CA CA - Wilmington, WhtMale 1155UMCA, 17-25, off Terminal Island Freeway, Feb'73

[Melt71]

I wonder if Othram, Inc. might be someone they could reach out to about this. Apparently they are pretty serious about solving cold cases, and they were involved in Rodney's identification.

@othram - There you go @AkitasAreLovely I've tagged them in.

 

[YaYa_521]

Howard Franklin Hardin isn't in any MP database that I could find. I don't think there is a description for him although a poor-quality photo is attached to a LA Times article discussing his disappearance.
CA - CA - Howard Hardin, 22, Norwalk, 13 July 1972

 

[Grungster]

Does anyone know where the part about WJD is in the Angel Of Darkness book

 

[Grungster]

Hey, nevermind, I found it

 

[othram]

@othram - There you go @AkitasAreLovely I've tagged them in.

Thank you, we will reach out on this case.

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

Thank you, we will reach out on this case.

Thank you, and thank you for the work that you are doing! If it is at all possible, can you inquire about the status of this John Doe as well, since it falls under LA county jurisdiction?
CA - CA - Long Beach, WhtMale UP4400, 18-30, dismembered, in dumpster, Aug'79
Evidence in both cases should probably be fairly minimal (no body, probably only a sock saved, both possible victims of the same killer).

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

48 years ago today, you were found nameless on the side of the highway. I hope you will get your name back soon.

 

[Mireille]

I found a guy with a very similar nose and lips to this John Doe.
However the MP is from New York and someone has admitted to murdering him.

His name is:
David Michael Bacon
He went missing in 1969 when he was 22.
He had light brown hair, and eyes were listed as blue.
Eyebrows are not as dense and thick as the John Doe.
Like John Doe, he appears mole on the right side of his neck.
Height: 5'8''
Would have been around 25-26 when John Doe died.


What makes it less likely:
Eyecolour is blue rather than brown
Michael reportedly had tattoos
New York is across the country
Someone admitted to killing him and burying him in Virginia (could be a lie of course)

 

[Springrain]

I think Wilmington John Doe found in April 1973 was also someone we know was hanging around gay bars, but you are also correct for this decedent. According to Dennis McDougal's book on Kraft, a few gay people said they recognized this John Doe as a hustler, and I quote, "soliciting tricks along Belmont Shore bluffs that overlook the beach near Cherry Avenue". I don't know if they were ever shown the body/photos of the body, or just sketches of his face that were made and distributed. If he was homosexual and native to the area, he may have been living a transient lifestyle with no known stable address. It would explain the possibility that he was not on good terms with family, and thus not having people recognize him as missing. People probably knew/lived with this person, but maybe they were not local, or he had few friends. There are just so many possibilities to speculate on.

Sorry, getting my 1973 Wilmington John Does confused: so April JD hung around gay bars in the LA area, and this one, the February JD, was a gay sex worker in Belmont Shores? I really need to pick up that book about Kraft.

I see the DNA was from this John Doe and it was from the sock in his anus (I was wondering about that in the 1978 Long Beach John Doe thread).

@othram, any progress? I wonder if DDP would be able to look into it, if possible.

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

Sorry, getting my 1973 Wilmington John Does confused: so April JD hung around gay bars in the LA area, and this one, the February JD, was a gay sex worker in Belmont Shores? I really need to pick up that book about Kraft.

I see the DNA was from this John Doe and it was from the sock in his anus (I was wondering about that in the 1978 Long Beach John Doe thread).

@othram, any progress? I wonder if DDP would be able to look into it, if possible.

I believe that was the case, but obviously nothing was ever conclusively proven. But given how they were not identified, they may have been gay or transient individuals estranged from family.

As for the DNA, I think LA county was trying to get it tested for DNA, but that was back in August, nearly a year ago.

 

[cherryzard]

Bumping for this John Doe.

 

[BrownBear]

6 Exclusions
MP56768 Ralph Miller 09/19/1970 Polk, FL
MP39511 Melvin Murphy 03/25/1971 Washington, ME
MP38268 Alan Bourque 03/10/1970 Orleans, LA
MP33342 Robert Newborg 05/01/1969 El Paso, CO
MP37983 Glen Walls 11/08/1972 Cascade, MT
MP28176 John Corbett 07/01/1972 Monroe, NY

 

[cherryzard]

I really don't think this young man was ever reported missing, either because he never had a sense of home (Foster care, runaway from abusive environment, etc.) or because a very conservative family disowned him for being gay.

I am curious as to what gay bars (areas) he exactly went to, although I highly doubt that information is available. As someone on this thread said, he was probably a native to California, although he probably lived a transient lifestyle and he happened to be in California. I also wonder if he happened to be homeless.

 

[Green_Turtle]

I haven’t read mention of bars he frequented, only the Belmont Shores area near the beach and Cherry Avenue. I wonder if newspaper accounts at the time give any further details.
We’re coming up on the 49th anniversary of this young man’s murder. It’s so sad he’s been unidentified for almost half a century. Praying his identity will be discovered this year.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

1155UMCA

 

[Green_Turtle]

When I read “Angel of Darkness” by Dennis McDougal, it made me wonder if Kraft and this young man knew each other. Kraft lived in Belmont Shore and was known to frequent Cherry Avenue. He was even arrested for soliciting a prostitute in a public restroom near the Bluffs.

 

[cjSweetwater]

When I read “Angel of Darkness” by Dennis McDougal, it made me wonder if Kraft and this young man knew each other. Kraft lived in Belmont Shore and was known to frequent Cherry Avenue. He was even arrested for soliciting a prostitute in a public restroom near the Bluffs.

Does anyone know who the prostitute was who Kraft solicited? I am sure the police checked him but you never know.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

@Caring1 Hey could you post the current list of NamUs exclusions for this John Doe? I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Caring1]

@Caring1 Hey could you post the current list of NamUs exclusions for this John Doe? I would greatly appreciate it.

6 Missing Person Exclusions

 

[citizen_sleuth]

"Man's body found near PCH," Independent [Long Beach, CA], 7 February 1973, A3.

Coroner's Investigator Dick Baska described the dead man as approximately 19 years old, 5-feet-7-inches, about 140 pounds, with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. Baska speculated that the man may have died from a drug overdose and been dumped in the ditch by companions.

"Death termed homicide," News-Pilot [San Pedro, CA], 8 February 1973, A2.

An unidentified man whose nude body was found Tuesday on a bank of Terminal Island Freeway in Wilmington apparently was strangled to death.

Harbor Division police Wednesday listed John Doe No. 16 as the victim of a homicide when a preliminary report from the coroner's office indicated that death was caused by strangulation.

[...]

The nude body was discovered by a truck driver who had been driving in an oil field adjacent to the freeway around 10:300 [sic] a.m.

Police say the victim may have been strangled to death and then dumped in the ditch to the rear of 3031 E. 'I' St. by his assailants.

"Police Ask Aid On Identification," News-Pilot [San Pedro, CA], 18 February 1973, A6.

A retouched photograph of the 17 or 18-year-old youth has been released. He was garrotted [sic] with a piece of steel wire.

Det. James Pitman of the Harbor Division, homicide detail, says the victim was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighed 138 pounds and had numerous old scars on his lower right leg.

The slain youth had thick, wavy brown hair and brown eyes, Pitman says.

[...]

A truck driver found the body on a muddy, brush-covered bank of the freeway, about 200 feet south of Pacific Coast Highway.

A coroner's investigation says the victim apparently had been dead six or seven hours when the body was discovered.

Tim Lemm, "Police probe tie in two murders," News-Pilot [San Pedro, CA], 1 March 1973, A1.

The Los Angeles Police Department announced Wednesday it is investigating a possible link between the Feb. 6 murder of a young man whose nude body was found in Wilmington and the Dec. 26 strangulation death of a serviceman in Seal Beach.

Investigator John St. John of the LAPD robbery-homicide detail at Parker Center said similarities between the two cases have led to the possibility that both men may have been killed by the same person.