CA CA - Linda Lovell, 25, & Stephen Packard, 18, Westport, 10 June 1974

[Ozoner]

Could this be Linda?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

1365UFCA

She committed suicide in Cecil Hotel in 1975. She used the alias "Alison Lowell" and the height seems to be correct (5'4 in both subjects) and the weight is rather similar (Linda: 110 lbs; Alison: 118 lbs).

Why do you say that this woman's death was a suicide? I'm not seeing that in the NamUs profile.

It is extremely unlikely that the woman was Linda. Linda almost certainly died in June of 1974.

Doesn't NamUs usually say whether there are dental x-rays on file? I didn't see that field on the profile, either.

I think that Los Angeles County used to cremate all unidentified remains, so the chances of getting DNA are probably nil.

 

[Diane Redfern]

Why do you say that this woman's death was a suicide? I'm not seeing that in the NamUs profile.

It is extremely unlikely that the woman was Linda. Linda almost certainly died in June of 1974.

Doesn't NamUs usually say whether there are dental x-rays on file? I didn't see that field on the profile, either.

I think that Los Angeles County used to cremate all unidentified remains, so the chances of getting DNA are probably nil.

Her death is considered to be a suicide or a tragic accident as she jumped/fell from a window. I also added the link to Doe Network (and you could find the same information in Unidentified Wiki, but it's impossible to include any link to that Web).
We don't know if Linda and Stephen died on the same day... It's likely, but it's far from being a fact. Maybe one of them died on June, 1974, and the other one felt guilty/sad/depressed.

 

[Ozoner]

Her death is considered to be a suicide or a tragic accident as she jumped/fell from a window. I also added the link to Doe Network (and you could find the same information in Unidentified Wiki, but it's impossible to include any link to that Web).
We don't know if Linda and Stephen died on the same day... It's likely, but it's far from being a fact. Maybe one of them died on June, 1974, and the other one felt guilty/sad/depressed.

Anything is possible. This girl's death does seem like a suicide, but she wouldn't be the first person pushed or thrown out a window.

What concerns me is this:
"Dentals: Not available.
Fingerprints: Available.
DNA: Not available."

How is anyone supposed to identify her? They didn't collect DNA back then, but they damn sure should have taken fingerprints and dental x-rays.

 

[Alleykins]

Anything is possible. This girl's death does seem like a suicide, but she wouldn't be the first person pushed or thrown out a window.

What concerns me is this:
"Dentals: Not available.
Fingerprints: Available.
DNA: Not available."

How is anyone supposed to identify her? They didn't collect DNA back then, but they damn sure should have taken fingerprints and dental x-rays.

It's possible dental records/x-rays were taken back then, and most likely taken, but were lost or never put into NCIC. Or they're in a file somewhere, forgotten, like Carlene Brown's were for decades.

OT:

Carlene Brown's dental records were lost when they were sent to Ohio back in the 1970s to be compared to a set of unidentified remains (who turned out to be Linda Pagano). Ohio never returned them, so her investigators listed her as having no dental records, but she did. Somewhere. Then a WS member came across the unidentified remain's grave during a search. She contacted someone to find out more about it and they sent her the case file. Lo and behold, there were Carlene's dental records in the file, which CarlK sent to the detective on her case because Carlene was adopted and had no DNA profile.

 

[Ozoner]

It's possible dental records/x-rays were taken back then, and most likely taken, but were lost or never put into NCIC. Or they're in a file somewhere, forgotten, like Carlene Brown's were for decades.

OT:

Carlene Brown's dental records were lost when they were sent to Ohio back in the 1970s to be compared to a set of unidentified remains (who turned out to be Linda Pagano). Ohio never returned them, so her investigators listed her as having no dental records, but she did. Somewhere. Then a WS member came across the unidentified remain's grave during a search. She contacted someone to find out more about it and they sent her the case file. Lo and behold, there were Carlene's dental records in the file, which CarlK sent to the detective on her case because Carlene was adopted and had no DNA profile.

I hope that dental records do exist. You still have to have something to match them to, though. If the Jane Doe was someone who was reported missing, then the missing-person files could contain dental records. Unfortunately, we know that many people were never reported missing, often because LE refused to take a report.

The trouble with fingerprints is that they're no good unless the person had been fingerprinted in life, and many people go their entire lives without being fingerprinted. I would think that very few twenty-something women alive in 1975 would have ever been fingerprinted, so the fingerprints are probably useless.

 

[Alleykins]

I hope that dental records do exist. You still have to have something to match them to, though. If the Jane Doe was someone who was reported missing, then the missing-person files could contain dental records. Unfortunately, we know that many people were never reported missing, often because LE refused to take a report.

The trouble with fingerprints is that they're no good unless the person had been fingerprinted in life, and many people go their entire lives without being fingerprinted. I would think that very few twenty-something women alive in 1975 would have ever been fingerprinted, so the fingerprints are probably useless.

I agree.

 

[Capecodsleuth]

Hey everyone. I don't have any info to add, but I didn't want this case to be forgotten. I know a lot of serial killers were truckers, and it is possible they accepted a ride from the wrong person. I wish I could have met them. Stephen seemed like a cool guy. I don't know much about Linda, unfortunately.

 

[Betty P]

Hey everyone. I don't have any info to add, but I didn't want this case to be forgotten. I know a lot of serial killers were truckers, and it is possible they accepted a ride from the wrong person. I wish I could have met them. Stephen seemed like a cool guy. I don't know much about Linda, unfortunately.

That sounds like a possibility. There were so many of those OTR trucker serial killers active during the 70's and 80's. Its unlikely Stephen or Linda was armed. By the early to mid 70's hitchhiking had become a very risky way to travel. If they were killed by a trucker, it's possible their bodies were left somewhere far from where they were last seen. I do hope for the sake of their families that they are identified some day soon.