VA - Grateful Dead Fan - Unidentified male, 26 June 1995 - #1

[welder 79]

this is no easy 1 lol. i been working on it too..close i found is a moore boy from wv. but date's wrong and left shoulder he had a sun not a star..this not as easy as it look's

 

[marylandmissing]

Trying2ID,

I found an email from 3 years ago I exchanged with child find about this doe. I am sending it to you...

 

[amazing-sea-monkey]

I have not started a thread about Chris, however, I worked in downtown East Lansing at the time he went missing. I remember it very well as I was right in and around his parents' shoe store and there were posters up in every window. My aunt is very much into collecting and gathering wildflowers, so she is very familiar with the Rose Lake Nature Area and she is the one that told me of all the marshy areas. She said you could easily sink and drown and that it is much like quicksand. She called them marshes with "False Bottoms." She said that once she was there collecting flowers and the ground was actually moving beneath her feet!! She is NOT one to exaggerate, so I take this as gospel truth. Anyway, I do remember them finding a tennis shoe believed to belong to Chris or proven to belong to him, I can't remember which and all the speculation that he met his fate right then and there. It seems to me also that the parents have laid quite low in all this. I don't see them on the news, etc. You don't see it reported about or even mentioned on crime stoppers or anything as far as cold cases go. Yes, several areas in Michigan do have bogs, quicksand I call them. There is a little village near me called Pewamo. In Pewamo there is a brook/creek called "Stony Creek." My husband, myself and my brother in law were fishing by Stony Creek one day and I went to jump from the edge of the water to the bank. It was quicksand/marsh land and I sunk in IMMEDIATELY all the way to my waist. I was panicking terribly as it was too dense to crawl out of. It was the most horrifying feeling. The more I pushed with my feet the quicker I sank, there was no ground, it was bottomless. My brother in law helped me get out. I remember this one silly detail... I had shiny spandex pants on and it took the sheen right off them!! Later on a farmer told us that he had lost a cow in all that marshland. Scary but true... Ahhh... Michigan- Loving all four seasons! and yes Damn right I'M A SPARTAN!

 

[azure]

I'm pretty sure this wasn't posted on this thread before, so forgive me if I'm missing it. I found the following in a post by trying2id from last year:

The things I know...
1. Caroline Thomas claims to not be Caroline T from the note.
2. JD hit the windshield of the van and then a pine tree on the other side of the glass. So height could be off some.
3. The LE doesn't remember hardly anything about the case and refuses to pick up the file and give me any information.... such as scars, birthmarks, or former injuries. (He was quoted in an article that he has been bothered by this case since it happened, yet when I spoke with him, he knew nothing.)
4. The rumor about him be Chris Rainbow and know LSD dealer at GD concerts.... This is not the person and No the DEA officers do not know anyone by that name. I have spoken with a very dear friend of mine that knows how much this means to me, so believe he would tell me the truth.

So apparently Caroline Thomas was contacted and claims not to be involved.

Also, I thought I remembered that the phone number from the note had no area code. Is this correct? In that case, we're looking across the country for phone numbers that go "914-XXXX", belonging to a "Caroline"?

Kelly

 

[azure]

Okay, I confirmed on the Doenetwork page that there was no area code. I've seen a lot of speculation that Jason Doe was local to the MD/PA area, since he bought tickets to this show in PA and there was no Grateful Dead show there.

I've identified the following areas having a 914 prefix that are reasonably close. I suspect that these girls may have been local to him since they didn't include an area code. This may be faulty logic, but it does help narrow our search.

The areas are:
(area code) prefix location
(201) 914 Hackensack, NJ
(267) 914 Philadelphia Suburb, PA
(304) 914 Weirton, WV
(410) 914 Churchville, MD
(419) 914 Van Wert, OH
(443) 914 Baltimore, MD
(609) 914 Mount Holly, NJ
(610) 914 Reading, PA
(617) 914 Boston, MA
(704) 914 Charlotte, NC
(717) 914 Harrisburg, PA
(724) 914 Washington, PA
(732) 914 Toms River, NJ
(740) 914 London, OH
(781) 914 Worcester, MA
(804) 914 Chester, VA
(859) 914 Covington, OH
(908) 914 Newark, NJ
(910) 914 Whiteville, NC
(919) 914 Chapel Hill, NC
(937) 914 Dayton, OH

I did not include wireless numbers, and there's no way of knowing whether this list was the same in 1995.

I think that locations close to where the victim was supposed to be from and locations along the route he could have taken going south are important. Not sure what could even come of this, but maybe someone can think of something.

Kelly

 

[marylandmissing]

A couple years ago, I found an email on Missing Person Cyber Center from 2000 for a sister looking for her brother "Jason" who was living in Baltimore, MD who had not seen him since 1995. This was turned over to VA state police.

 

[mjak]

I came across this missing person at Doe network and it reminded me of this unidentified
boy. I do not know how to link a page from doe network here so I am just going to put the case number up and prehaps someone else can put up a link.
Case file 1175DMCA, his name is Peter John McColl, and he disspeared in 1995.
Aside from some physical similarites. Admittingly the physical similarites are not overwhelming The height is the slightly off but the weight is the same. What really stood out for me is this boys nickname is listed as Rainbow. I recall reading this unidentified Greatful Dead boy was thought to be someone with the nik name rainbow who frequented Greatful Dead concerts. What do you all think?

mjak

 

[christine2448]

I came across this missing person at Doe network and it reminded me of this unidentified
boy. I do not know how to link a page from doe network here so I am just going to put the case number up and prehaps someone else can put up a link.
Case file 1175DMCA, his name is Peter John McColl, and he disspeared in 1995.
Aside from some physical similarites. Admittingly the physical similarites are not overwhelming The height is the slightly off but the weight is the same. What really stood out for me is this boys nickname is listed as Rainbow. I recall reading this unidentified Greatful Dead boy was thought to be someone with the nik name rainbow who frequented Greatful Dead concerts. What do you all think?

mjak

Hiya MJAK...I was going to do the posting of the info and pictures for you...but the first thing I noticed when researching Peter McColl was that he went missing on 8/28/05....our Greatful Dead Fan was found deceased on 6/26/05, so Peter was not yet missing.

Sorry....but DON'T GIVE UP! Keep searching!

 

[mjak]

Hiya MJAK...I was going to do the posting of the info and pictures for you...but the first thing I noticed when researching Peter McColl was that he went missing on 8/28/05....our Greatful Dead Fan was found deceased on 6/26/05, so Peter was not yet missing.

Sorry....but DON'T GIVE UP! Keep searching!

Okay, I am losing my mind then because I originaly discounted this potential match because of the dates. Then I was at a site yesterday which listed the greatful dead boy as found in June of 1996! So I rethought the possibility.
Thanks for trying to help Christine.

mjak

 

[Richard]

Okay, I am losing my mind then because I originaly discounted this potential match because of the dates. Then I was at a site yesterday which listed the greatful dead boy as found in June of 1996! So I rethought the possibility.
Thanks for trying to help Christine. mjak

The actual date of the boy's death is 26 June 1995. But your posts illustrate that mistakes can be and are made from time to time - and look at the difference one digit can make!

Regarding a "missing" date: The same typo problems can just as easily occur. But also, sometimes the dates are listed as the date that a person is REPORTED missing, or maybe someone just remembers it wrong.

Don't automatically discount a potential match based on any one bit of information. Question it, but don't rule it out.

 

[christine2448]

The actual date of the boy's death is 26 June 1995. But your posts illustrate that mistakes can be and are made from time to time - and look at the difference one digit can make!

Regarding a "missing" date: The same typo problems can just as easily occur. But also, sometimes the dates are listed as the date that a person is REPORTED missing, or maybe someone just remembers it wrong.

Don't automatically discount a potential match based on any one bit of information. Question it, but don't rule it out.

Great advice Richard, I hadn't thought of that, sorry Mjak...please take Richards advice...he is exactly right, I should have thought of that before I posted what I did...thanks Richard.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Hi
I believe the 914 is around the Falls Church,Mc lean Virginia area.look in city directories (old phone books)for 1995.She may have moved.maybe even 1994 and 1996 too.Look for both of them.

suzanne

 

[marylandmissing]

The actual date of the boy's death is 26 June 1995. But your posts illustrate that mistakes can be and are made from time to time - and look at the difference one digit can make!

Regarding a "missing" date: The same typo problems can just as easily occur. But also, sometimes the dates are listed as the date that a person is REPORTED missing, or maybe someone just remembers it wrong.

Don't automatically discount a potential match based on any one bit of information. Question it, but don't rule it out.

True, R...There's a case in VA like this...The family hadn't spoke to the missing for many many years until they saw the husband on tv arrested for murder. It was then they tried to locate her, and after several months, the police realized she was missing. The only date they could list was December because she didn't show up for a child custody hearing. She very likely disappeared up to six months prior to that.

 

[outofthedark]

I sometimes thought that the name that the name "Jason" was maybe an identifying factor about the JD...

If he had a tatoo of a 5-pointed star on his left arm and it's pictured on the Doe Network- don't you think somebody would have recognized it by now? If somebody knows who this JD is- wouldn't they be able to know it was by the tatoo itself

Just a little thought and ponder...

 

[bykerladi]

I don't personally have a tatoo, HOWEVER I have often heard that tatoo artists can recognize a tatoo as one of their tatoos or sometimes name the artist who did that tatoo. Has anyone taken a pic of the tatoo to local parlors to see if an artist recognizes it?

Nevermind. I just reread the doe network listing and it's a "homemade" tatoo.

Well a five pointed star is either a star of david or a pentagon, so....
Anyone check with local temples or pagan groups?

By the way, why is JDs nose so offcenter in the doe network reconstructions?

 

[outofthedark]

I don't personally have a tatoo, HOWEVER I have often heard that tatoo artists can recognize a tatoo as one of their tatoos or sometimes name the artist who did that tatoo. Has anyone taken a pic of the tatoo to local parlors to see if an artist recognizes it?

Nevermind. I just reread the doe network listing and it's a "homemade" tatoo.

Well a five pointed star is either a star of david or a pentagon, so....
Anyone check with local temples or pagan groups?

By the way, why is JDs nose so offcenter in the doe network reconstructions?

Whoever did that tatoo would probably recognize their own work- but maybe not exactly the person they did it on... for all we know- maybe somebody who didn't know the JD did that 5-pointed star tatoo- but then that chance of that having happened would be slim- whoever did that tatoo most likely knew the JD or the JD did that tatoo himself- it's hard to tell...

But I think the star of david was yellow- though... and a pentagon is a star in a circle

 

[reportertype]

A star of David is six-pointed. It doesn't have to be yellow.

 

[outofthedark]

A star of David is six-pointed. It doesn't have to be yellow.

I might have been thinking of the star that people had to wear during WWII

Thanks for the info about the star of David!

 

[Richard]

I... why is JDs nose so offcenter in the doe network reconstructions?

The sketch of the young man appeared in newspapers shortly after the accident which took his life. I recall seeing it in the Washington Times on the first year anniversary of his death. The accident occurred when the van in which the John Doe was riding left the road and ran into a copse of Loblolly pine trees. The driver and passenger were both ejected forward through the windshield and into the trees. Both died instantly from head injuries they received.

The artist who drew the composite sketch was working from photographs of the dead man, and he did the best he could under the circumstances. He was not a medical expert, and therefor did not know if damage to the nose may have occurred prior to the crash.

The clay bust is a later rendition, but I do not believe that it was done strictly by modeling on a skull or a cast of the skull. It was most likely done from photographs of the body.

This young man's body found within minutes of the crash and was initially kept in freezer storage at the Medical Examiner's Office in Richmond, VA, awaiting identification.

The tattoos mentioned were rather crude and most likely done by the unknown man himself.

 

[outofthedark]

The sketch of the young man appeared in newspapers shortly after the accident which took his life. I recall seeing it in the Washington Times on the first year anniversary of his death. The accident occurred when the van in which the John Doe was riding left the road and ran into a copse of Loblolly pine trees. The driver and passenger were both ejected forward through the windshield and into the trees. Both died instantly from head injuries they received.

The artist who drew the composite sketch was working from photographs of the dead man, and he did the best he could under the circumstances. He was not a medical expert, and therefor did not know if damage to the nose may have occurred prior to the crash.

The clay bust is a later rendition, but I do not believe that it was done strictly by modeling on a skull or a cast of the skull. It was most likely done from photographs of the body.

This young man's body found within minutes of the crash and was initially kept in freezer storage at the Medical Examiner's Office in Richmond, VA, awaiting identification.

The tattoos mentioned were rather crude and most likely done by the unknown man himself.

That's what I guessed about the tatoo myself...