MI MI - Trout Lake, WhtMale 19-30, UP8378, Poss from Canada, coins, Canadian keys, clothes, Nov'66

[John/Jane Doe]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

948UMMI

 

[madamx]

They don't even have a body

Oh geeze.. now that is sad, especially finding this guy as a potential match.

 

[Richard]

Bumping thread up...

 

[branmuffin]

I wonder what they mean by "Canadian keys"? I think that might provide more insight than the coins.

The image of the coins is so blurry, that I can't tell Canadian from US. However, it looks to be about 50/50 mix. He was so close to the border, he could have been from either side. If he is from Michigan, he probably resided up near there.

OK...Article says "Key ring" was from Canada...(which doesn't mean anything)

Article says there is no body
Shot five times
Shut cold case reopened - Victoria Times Colonist
He was murdered 42 years ago in the northern Michigan backwoods -- a young man shot five times and left by his killer, at the base of a pine tree near the town of Trout Lake, to be found months later by a party of deer hunters.

"We can't find the body," he said. "We have no idea where the body disappeared to. It was sent down to the University of Michigan, and they don't know what happened to it -- and now we're going back 40 some years.

They closed the case of a man shot five times? Yikes. I'd really like to know how far was he in the woods. Just on the perimeter to illustrate a body dump or well within an area that would be difficult to find?

The year he was shot was during the time of the Vietnam war. I wondered initially if he was a draft dodger coming home for a quick visit with relatives.

Having Canadian coins doesn't necessarily follow he was a Canadian if he was a resident of the US. Like other posters have mentioned there was a time Canadian coinage ended up in US pockets. The exchange rate between a Canadian dollar and US dollar in 1966 was about .93 cents so most people weren't too concerned about having the coins in their pockets. In some preceding years and after 1966 the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar. Big difference today, though!

Being Canadian and hearing about a guy with missing front teeth automatically makes me think: hockey player! Without the skull could the forensic expert verify or remember that the deceased may have had either an overbite or an overjet (buck teeth) or is that just an assumption?

What is that blue thing in the images of the keys and change? Is it something used to show scale or a small change purse? The second key on the left looks like a pretty old house key. None of the them look specifically 'Canadian' to me unless there are names on them like Weiser.

 

[Richard]

They closed the case of a man shot five times? Yikes. I'd really like to know how far was he in the woods. Just on the perimeter to illustrate a body dump or well within an area that would be difficult to find?

The year he was shot was during the time of the Vietnam war. I wondered initially if he was a draft dodger coming home for a quick visit with relatives.

Having Canadian coins doesn't necessarily follow he was a Canadian if he was a resident of the US. Like other posters have mentioned there was a time Canadian coinage ended up in US pockets. The exchange rate between a Canadian dollar and US dollar in 1966 was about .93 cents so most people weren't too concerned about having the coins in their pockets. In some preceding years and after 1966 the Canadian dollar was worth more than the US dollar. Big difference today, though!

Being Canadian and hearing about a guy with missing front teeth automatically makes me think: hockey player! Without the skull could the forensic expert verify or remember that the deceased may have had either an overbite or an overjet (buck teeth) or is that just an assumption?

What is that blue thing in the images of the keys and change? Is it something used to show scale or a small change purse? The second key on the left looks like a pretty old house key. None of the them look specifically 'Canadian' to me unless there are names on them like Weiser.

Back in 1969, when people actually carried change in their pockets, it was common in Michigan to receive Canadian coins in change. They were always considered of equal value to US coins and accepted everywhere in Michigan. It was only in other states far from the Canadian border where a store might refuse to accept them.

It was normal in Michigan to have a Canadian coin or two in your pocket change, but this young man seems to have had quite a lot of it - along with Canadian paper currency, which tends to indicate that he had recently entered Michigan from Canada.

The fact that he was shot several times (and no firearm found nearby) indicates that someone else shot him. It would be nice to know what kind of firearm was used.

And it is quite likely that whoever shot him, also robbed him of some of his possessions. No watch, ring, wallet or baggage with extra clothing was found.

What was found obviously came from a pocket of his jeans. The "blue thing" you mention in the photo might be folded up currency, or possibly just a book of matches. Note that although a very nice butane lighter was among his possessions, there is no mention of any cigarettes being found.

The keys that I could identify were the types made and used in the US, but probably in Canada as well. One is to a GM vehicle ignition, and at least two are house door type keys. I don't know what caused investigators to think that the Key Ring was Canadian, unless the number on it "330" might have had some significance.