AK AK - Anchorage, WhtMale 439UMAK, 25-40, naked, fell from flagpole, Aug'89

reasypeasy said:

His facial hair reminds me a lot of Brett Jellicoe, but he went missing from an entirely different continent. Still, the rest of his stats stack up.

http://www.police.qld.gov.au/News+and+Alerts/missingPersons/e_k/JELLICOE+-+Brett.htm

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EmmaliLucia said:

Has anyone checked out Ralph Newcombe?

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/newcombe_ralph.html


He was suggested as the Fire Island Doe, but after reading his circumstances from Charley Project I'd be more willing to bet that he's this UID.

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Snufamonbobball said:

No NamUs File
W/M Found 8/23/89

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The Green Hornet said:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/439umak.html


The victim was discovered on August 23, 1989 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Cause of Death: Suicide

Vital Statistics

Estimated age: DOB is between 1949 and 1964

Approximate Height and Weight: 6'2" - 6'4"; 180 - 185 lbs.

Distinguishing Characteristics: Blue or hazel eyes; curly brown hair with full beard and mustache. No tattoos and no scars.

Dentals: Available

Clothing: Not found

Other: Fingerprints available

Case History

The victim committed suicide on August 23, 1989 in Alaska.

A police officer was stopped by a citizen who told him about a man running down the road with no clothes on. As he responded and arrived in the area of the McDonald's Restaurant on Mt. View Drive, he saw the man running through the parking lot, then climb up the center flagpole at the restaurant. The man climbed up all the way to the top and looked as if he was surveying the area.

The officer called up to him, but did not get a response. The man then let go and fell to the ground. The police were never able to find his clothing or figure out where he came from. Fingerprints were sent out to all states, FBI and Canada with negative results.

He may have come from another country and jumped ship near Anchorage.
The autopsy showed no drugs were found in his system.

I've taken a vested interest in getting this guy identified..

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ebonydarkness said:

But I doubt it would have been that cold in August.

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necco said:

I don't think it was. I guess 50 degrees is theoretically possible, but that was the low. http://www.climatespy.com/climate/summary/united-states/alaska/merrill-fld/august/1989

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bflocket said:

Sorry for not thinking more. I really don't know what Alaska is like and I'd just assumed it was cold at all times.


Still, he had something wrong with this head at the time. ...There's the running around naked, climbing flagpoles and such without evidence of drugs.

He could have been under the influence of some local mushroom/herb that wouldn't have shown up on the toxicology report.
He could have had some kind of reaction to something (food/drink).
He could have had some bad thing happen to him that caused a psychotic break.


Whether it was hypothermia, schizophrenia, PCP or what have you, I don't think the guy was "in his right mind" enough to have intentionally committed suicide (by climbing naked up a flagpole and jumping/falling).

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And so on a cold and windy September day, the man was buried in a simple wooden coffin covered in gray felt at Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, a man with no name and no history laid to rest among some of Alaska’s most storied leaders and pioneers. Besides the press and various officials, four strangers showed up, including two mental health consumer advocates, people who couldn’t bear the thought of a man with no name going to his grave with no one to mourn him.

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The call was from a California woman who is certain the man lying in that grave is her brother. So certain, she’s having his body exhumed for DNA testing this month in hopes of giving him back his name, and his dignity, and finally bringing him home.

If Terry Mihok is right, the man who died that day in Mountain View is Gordon Bethel Lopez, a Reed College student who vanished from Portland, Oregon in 1986. On purpose.

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“The sister contacted me and said, ‘I want to pay for this; let’s do it,’” he said, adding that the exhumation is going to cost her about $1,200 including mortician fees.

Trull arranged for the collection of Terry’s DNA for the second time, and, working with the Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office, reapplied for the exhumation permits. This time, the exhumation seems to be a go.

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“(Terry) is willing to pay even if it’s not her brother,” she said. “She’s willing to take that risk.

“And the reality of it is, if it’s not her brother, which I’m really hoping it is for her sake, but if it’s not, maybe the man’s family has put their DNA into a database and we can identify who this guy is.”

Once exhumed, the man’s femur and some teeth will be shipped to the federally funded forensics program at the University of North Texas, where his DNA will be compared to Terry’s, according to Stephen Hoage, operations manager and investigator with the medical examiner’s office.

It could take six months to a year for results to come in.

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