Missing
Ruth Lucille Loader
Loader, approximately 1994; Lewis Gilbert; Eric Elliott
Date and time person was reported missing : 08/29/1994
Missing location (approx) :
Port Washington, Ohio
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
DOB : 03/31/1915 (106)
Age at the time of disappearance: 79 years old
Height / Weight : 5'2, 82 pounds
Description, clothing, jewerly and more : A brown sweater.
Medical conditions : Loader was undergoing treatment for colon cancer at the time of her disappearance; she had surgery for it four months prior to her disappearance. She also has a heart condition. She needs medication for both conditions and would not survive very long without her medicine.
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Gray hair, blue eyes. Loader wears eyeglasses, but they were left behind.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Loader was last seen at her daughter's residence in Port Washington, Ohio on the evening of August 29, 1994. She had been staying with her daughter while she underwent treatment for cancer, but finally felt well enough to spend the night at her own home two miles away, so she took her belongings that evening and left. She was supposed to have breakfast with her sister the next morning, but when her sister came over at 8:00 a.m., she didn't answer the door.
When Loader missed her breakfast appointment, her daughter and son-in-law went to her home and realized she had been abducted. The back door frame was splintered, a red telephone cord was missing, and Loader's glasses were left behind on her pillow. She has never been heard from again.
Witnesses reported seeing Loader's red 1989 Buick Skylark being driven around Newcomerstown, Ohio between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. on August 29; the driver matched the description of 22-year-old Lewis Eugene Gilbert II, who had recently been released from prison after serving a term for theft, breaking and entering, and child endangerment. Around the same time, 16-year-old Eric Alvin Elliott was reported missing, and police determined he was with Gilbert. Photos of both of them are posted with this case summary.
Two days later, Loader's car was found abandoned in Fulton County, Missouri. Only 150 yards away, an elderly couple, Flossie and William Brewer, had been murdered in their basement and their vehicle had been stolen. Authorities linked their deaths to Loader's disappearance and started an interstate manhunt for Gilbert and Elliott.
On September 4, the body of a fourth victim, Roxy Lynn Ruddell, was found in the woods near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Brewers' car had been abandoned near the crime scene and Ruddell's truck had been stolen. On September 6, a week after their crime spree began, Gilbert and Elliott were apprehended in New Mexico.
Elliott was initially tried in Oklahoma for Ruddell's murder in 1995; he argued he was not Gilbert's accomplice and only stayed with him because he feared for his life. The jury was unable to reach a verdict, and a second trial was scheduled, but on the eve of the second trial he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Gilbert was sentenced to death for Ruddell's murder. In 2002, he was convicted in Missouri for the Brewers' deaths, and got another death sentence. After his conviction in Missouri, he met with Loader's son-in-law and admitted he had killed her, and asked for forgiveness.
He stated he and Elliott planned to run away to California and start killing homoGender : ual people there, but they needed a car. They walked about eight miles from Newcomerstown to Loader's home outside Port Washington, and saw her car outside. They were looking for the keys when Loader came outside and saw them. There was a struggle, and the men tied her up with the phone cord and put her in the trunk of a car.
According to Gilbert, as they were driving along back country roads with Loader, she told them, "You might as well kill me because I have cancer." They did, and dumped her body off on the side of the road. Gilbert drew a map to where he and Elliott had dumped Gilbert's body, but a search turned up nothing.
Gilbert was executed in Oklahoma in 2003. Elliott is serving a life term in prison. Loader's body has never been found and no charges were filed in her presumed death, but foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.
Other information and links : ncy
Tuscarawas County Sheriff's Office
330-339-2000
September 2021 updates and sources
A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are not known. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2�5% of missing children in Europe.
By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends.
Several organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and imAge at the time of disappearance: s of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.
The Times-Reporter
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Zanesville Times Recorder
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
