Teenager Joanie Hall disappeared from downtown Warrenton on Sept. 30, 1983, and is still missing, presumed a victim of foul play.

Now-retired Judge Paula Brownhill put a 75-year protective order on all of the Hall case files in 2018, which was not discovered until 2021, when a public records request for the files was denied.

On Dec. 29, 2023, the Support Justice for Joanie Hall team got the protective order quashed by Judge Beau Peterson. The team then paid over $500 for one box of the now-unsealed files, as the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office charged them for doing needed redactions.

“Our team now needs some other files that are subject to Oregon disclosure laws and, upon inquiring to the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office, we were informed that the files we need this time would also need to be redacted, and the records we are requesting now will be $945,” Dena Rush, administrator of the “Joanie Hall Missing from Warrenton, OR since 1983” Facebook page, explained.

“There are 62 files regarding the criminal activity of 14 persons of interest in the Joanie Hall case. When we learned this, our team member asked the CCSO if we could only get four of the files instead.” The answer was “no.”

“But we need these records,” Rush stated. A GoFundMe at bit.ly/Justice4Joanie has been started to pay the $945 fee.

Hall has been missing for almost 41 years. Those files will hopefully provide the information needed to solve the case. “If you are able to help,” Rush noted, “we appreciate it greatly.” (Photos: Dena Rush)