TULSA, Okla. — It was April 9, 1987, and Marilyn Joi Base, known as Joi to friends and family, lived at the Pepper Ridge Apartments in East Tulsa.
Investigators say she went to do her laundry and never returned.
Joi's childhood best friend Charlotte Autry can still remember her laughter and zest for life. “She was just so beautiful, and she had so much to live for and so much life and so much talent,” said Autry.
Her heart sank when Joi’s body was discovered 10 days later at the bottom of Bragg Mountain in Muskogee County.
Investigators said someone strangled her.
“I can’t imagine anyone looking into that beautiful face and choking the life out of her. I just can’t imagine. It seems like that’s a personal death,” said Autry.
Although the Tulsa Police Department initially investigated her disappearance, Lt. Brandon Watkins told 2 News the case wasn’t well documented and he didn’t have a lot of information.
Along with TPD, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation featured Joi on an OSBI initiative called the Cold Case Playing Cards program.
“It’s just been such a tragedy that it has not been solved, and there is a whole community of people who grieve her and miss her. It just can’t sit idle. Her mother is gone, her father is gone, her brother is gone, and her sister is gone,” said Autry.
Autry said she'll continue to fight for justice for Joi and hopes her murder is solved.
“She was taken away so young and we have to give her a voice. We have to be a voice for her and there has to be justice for Joi,” said Autry.
Anyone with information about the death of Marilyn Joi Base is asked to call OSBI at 1-800-522-8017.
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