(mysterious music)
- Chicago Illinois, 1989.
A man gets home after a late double shift from work,
makes himself a quick dinner
and sits down on his couch to enjoy his meal.
He turns on his TV to the WMAQ station
owned by the NBC network.
The station was just wrapping up its late night section
before going offline for the night.
So all that was playing
were various public service announcements,
an advert from Michael Jordan was shown,
and then a military rendition of the National Anthem.
It was the kind of TV that no one actually watched,
but that was okay with the man.
He wasn't looking to actually watch the TV
for anything interesting,
but just turned it on for some white noise in the background
to drown out his racing thoughts.
Strangely enough, though
he wouldn't even get that for long.
Following the military rendition of the National Anthem,
a grainy black and white image appeared
of a young female with the caption "Missing",
accompanied by complete silence.
Very few details aside from her name, Joanna Lopez,
and a telephone number would appear on the screen,
and the photo itself with much too hard
to make out almost anything about the female's appearance.
Regardless though, the image remained on screen
in complete silence
all the way until the scheduled morning news.
And then she seemingly disappeared
without so much as a further mention,
leaving behind many questions.
Who was she?
When did she go missing?
And of course, is she even real?
This is the mysterious case of Joanna Lopez,
the missing person who might not exist.
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(soft music)
To start off, let's rewind a bit.
Chicago in the late 80s and early 90s
were a strange and dangerous place,
a place of locked doors and smashed windows.
The city was at the peak of yet another violent crime wave.
Gangs, homicides and kidnappings
had turned the windy city
into a fearful hunting ground.
Due to this rise in overall crime,
missing persons were not extremely uncommon.
The showcase of it
on the late night television, however was.
Not only was it strange
to see such a slide on the local news
but it was also showcased in an eerie way
right from the end note of the National Anthem,
but a black screen and silence portraying Joanna.
That was perhaps the strangest part of it all.
The little to no information
that was given to the viewer
on who Joanna was.
Usually missing person slides
would be accompanied by their age, height,
the last time they were ever seen,
their ethnicity,
and sometimes even at their last known location.
Joanna's slide showed absolutely none of that.
And so she faded into obscurity
with no further mention or finding of her.
That was at least until the second broadcast.
Two years later in 1991,
almost the exact same thing occurred.
WMAQ made it's usual signing off announcement
and footage was shown of US Marines raising the flag
to the tune of the "Star Spangled Banner",
as happened before,
but suddenly there was an abrupt jump cut
to the same chilling image of Joanna Lopez,
seen two years prior.
Again, it was shown in complete silence.
Although this time there were some noticeable changes.
In the second broadcast,
the image appears to have been cleaned up
or enhanced slightly.
So we can now see that Joanna seems to be wearing glasses.
There looks to be a light source reflected in her glasses
but it's still very difficult to make out
any distinctive features
and the picture remains unsettling.
Once more, no information was provided
other than a name and a number,
no height, age,
the date she was last seen,
or any other data
that might have been helpful for viewers,
just a dark image and complete silence.
This time, the picture of Joanna
was only shown for about 10 seconds
before there was another cut
to the off air test pattern.
So what were these creepy broadcasts about?
Were they part of a genuine appeal for help
using the only photo of Joanna Lopez available?
Or were they something more sinister?
This is what we know so far.
Keep in mind that both Joanna Lopez broadcasts
happened at a time before home computers
and the internet were used regularly.
Interest in this case
has been revived in recent years
thanks to the likes of YouTube and Reddit.
Reddit user, Lukinspire,
posted a link to an archived footage from WMAQ
On the subreddit R/missingpersonsUSA in October, 2020,
and the case gained more traction
on the subreddit R/unresolvedmysteries
following a post from user ChrisPolygon
in July of 2021.
On the latter's thread,
a user by the name of Queenof-brokenhearts
found some useful information
regarding the only other clue seen in the broadcasts
besides the person's name,
the phone number.
Found in a regional directory for 1979,
the number was once listed
as being used by the Youth Division Office
of the Chicago Police Department.
Of course, this makes sense.
And if the broadcast or a genuine missing person's appeal
this at least tells us
that Joanna Lopez
was considered to be a youth,
likely under the age of 18
and certainly no older than 24.
The fact that the phone number appears to be legitimate
lends credence to this being a real missing person's case.
Supporting its legitimacy even more,
is that the style of the missing person poster
is the same as the others
used by the Chicago PD at the time.
Local residents have recalled seeing similar appeals
with the same text and banner across the top
stating it's only the photo that is odd.
And usually there would also be more details
and sometimes soft music playing in the background.
Take, for example, the case of Tricia Kellett.
In 1988, her image was shown in the same way
as a test card at the end of WMAQ's programming.
The only difference was that a clear photo was used
and there was a last seen date
of 5-7-82.
Seeing that her appeal was shown
six years after her disappearance
means that it also could have been long before 1989
that Ms. Lopez went missing,
making her even harder to find.
What makes the case of Joanna Lopez more strange though,
aside it from the photo being used
and the lack of identifying details,
is the fact that nobody has been able to trace her
on any missing person's databases
or find any reference to her
outside of the TV broadcasts.
Searches on NamUs,
the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System,
and NCMEC,
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,
have come up empty,
leading some people to believe
she was either found alive and well,
that Joanna Lopez was not her real name,
that she died,
or that such a person never even existed.
Some people think that the broadcasts
could even have been a prank or an ARG,
while the appearance of Tricia Kellett
and other missing persons
does a lot to debunk this idea,
it's still possible that a prankster
could have added the creepy image
to a genuine looking appeal
as a sort of dark humored joke,
or as an experiment.
Interestingly, in 2001,
a similar event to the Joanna Lopez one happened in Mexico
and comparisons have been constantly drawn
between the two cases.
During a PSA on Canal 5 announcing missing people,
an image appeared of a woman
supposedly named Selene Delgado.
The image it was of low quality
and the features of the woman appeared to be fake
or artificially constructed.
so much so,
someone that even made a YouTube video
claiming that Selene Delgado
was not a real person
and that the face was actually a compilation
of other faces designed to look human
and to make the viewer feel uneasy.
Redditor, Daisyisreal99
wrote about the cases on R/mystery,
claiming that Canal 5
has a history of doing ARGs
and has played into the Salina mystery,
but has never outright stated
that they made it up
or who if anyone was in the photo.
However, the poster also admits
that if it were to be an ARG
or a publicity stunt,
it would be strange to start
it all the way back in 2001
and continue it until now.
The same can be said for Joanna Lopez.
It's highly unlikely that she's part of an ARG
but is she even a real person at all?
If not someone at the studio,
maybe an outsider hacked the signal,
wanting to spook everyone.
If you don't think that's likely or possible,
then you're forgetting the Max Headroom incident.
That also took place in Chicago,
and in 1987,
only two years before the first Joanna Lopez broadcast.
To recap, an unidentified person
wearing a Max Headroom mask
managed to hijack two local tv stations
and send a bizarre broadcast to thousands of home viewers.
Could the Joanna Lopez incidents
have been a similar thing?
If not, why was it shown for so long the first time
and only briefly the second time?
Sadly, perhaps a more feasible theory.
as to who Joanna was
and what happened to her
is that she was just another unknown victim
of Chicago's brutal street life.
According to annual reports
released by Chicago's Police Department
in both 1989 and 1991,
there were close to 24,000
and 25,000 missing youths respectively in the Chicago area.
With nothing but a poor quality photo
and a potential name
that could have been an alias,
maybe the youth division took a shot in the dark
hoping that someone would be able to recognize her
despite the terrible picture.
Maybe they tried to enhance it as much as possible
for the 1991 showing,
though that doesn't exactly explain
why they would only show it
for a matter of seconds unlike before.
Trying to find some answers,
a couple users on the subreddit
claimed they were actually able to contact
the WMAQ network regarding the broadcast.
The station told them
that the photo and name were sent to them anonymously.
This, in combination with another user's post
about an FOIA request
for someone named Joanna Lopez
coming back with no matches,
has led some to believe
that she might not exist at all.
After stumbling upon this mystery,
Reddit user proudeveningstar
wrote that they had been
scouring the Doe Network
for unidentified Jane Does
in and around the Chicago area all morning,
and the only possible case that they could find
is from 1994.
The link they posted led to The Doe Network,
International Center For Unidentified and Missing Persons
and showed a black woman
aged between 18 and 22 years old
who had been found dead in May 1994.
In the Circumstances of Discovery section, it reads,
"The victim was found in an alley
"behind 4837 South Champlain Avenue.
"An offender, who has been charged with her murder,
"alleged that the victim
"was working as a prostitute
"when he picked her up at 63rd and Kimbark."
When the artistic renderings of the woman's face
are superimposed onto the image of Joanna Lopez,
there are some similarities.
However, due to the source materials
and overall lack of information,
it is not concrete enough
for a definitive answer.
Perhaps, a more convincing theory
is that of a woman named Rachel Lopez.
Although their first names are different,
Rachel Lopez, who went to West Chicago Community High school
from 1988 to 1991,
shares a shocking resemblance to Joanna Lopez.
In addition, the dates line up quite well for the most part.
So, the question then becomes
if this is the same individual,
why would she be going by a different name,
and why would the second 1991 broadcast have aired.
Well, the theory behind the case
that seems the most plausible
is that the original report of Joanna Lopez
being missing was simply a prank.
This would not only explain the difference in names,
but also the fact
that very little details were given
on the original broadcast.
As for the second broadcast,
there is a theory that it might not have happened at all.
Due to how these stations recorded their broadcasts on tape,
it is very possible that the 1991 broadcast
was simply just from the 1989 broadcast being recorded over.
This makes even more sense
when you realize that the footage
is essentially identical.
While all of this does make a pretty strong case,
at the end of the day
it is just another maybe to add to the pile.
As for any other noteworthy pieces of information
on the mystery,
a couple of the moderators from the r/joannalopez subreddit
made a post about five months ago
and claimed to have actually been able to contact
a woman named Joanna Lopez
who ran away from home in Chicago in 1989,
and her story seemed to line up quite well
with the known information.
Although this seemed like a promising lead at first,
in a follow up post,
the moderators said that the individual
didn't call them back
with the further information
when they said they would,
and proceeded to not respond
to any of the messages sent after,
which lead them to believe she wasn't actually Joanna,
or that even if she was,
she did not want to speak to them further.
Leaving us at just another dead end.
And that is just about all the information
we have on the Joanna Lopez mystery.
If you are looking for more information on this case,
YouTubers Nexpo and Lazy Masquerade
have touched upon this subject on their channels,
and the r/JoannaLopez subreddit
contains almost all of the most recent updates.
I highly recommend checking those out,
as well as the other subreddits mentioned in this video,
if you want to venture down the rabbit hole even further!
Perhaps there is a better chance now more than ever
of Joanna Lopez actually being found,
whatever her fate may have been,
or of this whole mystery being unraveled.
But for now, that's all we have.
What do you think happened to Joanna Lopez
and did she even exist?
I'd be interested to know your thoughts on this one
so go ahead and let me know down in the comments.
If you enjoyed the video,
I'd really appreciate you
considering subscribing to the channel
or dropping a like.
Thanks for watching
and have a good night