Overview

Last seen: April 13, 1974 — Stuart, Martin County, Florida. Jeanne was 59 and disappeared from her home in the 40 block of South Sewall’s Point Road. Her dentures were left at the residence. She was reported missing April 15, and her vehicle was found abandoned in a remote area of northern St. Lucie County on April 16. She was going through a divorce and had a property settlement in place, although no public source establishes that as the cause of her disappearance. She remains missing; no confirmed remains or cause of death have been publicly announced.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Jeanne Josephine McInerney: The Unsolved 1974 Disappearance in Stuart, Florida

Jeanne Josephine McInerney was 59 years old when she disappeared from Stuart, Florida, in April 1974. More than five decades later, she has never been found, and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance continue to raise questions about what happened at her South Sewall’s Point Road home and why her vehicle was later abandoned in another county.

Current missing-person records list Jeanne as last seen on April 13, 1974, in Stuart, Florida. She was a white woman with blonde hair and green eyes, approximately 5 feet 1 to 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing between 110 and 120 pounds. She had pierced ears and normally wore dentures.

The Disappearance of Jeanne McInerney

Jeanne lived in the 40 block of South Sewall’s Point Road in Stuart, in Martin County. When she disappeared, an especially unusual personal item remained inside the residence: her dentures. She was never heard from again.

Available case information indicates that Jeanne was reported missing on April 15, 1974. The following day, April 16, her vehicle was discovered abandoned in a remote area of northern St. Lucie County. The discovery moved the mystery beyond Jeanne’s home: she was gone, important personal property had been left behind, yet her vehicle had apparently traveled away from Stuart.

Some historical material associated with the case gives April 12 rather than April 13 as the date connected to her disappearance. A 1975 court filing discussed by researchers reportedly regarded Jeanne as having died “on or around” April 12, 1974. Modern missing-person listings, however, use April 13, 1974 as her official missing/last-seen date.

Divorce and Property Settlement

Another important circumstance was occurring in Jeanne’s personal life. At the time she vanished, she was reportedly in the process of obtaining a divorce, and a property settlement had already been arranged. Publicly available case summaries do not establish that the divorce or settlement caused her disappearance, and no person should be treated as responsible on the basis of that circumstance alone.

The timing nevertheless forms part of the known background investigators would have had to consider. Combined with the dentures left at the residence and the subsequent discovery of her abandoned vehicle, Jeanne’s disappearance has long been treated as more than an ordinary case of someone voluntarily leaving home.

A Missing-Person Case Treated as a Suspected Homicide

Jeanne’s remains have never been recovered publicly, so there is no confirmed cause or manner of death. The Charley Project classifies her as an endangered missing person. A Project Cold Case entry reproduced in contemporary case discussions identified the matter as CCR 74-4-108, described the offense as “Missing Person (Presumed Murdered),” and listed the incident location as 44 Sewall Point Road in Stuart.

That distinction is important. Jeanne is still a missing person in major missing-person databases; a homicide has not been established through the recovery of her remains and a medical determination. References describing the case as a murder or presumed murder reflect how the cold case has been categorized, rather than proof of exactly how Jeanne died.

Possible Connections to Unidentified Remains

In later years, volunteer researchers began examining unidentified women found in Florida to determine whether any could be Jeanne.

One discussion centered on an unidentified woman found in Broward County on April 23, 1974. The timing, Florida location and presence of an upper dental plate generated interest because Jeanne disappeared only days earlier and wore dentures. Significant discrepancies existed, however, including the unidentified woman’s estimated age, height and physical characteristics. A researcher who initially proposed the possibility later said that after seeing Jeanne’s photograph and height information, they were no longer convinced it was a match.

Another unidentified-person case, referenced as UP13110 in a Websleuths discussion, was raised as a possible comparison in January 2024. Participants noted similarities as well as questions surrounding the dental information and circumstances. These discussions are volunteer research and should not be confused with an official identification or law-enforcement conclusion.

In May 2024, a Websleuths participant posted a screenshot stating that Jeanne’s NamUs record showed one unidentified-person exclusion. The publicly searchable discussion does not provide enough authoritative information to identify the excluded person with certainty, so it would be inappropriate to claim that a particular Jane Doe has officially been eliminated solely from that post.

Renewed Attention Decades Later

Jeanne’s case received substantially greater online visibility beginning in 2022. She was entered into NamUs under MP93173, according to the contemporaneous case discussion, and the Charley Project added her casefile on July 9, 2022.

That renewed documentation was significant for a disappearance that had occurred nearly half a century earlier. It placed Jeanne’s photograph, physical description and circumstances before a new generation of investigators, missing-person researchers and members of the public.

Latest Publicly Available Case Information

One of the most significant recent developments is the addition of Jeanne Josephine McInerney to the Doe Network, where she was assigned case number 5035DFFL. The Doe Network’s update history records the addition in February 2025.

The Doe Network’s live update archive continues through September 2026, and Jeanne’s case has not been shown there as a closed identification or resolved case. The Charley Project likewise continues to list her as missing. Based on the publicly available records located for this review, there has been no announced recovery of Jeanne, identification of her remains, arrest, or publicly confirmed resolution of her disappearance.

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office remains the law-enforcement agency associated with the investigation. Its current directory lists the Criminal Investigations Division/Detectives at 772-220-7060, while the Sheriff’s Office main law-enforcement number is 772-220-7000. The older Charley Project casefile lists 772-220-7087 specifically as the investigating-agency contact for Jeanne’s case.

More Than 50 Years Without Answers

The central facts of Jeanne McInerney’s disappearance remain remarkably stark. A 59-year-old woman disappeared from her Stuart-area home, her dentures were left behind, and several days later her vehicle was discovered abandoned in a remote part of neighboring St. Lucie County. She was also navigating a divorce and property settlement at the time.

What happened between Jeanne’s last known presence in Stuart and the discovery of her vehicle has never been publicly explained. Without the recovery of Jeanne or definitive forensic evidence establishing what happened to her, theories about a particular suspect, unidentified body or motive remain theories rather than established facts.

More than half a century after Jeanne Josephine McInerney disappeared, her case remains open to the possibility that information, surviving records, DNA comparison, unidentified-remains work or someone with previously undisclosed knowledge could finally provide an answer.