NY NY - Lillian Bottrill, 69, Syracuse, 20 August 1968

[Sleuth91]

Lillian E. Bottrill
NamUs

Image source

Demographics
Missing Age: 69 Years
Current Age: 121 Years
First Name: Lillian
Middle Name: E.
Last Name: Bottrill
Nickname/Alias: --
Sex: Female
Height: 5' 0" - 5' 3" (60 - 63 Inches)
Weight: 165 - 175 lbs
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last Contact: August 20, 1968
NamUs Case Created: February 13, 2018
Last Known Location Map
Location: Syracuse, New York 13203
County: Onondaga County
Missing From Tribal Land: --
Primary Residence on Tribal Land: --
Circumstances of Disappearance: Subject was senile and it is believed she may have simply wandered off.

Physical Description
Hair Color: White
Left Eye Color: Blue
Right Eye Color: Blue

Distinctive Physical Features
No Known Information

Clothing and Accessories
Accessories: white purse
Clothing: possibly last seen wearing a blue rain coat, black flowered dress
Eyewear: wears glasses
Footwear: unknown
Jewelry: Gold Bulova wrist watch. Ring - gold band with blue stone on wedding ring finger.

Transportation
None

0 Unidentified Person Exclusions

Investigating Agency
Syracuse Police Department (Case Owner)
Address: 511 S. State Street, Syracuse, New York 13202
County: Onondaga County
Main Phone: (315) 442-5111
Agency Case Number: 18-146435
Date Reported: August 21, 1968
Investigator: Christopher DeJoseph, Police Detective

Case Contributor
Lori Bruski, Regional Program Specialist
Phone: (817) 718-7904
Email: Lori.Bruski@unthsc.edu
UNT Center for Human Identification
Address: 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas 76107
County: Tarrant County
Main Phone: (855) 626-7600
Website URL: www.untchi.org

 

[Diane Redfern]

We don't know if she was physically healthy, but I assume that she wasn't very active; I mean, taking into account her age and her mental illness, we can deduce she didn't walk around on her own very often. Normally, people suffering from dementia became disoriented, but I can't imagine how she could have travel so far...

It would be interesting to know if there were any construction sites near 328 Jasper Street and/or 405 Merriman Avenue. Lillian may have fallen in a trench or a body of water...

Lillian Bottrill at Syracuse Police Department - Syracuse, NY 13202

 

[madamx]

Bumping

 

[Diane Redfern]

Very unlikely, I know: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[CastlesBurning]

Not good news for Lillian's case...

Syracuse Police Cold Case Unit disbanded | WSYR

 

[Diane Redfern]

Not good news for Lillian's case...

Syracuse Police Cold Case Unit disbanded | WSYR

I'm European so I don't have access to this news. Can you summarize it? Thanks.

 

[Sleuth91]

I'm European so I don't have access to this news. Can you summarize it? Thanks.

Not a summary but here is the text from the article

Syracuse Police Cold Case Unit disbanded | WSYR

Syracuse Police Cold Case Unit Disbanded
Posted: Nov 18, 2021 / 08:52 AM EST / Updated: Nov 18, 2021 / 08:52 AM EST
Author not listed

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Another setback for an understaffed Syracuse Police Department. They’ve disbanded their cold case squad so they can help with the lack of officers on the streets.

Cases where leads have grown cold will now be divided among detectives.

Spending your day surrounded by white boards, case files, and analyzing old interviews, cold case squad detectives have a certain mentality and top notch determination.

“Just wanted to get to work and find some answer to people who didn’t have answers for a lot of years,” said Deputy Chief Derek McGork.

They did in the case of Colleen Meadow. Her estranged husband brought to justice 30 years after he murdered her.

“When you lose someone to murder in your life, you think your life as something before murder and after,” said Nany Moran, Meadow’s sister. “That’s a big line, but hopefully this will be a line that will change things.”

For other families waiting for justice, that line may become m ore challenging to blur without the three member team of detectives known as the cold case squad. One assigned to 80 plus unsolved chilling murders.

There’s one case that dates back to 1966, and a file cabinet is devoted entirely to just that homicide case, the Jilly Lynn Euot homicide case.

Syracuse Police said they have 89 open homicides the cold case squad is trying to solve. And the proactive attention solved an average of one case a year.

“For cases that some of which had gone unsolved for over 20, 30 years, close to 30 years, that’s a pretty significant advancement,” said McGork.

We asked him what he would say to families.

“So I would say they’re still being worked on, those cases are not forgotten,” he said. “They’re still assigned and it’s a priority for us to get those dedicated group of detectives back to those cases.”

Back to devoting a tremendous amount of persistence in bringing answers to families and killers to justice.

The Deputy Chief says as soon as they can get their numbers up, bringing back the cold case squad will be a priority.

 

[Bit of hope]

Her case on Charley Project Lillian E. Bottrill – The Charley Project

It's very sad. We don't know in what stage of dementia she was, do we?

 

[Diane Redfern]

Not a summary but here is the text from the article

Syracuse Police Cold Case Unit disbanded | WSYR

Syracuse Police Cold Case Unit Disbanded
Posted: Nov 18, 2021 / 08:52 AM EST / Updated: Nov 18, 2021 / 08:52 AM EST
Author not listed

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Another setback for an understaffed Syracuse Police Department. They’ve disbanded their cold case squad so they can help with the lack of officers on the streets.

Cases where leads have grown cold will now be divided among detectives.

Spending your day surrounded by white boards, case files, and analyzing old interviews, cold case squad detectives have a certain mentality and top notch determination.

“Just wanted to get to work and find some answer to people who didn’t have answers for a lot of years,” said Deputy Chief Derek McGork.

They did in the case of Colleen Meadow. Her estranged husband brought to justice 30 years after he murdered her.

“When you lose someone to murder in your life, you think your life as something before murder and after,” said Nany Moran, Meadow’s sister. “That’s a big line, but hopefully this will be a line that will change things.”

For other families waiting for justice, that line may become m ore challenging to blur without the three member team of detectives known as the cold case squad. One assigned to 80 plus unsolved chilling murders.

There’s one case that dates back to 1966, and a file cabinet is devoted entirely to just that homicide case, the Jilly Lynn Euot homicide case.

Syracuse Police said they have 89 open homicides the cold case squad is trying to solve. And the proactive attention solved an average of one case a year.

“For cases that some of which had gone unsolved for over 20, 30 years, close to 30 years, that’s a pretty significant advancement,” said McGork.

We asked him what he would say to families.

“So I would say they’re still being worked on, those cases are not forgotten,” he said. “They’re still assigned and it’s a priority for us to get those dedicated group of detectives back to those cases.”

Back to devoting a tremendous amount of persistence in bringing answers to families and killers to justice.

The Deputy Chief says as soon as they can get their numbers up, bringing back the cold case squad will be a priority.

Thank you so much.
This is very sad... I hope eventually they had the resources to form the division again.

 

[m60te]

Lillian E. Bottrill
NamUs

Image source

Hi, I was contacted by a relative and asked to comment here since I happen to know something about the case. It was a very long time ago, but, briefly, this is what I remember. The investigating officer was Det. Ambrose Linehan (sp?) who handled missing persons cases at that time. IIRC Mrs. Bottrill lived alone in an apartment, not far from her adult daughter's residence. I do not recall if she was receiving any form of public assistance other than Social Security. On the day in question Mrs. Botrtrill left her apartment to visit her daughter. She had with her a purse, probably with a few dollars. It was very hot and she stopped at a nearby delicatessen and ordered a glass of cold buttermilk. It was apparently there that she mentioned she was going to see her daughter. She finished the buttermilk, left the store and that was the last confirmed sighting of her. This was quite unusual because rarely do persons simply vanish from a city street. Mrs. Bottrill was know to be overweight and may have had early dementia or Alzheimers, in any even diminished mental capacity but was capable of conducting activities of daily living and, as noted, lived alone. It was initially assumed that she had simply became disoriented and wandered, Mrs. Bottrill, however, was not known to wander. It could not be established if she had a possible alternate destination. A search of the area was conducted, neighbors and local businesses, hospitals, etc. contacted. Bus and taxi drivers were questioned on the theory that she might have gotten on a bus or cab and left the immediate vicinity but that did not appear to be true. There was high confidence at first because there was no reason to believe that an overweight, 69 year old woman could simply vanish. Then it was theorized that if she had somehow wandered away and died in some obscure location, perhaps from a heat stroke, the body would eventually be located by the smell. This did not happen.

In 1986 I happened to be in Syracuse and called Det. Linehan (now long retired) to ask about the case. He said that it was the only missing person case in his career in which no trace of the person was ever found. FWIW

Lillian E. Bottrill
NamUs

Image source

Demographics
Missing Age: 69 Years
Current Age: 121 Years
First Name: Lillian
Middle Name: E.
Last Name: Bottrill
Nickname/Alias: --
Sex: Female
Height: 5' 0" - 5' 3" (60 - 63 Inches)
Weight: 165 - 175 lbs
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian

Circumstances
Date of Last Contact: August 20, 1968
NamUs Case Created: February 13, 2018
Last Known Location Map
Location: Syracuse, New York 13203
County: Onondaga County
Missing From Tribal Land: --
Primary Residence on Tribal Land: --
Circumstances of Disappearance: Subject was senile and it is believed she may have simply wandered off.

Physical Description
Hair Color: White
Left Eye Color: Blue
Right Eye Color: Blue

Distinctive Physical Features
No Known Information

Clothing and Accessories
Accessories: white purse
Clothing: possibly last seen wearing a blue rain coat, black flowered dress
Eyewear: wears glasses
Footwear: unknown
Jewelry: Gold Bulova wrist watch. Ring - gold band with blue stone on wedding ring finger.

Transportation
None

0 Unidentified Person Exclusions

Investigating Agency
Syracuse Police Department (Case Owner)
Address: 511 S. State Street, Syracuse, New York 13202
County: Onondaga County
Main Phone: (315) 442-5111
Agency Case Number: 18-146435
Date Reported: August 21, 1968
Investigator: Christopher DeJoseph, Police Detective

Case Contributor
Lori Bruski, Regional Program Specialist
Phone: (817) 718-7904
Email: Lori.Bruski@unthsc.edu
UNT Center for Human Identification
Address: 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas 76107
County: Tarrant County
Main Phone: (855) 626-7600
Website URL: www.untchi.org

 

[HeatherA]

Lillian E. Bottrill
NamUs

Image source

Demographics
Missing Age: 69 Years
Current Age: 121 Years
First Name: Lillian
Middle Name: E.
Last Name: Bottrill
Nickname/Alias: --
Sex: Female
Height: 5' 0" - 5' 3" (60 - 63 Inches)
Weight: 165 - 175 lbs
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian

 

[HeatherA]

Possible Genealogical Data

There is a “Lillian” listed on the gravestone of William Bottrill. Birth year for Lillian is 1900, Death year is blank. This is likely the gravestone of the missing Lillian Bottrill. Cemetery is: Assumption Cemetery and Mausoleum. Onandaga County, Syracuse NY.

I can find no genealogical proof for a Lillian E. Bottrill. There are only 2 graves listed on Find-a grave For a Lillian Bottrill. One is Lillian Anna Schimbecker Bottrill 1887-1965 in Woodlawn Cemetery in Syracuse NY and Lillian Alice Bottrill 1924-1981 in Australia. This doesn’t mean that a Lillian E does not exist or have a grave. It only means that IF one exists, it is not listed.
I also found a Mrs. Lillian Bottrill and two sons listed in a William E. Bottrills Obituary in Syracuse NY. I also found a Lillian Bottrill (whose brother is a Mr. Ashley) listed in the newspaper in Syracuse NY.

The point of finding genealogical data is to help shed light on any missing or mistaken Data in the file. Also to find any living relatives who might have lost details or details not included in case file.

Please find the articles attached.

 

[HeatherA]

Interestingly, in the Federal Social Security Database, There is a Lillian Botrill listed born in 1899 (which would make her this cases age) but lists her death as October 1965.

 

[HopeRains]

Interestingly, in the Federal Social Security Database, There is a Lillian Botrill listed born in 1899 (which would make her this cases age) but lists her death as October 1965.

From newspapers.com Syracuse Herald Journal, 16 Oct 65, pg 22. I believe this is the lady referenced in your post:

 

[Bit of hope]

To get a picture; route based on paper clipping.

Can somebody help me out, because to me this seems strange. Did she took a bus? Or was she physically super fit and was able to walk 53 minutes at almost 70 yrs. What was her standard way to travel to her daughter. Oak Street seems further away if she wanted to go to her daughters place.

Posted upthread. She had with her a purse, probably with a few dollars. It was very hot and she stopped at a nearby delicatessen and ordered a glass of cold buttermilk. It was apparently there that she mentioned she was going to see her daughter. She finished the buttermilk, left the store and that was the last confirmed sighting of her.

Was this the sighting mentioned in the paper clipping/was this store situated on 700 block on Oak Street?

 

[HeatherA]

Some new info. Apparently she was spotted?

 

[Bit of hope]

Some new info. Apparently she was spotted?

This is a great find! Thx

 

[Bit of hope]

New picture...could she have been confused and took the opposite bus route. Still the question remains...where did she allegedly bought a glass of buttermilk?

 

[Bit of hope]

And another one. Why that place? Maybe her brain said....I want to visit a loved one...just speculation https://nl.findagrave.com/memorial/...id=&linkedToName=&datefilter=&orderby=r&plot=

 

[HeatherA]

I’m working on going through each article to compile a list of possible locations, and a comparison because a few of the articles give different info. For instance one said she suffered from hardening of the arteries. One said she was going to see her daughter yet another said that she she was going to visit a sick friend. Most say blue coat but one says Navy blue coat. And a coat? It was like 85 degrees that day.