Joanna Otto's been missing 33 years. Loved ones think they know why, they just can't prove it
Gone for more than 30 years,
Joanna Otto was just 19 when she disappeared after leaving a party in Pensacola in late November of 1992. Joanna’s mother, Kathy Hoseid, and her best friend at the time, Liseth Garrett, have never stopped
searching for the missing woman.
Liseth and Joanna had not only been friends and roommates for years, but she and Joanna had gone to the party together and it was Liseth who found her friend a ride back home when she wanted to leave early.
“That night I was like, ‘I’ve got to find somebody that can bring Joanna home,’” Liseth Garrett said. “I’m going around asking people, asking anybody, and these guys lived right down the road and our apartment was on their way, but she never made it home. I feel responsible for getting her a ride with James Gibson.”
Gibson, who was 21 at the time, was with two other young men Joanna knew from school, Jeff Ward and "Bubba" White. They told police Joanna was the last to be dropped off, although her apartment on Royce Street was closer and on the way to their homes, which were further north.
According to police reports, there were some inconsistencies in what Gibson told investigators happened that night, but he denies having anything to do with Joanna’s disappearance and insists he left her at her apartment complex early on Nov. 21, after dropping off Ward and White.
That night in November was the last time Joanna’s friends and family saw her. No one was charged in her disappearance and the case went cold.
“No one just falls off the planet,” Liseth said. “Something happened and I feel 99.9% sure that nothing besides James Gibson happened to Joanna. I'm 100% convinced that James knows. If he didn't kill her, he knows what happened to her because he did not drop her off in front of that apartment that night. There's no way.”
According to Escambia Sheriff’s investigators, 54-year-old James Earl Gibson has long been a person of interest in Joanna’s disappearance, but they have not been able to prove he had anything to do with it.
Two years after Joanna mysteriously vanished, Gibson was arrested for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 18-year-old woman who was acquainted with Joanna.
According to the arrest report, the victim told police Gibson abducted her from a gas station bathroom near the intersection of North Palafox Street and Nine Mile Road when she and another female friend stopped at the store on their way to a party.
The bathroom had a separate entrance from the store and the victim said Gibson grabbed her as she was leaving, put his hand over her mouth, and forced her into his car nearby.
She said he took her to two different locations and sexually assaulted her. The first was a wooded area. The second location was his trailer off Nine Mile Road, where she testified that he repeatedly sexually assaulted her throughout the night.
She believed if she didn't escape, she was going to die.
The victim said she made her escape when Gibson, who she said had been taking drugs, fell asleep.
The woman told police she waited until she was sure he was out, then quickly and quietly walked out of his trailer that morning, naked from the assaults. She said Gibson woke up not long after she left, and she hid under a tarp in the back of his neighbor's truck, when he came looking for her.
She said he was so close she could hear him breathing. When he returned to his mobile home, she ran to the neighbor's house for help.
Gibson was sentenced to 35 years for the crimes.
According to court documents, he was charged with indecent exposure while incarcerated at the Century Correctional Institution. In 2006, a prison guard reported him for masturbating in front of the guard in the recreation yard.
Gibson, a court designated sexual predator, was released early from prison in 2019 and he moved back to Pensacola.
He was arrested again in 2021 and 2022 for multiple offenses including failure to notify the Florida Sex Offender Predator Registry when he changed home addresses and jobs, and for fighting with a woman who was also his roommate and taking her phone to stop her from calling for help.
According to his arrest report, police were alerted to some of these violations through a Crime Stoppers tip, which also stated that Gibson said “he hooked up with a girl at a bar not knowing she was underage. Momma found out and had him arrested for rape.” The caller said Gibson claimed he was innocent of the accusation and could prove it.
Escambia Sheriff's Office cold case investigator James Hall said while Gibson was arrested for the other charges, he is not aware of any investigation involving him and a minor. He said they are also still actively working Joanna Otto’s case with an eye on Gibson.
“I can tell you that it's active,” Hall said. “I can tell you that there are things that we and (the Florida Department of Law Enforcement) are continuing to work on.”
Late last year, Gibson began serving a two-year sentence for several crimes related to failing to report his status to the Florida Sex Offender Predator Registry. He is scheduled to be released Jan. 27, 2027.
There have been numerous searches for Joanna Otto's remains over the past 30-plus years. Liseth has taken part in many of them.
Some have centered around wooded property owned by Gibson’s family off Nine Mile Road in Escambia County, as well as property off U.S. Highway 90 in Pace.
According to police reports, investigators got a tip that one of Gibson's relatives received a phone call from him the night Joanna disappeared. That relative then left the house saying he had some "business" to handle.
Police say that after Gibson dropped off Bubba White, Gibson came back to his house about half an hour later and made a phone call. According to reports, Bubba said Gibson spoke with someone for several minutes, but he didn't know who it was or what was said. Then he left.
According to reports, the tipster also told investigators that the same relative who got a call from Gibson said “that if the cops didn’t find a body, they couldn’t charge James with anything.”
Detectives followed up on the information but at the time were unable to find others who would corroborate it.
According to police reports, deputies did talk to members of Gibson's family at the time of Otto's disappearance, but his relatives said they did not know anything about Joanna. They did say Gibson had "obviously" been into drugs over the past several weeks and that he seemed "very stressed out."
Investigators conducted a stress test voice analysis of Gibson’s recorded statement about that night. They said the results “indicated he did not tell the entire truth.”
Deputies then asked Gibson if he would submit to a polygraph test. Initially, he agreed but he never showed up for the appointment and eventually he refused to take it.
Gibson has never been charged in Joanna's disappearance and denies any invovlement.
Joanna is her mother Kathy’s only child. Kathy has pursued answers relentlessly and it has taken a toll on her health. She has had numerous strokes, but still pushes for police to work her daughter’s case, although communication is difficult for her.
“Kathy used to be one of the most vibrant people in all of Pensacola. She was the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce. She knew everybody. She entertained everybody,” Liseth said, “and now she can't even say a sentence that makes sense because of the strokes she has had. She's lost the ability to connect words.”
Kathy spearheaded the effort to build the
Missing Children's Memorial on Bayfront Parkway in Pensacola, in memory of her daughter and other missing children.
Joanna’s disappearance has taken a toll on Liseth, too. She pursued a career as a social worker and psychiaric nurse to help those who are struggling with mental illness. She prays one day soon there will be justice for Joanna and her grieving mother.
“It’s not about me. It's about Kathy and before she leaves this planet, I would really like, even if she can't know where Joanna is, I would like for her to be able to see James put away for killing Joanna, if he did."
