvesting corn. Deputies from the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office
were called to the scene, though the case has since been turned over to
Stockton police.
Carlson, from Sandpoint,
Idaho, moved to Stockton several months before she disappeared. Her aunt
described her as "a little social magnet" who loved to laugh, loved to
cook and loved animals.
"Her poor dog is going to miss her so much," Baker said, sobbing.
Carlson's death, she added, will leave a gaping void in the lives of those who loved her.
"If
you take all the stars in the world and pluck one out, it's never the
same," Baker said. "If you have a good bowl of soup and take out the
salt, it's not the same. It's not going to be the same without her. She
was such a free spirit, a beautiful person. All she wanted to do is
enjoy life. Her family is going to deeply miss her."
Baker said funeral arrangements have yet to be made.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111018/A_NEWS/110180320