Identified! CA - Mendocino Co, 2 WhtFem Teens, Jul'79 *Francine Trimble & Kerry Graham*

[eileenhawkeye]

YES!!! I found some old articles from my school's newspaper archive database. Here's what I was able to find out:

1. The boyfriend's name was Henry/Harry (since Harry is a nickname for Henry, I've seen sources use both) Wade Atchison, but he went by Wade, age 19.
2. The couple went to a friend's house after a concert. They had an argument, and Wade got in his car to leave, and Dana got in his car too.
3. The couple was not wearing shoes when they drove away, and they did not take any personal belongings.
4. The 1995 article says all records of the case had been purged from LE's files.
5. There were rumored sightings in Key West, FL and Galveston, TX
6. Interesting quote by LE: "Who knows what happened in the past? Who knows if somebody found two bodies 10 years ago and never knew who they were because it was never in the system?"
7. The case was re-opened in 1995, due to the Atchison family's persistance.
8. In 1997, LE said it was possible that Dana and Wade had a car accident, and their car ended up in a canal. In 1988, the car may have been pulled out of the canal, and sent to to be crushed. I have no idea why 1988 was the year mentioned.

I found one of the articles online too: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-03-09/news/9503090696_1_teens-son-s-disappearance-sheriff

Here's a link to Wade's poster: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...&sig=AHIEtbQ8NM4mT3-av2P6wnKXDABPceG_Ow&pli=1

No picture of him though....

 

[TxJan1971]

Eileen,
Based on Wade's poster, he is reported to be 72" height (6') - and the UID male is reported to be 5'5", so this would rule out Wade based on height. Guess we'll have to keep sleuthing.
Thanks for your above post!

 

[Fairy1]

I don't know why I didn't recall this sooner, but I had an earring and necklace set with little birds like this JD's earring. I was about the same age as this JD at the time and I believe my dad bought the set from someone he worked with (in Vegas). I want to say the birds were made from mother of pearl - white with a silver sheen. They were strung with long sterling silver beads, IIRC. I don't know if it's relevant, but the birds were identical to what we've seen in this case.

This is one of those cases that drives me batty. I initially believed they had run away together, but perhaps they were runaways who met up somewhere along the way and decided to stay together. That would help to explain why possibly neither of them were ever reported missing.

 

[katydid23]

People do screw up.

It happens.

I used to live in Mendocino county. Marijuana was everywhere. I would not be surprised if they did that autopsy high as a kite.

I used to live in Mendocino too. I lived there in the late 70's, the same time period that these kids were buried there apparently. And I lived within several miles of where the bodies were found.

I feel that they may have been some of the many local 'underground' kids that peppered the backwoods areas. There were lots and lots of hippie communes in the surrounding remote woods and mountains. Most of them grew pot and were remote and very secretive. The kids all grew up 'together' and were raised in a large group on the land. If one or two 'ran off' then nobody would have bothered to report it, imo. Or if they died accidentally or on purpose, there would not have been a report either because everyone lived off the grid.

Their teeth would have been in very good shape because they all ate organic foods and no sugar or processed foods. The young kids were usually very healthy physically because they lived a natural existence. The families grew their own food and had cows and chickens. But homeschooling was happening there, even way back then. So kids fell through the cracks quite easily.

I went to a wedding one time in the summer of 79. An entire mountain village appeared out of nowhere when we got there. We spent the weekend there and I saw dozens of huts and cabins and shacks and tents that were hidden out in the secret community. There were about 60 kids at the wedding, and they all ran back and forth from 'home' to home' and were living communally. "It takes a village indeed.'

eta: I never saw any child abuse on these communes. But that doesn't mean there wasn't any. But permissiveness was the biggest problem I suppose. The only drugs besides pot,that I saw there at that time was powdered cocaine and LSD and also mushrooms. So I suppose it is possible that these kids OD'd on something and the adults were too afraid to call in the authorities so they just buried them.

 

[Kat]

http://www.willitsnews.com/ci_20020661

By Linda Williams/TWN Staff Writerwillitsnews.com
Posted: 02/22/2012 01:20:37 PM PST

New life for cold case:More than 30 years have passed for Jane and John Doe

A forensic anthropologist from Tennessee recently came to Mendocino County to review the skeletal remains. During the review he discovered a tooth found at the scene that did not belong to either victim. A DNA analysis of the errant tooth is underway.

I haven't followed this thread, I did not know they had been exhumed and MRI's done so they can get better facial simulations for these kids. Wonder when those renderings will be released? I hope they help to find out who these kids were.

 

[kpdx]

thanks for posting the link! i read that article yesterday and was so pleased to see they were continuing to work on identify our young does.

 

[CarlK90245]

I put this girl up as a possible match to Snohomish County Precious Doe, but she might also be worth a look against the Mendocino Jane Doe.

Karen Jean Lee
(No Photo Available)
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/12090/10

Her NamUs page indicates that she hitchhiked to California with a male companion, but there is no indication of who the male companion is, or if he is still missing also.

Her age (15) is one year above the maximum possible age for the Jane Doe, and they made a point of saying that she is not older than 14.

But the timeframe is reasonable, and her height (5'7") is close to the estimate (5 feet 5 1/2 inches)

Despite that the vital stats don't match up perfectly, the fact that she was with a male companion would seem to justify a closer look.

I am still waiting for a call-back from the librarian at Hillsboro High School (where Karen attended HS). He is going to look in the 1976 yearbook to see if there is a photo of Karen. They are currently out for Summer break, so he will not be back in the library until next week.

The 1977 yearbook is in Classmates.com, but she is not in that book.

I just spoke with Ed Vance of the Hillsboro PD.

He said that Karen Lee had already been ruled out against Snohomish Precious Doe.

However, he was unaware of the Mendocino John and Jane Does. He sounded very excited about this tip and is going to look into it. He says that Karen's male companion is still missing as far as he knows, but he is not focused on him because he is listed as missing in a different jurisdiction. He said that he is probably older than the 13 year old age estimate for the John Doe, but that is not going to deter him from looking into this.

He thanked me in very enthusiastic tone of voice.

I explained that I was trying to locate photos of Karen Lee, and was unable to find any in the '77 Hillsboro HS yearbook, and the '76 book was unavailable. He says that I won't find her photo there. He said that he had already looked through the HS yearbooks, and couldn't find any portraits of her. All he has is a very grainy poor quality photo of her.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

This guy was added today to NamUs.

This appears to be Karen Lee's companion. There is only a two-day difference in their DLC, and his circumstances indicate that he ran-away with an unnamed juvenile female. Karen's circumstances say she ran-off with an unnamed male.

Detective Vance said that he thought her companion was older. But Rodney was only 14.

Rodney Lynn Grissom
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/14013/8

Give him a haircut, and comb his bangs down, and I'd say he's pretty close.

 

[annemc2]

Wow, Carl. Chills.

That nose, that mouth. I think you guys might have figured this one out. Wow.

 

[kpdx]

Hey CarlK, anyway we could at least see the grainy photo of Karen?

 

[q64ceo]

Wow

Friggin awesome

 

[ThePhantom]

Looks like a homerun to me!!

Frustrating though, isn't it, to think of how many more could be solved if the cases were added to NamUs.

Please let us know what happens!!

 

[CarlK90245]

Hey CarlK, anyway we could at least see the grainy photo of Karen?

I haven't seen the grainy photo. Det. Vance said that he had one, but I don't know if he would send me a copy of it.

I'll call him today to see if any progress was made since I talked to him last August.

 

[JeannieC]

Carl, I hope they make an ID of both of these UID's. I don't understand how they can say for certain the age of the female is 14 yrs old. All the UID's I've looked at give an age range. One year isn't that far off.

 

[Salem]

I haven't seen the grainy photo. Det. Vance said that he had one, but I don't know if he would send me a copy of it.

I'll call him today to see if any progress was made since I talked to him last August.

Carl - do you have time to call this into Mendocino County also? It may be helpful to have them working on both sides of this case.

If you solve this one, I will personally bake you cookies and send them to you. What is your favorite?

Salem

 

[CarlK90245]

I have a call in to Det. Vance, so when he returns my call, I will find out what he has done so far on this.

 

[chaddylex]

OH MY gosh!!! Ahhh... I would be soooo surprised if this wasn't a match! The lips and nose... I think look identical!!

 

[CarlK90245]

I got a call back from Det. Vance. He says that he was able to rule out Karen Lee against the Mendocino Jane Doe. He says that she was ruled-out on dentals. So if this John Doe is Grissom, then he wasn't with Karen.

Det. Vance said that Grissom was the male who Karen disappeared with, and was surprised to hear that Grissom was now in NamUs.

I asked if I could get a copy of the grainy photo of Karen. He said that he would have to think about it, but it sounds like he isn't real interested in sending it to me.

 

[Kimster]

I wonder why he was surprised Grissom was added to NamUS? Don't they want him to be found?

 

[CarlK90245]

I wonder why he was surprised Grissom was added to NamUS? Don't they want him to be found?

I thought it was kind of strange that he was surprised. He said that he was going to find out who had entered the casefile. I don't know if that means that he didn't want him found, or that he was interested to see that someone else was also working the same case. Perhaps he would like to compare notes with another LE agency.

 

[Kimster]

I thought it was kind of strange that he was surprised. He said that he was going to find out who had it entered. I don't know if that means that he didn't want him found, or that he was interested to see that someone else was also working the same case. Perhaps he would like to compare notes with another LE agency.

Oh that makes sense! And it makes me feel a whole lot better!

I think every single person who has been missing over a month should be entered. :twocents::moo: