Identified! CT - New Britain, WhtFem skeletal 'Jane Doe #2', Aug'07 - Diane Cusack

[CarlK90245]

it was more than 2 months ago when Carl emailed New Britain and asked if Jane Doe #2 was Mary Jane Menard.

has anyone received a response, especially the family?

I haven't called back on this one. The couple of times that I've talked to the detective on a different New Britain case, he has gotten pretty snippy with me. He doesn't like to answer questions. Apparently, he just wants you to call in the tip and leave it at that. I know that they are looking into it, so I'll just let the process run its course.

However, if someone from MJ Menard's family was to call, he may be a little more courteous.

 

[webrocket]

I haven't called back on this one. The couple of times that I've talked to the detective on a different New Britain case, he has gotten pretty snippy with me. He doesn't like to answer questions. Apparently, he just wants you to call in the tip and leave it at that. I know that they are looking into it, so I'll just let the process run its course.

However, if someone from MJ Menard's family was to call, he may be a little more courteous.

don't you just love that? LE asks for the public's help then does not want to deal with the public when we do give them assistance.

 

[CarlK90245]

don't you just love that? LE asks for the public's help then does not want to deal with the public when we do give them assistance.

Yeah, this was the same guy who was on that TV news video clip, smiling and asking us to call in with tips.

The first time I called him on the Fafnir Building JD case, he was real chatty, but he thought I was from another LE agency. Then when I said that I was just an average Joe Citizen, his attitude immediately changed. It was like, "just drop me an e-mail, and I'll get back to you". But he doesn't. And if you follow-up, he gets snippy.

 

[webrocket]

Yeah, this was the same guy who was on that TV news video clip, smiling and asking us to call in with tips.

The first time I called him on the Fafnir Building JD case, he was real chatty, but he thought I was from another LE agency. Then when I said that I was just an average Joe Citizen, his attitude immediately changed. It was like, "just drop me an e-mail, and I'll get back to you". But he doesn't. And if you follow-up, he gets snippy.

my take on that is that they want all the credit for making the identification. if that's the case, don't bother asking the public for help.

 

[CarlK90245]

Positively ID'd as Diane Cusack, 52 of New Britain CT.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/01/police_seek_clu.html

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/...ed-on-New-Britain-Bodies-Cases-114145304.html

 

[webrocket]

besides the closure for the families, when these cases are resolved it gives us sleuthers a chance to cross check the information.

In this case, the remains were reported to be awoman in her 40's, white or Hispanic and probable Eastern European descent. the body was believed to have been there for 4-20 years.

as per this article Diane was missing since 2003, so she fell on the lower side of the estimation (body found exactly 4 years later).

http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/hartford_cty/new-britain-police-try-to-id-jane-does

Diane was in her early 50's when she was last seen so the age estimation was a bit low.

from a purely visual standpoint, I am wondering where they got the blonde looking hair for the bust they recreated. that was way off base.

 

[Donjeta]

From the link in the above post:

Back in 2007, Cusack's remains, along with the remains of two other unidentified women, were found in a wooded area behind a shopping plaza along Hartford Turnpike in New Britain.

It's still unclear if the cases are connected, or if they are tied to another cold case that dates back to 1995.

In the 1995 case, a teenage victim was found wrapped in two sleeping bags with a gunshot wound to the head. Nine days later, another woman believed to be her mother was found shot to death in Massachusetts outside a campground at the Tolland State Forest.

Do we have threads for these other cold cases?

 

[tatertot]

Donjeta, here they are:

New Britain, CT September 1995 Jane Doe:
** WARNING: POST-MORTEM PHOTO **
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39805&highlight=britain
** WARNING: POST-MORTEM **

Tolland, MA October 1995 Jane Doe:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66510&highlight=tolland

New Britain, CT August 2007 "Jane Doe #1":
CT CT - New Britain - "Jane Doe #1" - BlkOrHispFem Rte 9 at Hartford Rd - Aug 07 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

New Britain, CT August 2007 "Jane Doe #2" was identified as Diane Cusack.

New Britain, CT August 2007 "Jane Doe #3" does not have her own thread. She also has no facial reconstruction because only her femur has been found.

Also, if Diane Cusack was a local resident whose disappearance got little, if any, coverage (I cannot find her on any missing person sites) that might be a clue about the identities of the other UIDs found.

 

[Skigirl]

The Cusack reconstruction was a very good likeness -- and a good call about the facial asymmetry. I'm glad she has her name back.

 

[KateB]

http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2014/09/27/news/doc542606ae817ce945897351.txt
Task force on the hunt for serial killer

Friday, September 26, 2014 8:44 PM EDT

By LISA BACKUS
STAFF WRITER

NEW BRITAIN — Diane Cusack was a beloved sister.
Joyvaline “Joy” Martinez was an aunt who adored her niece and nephews.
Mary Jane Menard was a mother who also left a mark on the local substance abuse community she sought to help.
The New Britain Serial Murder Task Force, consisting of federal, state and local agencies, is working to identify a serial killer who left the remains of all three women behind a plaza at 593 Hartford Road more than a decade ago. New Britain Police Chief James Wardwell, who was the lead investigator on the case from 2007 to 2012, contended for years that the women weren’t just faceless, nameless, “Jane Does.”
“These cases are near and dear to my heart,” Wardwell said in 2012. “I came up through the ranks investigating their deaths and I feel as strongly today about giving them justice as I did that day out in the woods five years ago. Our dedication has not diminished.”
Family members gathered solemnly at police headquarters to support Wardwell’s public plea for help in finding the killer.

more at link.

 

[Salem]

It appears the 3rd victim has been identified as Mary Jane Menard.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/connectic...old-case-update-0927-20140926,0,7539624.story

Looks like a good article for all 3 women.

Salem

Here is Mary Jane's missing thread: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-4th-2003-New-Britain&p=10291168#post10291168

 

[CarlK90245]

It appears the 3rd victim has been identified as Mary Jane Menard.

http://www.ctnow.com/news/connectic...old-case-update-0927-20140926,0,7539624.story

Looks like a good article for all 3 women.

Salem

Here is Mary Jane's missing thread: http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-4th-2003-New-Britain&p=10291168#post10291168

I gave them Mary Menard's name four years ago, to compare to the remains subsequently ID'd as Cusak. IDK if they ever bothered to compare her to that UID. If so, one would think they would have compared her to all of their UID's.

 

[carbuff]

They probably did look at it. It probably took them this long. Connecticut is riddled with organized crime, drugs, sex traffic, and corporate corruption of all sorts, and LE is understaffed. It probably wasn't very high on their priorities until recently.

 

[smile22]

i grew up just down the road from where all the bodies were found.. it is a shopping plaza in a heavy populated area of shopping centers restaurants and a mall. they were found behind a building that host a liquor store game stop a asian bbq a nail salon and a subway there is also a bank in the plaza a hair salon a drs and dance stuido and a car oil change type place.

what i cant figure out is how the person dumping the bodies there did not get cought

 

[carbuff]

Yeah, but it's pretty much deserted after business hours. Last time I was shopping there I drove around a bit looking at the lay of the land. If you drove through that parking lot and around back, the building would hide you from people driving by and the trees would hide you from the highway.

I'm also not sure how many of the buildings were there in 1995 when the first bodies were left there. I thought at least one was found during construction?

 

[bessie]

Howell: A fateful freedom?
Posted: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 10:09 pm
by Lisa Backus

A month after William Devin Howell was released from a Connecticut jail in late 2002, the first of several people from the area disappeared.

[...]
Those people joined three others whose partial skeletons were found in the same wooded area in August 2007 — Joyvaline Martinez, Diane Cusack and Mary Jane Menard — the same week Howell was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in Arizmendi’s death.

Like Camilini and Arizmendi, the other four identified people found buried or dumped at the site disappeared in 2003. Arizmendi was last seen getting into Howell’s van in late July of that year. He left Connecticut in early November and was arrested by North Carolina authorities later that month.

[...]
Sources have said Howell is considered the lone suspect in the case.

more at the link