CANADA Canada - Saskatoon, WhtFem 498UFSK, early 1900s murder victim, Jun'06

The link has two reconstructions.

http://www.sacp.ca/missing/details.php?id=138

Name: Saskatoon Well UNKNOWN FEMALE
Date Last Seen: 2006-06-29
Last Seen Location Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Age: 30 Years Old
Date of Birth: Unknown
Race: Caucasian
Gender: Female
Height: Approx. 5'1"
Weight: Stocky Build
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Features: Peridontal Disease
Clothing Worn at time of disapearance: Skirt and blouse, undergarment possibly a corset. Spring or Fall wear. 18k Cable link gold chain. Era 1910 - 1920.
File #: 2006-67978
Agency: Saskatoon Police Service
Additional Information:
On the 29th of June, 2006, this caucasian female remains were discovered in an old well in Saskatoon, SK. Injuries to the remains suggest foul play. If you have any information regarding this case, please call 975-8334.

More articles:
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/techn...ure+details+year+cold+case/1728566/story.html (with drawing)

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/techn...urder+committed+years+2006/1728630/story.html (how the body was found):

"Saskatoon police are investigating a 100-year-old murder mystery using modern-day science.

"This is totally solvable," said Saskatoon forensic archeologist Ernie Walker.

"We just need a name and the right circumstances."

Human remains were found in the city in June by construction workers removing old underground gasoline tanks at a convenience store at the corner of 108th Street and Central Avenue. Work stopped when the crew came upon a human skull in an abandoned well.

Walker and other investigators have determined the remains are that of a healthy Caucasian woman, who was 5-foot-1 and 25 to 35 years old at the time of her death.

"Surprisingly, we know quite a bit about her," Walker said at a news conference held at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon.

The woman was of the middle class, at the very least. She was wearing an 18-carat gold chain necklace, which would have been uncommon in Western Canada in the early 1900s. The chain was likely made in Europe or somewhere with European influence at that time, such as Montreal, and it probably had an attached pendant that has been lost.

The woman had also seen a dentist. Despite missing teeth due to abscesses, the woman had one tooth that was filled and another one that needed attention.

She had some kind of injury that police will not divulge, due to the ongoing investigation. They haven't determined the cause of death.

Walker believes the woman was dead when she was thrown into the wooden well. The body landed on a piece of broken cribbing, which was lying diagonally in the square well. Over the past century, most of the body was under water or a mixture of water and gasoline. The site was formerly the location of a service station."

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/techn...e+investigation+March+2007/1728645/story.html

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/techn...+family+mystery+March+2007/1728648/story.html

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/techn...stery+body+case+April+2007/1728669/story.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/arnold_dorothy.html

This is the only missing persons report I have come across that fits the time period. She matches the physical description, and was upper-class. She disappeared a FAR away from Saskatoon though, but I guess anything is possible...

Hewinkedatme, do you know who to submit that lead to? I think it's a great lead considering both women were upper middle class which was unusual in Western Canada at that time.

I just submitted the lead to Saskatoon police service. We'll see what happens...

Danaya said:

Hewinkedatme, do you know who to submit that lead to? I think it's a great lead considering both women were upper middle class which was unusual in Western Canada at that time.

Click to expand...

The height and build are dead on too. Excellent find! I'm looking forward to what LE thinks.

Here is Dorothy's Doe Network page.

Height and build are... unusual for the period, shall we say? Maybe not so much though in that weight and class were on a direct, rather than an inverse relationship. This may well be a case that can be solved through newspapers... someone with an upper class background ought to have been reported as missing in the papers. If there is no suitable local candidate, Dorothy actually appears quite a strong candidate (as in, why do we know about her case but no others?) although solving her case after a century would be nothing short of a miracle.

Years ago I read about how to fill up Western Canada about the turn of the century with brides the males would actually dress themselves up in their best duds and and themselves photographed and advertise themselves!
Perhaps one lead would be to see who owned the property about 1910-1920
and see if they were married or not....also what was the owner's ethnic background? Immigrants usually tended to marry within their own group...possibly the pendent held a locket or a religious embluem that would have pointed to background............

My email to Saskatoon police service bounced back. They didn't receive it, and it took me 2 days to receive the bounce-back notice. I live in the States so it would be very expensive to call Canada? I'll try emailing again, but would someone else mind calling in the tip in case that works better?

hewinkedatme!, which email did you use? PoliceService@Saskatoon.ca ?

I have never called in a tip, but I have VOIP phone so calls to Canada are free. I could try calling. And at the very least perhaps I can get a direct email address to submit the match to.

mae, I used the following address:
police.service@city.saskatoon.sk.ca

There's a link to this in the first post. Hopefully my second email went through, but I appreciate you calling in the tip in any case. Thanx)

Bumping. Has anyone heard any updates on this case. I finally got an email to go through to LE but haven't heard anything back yet...

The Doe Network just added this case yesterday along with facial reconstructions. I remember this discussion a couple of months ago, so I am putting the case up on the board.


The Doe Network:
Case File 498UFSK
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/498ufsk.html




Reconstruction of Victim

Unidentified White Female

* The victim was discovered on June 29, 2006 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Estimated Date of Death: 1900-1920
* Skeletal Remains

Vital Statistics

* Estimated age: 25-35 years old
* Approximate Height and Weight: 5'1"
* Distinguishing Characteristics: Auburn or strawberry blonde hair.
* Clothing: Skirt and blouse, undergarment, possibly a corset. Spring or Fall wear. An 18-karat gold necklace from European origin or an area of European influence, such as Montreal.
* Dentals: Available. Peridontal Disease.
* DNA: Available

Case History
The victim was located in an abandoned well by a work crew that was excavating gas tanks at a convenience store, on the east side of the city near Central Avenue and 108th Street. The remains were wrapped in burlap that looked like part of a bag. There was also evidence the woman's left upper arm had been sawed off.

The woman's time of death was placed in the 20 years between 1900 and 1920 by clothing and artifacts. It's believed the victim was middle or upper class, because of the clothing, jewelry and dental work found on her body. Police also found a man's vest and pants on top of the remains, leading investigators to believe the woman might have been killed at the well. The clothing the woman had been wearing was typical of the 1908 to 1916 period. At that time, Sutherland was a railway town of about 1,000 people.

The well the woman was found in must have been abandoned at the time of her death, which suggests it happened after 1914, when Sutherland started getting water piped in from Saskatoon. In 1912, the Shore Hotel was built on the site where the remains would later be found. The building stood empty from 1919 to at least 1927.

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
Saskatoon Police Service - Historical Crime Unit
306-975-8300
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number:
2006-67978

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Mystery+woman+buried+case+still+alive/3045246/story.html

Mystery woman buried, but case still alive
Saskatoon police still seek leads in century-old murder
By Jeremy Warren, The StarPhoenix
May 19, 2010

Almost 100 years after she was murdered and stuffed into a barrel, the woman in the well was buried in a Saskatoon cemetery.

On an chilly overcast day last September, the mysterious woman, whose identity Saskatoon police have spent almost four years investigating, was buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery in a ceremony attended by police, and employees from Social Services and the coroner's office.

A small concrete marker with a number is the only thing identifying her plot, which was paid for by Social Services.

"We took our final pictures for evidence and buried her," said Det. Sgt. Glenn Cox, the sole member of the historical crimes unit. "Because these are human remains, you treat them with respect."

One year after cold case investigators released sketches and a 3-D facial reconstruction of the woman, hoping the extra information would lead to more tips, police are no closer to solving the mystery of the woman in the well.

The extremely cold case -- the next oldest case for Saskatoon police is from 1962 -- isn't a top priority for Cox, but it's one of the most interesting cases.

"I'm a one-man section and I have 16 cold cases on the go, but I find myself drifting towards this one because it's so interesting," Cox said in an interview Tuesday.

The bust fashioned by a professional facial reconstructionist has led to more calls, but nothing has taken the investigation beyond DNA tests.

On Tuesday, Cox had two new DNA samples waiting for tests. One is from a family that believes a missing relative who lived Sutherland in the early 20th century might be the woman in the well.

On a list of 50 names, that one shot to the top because funding for DNA sampling is scarce, Cox said.

"I'm hopeful," he said, "hopeful for the families because people aren't getting any younger and they're looking for closure.

"The person is dead, whoever did it. But to get the (victim's) name is important closure for people."

An excavation crew discovered the remains in June 2006 in Sutherland, which was a railroad town before it was incorporated into Saskatoon.

Police believe the woman was killed by a man.

Because the woman died young, she probably has no children, and siblings or close relatives have most likely died, Cox said.

Time is running out for people who believe they know the woman in the well, he said.

"There was an 80-year-old woman who called and last thing she wants to know before she dies is the identity," Cox said.

One caller from New York believes a woman who went missing in the city is the victim. This woman went out to buy a gown for a party and never came back.

The lead was quickly dismissed, Cox said.

"Why she would come to Saskatoon for a gown in 1910, I don't know," he said.

With the facial reconstructions, police also released more details about how the woman died and more clues about her biography.

Caucasian with wavy, strawberry-blond hair tied in a bun, the woman was probably middle class given the dental work and jewelry found on her remains.

Based on her clothing, investigators believe she died between 1910 and 1920.

The woman was found wrapped in a burlap sack with a saw cut near her left shoulder. Her 5-foot-1 frame was stuffed into a wooden barrel and tossed into the well.

Police believe her arm was cut so she could more easily fit in the barrel, where a mixture of water and gasoline preserved the body and several pieces of evidence.

Investigators found a man's vest and pants on top of the remains, leading them to believe the woman might have been killed by a man at the well.

jjwarren@sp.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

She's 30 and they said she was probably too young to have had children? I find that highly unlikely, even by today's standards where women get married and have children much later than the early 20th century. If she was 16 maybe, but 30?

Claudette said:

She's 30 and they said she was probably too young to have had children? I find that highly unlikely, even by today's standards where women get married and have children much later than the early 20th century. If she was 16 maybe, but 30?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought that was a weird statement - people got married super young then and there wasnt birth control so it seems weird someone would say she was too young for children. 100% by the time she was 14-15 she would have been able to give birth.

"There was also evidence the woman's left upper arm had been sawed off."

What would be the purpose of that? I keep trying to think of reasons why you would saw off someones arm and cant think of anything. Have they looked at census records during that time frame? They said that only 1,000 people lived there during the time they think she died, why not have a look at the cenus records and flag all women in her age range? It doesnt seem that all that many women were in that area.

"The tiny town was a hub of transient types - railway workers and sales people. O'Brien determines the well was located right next to the Sutherland Hotel. Joan Champ, a prairie history buff and curator at the Saskatoon's Western Development Museum says hotels of that time would have been hubs where railway workers would have come to drink and gamble, many of them away from home and their wives."

Maybe the woman had some sort of easily identifiable birthmark or scar on her arm and the perp sawed it off to keep her identity concealed? Just speaking off of the top of my head here..

le bump

Sorry I dont think its Dorothy Arnold Dorothy Arnold - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I seriously doubt that they will ever identify her. The closest they will come is maybe a familial line identification via mtdna. They will be able to put a last name to her, probably never a first name. Too much time has passed.