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a picture of the group, taken the morning before the murders (left to right) Max: July 25th, 1955 - November 13th, 1971 Joey: May 14th, 1955 - November 13th, 1971 Maria: February 26th, 1956 - November 13th, 1971 Lewis: February 3rd, 1954 - November 13th, 1971 Laurie: December 16th, 1955 - November 13th, 1971 Joanne: August 12th, 1955 - November 13th, 1971 Liam: November 1st, 1954 - Unknown Olivia: January 9th, 1956 - Unknown
PARTIALLY SOLVED
The Angelica Rosewood Hotel Incident refers to the murders of Maxwell "Max" James Waters, Joey Thomas Edgars, Maria Magdalena Jimenez, Lewis William Whitlock, Laurie Wilhelmina Whitlock, and Joanne Roseanne Feather. The murders were believed to have been done by Liam Jones Ryanwood and Olivia Mary Wayne.
The majority of the group was born and raised in Sacramento, California, and all attended Joe Reesen High School, since shut down. All were apart of the drama club and were currently working on a production of The Miracle Worker. They were traveling to San Jose to perform. The Angelica Rosewood Hotel, which opened in 1953, has always been plagued with crime seemingly. There have been five particularly notable crimes that have taken place in and around this hotel, all of which we cover later. The hotel had been opened by famed actress, Angelica Rosewood.
The group, as well as several others, arrived in the afternoon of November 12th, 1971, and were all moved into rooms. Maria, Laurie, Joanne, and Olivia, all shared a room, while Max, Joey, Lewis, and Liam all shared a room. The girls were in room 873 while the boys were in room 874. The drama club was accompanied by the following teachers: Henry Carter, Janie Fitwood, Maryann Lewis, and George Tanner.
On Saturday, the group spent the day walking around San Jose, and that night, performed at the nearby Betsy Georges Theater. Then, they went back. Another classmate, Danielle Date, says that she remembers hearing Lewis say "Liam, what's going on?" At around ten o'clock that night. She then said she heard a scream followed by laughing so she assumed it was fine and went back to sleep. Another classmate, Johnny Mills, says he heard something similar come from the girls room. Though, he claims to have heard Maria's voice say "Olivia, stop!" Followed by laughing. He assumed it was fine and went back to bed.
The following morning, Janie Fitwood and Henry Carter came to the realization that the room 873 group and the room 874 group had not woken up yet, so they went to check on them. When neither groups answered, they contacted hotel staff, who then unlocked the doors and found the deceased bodies. Missing were Olivia and Liam.
Both Laurie and Joanne had been stabbed to death, a multitude of times in the chest. As had Maria, though the difference was, it seemed Maria had put up more of a struggle against her attacker.
In the guys room, both Lewis and Max had been stabbed to death, meanwhile Joey had been suffocated to death.
Again, Olivia and Liam were missing from both rooms, as well as all the things they'd brought with them, and, as such, they are the main suspects in this case. Over the years, a multitude of sightings have been reported of the couple, yet none have been proven. They stopped in the mid eighties and the last few sightings, they reported only Liam being seen.
To this day, fifty-two years after the murders, the families are still starved for justice. If you know anything pertaining to the whereabouts of Liam Ryanwood or Olivia Wayne, please contact the San Jose police and remember that you can always leave an anonymous tip.
It would be worth noting that Olivia's family members most often described Liam as controlling with Olivia.
May Max Waters, Joey Edgars, Maria Jimenez, Lewis Whitlock, Laurie Whitlock and Joanne Feather rest in peace.
