Janice Marie Buono

Date Found: February 23, 2002

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

Investigating Agency: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation

(800) 522-8017

Janice Marie Buono was twenty-nine years old when she was last seen alive on January 1st, 2002.

At the time that she went missing, Janice had been living a rough life. She had been staying at a local Lawton motel with another woman. Both had been fighting a drug addiction, often engaging in sex work to pay for their addiction. It seems though, that Janice was on her way to turning her life around when she went missing. She had recently called home, saying she wanted to come back and get herself together. Unfortunately, she never got to do so.

According to the woman she roomed with at the motel, Janice walked one way that New Year’s Day, and she walked another. The next time anyone would see Janice was February 23rd, 2002. A farmer was repairing a fence when he discovered Janice’s body floating under a bridge. Her body was found within miles of where Mandy Raite’s body was found less than two years earlier. Janice’s cause of death remains unknown, though it is believed she fell victim to a serial killer that was preying on sex workers within the area at that time.

Janice was unfortunately described in the media as just another prostitute who was killed. She was also described as being a white woman. She was not just either of these things. Janice was a proud mother of three children. All of whom were very young when they lost their mother. All of whom just want justice for her now. Janice was not a white woman- she was proudly Native American. And she deserves for someone to come forward about what happened to her- because make no mistake- someone knows something.

If you have any information about the murder of Janice Buono, please contact the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017. You may also message us here if you wish to remain anonymous.