CA CA - Barstow, HispFem 14-19, UP6718, severed head in backpack, Feb'10

[Donjeta]

She looks very close to me.

 

[PMLsmom]

How about this girl? She is missing from Bakersfield, CA. Only a couple of hours from Barstow. There is also a Fiesta Foods in Bks. with a Walgreens only a couple of miles away...She has been missing for awhile, but who knows???

 

[CarlK90245]

I mirrored the Jane Doe reconstruction drawing so that their heads would be turned the same direction. And then, I compared the two images using the trace-line overlay test and the superimposed images test.

In both tests, Noemi's features line up to the Jane Doe drawing quite nicely.

Trace-Line Overlay

Superimposed Images

I have done these tests on other occasions and was able to make the two images line up, even though they weren't the same person. So I would not say that is conclusive proof that this Jane Doe is Noemi Pineda, but I am pretty confident that I have the right person here.

BTW, It's kind of eerie Noemi's photo and the NCMEC facial reconstruction have almost exactly identical backgrounds and they are wearing similar black blouses. It's almost like the artist was working from Noemi's photo.

 

[CarlK90245]

How about this girl? She is missing from Bakersfield, CA. Only a couple of hours from Barstow. There is also a Fiesta Foods in Bks. with a Walgreens only a couple of miles away...She has been missing for awhile, but who knows???

I also tried the trace-line overlay test with Yamileth Rogel, and I can't get the features to line up the same way that I was able to with Noemi Pineda above. When I line up Yamileth's eyes on the same vertical plane as Jane Doe's eyes and scale the photos so that their chins line up, Yamileth's eyes widen too far, her face width becomes wider than JD's face, and her nose and mouth sit below those of Jane Doe.

There is no way to scale the trace-line to make it align to all of Jane Doe's facial features.

 

[carbuff]

I mirrored the Jane Doe reconstruction drawing so that their heads would be turned the same direction. And then, I compared the two images using the trace-line overlay test and the superimposed images test.
<snip>
I have done these tests on other occasions and had the two images line up, even though they weren't the same person. So I would not say that is conclusive proof that this Jane Doe is Noemi Pineda, but I am pretty confident that I have the right person here.

BTW, It's kind of eerie Noemi's photo and the NCMEC facial reconstruction have almost exactly identical backgrounds and they are wearing similar black blouses. It's almost like the artist was working from Noemi's photo.

Yes, I noticed that about the background and blouse -- a couple of times when I was comparing features, I lost track of which one was the reconstruction. The shape of the eyes was what struck me, and the tip of the nose.

There is something through the cheeks and upper lip that gives me pause, but it's not something I can measure. Will be quite surprised if this is not the girl. Poor thing.

 

[CarlK90245]

There is something through the cheeks and upper lip that gives me pause, but it's not something I can measure. Will be quite surprised if this is not the girl. Poor thing.

Remember that her cheeks were puffier in the earlier version of this facial reconstruction. Here is the earlier version.

I commented earlier in this thread that the artist was probably compensating for bloating. In this instance, i suspect that maybe the artist mistook her baby fat in the cheeks for bloating, and overcompensated by removing the puffiness and putting in strong dimples the depiction.

I know from having done about 20 or so reconstructions for Doe Network - it is difficult to accurately depict a decedent smiling because the expressionless face of a decedent (or sometimes the wide-open mouth expression) does not reveal very well what shape the flexing cheek muscles would take or how prominent their dimples appear when they are smiling. Usually the dimples and contour of the smiling cheeks is purely a guess.

 

[Miss Justice]

I have done this test on other occasions and had the two images line up, even though they weren't the same person. So I would not say that is conclusive proof that this Jane Doe is Noemi Pineda, but I am pretty confident that I have the right person here.

BTW, It's kind of eerie Noemi's photo and the NCMEC facial reconstruction have almost exactly identical backgrounds and they are wearing similar black blouses. It's almost like the artist was working from Noemi's photo.

Excellent work. Thank you! These two faces are so eerily similar.

 

[Cymro]

This may be an unanswerable question but - Noemi's skin looks so much lighter than the decedent's. Given that skin tone could be one of the easier things to get right in a reconstruction, is there an explanation for this? For instance, could it be due to increased exposure to sunlight when traveling, or due to postmortem oxidation of skin/pigments?

 

[CarlK90245]

This may be an unanswerable question but - Noemi's skin looks so much lighter than the decedent's. Given that skin tone could be one of the easier things to get right in a reconstruction, is there an explanation for this? For instance, could it be due to increased exposure to sunlight when traveling, or due to postmortem oxidation of skin/pigments?

A head severed 2 to 3 days prior probably looks quite pale by that time. The artist probably had to guess somewhat on her skin tone.

If you look at the photos of her ears, they don't look like they come from someone with that dark of a complexion.

 

[Billylee]

Here is another photo of Noemi side-by-side with Jane Doe. Unfortunately, you can't see her ears in this photo either (other than the lobe of her left-ear). It does appear though, from both photos that she has drooped ear lobes, as does the Jane Doe.

And from the hoop earrings in the other photo, we know that her ears are pierced, as are Jane Doe's (Not all that revealing, as most women have pierced ears).

I think it looks like her for sure, but not sure where the second photo here came from, but is that a mole on her chin or just a blemish? The decent had "no identifiable scars, marks, tattoos or other distinguishing features were discovered".

 

[CarlK90245]

I think it looks like her for sure, but not sure where the second photo here came from, but is that a mole on her chin or just a blemish? The decent had "no identifiable scars, marks, tattoos or other distinguishing features were discovered".

That blemish on her chin is not visible in her color photo. I would say that it is probably acne. She also apparently has some sort of blemish on her right cheek in the color photo, but it is probably too insignificant to mention.

Edit To Add: There does appear to be a mark on her chin in the same place in the color photo. But still, I would categorize it as too insignificant to note.

ETA: Here is the link containing the B&W photo.
http://pleasehelpthesemissingchildren.blogspot.com/2010/03/noemi-pineda-15-endangered-runaway.html

 

[believe09]

What did VanNorman say, Carl??

 

[CarlK90245]

What did VanNorman say, Carl??

I didn't get a reply yet from VanNorman. I called his office this morning and they said that today is his day off.

So I called Keith Libby of the Barstow PD. He was a bit skeptical at first when I said that I was 90% sure that I had the right person. He asked me how I could be so certain, and I described the trace-overlay that I did and said that everything aligned up. I said that her cheeks look a little different from the drawing and she has a lighter complexion. He misunderstood me, thinking that I said "teeth" instead of "cheeks", and said that the teeth are the most accurate feature of the reconstruction. When I reiterated "cheeks", and said that the photo doesn't show her teeth because she is smiling with a closed mouth, he then said that that should be no problem then because there is quite a bit of artistic license taken with the drawing. He says that her face was in very poor condition, and it would be difficult to make a tentative visual comparison to the photo.

He asked me if I had seen the photos of the ears. I replied that I had, and told him that although you can't see her entire ears, you can see her earlobes and they were drooped, as are the ears in the photos, and that since she was wearing earrings in the photo you can infer that she had pierced ears.

He didn't look up her case while he had me on the phone, but his voice sounded much more enthusiastic as I described her. He took down all of my personal information, and my home phone, as well as my cell phone. He said that he will get in touch with me later today, or that I could call him back if I wished.

ETA: I called him back, and he said that it would take him a few days to look at it.

 

[Lurkey Lou]

I really think you have a match there.

 

[Mensch]

I appreciate all of the feedback. There are some circumstances surrounding Juana's disappearance that make this a possibility, so I took it upon myself to call it in to VanNorman a few hours ago. I am hoping he can expedite it....

Do you know if Juana has a crown or a filling?

 

[Billylee]

I mirrored the Jane Doe reconstruction drawing so that their heads would be turned the same direction. And then, I compared the two images using the trace-line overlay test and the superimposed images test.

In both tests, Noemi's features line up to the Jane Doe drawing quite nicely.

Trace-Line Overlay

Superimposed Images

I have done this test on other occasions and had the two images line up, even though they weren't the same person. So I would not say that is conclusive proof that this Jane Doe is Noemi Pineda, but I am pretty confident that I have the right person here.

BTW, It's kind of eerie Noemi's photo and the NCMEC facial reconstruction have almost exactly identical backgrounds and they are wearing similar black blouses. It's almost like the artist was working from Noemi's photo.

Do you think maybe there was a black blouse in the backpack also? I just hate it when LE holds back info. like that, but Lord knows they do!

 

[CarlK90245]

Do you think maybe there was a black blouse in the backpack also? I just hate it when LE holds back info. like that, but Lord knows they do!

It could be that there was fibre evidence in her hair to indicate the color of clothes she was wearing, but it is more likely, IMO, that it was pure coincidence.

 

[Mensch]

Hi Carl,
About a week ago, I submitted a MP report from my neck of the woods (NJ) that I thought resembled this girl. I don't generally come across young children as I have a specialized category of missing and most are not listed. But his one caught my eye. See what you think. I am posting just in case it is ruled out so it can be added to the list. I did send to various agencies and do not have a specific rule out yet.
I received an email reply from Van Norman last night. WOW! He works late!
-------------------------------------------
Possible match: MISPERS Yarixa Pedrez (DOB: 09/29/93 - DLC: 06/15/07 - Chambersburg PD #07061827365 - NIC #M376668812 - NCMEC #NCMC1075607) with with SBCSD-Coroner #701000992 (Und. Doe #02-10 -NIC#U420023786)
Monday, April 19, 2010 9:10 PM
From:
"Van Norman, David" <dvannorman@sbcsd.org>
Add sender to Contacts
To:
"'Ilana'" <XXXXXXXXXXXXX>
Cc:
"Unidentified Missing Person Center" <umpc@sbcsd.org>, "Rebecca Castillo" <bcastillo.mcpp@sbcglobal.net>, "'B.J Spamer'" <BSPAMER@ncmec.org>

Ilana,

I ran the name through CLETS and reviewed both the NCIC record and the NCMEC page. There is no reason to exclude these cases from being a match from each other. The means to do so is to compare dental X-rays and/or DNA profiles. However, I see no evidence that the investigating agency has obtained or submitted either of these. Makes one wonder how much the taxpayers of this community have invested for professional services they have never received &#8211; and will never know it.

So, these cases cannot be ruled out from one another.

Thank you for your interest. Feel free to contact Chambersburg PD to see if maybe they have overlooked a few steps in the missing person investigation process.

David Van Norman
Deputy Coroner Investigator
Unidentified-Missing Person Coordinator
San Bernardino County Sheriff Department - Coroner Division
175 S. Lena Rd., San Bernardino, CA 92415

I have notified other agencies involved. Will update you when I hear something. Is it just me, or did David sound a bit put out with the report taking in this case? I am certainly not surprised!
I hope this girl is identified soon. Hard as we try, we can never catch up and that is the worst part of the search.
--------------------------------------------
http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...seNum=1075607&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

NOTE: The girl in the photo here would be 3 years older now if living. There are indications she was 'street smart' and not a problem for her to get to California.

 

[CarlK90245]

Mensch:

I tried a quick superimposed image test on the two images. While I was able to align Yarixa's eyes and nose to the Barstow Girl Recon, her mouth didn't line up and her cheekbones are wider and forehead is much shorter. I don't know enough about anthropology to know how much her her head might change shape during the three years of that growth stage. She does look somewhat like the Barstow girl, but I kind of doubt it's her.

Of course, I acknowledge my biases that Noemi is the Barstow Girl.

As for VanNorman, he has very little patience for Law Enforcement folks who don't bother to follow through on MP reports. He is very vocal about his disdain for LE who would much prefer to chase bad guys than to figure out what happened to a teenaged runaway. Clearly, that sentiment is apparent in his message to you.

 

[Mensch]

Thanks for the input Carl. I so hope you are right and this girl gets identified! I have had a few slack days and spent far too much time here, so I am off to get some zzzz's. Will check in this week for updates on this. Thanks