Big mistake for LE at that time, not taking a picture of the hand with the writing on it before it was washed. Yes who ever logged the info in the morgue/hospital at least wrote the info down but it does not leave an open door for any other person to interpret it differently.
Identified! PA - White Haven, 'Beth Doe' & Unborn Baby 169UFPA, 16-22, Dec'76 - #2 - Evelyn Colon
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carbuff
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I'm wondering if he did erase most of it and decided what was left wasn't enough to recognize, or just didn't notice that some of it was still visible (if he was working in bad light or something).
vermontaigne
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Yeah, the timing's certainly right for Karen Kamsch, and if you read between the lines of what otherwise tight-lipped police and family members say, such as that she was being abused at the time of her disappearance (even after moving in with her grandmother to escape her father), that "she was suffering" when she vanished, or that someone in the family likely knows more than they're saying, it seems possible that she was pregnant when she went missing.
As far as school goes, some accounts state that she was in school in June of 1976, but we are also told that the school contacted her grandmother, Olga, when she didn't show for classes, and then the grandmother returned home to find her missing, with possessions including her winter coat left in her bedroom, so it seems that she was still in school. Our Carbon County Doe is supposed to have been murdered 7 to 24 hours before her remains were found on December 20th of that year, which would presumably have been about the time that students at Karen's school would have expected to have been let out for Christmas break.
On the other hand, Karen would have been 15 on January 19, 1977, so she's a little under the age range, here, and it seems that although she was (reading between the lines of various reports) possibly being sexually abused by her father, she was doing well enough in school in years prior to have skipped the sixth grade on the basis of her academic achievement, which doesn't line up well with missing teeth. Her brother, who eventually discovered that she wasn't in missing persons databases, was about 5 or 6 years younger than she, it seems. The house that used to belong to her grandmother is now occupied by her uncle and aunt. Police say that some of her relations have been forthcoming, and others have not, and they have focused on a person of interest who is either in her immediate family or very close to it. They searched a capped well in the property's back yard and found items of interest that somehow bolster the theory that she was murdered, but which do not, despite early speculation, appear to include human remains.
Karen doesn't much resemble this UID, though, beyond being female, brown-eyed, and possibly pregnant. The last information, though at her age she likely would still have been growing, puts her at about 5' 0", whereas our UID is estimated to have stood 5' 4". Karen appears to have more widely spaced eyes, a fuller mouth, and a more pronounced chin. She doesn't appear 'Mediterranean'. Betty Irene Redmond went missing from Karen's home town, Pasadena, MD, on the date of the NY Times found stuffed into the suitcases with the remains, September 26, 1976, but that makes it unlikely that she's our UID, too, since she would have had to have remained alive for several months before her murder, and since suspicion has focused on the husband who reported her missing under strange circumstances (leaving stealthily in the middle of the night with their .22 pistol, with their vehicle later located at a nearby airport), then the killer would have had to have chosen to dump her with a newspaper that would have tied his victim to that date. The newspaper seems a red herring, to me. There is a WSR radio station at Stevenson University in the Baltimore area, but again, that's likely a coincidence, just as it's likely a coincidence that two females from Pasadena went missing within a few months in 1976. I'm hoping that if Betty Irene Redmond had been very pregnant at the time of her disappearance, someone would have mentioned that and it would be on her profiles.
I see that this UID still doesn't have any rule-outs in NamUs, although there's DNA on file.
As far as school goes, some accounts state that she was in school in June of 1976, but we are also told that the school contacted her grandmother, Olga, when she didn't show for classes, and then the grandmother returned home to find her missing, with possessions including her winter coat left in her bedroom, so it seems that she was still in school. Our Carbon County Doe is supposed to have been murdered 7 to 24 hours before her remains were found on December 20th of that year, which would presumably have been about the time that students at Karen's school would have expected to have been let out for Christmas break.
On the other hand, Karen would have been 15 on January 19, 1977, so she's a little under the age range, here, and it seems that although she was (reading between the lines of various reports) possibly being sexually abused by her father, she was doing well enough in school in years prior to have skipped the sixth grade on the basis of her academic achievement, which doesn't line up well with missing teeth. Her brother, who eventually discovered that she wasn't in missing persons databases, was about 5 or 6 years younger than she, it seems. The house that used to belong to her grandmother is now occupied by her uncle and aunt. Police say that some of her relations have been forthcoming, and others have not, and they have focused on a person of interest who is either in her immediate family or very close to it. They searched a capped well in the property's back yard and found items of interest that somehow bolster the theory that she was murdered, but which do not, despite early speculation, appear to include human remains.
Karen doesn't much resemble this UID, though, beyond being female, brown-eyed, and possibly pregnant. The last information, though at her age she likely would still have been growing, puts her at about 5' 0", whereas our UID is estimated to have stood 5' 4". Karen appears to have more widely spaced eyes, a fuller mouth, and a more pronounced chin. She doesn't appear 'Mediterranean'. Betty Irene Redmond went missing from Karen's home town, Pasadena, MD, on the date of the NY Times found stuffed into the suitcases with the remains, September 26, 1976, but that makes it unlikely that she's our UID, too, since she would have had to have remained alive for several months before her murder, and since suspicion has focused on the husband who reported her missing under strange circumstances (leaving stealthily in the middle of the night with their .22 pistol, with their vehicle later located at a nearby airport), then the killer would have had to have chosen to dump her with a newspaper that would have tied his victim to that date. The newspaper seems a red herring, to me. There is a WSR radio station at Stevenson University in the Baltimore area, but again, that's likely a coincidence, just as it's likely a coincidence that two females from Pasadena went missing within a few months in 1976. I'm hoping that if Betty Irene Redmond had been very pregnant at the time of her disappearance, someone would have mentioned that and it would be on her profiles.
I see that this UID still doesn't have any rule-outs in NamUs, although there's DNA on file.
traacker13
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The dates are off but I always thought she looked eerily close to Evelyn Louise Davis (who was also pregnant when she disappeared):
http://doenetwork.org/cases/183dfoh.html
http://doenetwork.org/cases/183dfoh.html
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Yes she does look somewhat like her. Sometimes, instead of trying to match perfect dates its good to look at other possibilities, like maybe she had a relative and something happened to them. It's strange sometimes where you find information. Could be anywhere. I really find the story of how she went missing really interesting. Was he a person of interest in any other cases besides the ones mentioned?
I was wondering, since there was no picture taken of the writing on her hand if it is possible the WSR could be WSB. Wilkes-Barre is not that far from White Haven. Could she have been on her way to Wilkes-Barre. Another thought, and its really a stretch but WSR also stands for Waverly Shell Rock High School in Iowa. There is also a Waverly near Hazleton, which is not far from White Haven.
There has been talk on other threads and forums that Beth Doe could be Sallie Reed missing since February 1976.
There are fingerprints for both Sallie and Beth Doe. However for Sallie Reed DNA indicates "Initial Inquiry"
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/4188/176/
There are fingerprints for both Sallie and Beth Doe. However for Sallie Reed DNA indicates "Initial Inquiry"
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/4188/176/
Here are some links:
Beth Doe, Carbon County, PA - Cold Case Investigations
LA LA - Sallie Margaret Reed, 22, Thibodaux, 19 Feb 1976 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community
http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=51291
DNA is not available for Sallie Reed yet. When it is available, a comparison will determine if it is a match or not.
Redux
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I live about 20 minutes from the location in this picture. Just wanted to add my 2 cents. This bridge is only a couple of miles from an exit off of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Rte 476). Rte 476 is a straight shot down to Philly (about 2 hours away).
It seems more likely to me that, just as some others have postulated, someone was traveling on Rte 80 to begin with rather than got on there from the 476 exit, but I just wanted to offer the possibility. If someone did come up 476, they would have had to grab a turnpike ticket when they got on 476 plus pay money to an actual person at a toll booth when they got off, running the risk of someone noticing them and / or even cameras capturing them at the exit (though I don't know if back then they would have had cameras at the toll booths).
If anyone has any questions about the area, I'll try to answer. I've gone past here hundreds of times, but usually on the way to someplace else, so I am not always observant of the area.
Redux
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Just to add too....it would have been fairly easy to find a small chunk of time where there were no cars passing by that someone could toss a few suitcases over. Especially at night, you have a fairly straight shot there where you would be able to see any headlights coming. And especially back then when there was even less population in those areas than there is now.
Saphyrrra
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wow that is a close resemblance! and being pregnant her face could have thinned out during the time evelyn went missing and if it was her body that was found for the picture to look thinner.
There were photos of her hand with the notations back in the day - but they are no longer in her file.
As traacker13 said, the dates are off. Evelyn Louise Davis disappeared 3 years after Beth Doe was found.
from an archived article:
McAndrew said the suitcases, which had the handles removed, were also thoroughly investigated.
The handles on the suitcases were cut off, he said. With people saying the handles were cut off because of fingerprints, the person would still have to handle other parts of the suitcase.
McAndrew said investigators learned that a specific suitcase manufacturer discarded flawed suitcases by removing the handles.
http://archives.timesleader.com/2011_31/2011_12_20_35_year_old_mystery_remains_unsolved_-news.html
Wish we could find an archived article about them having photos with the notations, to bad they no longer have this.
Yes the dates are off for Evelyn but I had a passing thought that maybe Evelyn could have been a relative/sister of Beth.
Redux
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I've lived here for about 10 years, but also I visited this area alot when I was growing up because my grandparents lived here. I'm 46, so I remember what the area was like back in the 70's. I grew up in the Philly burbs, so whenever we visited here, we would take 476 to the exit that I mentioned and then shoot on over Rte 80.
Redux
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Wow, this guy's MO sure makes him seem like a good possibility, and he's not that far away to boot.
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