jun 1, 1979 - Pem Michelle Yates-Briggs DISAPPEARANCE

Description:

Very little is definitively known about Pem Michelle Yates-Briggs's disappearance. She was born on March 31, 1963 in Norfolk, VA. Her mother's birth name is Barbara Cecile Briggs, though she seems to have changed her name to Bo Bradley some time after Pem's disappearance. According to Pem's half-sister, the man listed as Pem's father on her birth certificate was J Yates; however, this is supposedly possibly not Pem's actual birth father.

At some point after Pem's birth, she and her mother moved to Oregon c.1971, and Barbara remarried. Pem has two half-siblings from this marriage, born in 1972 and 1974, respectively: Dewana Wehrli (sister) and Denman E Wehrli (brother). Pem may have used the surnames Yates, Briggs, Yates-Briggs, or Wehrli.

The family seems to have lived in White Salmon, Washington state from ~1973-1974, and then moved back to Oregon. Pem attended middle school in Post, OR, and attended HS in Hood River, OR; however, according to one Ancestry post, in 1978 (though unsure if for the full year) Pem attended Sam Barlow HS in Gresham, OR. She would have graduated high school in spring 1981.

The date of Pem's disappearance is uncertain and inconsistent: for example, CA DOJ gives her date of last contact as January 1, 1979. I have used the date on NamUs and Charley Project — June 1, 1979 — for the sake of consistency. However, all sites and sources — except for CA DOJ — mention the lack of clarity. The earliest date mentioned is 1977, by Pem's mother. However, it's generally agreed upon that Pem was 15-16 years old when she went missing, and/or that she disappeared in 1978 or1979. Pem turned 15 on March 31, 1978, and (would have) turned 16 on March 31, 1979. According to Pem's half-sister Dewana, "she may have disappeared even later between 31-Mar-1979 to 30-Mar-1980"; Pem would be 16 years old at the time.


Pem was last seen alive by her family when she voluntarily left their home in Oregon City, Clackamas County, OR — with her mother's permission — to search for her father in California. Pem was last heard from a few days after she left; she was supposedly heard from on June 1 1979, according to Charley Project, but this may be a misunderstanding of other sources' information. On that day a few days after Pem left, her mother received a phone call from a police department in California, asking if Pem had permission to be across state lines / to cross the state line into CA. Barbara confirmed that Pem had permission. That was the last time she was heard from.

Pem's mother was moving to Goldendale, WA at the time, and reportedly had no address to give her daughter. Pem's mother and half-sister have indicated that they believe she may still be alive and looking for her family.

Dewana first posted about Pem on WebSleuths in 2017, and it seems as though she and her mother have been looking for Pem for a while now. In January 2024 Dewana stated that she did not know how to create a NamUs page, and that she was uncertain how to file a missing persons report from another state. It's unclear if Pem was reported missing at the time of her disappearance. She was finally reported missing in March 2024, and her NamUs and Charley Project cases were promptly created.

Pem is a white female with blonde, shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance she was 5'3-5'6 and 110-125 lbs. CA DOJ specifically states that Pem was 5'7 and 120 lbs. She has a crooked front tooth and a cleft in her chin.

Pem's DNA seems to be available from her half-siblings. Her dental x-rays are not available for comparison. She is classified as Endangered Missing, and the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office is investigating her case. She has one rule-out on NamUs, Valencia Jane Doe 1980.

Anyone with information regarding Pem is asked to please contact Detective James White of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office at (503) 785-5000. The agency case number is 24-005120.

Pem's NamUs case, which was created on March 26, 2024, is #MP118850, and was last modified on 11/24/24. Her Charley Project profile was last updated April 30, 2024. Her MPIA case number is 271; her MPIA case profile was created on April 2, 2024, and was last updated on March 27, 2025. Pem's profile was added to the Doe Network on April 17, 2025; this write-up was originally written prior to the creation of her DN profile, however everything seems to be in line with the information I have gathered.

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WRITE-UP COMPLETION DATE: April 19, 2025

Cases mentioned above that are also/will be present on this timeline:
Valencia "Younger Doe" 1980
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DAY OF WEEK: Friday

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